■ Society
Calendar dogs on show
The Taipei City Government unveiled its 2006 calendar yesterday, which features 12 different breeds of dog to "bring good luck" in the year of the dog. A total of 12 dogs, including a Poodle, an Old English Sheepdog and a Yorkshire Terrier strode the catwalk as models to promote the calendar. In addition to pictures of dogs, the "2006 Municipal Calendar" also includes photos of the city's scenery with themes such as culture, ecology, and health. The calendar, priced at NT$150 (US$5), can be purchased between now and Jan. 15 at the San Min Bookstore on Chung Chin S. Road, the Wu Nan Culture Plaza on Shih Da Road, or the city government's publication sale center.
PHOTO:LIAO CHENG-HUI
■ Transport
Crossing hogs to be fined
Vehicle drivers who do not slow down and yield to pedestrians at crossroads will soon face fines, according to a new amendment to the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law (道路交通管理處罰條例) passed yesterday in the Legislature. Amendments to the law passed yesterday rule that all automobile drivers have to yield to pedestrians at cross-roads and intersections or face penalties of between NT$1,200 (US$36) and NT$3,600. In addition, the amendments also provide for fines of up to NT$3,000 for car drivers who do not install child safety seats when carrying children in their cars.
■ Society
Ma says fight corruption
Corruption in Taiwan has worsened and the government should put greater effort into fighting this problem in order to earn back the people's trust, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday. "According to a study conducted by Transparency International, Taiwan was ranked 32nd this year in the global transparency investigation ? I do not say this to criticize the government, but I think we all need to do better in fighting corruption," said Ma, who also serves as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman. He said Transparency International published its first annual evaluation report when he was minister of justice, ranking Taiwan 25th in terms of government integrity. Since 2000, when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power, Taiwan's rankings have ranged between 32nd and 35th.
■ Health
Staff can improve refusals
Department of Health (DOH) officials said that there is still room for convenience store staff to improve their technique when refusing to sell cigarettes to teenagers. Chao Kun-yu (趙坤郁), deputy director-general of the Bureau of Health Promotion, made the remarks after inspecting a training program for convenience store staff that aims to improve their knowledge of the Tobacco Hazard Control Act (菸害防制法) and to learn techniques for refusing to sell cigarettes to people under the age of 18. Chao noted that the DOH has presented proposals for an amendment to the Tobacco Hazard Control Act to the legislature for screening, which will include some changes to the way stores are allowed to exhibit their tobacco products.
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