■ Politics
DPP appoints new officials
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday announced a new lineup of party officials, including the appointment of Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), a former chief of the Government Information Office, as the party's new secretary-general. DPP chairman-elect Yu Shyi-kun, a former premier, yesterday said that Lin, who used to be Yu's Cabinet spokesman, will be a good candidate to liaise between the party, the Cabinet and the Presidential Office because of his Cabinet background. In addition, other high-ranking party positions confirmed yesterday included director of the party's policy research and coordinating committee Chao Yung-ching (趙永清), a DPP legislator, and director of the financial committee Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), a senior DPP legislator. Yu is slated to take up the chairman post on Thursday.
■ Traffic
Kuanghua demolition begins
The Kuanghua overpass, which housed the popular Kuanghua Market for computer and book lovers since 1973, will begin to be dismantled on Jan. 29, the Taipei City Government said. Because of the renovation work, businesses in the Kuanghua Market and others in the area were relocated to the intersection of Xinsheng S Road and Civic Boulevard on Jan. 18. Traffic congestion in the area is expected during the demolition period, and only one lane will be left open for emergency use, the city said. The city expects to finish taking apart the bridge by Feb. 6, and will finish laying pavement and setting up bus lanes by May 3. During the renovation period, which is expected to be completed on Aug. 10, the city asked the public to avoid driving in the area and to take advantage of public transportation.
■ Environment
Spring cleaners beware
With the customary spring cleaning period for the Lunar New Year coming up, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) officials urged the public to remember to separate their waste material into the categories of "recyclables," "food scraps" and "ordinary garbage." Since Jan. 1 it has been mandatory for the public to separate their garbage according to the three categories. Although fines won't be issued for improperly separated garbage for another three months, items will be rejected. Those caught throwing rubbish into the streets or drains will face fines of between NT$1,200 and NT$6,000. In regard to larger household items such as televisions, fridges and beds, officials said they will be collected by the environmental departments of each area at set times, and members of the public should abide by these times or else face fines. The EPA is also conducting a nationwide spring cleaning from yesterday through Friday.
■ Society
Foreigners try sky lanterns
The sky lantern tradition will once again light up the night sky during next month's Lantern Festival, including some bearing wishes in foreign languages. Hot-air lanterns were made by foreigners in a cultural class at the Youth Language Study Activity Program of National Taiwan Normal University. The students in the six-week program come from different countries, including South Korea, Panama, Brazil and El Salvador. Students had a 20-minute introduction on the history of sky lanterns, before starting a hands-on experience. "This is cool. We don't have anything like this in my country," said Joan Martinez, from Panama. The lanterns will be launched in Hsinchu on Feb. 8.
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