■ DEFENSE
Army finds human remains
An Army demining team in Kinmen discovered human remains during a demining operation a few days ago, sources told the Taipei Times yesterday. The remains, in complete form, seemed to be from two bodies, the sources said, adding that one was wearing an army uniform and had dog tag around the neck. Based on the type of uniform, the two men may have died during the 823 Artillery Bombardment in 1958, during which Chinese forces bombarded Kinmen with as many as 500,000 shells. As of press time, the remains were still at the scene, but the sources said local funeral service workers would collect them and cremate the remains later this week.
■ DIPLOMACY
Beijing pressures Tokyo
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) yesterday urged his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Komura not to provide a forum for Taiwan's independence activists, a Japanese official said. In a bilateral meeting in Beijing, Yang said he saw Taiwan's plans for a referendum in March on whether to seek to join the UN as a threat, the official said. Yang asked Japan not to provide a forum for independence activists, nor send any "wrong messages." Komura said Japan could not support any one-sided attempt to change the balance of power between Taiwan and China, the official said. Japan occasionally plays host to politicians from Taiwan.
■ CRIME
Snake bite scheme fails
Police have arrested a man who allegedly used a snake bite in an insurance fraud scheme, a newspaper said yesterday. A Taipei construction worker identified only as Chien, 53, claimed he was bitten by a snake in November last year at the home of a friend who raised snakes, the Apple Daily reported. Chien was rushed to hospital by his friend and had one finger amputated. Several months ago, Chien approached his insurance company to claim NT$25 million (US$760,000) insurance for bodily injury. The insurance company studied Chien's medical records and became suspicious on finding that there was only one bite mark on Chien's hand, yet tests showed there were three types of snake venom in his blood.
■ RETAIL
Toy safety checks planned
The Ministry of Economic Affairs's Bureau of Standard Metrology and Inspection will conduct safety examinations of toys marketed in toy shops, department stores, shopping malls and night markets around the nation in the next few days, bureau officials said yesterday. The decision was made after the US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 62 toys manufactured in China from July 19 to Nov. 14 because they were painted with lead-based paint. The recalls included magnetic train sets, toy jewelry sets, accessories for Barbie dolls and stuffed toys, the officials cited online commission reports as saying. The officials said their examination would focus on whether the products contain excessive amounts of heavy metals, whether they have safety instructions, warnings and other useful information written in Mandarin, and whether any of the substandard products listed by the commission are marketed in Taiwan. Bureau officials advised consumers to check before buying toys containing small or magnetic parts that toddlers could choke on, as well as toys with sharp edges or that are painted in bright colors.
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