■ Crime
Anti-theft measure planned
In an effort to stem theft, the National Police Agency (NPA) will implement a new measure on Monday requiring that every new motorcycle be stamped with an engine code before license plates are issued. The new policy is part of an amendment to the regulations on road and traffic safety which was approved on Sept. 17 by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications after the policy was determined to be effective in a trial run by the NPA in March. During the period between March 15 and Dec. 17, the number of motorcycle thefts dropped 23 percent compared with the figure for the same period in the previous year, according to NPA Criminal Investigation Bureau tallies.
■ Environment
Wetlands study completed
The Chiayi County Government completed a three-year study in cooperation with the Southwest Coast National Scenic Area Administration yesterday, in an effort to develop the coastal wetlands into a wildlife conservation area. Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) inspected the Aoku Wetlands in Tungshi Township along with senior officials of the national scenic area administration. Chen said the wetlands, spanning more than 1,000 hectares, were a perfect site for bird-watching because they attracted hundreds of migrant birds every winter. The project calls for the area to be proclaimed a wildlife conservation area and for the construction of a wildlife protection center.
■ Immigration
Officials defend quota
Immigration officials yesterday defended the limit on the number of Chinese spouses of local citizens allowed to make short-term visits to Taiwan each year. The officials said that the newly amended regulations released earlier this month by the Ministry of the Interior allowed for 12,000 such people to enter the country each year. Previously, only 7,200 were permitted. The officials said that as the number of Chinese spouses applying for short-term residence has declined since 2003, when the government began conducting interviews of potential spouses, the annual quota of 12,000 short-term residence permits was reasonable. Noting that foreign and Chinese spouses of local residents now account for the largest number of immigrants, officials said they had become a drain on society. The government should set up a mechanism to control the growth of the country's population, they added. Taiwan's population density is the second-highest in the world.
■ Labor affairs
Restaurants have appeal
Middle-aged workers have the most interest in starting their own businesses, with the restaurant industry being the favorite, according to tallies released yesterday by the Council of Labor Affairs. By last Wednesday, 1,300 workers -- with women accounting for 53.4 percent and men accounting for 46.6 percent -- had consulted the council about a program encouraging workers to open small businesses that require no more than NT$1 million in investment start-up since the program was launched in June, the tallies showed. About 60 percent of the workers who sought consultations were in the 40 to 60 age group. By educational background, high school graduates accounted for 38.2 percent, bachelor's degree holders accounted for 22.1 percent, and college graduates accounted for 20.1 percent.
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