■ Society
Wedding could set record
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator Yen Chin-piao (顏清標) is scheduled to host a luxurious wedding today for his 17-year-old son, Yen Chia-yi (顏嘉儀), who is marrying a high school classmate. The Yen family has invited about 20,000 guests. Political heavyweights such as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) are all on Yen's guest list. The wedding will be held at a sports stadium in Taichung's Shalu (沙鹿) Township. There will be at least 1,600 tables at the banquet, with 10 to 12 people at each table. But the number may go up, setting a new record in Taiwan. The couple will be escorted to the wedding by 36 BMW-745 automobiles at noon. Entertainers such as Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) will perform.
■ Society
Official threatened
Minister of Civil Service Chu Wu-hsien (朱武獻) yesterday said new pension rules will become effective on Feb. 16 as scheduled, despite threats against him, including one caller who told him his "legs will be chopped if the new rules are carried out." Chu confirmed yesterday that menacing calls were made to his office and that attempts have been made to blackmail him. He declined further comment, saying that the police were probing the matter. Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), Chu's boss, comforted Chu by saying that it is quite normal to be threatened if you are making a change. "I was threatened all the time but I never called the police for help in the past," Yao said.
■ Society
English contest launched
As a way to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the Taipei City Government's Information Department has invited the public to share their New Year wishes by writing them down in English. The English composition contest is part of a special Lunar New Year event involving the city government's English Web site. The public is invited to write a 100-word English composition about their personal wishes and wishes for the city in the Year of the Dog. Make a submission to "New Year, New Wish" by e-mail (citynews@mail.taipei.gov.tw) or fax (02-2720-5892) from Monday to Thursday. The first 30 submissions will receive two complimentary banners and two red envelopes signed by Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). For more information, please call 2720-8889, ext. 2034.
■ Health
Product labels urged
Approximately 45 percent of the cleaning products on the market are strong acidic solutions, yet most do not carry warnings or the pH value of the products on the label, a Taipei city councilor said yesterday. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) councilor Li Ken Kuei-Fong (厲耿桂芳) said that out of the 21 cleaning products she had inspected, 15 had not indicated their pH values on the labels. According to Article 7 of the Consumer Protection Law (消費者保護法), when a product may cause a possible danger to consumers, it must carry a warning label or instructions to ensure safe usage. But Business Administration Office officials said that no existing regulation stipulates that pH values have to be indicated on labels. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is currently drafting labeling standards officials said. The Department of Environmental Protection urged consumers to purchase cleaning products with "environmentally-friendly" stickers on them.
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