■ DIPLOMACY
Hsu named EU representative
Former director-general of the National Security Bureau Shi Hwei-yow (?? has been named the new representative to the EU, the bureau announced yesterday. Shi, a judge-turned-politician who studied in Germany and is well versed in European affairs, will take over a post that has been vacant since last November, a statement from the bureau said. During his tenures as the bureau’s deputy director and director, Shi visited various EU countries on several occasions and submitted many policy proposals for government reference, the statement said. A legal expert, Shi started his political career by heading the legal service department at the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). He later served as SEF deputy secretary-general, as well as its secretary-general and vice chairman. During those tenures, he represented Taiwan in many rounds of talks with China in the 1990s. Shi, 57, has also been vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council and head of the Coast Guard Administration.
■ HEALTH
Swine flu cases confirmed
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed another five clusters of swine flu infections, including one at a hospital. CDC spokesman Lin Ting (林頂) said that one cluster case took place at the CDC’s research department. He said 100 people were confirmed to be infected by the swine flu virus, although all of them had only minor flu symptoms. As of press time yesterday, CDC statistics showed that there were 19 cluster infections, nine severe cases and one patient had died of the disease. Lin said that a simulation by Academia Sinica showed that at least 4,340 patients would be added to the toll of swine flu infections each week and that the number would increase. The simulation’s estimates came from results that combined case history data and reported cases. Lin said at least 6,000 to 8,000 cases a week are expected by fall.
■ ENTERTAINMENT
Auntie Wen-ying dies at 73
Entertainer Huang Ching-liang (黃錦涼), better known as “Auntie Wen-ying” (文英阿姨) died yesterday of lung cancer aged 73. The news of her passing was mourned by fans and friends in the entertainment industry. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) had wanted to visit her during her hospitalization, but their offers were declined. Auntie Wen-ying was a household name in Taiwan. She started her career aged 19 as a dancer in a traveling cabaret-style troupe in 1953. She appeared in 34 movies and won a Golden Horse as best female co-star in 1992 for her role as a brothel manager in Hill of No Return.
■ TELECOMS
Dahu gets broadband
New Century InfoComm Tech, one of the nation’s major telecoms players, has started providing broadband services to Dahu (大湖) in Chiayi County’s Fanlu (番路) Township, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said on Wednesday. With the first broadband network for remote areas completed this year, the commission is confident of achieving its policy goal of “broadband for every tribe and village,” part of Taiwan’s telecommunications universal service program. The launch ceremony of the service was held at the township’s Dahu elementary school, the commission said. The service allows students to benefit from opportunities provided by an “e-learning” program. Of 730 Aboriginal villages, 54 still do not have access to broadband.
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