■ ADMINISTRATION
Youth agency chief quits
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has approved the resignation of Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君), chairwoman of the National Youth Commission, the Cabinet said in a statement yesterday. Cheng's resignation came on the heels of a complaint filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田), who accused Cheng of neglecting her duties and spending her working hours campaigning for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷). Cheng said she had tendered her resignation earlier, but Chang did not approve it until Tuesday. Cheng has since taken a leave of absence and participated in a south-to-north march to mark the 61st anniversary of the then KMT government's crackdown on a civilian uprising. The activity began on Lunar New Year's Eve and will conclude in Taipei next Thursday.
■ LITIGATION
John Chiang loses lawsuit
The grandson of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) lost a libel lawsuit against a political rival who branded the former leader the "culprit" behind the 1947 massacre, a court official said yesterday. The Taiwan High Court rejected the appeal by John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker, over a district court ruling last year in favor of former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Yu Shyi-kun. The earlier court verdict had noted that although "culprit" was an exaggerated and sensational word, the comment was not libelous. "Yu's remarks were based on a research paper on the incident that concluded Chiang should `shoulder the greatest responsibility,'" said high court spokesman Wen Yao-yuan (溫耀源). "A former leader's conduct is a public affair, which can be subject to scrutiny." The high court ruling is final.
■ DIPLOMACY
Tripoli office opens
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the nation had opened a representative office in Libya last Wednesday. "The establishment of the office in Tripoli will further facilitate the development of mutually beneficial relations between Taiwan and Libya," the ministry said in a press release. The opening of the Taiwan Commercial Office in Tripoli was the result of an agreement reached by the two countries when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) visited Libya two years ago, ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) told the Taipei Times by telephone. With the opening of the office, Yeh said she hoped that exchanges between the two countries in the areas of business, tourism and the exploration of Libya's natural resources would increase.
■ DIPLOMACY
Games ship sets sail
Officials have come up with a twist to promote the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, transforming a naval vessel into a floating exhibition hall that will visit Latin America to publicize the event. The Wuyi, a naval vessel and one of three ships in Taiwan's "Fleet of Friendship," is having its hold converted into a 40m-long gallery that will display information and photographs relating to the Games. The ship is making its way around the country until March 4 before sailing to Latin America to promote the competition. Calling the Wuyi a "ship of peace," International World Games Association president Ron Froehlich said in Kaohsiung that it would be the best and most effective way to convey the message of world peace to athletes, children and future generations.
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