■ Earthquake
Tremor shakes east coast
A moderate earthquake shook northeastern Taiwan yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said, but no damage or injuries were immediately reported. The 4.2-magnitude quake was centered 3km south of Nan'ao, the weather bureau said. Nan'ao is a harbor 80km southeast of Taipei. Quakes frequently rattle Taiwan, but most are minor and cause little or no damage.
■ Health
Public urged to get flu shot
The public is urged to get a flu shot as well as a pneumococcus shot since the number of people dying from pneumonia in Taiwan rises every year, doctors advised yesterday. Doctors noted that free flu shots have been available since early this month, but in addition to flu, pneumonia is also a common health hazard in the autumn and winter, noting that statistics released by the Department of Health showed that pneumonia is the seventh most common cause of death in Taiwan, with 5,099 people succumbing last year. Pneumonia is the fifth-largest killer of people over 65, with 4,380 dying last year. Doctor Huang Li-ming (黃立民) of National Taiwan University Hospital said yesterday that industrialized countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and Germany have listed the pneumococcus vaccine, along with flu vaccines, as important for the elderly and patients of chronic diseases. One shot in Taiwan costs about NT$1,200 (US$35.70).
■ Employment
Competition for jobs fierce
More than 30,000 people will compete for the 476 job vacancies offered by two state-run companies today, with the success percentage being only 1.37 percent, officials of the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Ministry officials also noted that Taiwan Power Co is expected to recruit 410 new employees after today's exam, and Chinese Petroleum Corp wishes to recruit 66 people this year. However, a total of 34,635 people have applied for the jobs and they should face two-stage tests to compete for the jobs offered by state-run enterprises. Today's initial test will be held in 14 venues around Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, and the applicants can visit the Web site: www.taipower.com.tw for more information.
■ Cross-strait ties
Cross-strait symposium held
The American Association for Chinese Studies was set to hold a symposium yesterday in Williamsburg, Virginia, on the triangular relations between Taiwan, the US and China. The 46th annual meeting was to take place at the Williamsburg Hospitality House. Taiwan's deputy representative to the US, Joanne Chang (裘兆琳), was to deliver a keynote speech at the symposium.
■ Sports
Gateball tournament held
The third WGU International Gateball Tournament opened in Kaohsiung yesterday, with 128 teams from 12 countries and regions competing, Kaohsiung City officials said. Participating countries include the US, Brazil, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), World Gateball Union (WGU) director Taka Kono and Huang Chih-huang (黃啟煌), vice chairman of the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports were on hand to cheer for the players.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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:
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
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