■ DIPLOMACY
Young receives medal
Stephen Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, received a medal from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday for his contribution to Taiwan-US relations. Chen conferred the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Young, who was accompanied by his family and co-workers. Young said he and Chen had not always agreed on everything but that they had always worked hard in the interest of Taiwan-US relations. He also looked forward to working with the next president to further develop US-Taiwan friendship and cooperation, he said. Meanwhile, Rong San Lin
(林榮三), founder of the Liberty Times (Taipei Times' sister paper), yesterday received the Order of Propitious Clouds, second class, for his contribution to the media and construction industries. Others who received honors yesterday included former senior residential adviser Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), former senior presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏 and chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party's Arbitration Committee, Chen Chi-sheng (陳繼盛), a former national policy adviser.
■ POLITICS
Group plans May 20 march
Pro-independence groups yesterday encouraged the public to participate in a march organized for May 20, the day of the inauguration of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), to demonstrate their determination to build a new republic. Participants were advised to gather at the Da-an Forest Park at 1:30pm. The event, scheduled to begin at 2 pm, will include a flag-raising ceremony, speeches and a march to the Liberty Square at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴), chairman of the Taiwan Association of University Professors, said the theme of the event is "to be the master of Taiwan, and refuse to be the slave of China."
■ PETS
Dog fines to hit NT$50,000
Dog owners in Taipei City who fail to have their dogs implanted with chip IDs and vaccinated against rabies could face fines of up to NT$50,000 starting next month, the Taipei City Government said yesterday. Owners who do not implant chip IDs in their dogs will be fined between NT$3,000 and NT$15,000, and will face a fine between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000 if their dogs are not vaccinated against rabies, said Yen I-feng (嚴一峰), Director of the Taipei Municipal Institute for Animal Health. Pet owners who do not get chip IDs for their pets can go to certified vets and pay a discounted implant fee of NT$250 to complete the registration process. The fee for the rabies vaccine is NT$200, Yen said. To find vets registered with the city government, visit the Web site www.tmiah.tcg.gov.tw.
■ ACADEMIA
NAS elects academician
Academia Sinica ??the country's top research institute -announced yesterday that one of its academicians has been elected a new member of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the most prestigious scientific organization in the US. Evelyn Hu (胡玲), 61, was one of 72 new members elected to the NAS on April 29 at the organization's annual meeting in Washington, in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in research. The scientist became an academician of Academia Sinica in 2004. Her research focuses on the formation of nanophotonic devices that can provide more energy-efficient lighting sources and facilitate new, faster computation and communications.
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