EARTHQUAKES
Four quakes jolt Yilan
A string of four earthquakes, including a magnitude 5, jolted Yilan early yesterday morning, with no casualties reported, according to the Central Weather Bureau. The magnitude 5 quake occurred at 3:23am, with its epicenter located 6.9km southwest of Nanao (南澳), according to the bureau’s Seismology Center. The magnitude 5 quake was followed by three aftershocks before 6:35am — of magnitudes of 3.5, 3.1 and 3.1 respectively. Bureau officials said the four jolts were normal seismological activity that helped release accumulations of tectonic pressure that regularly builds up in the area. The center welcomed 10 mild earthquakes, including a magnitude 5.1 quake, that shook Hualien County over 15 hours on Sept. 28 as constructive activity that helped release tectonic pressure.
DIPLOMACY
Ma sends condolences
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has sent condolences to former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) over the death of his wife, who died on Saturday, Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said. The president and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) had been briefed on the news and both sent their condolences, Lo added. Messages of condolences were conveyed via Taiwan’s representative to Singapore, Vanessa Shih (史亞平), Ko said. Kwa Geok Choo (柯玉芝), the wife of the Singapore’s first prime minister and the mother of its current leader, died after suffering strokes in 2008. She was 89.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Contractors get 57 projects
The value of public works designated by the government for participation by the private sector is expected to exceed NT$200 billion (US$6.39 billion) next year, according to the Public Construction Commission. The commission said on Saturday that the government has selected 57 public works projects costing about NT$171.3 billion, to be offered to private contractors next year and is studying other potential infrastructure development programs for participation by the private sector. Among the 57 projects are a Taichung metro system development plan, an economic and trade zone development plan for Kinmen and four land development plans in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), the commission said. By encouraging the private sector to invest in infrastructure projects, the government is hoping to lower its financial burden and stimulate economic activity. Under related laws, the government offers the private sector incentives, such as relaxed rules on land acquisition and preferential tax status to encourage investment.
CRIME
Fake goods get man arrested
A man suspected of selling counterfeit products online has been arrested, intellectual property rights police in Chiayi said yesterday. Police said they arrested the suspect, identified only by his surname Kuo (郭), in Tainan and seized nearly 2,000 fake brand name products, which they estimated to be worth about NT$10 million. Police said they were tipped off a month earlier about people importing fake items bearing brand names — such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Swarovski, Tiffany and Cartier — and selling them online. The results of an initial investigation found that the suspect had been operating for six months. He was turned over to the Chiayi Prosecutors’ Office for violations of the Trademark Act (商標法).
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