■ Earthquake
4.6 temblor shakes Ilan
An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale rocked the northeast yesterday, the Seismology Center said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The quake hit at 10:01pm with an epicenter 28km northeast of Ilan. The earthquake originated 11km underground.
■ Health
Healthy people to get prizes
Being healthy can pay off, especially if you're one of the estimated 57,000 people who have never used the national health insurance system, as the insurance bureau will reward over 1,100 non-users with prizes in a draw today. The National Health Insurance Bureau was begun 10 years ago, Hsu Chung-I (許忠役), a division chief at the bureau said, adding that the bureau will reward those who have never taken advantage of the insurance program, although they have had to pay into it. The biggest prize in the lottery will be a 29-inch television, Hsu said.
■ Economy
Growth expected to slow
The economy is expected to grow at a rate of 4.21 percent this year, while the first quarter rate will register 4.03 percent, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported yesterday. Affected by a global economic slowdown, the DGBAS expects that economic growth this year will not achieve the 5.71 percent seen last year. The statistics also showed that the economy is expected to grow by 4.08 percent in the second quarter this year, with third quarter at 4.24 percent and fourth quarter at 4.46 percent.
■ Politics
TSU legislator hosts dinner
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lo Chi-ming (羅志明) held a large-scale dinner party in Kaohsiung's Labor Park to express thanks to his vote captains last night. The dinner party filled 495 tables. Lo yesterday declined to respond to speculation that the party was related to his intention to run for Kaohsiung mayor next year. While party members have advised him to run for the southern special municipality's top position, he said he would respect the public's opinion, adding that there should be only one candidate running for the pan-green camp in the Kaohsiung mayoral election.
■ War reparations
US group to target Japan
A US anti-violence movement launched a justice campaign yesterday in New York to seek an official apology and compensation for women forced into wartime brothels run by the Japanese army. Japan's government has refused to provide official compensation for the so-called "comfort women," claiming postwar treaties dealt with the issue. Historians estimate that 200,000 women, from Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Indonesia and the Netherlands, were pressed into prostitution for millions of Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. Some were forced to have sex with up to 50 men a day. The campaign includes a petition seeking 1 million signatures to be presented to the UN demanding that Japan take legal responsibility for crimes of military sexual slavery and protesting Japan's aim to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Other campaign events include the construction of museums in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan document-ing the enslavement of the women, demonstrations in the Netherlands, a street march in Taiwan, as well as photo exhibits and testimonial books in Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan.
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
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
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