■ Crime
One dead after gunbattle
A Chinese man suspected of murdering a taxi driver was shot dead during a gunbattle with police in Chingshui (清水), Taichung County, on Monday and two other suspects were arrested, police said. Xiao Heng (肖桓) from Hunan Province was killed when police raided an apartment in Chingshui. His alleged accomplices, also from Hunan, were arrested. A policeman was wounded in the neck. Police said they believe that the trio, who smuggled themselves into the country two years ago, were involved in the killing of the taxi driver last month.
■ History
MND rejects CCP's claim
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday rejected Beijing's claim that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had played the leading role in resisting the Japanese invasion of China from 1937 to 1945. Wang Ming-wo (王明我), head of the Cultural and Political Affairs Division, stressed that it was the sacrifice of the Republic of China's military and all the Chinese people that contributed to the victory in the war. He said that there were 3.2 million military casualties and 23 million civilian casualties during the war. Wang said the fact is recorded in historical materials and documents at home and abroad and cannot be changed or erased by anyone.
■ Health
More inspections planned
The Department of Health will step up its inspection of cosmetics and skincare products to ensure they are not made of animal-based ingredients from an epidemic area of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, Lan Kuo-yueh (藍國岳) of the Bureau of Medical Affairs, said yesterday. Officials will also check that the country of origin and ingredients are clearly labeled on these products, Lan said. Offenders are subject to a fine of up to NT$100,000 (US$3,121) and the products are destroyed immediately, he said. His remarks were in response to allegations by Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) and Yu Jan-daw (余政道) that cosmetics made of animal-based ingredients from BSE epidemic areas are being sold over the Internet. They said many such products are not properly labeled and they urged the government to set up a system of safety certification for the products.
■ Education
Students protest at MOE
About 50 college students and their supporters protested outside the Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday against the ministry's decision raise tuition fees. The Association of Publicization of Education reiterated its strong opposition to such hikes, and demanded the government create more sources of education funding. Some protesters skirmished with the police during the demonstration and in an effort to ease tensions, Chen Teh-hua (陳德華), head of the ministry's Department of Higher Education, invited association representatives to discuss the issue. Chen promised the ministry will hold a public forum on tuition hikes before July 21.
■ Education
Trio to attend convention
Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正), Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) and Polaris Securities Group chairman Pai Wen-cheng (白文正) have been invited to attend the 30th annual convention of the Chinese American Academic and Professional Society in the US. The convention will held in New York starting on Aug. 6.
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