■ Administration
GIO promotes consultant
William Yi (易榮宗), a consultant to the Government Information Office (GIO), will be promoted to the agency's second-highest post, GIO Director-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said in New York on Sunday. Lin and Yi are on a three-day transit stop in New York on their way back to Taipei after accompanying Premier Yu Shyi-kun on his second overseas trip since assuming the premiership in February 2002. Lin told reporters covering Yu's diplomatic tour that he has asked Yi to serve as his deputy. Lin said Yi, who served as the information division chief at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York before becoming a GIO consultant, will be responsible for international publicity affairs after being promoted to GIO deputy director-general. Yi will fill the position left vacant by Hung Chung-chuan (洪瓊娟), who retired last month.
■ Paraguay
Housing complex set to open
A new Taiwan-funded public housing complex for low-income families in the Paraguayan capital will be inaugurated tomorrow, the Taiwan Embassy in Paraguay said on Sunday. The new complex in Asuncion's Ciudad Nueva district has 120 housing units, an embassy staffer said. Each apartment has a bathroom, a living room and two bedrooms, as well as running water and electricity. This will be the third Taiwan-funded public housing complex for low-income Paraguayan people. The first two complexes are located in the Luque and Nemby. Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte and Taiwan's ambassador to Paraguay Yen Pin-fan (顏秉璠) will jointly preside over the inauguration ceremony for the Ciudad Nueva housing complex tomorrow. Construction of housing complexes for low-income families with Taiwanese funds was one of Duarte's presidential campaign promises.
■ Culture
Martyrs' Shrine completed
Officials celebrated the completion of the reconstruction of Kinmen's Tai Wu Shan Martyrs' Shrine yesterday as part of commemorations of the Battle of the Taiwan Strait 46 years ago. More than 500 politicians, military officers, veterans and civilians attended the ceremony at the shrine, where soldiers who died in the battle are remembered. A memorial service for the soldiers was held after the ceremony. Addressing the ceremony, Fujian Provincial Governor Yen Chung-cheng (顏忠誠) attributed the nation's economic prosperity over the past 46 years to the sacrifice of the soldiers who risked their lives to defend the country from attacks by the Chinese Communists. The Battle of the Taiwan Strait began on Aug. 23, 1958, and lasted for 44 days.
■ Taiwan Fair
Headquarters inaugurated
The headquarters for the preparation of the 2008 Taiwan Fair was officially inaugurated yesterday at the county hall in Tainan, which was chosen to host the international event. During the inauguration ceremony, Tainan County Magistrate Su Huan-chih (蘇貞昌) showed how the county will work to make the event a success. The headquarters will be the base for several teams responsible for planning, transportation, construction and publicity. Su said that the first Taiwan Fair was held in 1935 at the site which is the currently the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei. The Taiwan Fair has not been held since. Su said that hotel space for the 2008 event could be a problem, given that an estimated 5 million visitors are expected to attend the fair.
■ Foreign Affairs
Singapore protest urged
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lin Jhih-long (林志隆) urged local people not to visit Singapore or buy its products yesterday as a protest against unfriendly remarks by its leader concerning Taiwan. According to foreign wire services, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said, "if a war breaks out across the strait, we will be forced to choose between the two sides ... but if the conflict is provoked by Taiwan, then Singapore cannot support Taiwan." Lee also said that Singapore will not recognize Taiwan if it declares independence. Lee's remarks are unfriendly toward Taiwan and have repressed the island's development space in the world community, Lin said.
■ Crime
Warrant issued for Chang
District prosecutors in Yunlin County issued a warrant for the arrest of Yunlin County Commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) yesterday after he ignored two subpoenas summoning him to report to prosecutors to assist with an investigation into alleged corruption. Hung Shao-wen (洪紹文), chief prosecutor at the Yunlin District Prosecutors' Office, said Chang will be put on the wanted list unless he shows up in three days. Chang's sister, Chang Li-shan (張麗善), said her brother will appear at an "appropriate time." Chang was absent from hearings held on the alleged corruption scandal surrounding a garbage incinerator project last week and again yesterday. Prosecutors that day opened a safe seized from Chang's residence on Aug. 13 for inspection but found it was empty. Hung said the fact that nothing was found in the safe will not affect the case's investigation, because prosecutors have obtained evidence "through other means."
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