DIPLOMACY
Captain’s daughter blasts US
The daughter of a ship captain yesterday called for the US government to provide a complete investigation and compensation after her father, kidnapped by Somali pirates about a year ago, was killed during a shootout between a US warship and the pirates. Wu Lai-yu (吳來于), who was skipper of the Jih Chun Tsai No. 68, was killed on May 10. His daughter said the family had struck a ransom deal with the pirates in late April after more than a year of negotiations and could not accept the outcome of the US intervention. “The US has deprived us of our most important family member and the fishing vessel, the only tool that supported the family,” she said. She also expressed doubt as to why the US did not inform Taipei until May 21, 11 days after the shootout. The warship that carried out the NATO anti-piracy operation should have known there were hostages aboard, she added.
BUSINESS
Soapberry signs Japan deal
A Tainan-based agricultural product company yesterday signed a distribution deal with a Japanese partner to sell their natural personal care products overseas. The deal between Soapberry Biotech Progress Co and Japan-based Yokohama Oils and Fats Industry Co will allow cleaning products made from soapberries, including shampoo, conditioner and body wash, to be sold in Japan. Eyeing the business potential in the market, Yokohoma Oils, which has been manufacturing and selling cleaning products for 80 years, decided to import Taiwanese soapberry products into Japan, Yokohoma Oils president Hideo Konda said. “We believe Taiwan-manufactured products retain high quality and its manufacturing technique is very advanced,” Honda said. Soapberry, founded in 2006, has developed more than 30 product lines.
TOURISM
Airborne tours to begin
Visitors to Taiwan will soon have the option to add a novel experience to their itineraries — an airborne tour of the southern tip of the country. The Sport Aviation Association is preparing to launch a service tomorrow that will offer customers a tour of the nation’s southern areas, from Dapeng Bay (大鵬灣) along the Pingtung County coastline to the mountain village of Saijia (賽嘉), onboard an ultralight aircraft. At a cost of NT$6,000 an hour, the service targets high-end customers, the association said. Ultralight aircraft tours are still considered a niche market in Taiwan and the customer base is small, according to the association. Last year, the government gave approval for the operation of the ultralight aircraft tour from Dapeng Bay to Saijia. A second route, from Dapeng Bay to Hengchun Airport, is being tested.
TOURISM
Expo pavilion to reopen
Taiwan’s pavilion from last year’s World Expo in Shanghai could open in Hsinchu by the end of this year, and has already attracted bids from business groups to operate the site, Hsinchu Mayor Hsu Ming-tsai (許明財) said. About eight groups have so far expressed interest in participating in the bidding process, he said, adding that he predicted the pavilion would become an important tourist attraction once it is reassembled at a now-defunct fertilizer factory. Owners of restaurants, hotels and specialty product shops near the site also hope the facility will boost their business, he said. The Hsinchu City Government has estimated that the site would attract up to 950,000 visitors annually and generate NT$2.3 billion (US$80.1 million) in economic benefits.
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