■ Weather
Temperatures plunging
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a low-temperature alert yesterday as a cold front began to increase in intensity. According to the bureau, low-temperatures will last from today until Tuesday. The bureau forecast that temperatures are likely to drop to 8℃ today and cautioned people living north of Tainan, in northeastern coastal areas and in Kinmen and Matsu to expect cold weather. Shipping was warned of possible strong winds. The cold front began affecting temperatures yesterday morning. Tamsui, for example, hit 12.3℃ while the temperature in Taichung dropped to 15.7℃.
■ Road safety
More motorcyclists killed
As many as 67.9 percent of people killed in traffic accidents in Taipei last year were motorcyclists, up 19.2 percent from 48.7 percent in the previous year, according to figures released yesterday by the city's transportation bureau. Of the motorcyclists who died in traffic accidents, 70.2 percent were under 30 years of age, bureau officials said. They said a total of 88 major traffic accidents were recorded in the city last year, leaving 81 people dead and seven seriously injured. The figures compare with 92 major traffic accidents in 2005, which left 84 people dead and 13 seriously injured, they said. They said more than 90 percent of the accidents were the result of traffic violations, such as speeding, running red lights and drunk driving, adding that the bureau will step up its crackdown on traffic violations to reduce the city's traffic accident death rate.
■ Health
Blood bank calls for donors
The Taipei Blood Center has issued an appeal to the public to roll up their sleeves and give generously as the city's blood supplies are worryingly low. "Taipei typically uses 1,600 bags of blood a day, and we need to have a seven-day supply on hand as a cushion," said Lai Chao-hung (賴肇鴻), the director of the examination division at the Chinese Blood Donation Foundation. "However, our stock is now down to 4,000 bags." Lai said that the shortage of type A blood was especially acute, with only 800 bags or a half day's supply left. "The cold weather discourages people from leaving their homes to donate blood," he said, "but we're hoping that media appeals will let people know their help is urgently needed." Foreign nationals are welcome, he said, reminding potential non-Taiwanese donors to bring their passports to blood donation stations if they want to give blood.
■ Politics
Hau finalizes appointments
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) completed his search for top-level administrative officials as he announced the last four members of his mayoral team yesterday. They are the director of the city's finance department, Lin Chien-yuan (林建元), the head of Taipei Feitsui Reservoir Administration, Lee Kun-cher (李公哲), commissioner of the law and regulation commission, Yeh Chin-yuan, (葉慶元) and the director of Taipei Public Service Institute Liu Pao-kuei (劉寶貴). Although all of Hau's 31 officials have been confirmed, five -- including Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yung-ping (李永萍), the new cultural affairs department director and new deputy mayor Lin Chun-yi (林崇一) -- will not take office until next month due existing work commitments. In response to concerns about the their absence, Hau said that many officials need time to honor commitments before taking up their new jobs.
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