■ Politics
Chen lists DPP's goals
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) presented three directions of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) efforts yesterday and encouraged the party and the people of Taiwan to continue to fight for the country's democratization. Speaking at the weekly meeting of the DPP Central Standing Committee in his capacity as party chairman, Chen listed the three goals as democratic reform, economic prosperity and "believe in Taiwan." He said that holding a referendum is the last step in Taiwan's democratization program and will also represent a new chapter in the nation's history. Referring to economic prosperity, Chen said there are many indications that the economy is undergoing a strong recovery and that Taiwan will enjoy excellent records both in economic growth and the labor market. "We insist on democratic reform because we believe in Taiwan," he said. Chen also issued an order to mobilize all DPP members to explain the party's vision for national development to the people.
■ Education
Bursary project needs help
World Vision Taiwan (台灣世界展望會) is urging the public to donate money for young students who cannot pay their tuition fees. The organization is also cooperating with publisher Commercial Press during this year's Taipei International Book Exhibition. Commercial Press will donate 10 percent of the income raised from sales at the exhibition of the book How to Read a Book (如何閱讀一本書) to World Vision Taiwan's tuition fee project. The organization is giving every sponsored high school student NT$5,000 and every college student NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 next term, starting in February, to help pay their tuition fees. Those who want to make a donation can call 02-25856300 or wire the money directly into the organization's post office account, 01022760, and specify that the money should go to the schooling project.
■ Biology
University wants whale
Professors, students and volunteers from the National Cheng Kung University's Department of Biology yesterday said that they hoped to have a whale specimen at the university within a week. A whale, weighing 60 tonnes and 17m in length, was found dead on the seashore of Yunlin County on Sunday. More than 20 workers yesterday used small electronic saws to try to remove the whale's skin, but the saws became stuck because the skin was too thick. Professor Wang Chien-ping (王建平) said that it would take about a week to finish the preparation of the specimen. Wang said that this specimen would become the biggest whale specimen in Taiwan when the job is done.
■ Water
Conservation effort to start
Water supplies to certain heavy users in the greater Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu areas will be restricted soon due to insufficient rainfall, Chen Sheng-hsien (陳伸賢), an official of the Water Conservancy Agency, said yesterday. Chen said that the imposition of the restrictions was inevitable, and that a task force has been formed to deal with the problems caused by the long drought in the north. Water restrictions to the three areas may begin on Feb. 1, he said. Under the plan, water supply to certain industries in the three areas will be cut by 5 percent, and the supply to public baths, spas, car washes and select heavy users of water will be cut by 20 percent, he said. The restriction plan will ensure sufficient supplies of water to every home and office in the north until early May, when the monsoon season will begin, he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching