■ Education
Huang attends APEC forum
Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) had a discussion with his Chilean counterpart, Sergio Bitar, on Wednesday for educational cooperation at the APEC forum in Santiago, Chile. This was the third time that education ministers from APEC members have met to discuss cooperative projects in educational development. Except for Russia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Vietnam, all other APEC members sent their representatives to attend the meeting held from April 27 to April 30. Later on Wednesday, Huang and Bitar held a conversation for educational cooperation, in which both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in language teaching, earthquake, biochemical, and basic science research.
■ Cross-strait links
Ma pressures government
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) suggested yesterday that Jodi Shelton, chief executive officer of Fabless Semiconductor Association, urge the government to accelerate the opening of cross-strait direct transport links. The association set up its Asia-Pacific headquarters at Taipei's Nankang Software Development Park last October. The association's members represent fabless firms, integrated device manufacturers, foundry providers, electronic design automation companies and investment bankers. Ma told Shelton that Taipei has been working hard on creating a favorable investment environment at its Nankang Software Development Park and Neihu Science-based Industrial Park. However, Taiwan entrepreneurs have encountered a major investment barrier -- a vague relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and the government's restrictions on local enterprises' investments in China.
■ Labor
Union ad lobbies DPP
The Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union yesterday congratulated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on his appointment as Cabinet spokesman with a TV commercial featuring footage of Chen speaking on the government's policy of privatizing state-run enterprises. The commercial features Chen saying, "Chunghwa Telecom brings in NT$50 billion to the national treasury each year. Why kill the goose that lays the golden egg?" A narrator then implores the DPP to rethink its privatization policies. The union yesterday announced it would call off a general members' meeting on Ketagalan Boulevard slated for Sunday. That meeting would have paved the way for a future strike.
■ Education
Stipends for Aborigines
The Council of Indigenous Peoples is holding a forum today at its Taipei headquarters for Aboriginal academics interested in conducting research overseas. It will discuss the challenges of life overseas and financial assistance available from the council. Meetings on these topics will also be held at Dong Hwa University in Hualien on May 6 and Pingtung Teachers' College on May 13. The scholarships are open to Aboriginal graduate students and doctoral candidates. The council has also invited academics and experts with overseas experience to speak. Since February, the council has budgeted NT$6 million for the fellowships. Those interested must submit research proposals to the council before its deadline in August. The fellowship is also open to civil servants who have given exemplary service.
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