■ Motoring
Tests in other languages
The Taipei City Government's Motor Vehicle Office announced that its Web site will carry sample questions for drivers' written tests in five Asian languages starting tomorrow to help immigrants prepare for their tests. A spokesman said that sample questions will be available in Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai and Khmer. He said that a lack of opportunities to practice using sample questions was the main reason why only about 30 percent of immigrants from Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia have passed written tests in their own languages.
■ Earthquakes
South rattled by temblor
A temblor measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale jolted the nation's south yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said, but there were no reports of casualties or damage. The quake struck at 5:07am, with the epicenter located 25.6km off Taitung City at a depth of 51km, seismologists said.
■ Society
Market seeks old photos
From a collection of messy roadside stalls to a favorite attraction for international tourists, the Huashi Street Night Market has experienced quite a transformation over the past two decades. With the nation's first sightseeing night market celebrating its 20th anniversary, it is trying to preserve its past while looking ahead. The market has invited the public to submit photos of the Wanhua District that are 20 years or older. "Collecting old photos can help us to witness the historical path this district has walked through," said Hsu Mu-sheng (許穆生), president of the night market association. The association encouraged the public to send photos to No. 31 Huashi Street between now and Jan. 20. Those whose photos are chosen will be able to enjoy free Danzi Noodles, a famous Taiwanese dish that originated in Tainan.
■ Crime
Kinmen police seize drugs
Kinmen police yesterday seized more than 80kg of amphetamines smuggled from China, valued at around NT$300 million (US$9 million). Kinmen police said that two Chinese smugglers landed on the Kinmen coast early yesterday morning with the drugs. When 13 Kinmen police officers who had been waiting there appeared, the two Chinese ran away in the dark and left the drugs on the scene. The drugs were packed in tea bags, the police said, adding that they were investigating whether any Kinmen residents were involved.
■ Politics
Lu may talk with Ma
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday expressed hope that she can serve as a bridge of harmony between the governing and opposition parties in her upcoming meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Lu made the remarks while speaking about an annual meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association on Friday where she will meet Ma. Lu, who is also the acting chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had encouraged her to speak with Ma. Ma holds a doctorate in law from Harvard, while Lu also pursued graduate studies at the university before returning to Taiwan in 1978 to devote herself to activism and politics. Lu said that at the alumni meeting she would give a 10-minute talk. Ma will then also talk for 10 minutes, followed by a question-and-answer session.
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