■ DEFENSE
Classified data mishandled
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday confirmed that a member of Military Intelligence Agency had mishandled classified information, but denied that the ministry was investigating the incident as an espionage case. The ministry made the remarks in a statement issued yesterday in response to a story published by Next Magazine. The magazine reported yesterday that Military Intelligence Agency director-general Ker Kuang-ming (葛廣明) suspected his deputy, Liu Ben-shan (劉本善), of leaking information, “which ended up in the hand of Chinese intelligence.” The report also said that Liu was given an administrative demerit for bringing classified information from work back to his home. “The individual concerned in this case has been punished,” the statement said. Further inquiries were met by “no comments” from the ministry.
■ SPORTS
Premier lauds athletes
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) presided over a banquet yesterday for the athletes and officials who represented Taiwan in the 25th World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. Taiwanese athletes won seven gold, five silver and five bronze medals in the Games. During the banquet, which was hosted by the Sports Affairs Council and the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation, Liu congratulated the athletes and expressed hope that the Taiwanese athletes competing in the Hong Kong East Asian Games in December and in the 2010 Asia Games in China would bring honor to the country. The World University Games, which is held every two years, took place from July 1 to July 12, attracting more than 9,000 competitors and referees from 165 nations.
■ CHARITY
Artists to join charity fast
The Taiwan chapter of the Christian charity World Vision said yesterday that a record number of artists and singers had signed up to support its “30-Hour Famine Hero Rally” next month to raise money to fight hunger. Artists from major record companies such as Sony, Universal, AsiaMuse, Linfair, Warner and Forward, are preparing to support the event, which is part of the group’s global movement to involve people, especially youngsters, to fast for 30 hours to raise money for people suffering from famine in poor countries, World Vision Taiwan said. Now in its 20th year, the rally in Taiwan is scheduled to take place this year on Aug. 15 and Aug. 16 at National Taiwan Sport University’s multipurpose gymnasium and is expected to draw 15,000 participants, the group said. Artists who have pledged to speak up for the world’s hungry and committed themselves to appearances at the rally include Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), Sylvia Chang (張艾嘉), Will Pan (潘瑋柏), Sodagreen, Da Mouth (大嘴巴) and Rachel Liang (梁文音), the organization said.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Recycling contest opens
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is offering NT$600,000 (US$18,300) in cash prizes in an artistic design competition to promote garbage recycling, an official said yesterday. EPA Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) invited the public to join the online competition by submitting comic strips or videos on garbage recycling. Working on the theme of “recycling to zero waste,” contestants have a choice of four subjects: recycling categories; where to store materials awaiting recycling; innovative ways of using recycled materials; and the value of recycled goods. Entries will be accepted until Oct. 15, Shen 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
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