■ Political
Huang's lawyer files appeal
A lawyer for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英) yesterday filed an appeal with the Executive Yuan to rescind the Central Election Commission's (CEC) declaration of Chen Chu (陳菊) as the winner in the Dec. 9 polls. Huang's lawyer Ho Hsu-ling (何旭苓) and KMT Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ru (賴素如) told the Commission for Examining Petitions and Appeals that there were many flaws during the election process and so the CEC should nullify Chen's win. Accused of vote-buying by Chen's campaign office on the eve of the election, Huang later filed a lawsuit against Chen's camp and asked the court to seize the ballots and conduct a recount.
■ Transport
KRTC asks for extension
A Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) official confirmed yesterday that it has requested that the completion of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system for the city be extended by 18 months. Fan Chen-po (范陳柏), KRTC general manager, said that because of construction accidents, labor shortages and funding problems, the system will not be able to meet the original goal of inauguration at the end of next year. Fan expressed hope that the company will make full preparations so that the long-awaited MRT system will be inaugurated in mid-2008. A section of the red line of the MRT system was opened to the public for a test ride on Nov. 1. Among the more-than 40,000 people who rode the line, the approval rating was 95 percent. But Fan said that construction accidents in recent years, such as one section of the orange line which sustained two cave-ins, have seriously disrupted the progress of construction. In addition, the number of laborers required for the intersection of the red and orange lines is very large and cannot be resolved in time, he said.
■ Politics
Soong takes long vacation
People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and his wife arrived on Thursday in San Francisco, where they will be vacationing. Soong, who was defeated in the Dec. 9 Taipei mayoral election and announced his retirement from politics later that same day, said he might stay in the US for as long as six months. According to Soong, prior to his departure from Taiwan on Tuesday, he reached a consensus with former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on consolidating their two parties in time for next year's legislative elections and the 2008 presidential election.
■ society
Taipei to celebrate Xmas Eve
The Taipei City Government will spread some holiday cheer tomorrow, Christmas Eve, by inviting residents to attend a Christmas party. Before handing over the city government to the new mayor on Monday, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will lead representatives from private businesses and church members in singing carols and handing out candy around the streets of Xinyi at 9pm on Christmas Eve. For new immigrants, there will be a "New Immigrants Christmas Feast" at the Civic Plaza at noon tomorrow. New immigrants will be invited to join in with songs from various countries, which is intended to show support and encouragement to newcomers. A Christmas party will be held at the plaza at 6:30pm with pop stars and bands performing seasonal songs.
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