■ Drugs
Suspected smuggler arrested
A Malaysian national of Chinese ancestry was arrested on Sunday night at CKS Airport for allegedly trying to smuggle ketamine into the country. The 45-year-old man, identified as One Eng Cheow, arrived on a China Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur. Detectives at the airport said they began to watch the man closely after noticing that he seemed nervous and was walking in a strange manner. Customs officials then joined the detectives in conducting a body search of the man. They said they found more than 3kg of ketamine in a package tied to his lower back. He was immediately referred to the Public Prosecutors Office in Taoyuan for prosecution. The Aviation Police said that a supply shortage due to increasing seizures by police has caused ketamine prices to soar from NT$100,000 (US$3,129) to NT$1 million per kilogram on the streets.
■ Politics
Nation has 116 parties
While only a few political parties constantly make the headlines, the most recent registry of political parties compiled by the Ministry of the Interior lists a total of 116 political parties as of the end of last month. Last year, no less than six new political parties were formed. Twelve parties include the word "Taiwan" in their name, and 10 were established after the Democratic Progressive Party came to power. Twenty-five parties use "China" in their name, but only four of these were established after the transition of power in 2000. Of all the registered parties, 24 had "democracy" in their name.
■ Investment
Chen warns on PRC exposure
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that the nation's exposure to the risks of investing in China must be lowered by diverting local investments to other countries, after a recent US survey showed that half of China's foreign investment is now from Taiwan. Chen received a group of outstanding convenience-store managers at the Presidential Office yesterday. He reiterated the necessity of deliberate cross-strait policies regarding economic development, also known as "active management, effective opening." According to the US survey, half of the US$560 billion in foreign investment in China came from Taiwan. "We have to be very cautious. Taiwan's economic lifeblood and resources cannot be placed in China only," Chen said. He said that about 40 percent of Taiwanese companies' production lines are abroad. Of these, 90 percent are in China. "The situation is quite dangerous. We mustn't forget China's long-term animosity and ambition to annex Taiwan," Chen said.
■ Health
Itchy kids urged to seek help
Doctors said yesterday that children diagnosed with atopic dermatitis should be treated as early as possible to increase their chances of recovering during adolescence. Dr. Tai Yang-hsia (戴仰霞) of the Department of Dermatology at National Taiwan University Hospital said that more than 3 million people in Taiwan suffer from the disease, and if early treatment is sought as a child, chances of recovery by adolescence increase by 50 percent. The main symptoms of the disease include extreme itchiness. Treatment includes antibiotics, steroids, antihistamines and creams. Dr Chu Chia-yu (朱家瑜) warned sufferers to take extra care in winter, when the weather is much drier. Chu cautioned sufferers against soaking in certain hot springs such as those containing sulphur compounds, which could cause the skin to rot.
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