■ Justice
Caning presents a dilemma
Deputy Minister of Justice Wang Tien-sheng (王添盛) said yesterday that the ministry had no set view on whether serious sex offenders should be chemically castrated or caned and it would listen to public views on the issue. Wang made the remarks during a seminar sponsored by the ministry to discuss whether to cane sex criminals after three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators recently proposed caning as a punishment for serial rapists. Those attending the seminar also included various legislative caucuses, women's groups and academics. Wang said that to add another form of punishment to the judicial system presented a problem and the ministry would have to solicit opinions before publishing its findings.
■ Politics
KMT changes threshold
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) announced yesterday that it had lowered the signature threshold for its presidential primary registration, making it easier for interested members to participate. The signature threshold will be lowered from 5 percent of more than 50,000 party members to 5 percent of about 10,000 members who have full membership rights, the KMT Central Standing Committee said. A registration fee of NT$7 million (US$210,000) is also payable. The party will issue application forms from next Tuesday to April 5, and accept registrations from April 19 to April 22. The KMT's presidential candidate will be determined on May 25. Only former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has declared his intention to run so far.
■ Health
Pay NHI bills conveniently
Starting next month, health insurance bills can be paid at convenience stores, the Bureau of National Health Insurance said yesterday. The bureau said the bills can be paid at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, OK Convenience Store, Hi-Life and Nikomart from April 20. The amount of each transaction may not exceed NT$20,000 and a processing fee of NT$3 will be charged. In related news, the bureau said yesterday that all health insurance expenses incurred last year may be listed as deductibles in this year's tax returns. For further information, call 0800-030-598.
■ Politics
Su turns camera shy
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday that he would not appear in any more TV commercials in order to avoid potential political attacks from his opponents. "In addition, TV commercials currently being aired with me in them will be dropped," Su said during yesterday morning's weekly Cabinet meeting. His comments came as a response to recent criticism from pan-blues, who accused him of taking advantage of TV commercials to promote himself. Su is vying for the Democratic Progressive Party's nomination for next year's presidential election. Su said his appearances in TV commercials were intended to promote the government's policies and urged his fellow Cabinet members to continue to appear in commercials.
■ Crime
Customs money stolen
Nearly US$50,000 in cash has been stolen from a warehouse at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport's cargo terminal, police said on Tuesday. The money had been confiscated from passengers who were carrying more cash than they were entitled to. Customs officials said 498 US$100 bills were missing.
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