■ Health
Students at risk of suicide
Ten percent of Taiwanese university students have attempted suicide due to pressure in life and in school, a survey showed yesterday. According to the poll of 3,594 university students by the Taiwan Association of Clinical Psychiatrists, 367 students -- or 10.21 percent -- have attempted suicide in the past year. Among medical students the number of attempted suicides over the past year was around 14 percent, compared with 7.7 percent among students in engineering. The poll showed that 5.33 per cent of those questioned suffer from severe depression. They tend to be cynical, have a low opinion of themselves and have problems with interpersonal relationships. Taiwan has one of the highest suicides rates in Asia. Last year 3,468 Taiwanese killed themselves, averaging about 10 suicides per day, at a rate of 15.31 suicides per every 100,000 people.
■ Society
Folk fest features robots
Several robots are being displayed at a special pavilion at the ongoing 2005 Ilan Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival, organizers said Saturday. Robots that can do push-ups, sommersaults, or even hip-hop dances are just some of the interesting things that await visitors to the pavilion. To give visitors a better understanding of robots, the pavilion has been divided into many educational sections dedicated to introducing facts regarding robots and the way robots are made, the organizers said. The festival is set to run through Aug. 14.
■ Biology
People want to make love
As Lover's Day approaches next week, a survey released yesterrday said that most young lovers in Taiwan would -- unsurprisingly -- like to celebrate the day by making love. In an online poll, the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) asked young people what they most wanted to do on Lovers' Day, which falls on Aug. 11 this year. The poll gave four choices: a romantic dinner, a walk, making love, or all three. Among the 504 respondents, 7 percent wanted a romantic dinner with their lovers, 15 percent opted for a walk, 44 percent wanted to make love and 33 per cent wanted to do all three.
■ Diplomacy
Pacheco to visit
Costa Rican President Abel Pacheco de la Espriella, at the head of a 14-member delegation, is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan Aug. 12 for a six-day state visit, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). At the invitation of the ROC government, Pacheco will attend the inauguration of the Democratic Pacific Union initiated by Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), and sign a joint comunique with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Pacheco first visited Taiwan in October 2002 to participate in the ROC's national day celebrations in his capacity as the Costa Rican president. He visited again in August 2003 to attend the summit of heads of state of the ROC and its Central American allies. Pacheco's August visit will be his third to Taiwan, which reflects the cordial relations between the two countries, a MOFA official said. Pacheco's delegation will include Costa Rican Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar, Minister of Foreign Trade Manual Gonzalez and several members of the Legislative Assembly.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
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