■ Politics
TSU backs appointing heads
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday said it supported the appointment of village heads and township mayors rather than their election. TSU Secretary-General Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said the party would propose a revision to the law and ask for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) support. The government plans to hold elections for city mayors, county commissioners and councilors simultaneously with a referendum determining whether elections for village heads, township mayors and local councilors should be ended. Chen said a national development conference in 1996 agreed that village heads and township mayors should be appointed, but that the DPP had yet to move on the matter after five years in office. He said that the Executive Yuan had already raised the matter of a simultaneous election and referendum, but that the DPP argued it was not feasible.
■ Defense
French plane sales worrying
The air force will feel the pinch if China acquires French-made Mirage 2000-9CS jet fighters, the Air Force General Headquarters chief of staff said yesterday. Lieutenant General Peng Sheng-chu (彭勝竹) was answering a question from People First Party Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) at the Legislative Yuan on a media report that China will purchase 210 Mirage 2000-9CSs from France after the EU's arms embargo is lifted. Because the Mirage 2000-9CSs are newer than the Mirage 2000-5 jet fighters Taiwan acquired in the 1990s, Peng said the newer aircraft are believed to be able to outperform Taiwan's version of the plane in combat capabilities and range. If China does obtain Mirage 2000-9CSs, Peng said, the air force will be under considerable pressure. With a view to upgrading air defense capabilities, Peng said the military was collecting information that may lead to the purchase of new aircraft.
■ Agriculture
No sales for prize orchids
Colorful butterfly orchids from Taiwan received two awards at the Sakoliki International Flower Show in Moscow, organizers said yesterday. Joseph Wu (吳祚雄) and his wife, Peng Hsi-nan (彭希男), who are both well-regarded in the global floral community, had to transport 500 pots containing the orchids to Moscow for display at the Sakoliki flower trade fair held from Thursday to Sunday. It marked the first time Taiwan had participated in the noted international floral trade fair. At Sunday's closing ceremony, organizers presented the Best Flower Art Award and the Best Floral Design Award to the Wus in recognition of their work promoting orchid cultivation and improving floral technologies. "It's a great honor for us to receive the awards. We take great pleasure in bringing Taiwan's most beautiful `angel' to Russia on a cultural and artistic exchange," Wu said after the presentation ceremony. Their booth attracted a large crowd of visitors, but few bought the orchids. The Wus said they were a little disappointed about the lukewarm response from the market. Nevertheless, they said they will not be daunted by the setback and will devote more efforts at studying consumer tastes in the Russian floral market. In recognition of their professionalism in orchid cultivation, the Wus have been invited to take part in a professional flower show to be held in Moscow from tomorrow through Sunday.
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