■ Diplomacy
Paal honored with medal
American Institute in Taiwan Director Douglas Paal yesterday received a medal of the Order of the Brilliant Star from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who expressed his appreciation for Paal's contribution to the improvement of relations between Taiwan and the US. Paal said that during his three-and-a-half years in Taiwan, he has been fully supported by the president, who kept communication channels open at all times. Paal said that collaboration between the two countries has been significantly improved, especially in the fields of law enforcement, business, technology and security. He said that his most important goal in Taiwan has been maintaining peace in the region. Paal is expected to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today to say goodbye to the staff he has worked with.
■ Society
Chen expecting grandchild
Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) only daughter, is expecting her third child. The president yesterday told the media that his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), had been very surprised to learn about the pregnancy. "They've got three-year-old Chao Yi-an (趙翊安) and one-year-old Yi-ting (翊廷). Now the name for the third child could be Chao Yi-wai (趙意外)," the president said. "Yi-wai" means "accident" in Mandarin. "Perhaps the first family has set a good example to boost the population of Taiwan," the president said. Statistics released in the middle of last year show 216,419 babies were born in Taiwan in 2004. The birth rate was 9.56 births per 1,000 people. Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), the president's son-in-law, said in a TV interview that his wife is 14 weeks pregnant.
■ Politics
No Olympic events in Taiwan
A government official yesterday ruled out the possibility that any of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games events would be held in Taiwan. Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Vice Minister Johnnason Liu (劉德勳) quoted the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (NCPFS) as saying that according to Beijing's plans, all events except sailing and showjumping will take place in Beijing. The sailing event is slated to be held in Qindao, Shandong Province, while the equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong. As to whether the Olympic Torch relay would pass through Taiwan, Liu said that both the MAC and the NCPFS have been paying close attention to China's arrangements for the relay.
■ Politics
Ma vows to be reasonable
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised that his party's dealings with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will be "rational and reasonable." Ma made the remarks during a lunch gathering with a group of retired military leaders. However, Ma expressed suspicion over the new Cabinet to be led by former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) that will be sworn in tomorrow. Saying that he has no intention of "singing the blues" about the new Cabinet, Ma added, however, that Taiwan had gone backwards over the past six years under the DPP's governance. He said that both he and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) share the view that Taiwan must maintain sufficient national defences to counter China's military threat. The KMT will not oppose the government increasing its military spending to 3 percent of GDP should national finances allow, he said.
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