■HEALTH
A(H1N1) cases decline
While the number of cases of A(H1N1) influenza has continued to decline, cases of seasonal influenza B have increased, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday. Shih Wen-yi (施文儀), deputy director-general of the DOH’s Centers for Disease Control, said the swine flu virus has not been active recently, with only two or three newly hospitalized A(H1N1) cases. A 28-year-old pregnant woman was affected with A(H1N1) recently, but the mother and child were not in danger, Shih said. He said that DOH-contracted laboratories had found 88 percent of new flu cases to be a type of H1N1, with the remaining 12 percent tested as being B-type. Between 1,000 and 2,000 people receive A(H1N1) vaccinations daily, he said.
■DIPLOMACY
Captain to be released
The captain of a Taiwanese fishing boat detained in Japan since Feb. 3 is expected to be released once his court case ends and he pays the required fine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ke Ching-kuo (柯清國), captain of the Yilan-registered fishing vessel the Chuansheng No. 36, was taken to Yokahama for questioning after being seized by the Japanese coast guard for allegedly crossing a temporary marine boundary in waters near Iwo Jima, 1,200km south of Tokyo. Charges include evading investigation and fishing illegally. He is facing a fine of up to ¥1 million (NT$359,000), said Charles Chen (陳調和), secretary-general of the Association of East Asian Relations, which handles exchanges with Japan. “Ke has admitted to Japanese prosecutors that his boat illegally entered Japan waters,” Chen said. A verdict is expected on Friday. If Ke pays the fine immediately, he should be able to fly out the next day, Chen said.
■HEALTH
Ministry promotes ‘331’
The Ministry of Education yesterday encouraged adults to make a New Year’s resolution to exercise more, learn more and be more compassionate toward others. Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) urged people to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, to study for at least 30 minutes a day and to do a good deed each day. Wu coined his campaign the “331” movement. Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Education Lin Tsung-ming (林聰明) called on people to eat vegetarian food at least one day a week to help “save Taiwan and the world.” He said that 36kg of carbon dioxide is emitted in the production of each kilogram of beef.
■CULTURE
Film subsidies increase
Taiwan will increase its subsidies for foreign movie producers who film all or part of their pictures in the country, according to newly revised regulations announced by the Government Information Office (GIO) on Monday. The newly revised regulations will raise personnel subsidies to 30 percent of the cost of hiring Taiwanese actors and production staff, from the original 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Foreign producers will also be eligible for subsidies for 25 percent of their production expenses and 15 percent of their transportation, accommodation and insurance expenses. Producers whose films have won best picture awards in the competition category at four major film festivals — Cannes, Venice, Berlin and the Oscars — or productions co-produced by directors who have won a best director award at the festivals, will be granted more generous subsidies.
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