■ CRIME
Kidnappers run into Chen
Four gangsters who kidnapped a woman in Tainan County ran into President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) motorcade while making their getaway, local media reported yesterday. The Central News Agency said that a woman, whose name has not been released, shouted for help as the presidential motorcade passed by the kidnappers' vehicle on Saturday. Chen's security agents chased the vehicle for 20km, eventually succeeding in forcing it to a stop, security team leader Lei Ping-hua (雷炳華) said. The kidnappers surrendered and released the woman, Lei said, adding that two pistols and 20 rounds of bullets were found in their car.
■ WEATHER
`Lekima' not a problem
Tropical Storm Lekima, the 14th tropical storm in the western Pacific this year, formed in the South China Sea yesterday, but is unlikely to affect Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Meteorologists said that Lekima, located 800km southwest of Taiwan, was moving westward at 27km per hour. It is expected to slow down and move toward China's Hainan island. The bureau said a high pressure system to the north was expected to move toward Lekima, which could bring rain to the east coast.
■ CULTURE
Rotary Club sponsors rite
A total of 103 people between the ages of 16 and 20 from 12 countries attended a Confucian rite at the Confucius Temple in Taipei yesterday. Chen Chun-feng (陳俊鋒), head of Rotary International District 3520 served as chief ceremony officer. Chen said that the event was intended to give foreigners a chance to learn about Taiwan's culture and to prepare them for responsibility through participation in the ancient rite, which is an initiation into adulthood. Participants first dipped their hands in a golden bowl filled with water to symbolically wash away bad habits. They then made offerings to Confucius and made an announcement to gods and ancestors that they were prepared to enter this new stage of their lives.
■ CULTURE
Films festival takes stage
The Taiwan International Animation Festival will run at Shin Kong Cineplex in Taipei's Ximending District until Oct. 7. More than 300 animated films from Taiwan and abroad will be shown in three theaters. The films to be screened during the festival include 54 award-winning works from the US, Canada, France and Italy, and 12 US animation classics from the 1930s. Famous animators such as Tim Campbell, Jeff Chamberlain, Stephen Anderson, Stephen Chiodo and Paul Vester will answer questions from festival-goers following the screening of their works.
■ CULTURE
Nicaraguan minister to visit
Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Samuel Santos has been invited to attend Double Ten National Day celebrations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs sources said yesterday. This will be Santos' first visit since assuming office, the sources said. Relations with Nicaragua have become more stable since President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) visit in August, the sources said. The sources said Santos would bring along several high-ranking officials. The Santos-led delegation will meet with local officials to discuss how to increase cooperation in technology, investment, hydroelectricity, public health care and other areas. The trip will be formally announced in the next few days, the sources 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
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