■ Health
Lost dentures recovered
A 45-year-old man was breathing easier yesterday, after a surgeon removed a missing dental bridge from one of his bronchial tubes -- three years after he lost them in a fall. Dr. Chen Chun-lei said the man went to his clinic several days ago complaining of shortness of breath and a high fever and was diagnosed with a mild case of pneumonia. Chen operated after an unknown object was seen in one of the bronchial tubes in an X-ray. "He had looked for the missing dentures for three years but they were nowhere to be found," Chen said. Chen said the man had not suffered serious breathing problems earlier, possibly because the denture of eight teeth did not entirely block the bronchial tube. The doctor said the man could have ended up losing part of a lung if the denture had not been discovered before a serious injury occurred.
■ Weather
CWB watching Matsa
Eastern Taiwan could begin to feel the approach of Tropical Storm Matsa tonight. The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday that the center of Matsa was around 1,600km southeastern of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and it was moving north-northwest at 8kph. Forecasters were unsure, however, if Matsa would directly hit Taiwan. "We are keeping our eyes on it. If Matsa moves north, then the weather in Taiwan might only be affected by peripheral currents," said Daniel Wu (吳德榮), director of the forecast center. Forecasters said boats sailing off eastern Taiwan should be on alert for huge waves tonight. On Thursday and Friday, the weather in the north and northeast of the country might be affected by the storm's approach.
■ Politics
New caucus whips installed
The dust has finally settled in a fight among the People First Party's (PFP) caucus leaders as Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) took office as head caucus whip. Hwang had tied with Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) in voting. Hwang was favored by the PFP headquarters, while Lin was the choice of the caucus itself. Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) and Lin Hui-kuan (林惠官) will serve as the caucus' other two leaders in the next legislative session, scheduled to begin on Sept. 13. The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) new caucus whips also took office yesterday. They are Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) and John Wu (吳志揚). The Taiwan Solidarity Union's new caucus leaders, who took office in June, are Mark Ho (何敏豪), David Huang (黃適卓), George Liu (劉寬平) and Kuo Lin-yung (郭林勇). The Democratic Progressive Party's won't change its caucus whips until the end of the next legislative session.
■ Environment
Biomass contest announced
The Council of Agriculture yesterday urged young scientists and students to come up with ideas to turn rice straw into usable sources of biomass energy. The council and the Yuan T. Lee Science Education For All (遠哲科學教育基金會) are sponsoring a competition and the top price is NT$200,000 (US$6,276). Rice paddies cover 260,000 hectares of land in Taiwan. Rice straw has traditionally been used for compost or fuel. Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) said yesterday that the abuse of fossil fuels has hurt the environment and it was time for youngsters to rethink sources of energy. More information on the competition available at www.ytlee.org.tw.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
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