WEATHER
Cooler temperatures coming
Beginning today, temperatures in northern Taiwan could drop to 21°C because of stronger northeast winds, the Central Weather Bureau said on Sunday. Bureau forecaster Chiang Li-hung (姜禮鴻) said lows in northern and central areas could hit 21°C or 22°C, and 24°C or 25°C in the south. Starting tomorrow, highs will drop to 29°C in the north, while highs in central and southern regions will be 31°C or 32°C, he said. The bureau’s forecast showed relatively cooler weather would continue from tomorrow through Saturday. Chiang said chances of showers are still high in the northern and northeastern regions.
DESIGN
Taiwanese nabs gold at IDEA
Industrial designer Hsieh Jung-ya (謝榮雅) won a gold medal at this year’s International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Saturday for packaging he designed for a limited edition of the Tatung electric cooker. The packaging for the cooker’s 50th anniversary is made of gold-colored ecofriendly pulp, based on the concept of a golden anniversary for marriage, according to the GIXIA Group headed by Hsieh. It was the second IDEA gold medal Hsieh has won. His previous medal was in 2006 in the environment category for a fence. Organized by the Industrial Designers Society of America, IDEA is among the world’s four major design awards, along with iF and Red Dot of Germany and Japan’s G-Mark.
HEALTH
Taiwanese don’t exercise
Taiwanese exercise the least of anybody in the world, contributing to non--communicable diseases (NCD) in the country, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said in a speech at an APEC meeting in San Francisco on Saturday. Speaking at the Health System Innovation Policy Dialogue, Chiu said the lack of exercise was one of the four major reasons for NCDs and the most serious factor in Taiwan. Based on a standard of exercising at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time, Chiu said Taiwanese exercised less than people in most other countries. Chiu said the situation needed to be improved to lower Taiwan’s cancer rates — one of the four major NCDs along with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease — by 10 percent. Chiu also shared Taiwan’s experiences in cancer prevention and treatment. He said more widespread breast cancer screenings, pap smears and oral cancer screenings had helped to lower their incidence rates. Taiwan was also the first country to prevent incidences of hepatitis B and liver cancer through vaccinations, he said.
SOCIETY
Centenarians to get gold
The Ministry of the Interior has decided to give each centenarian in the country a gold plaque as a commemorative gift. The ministry said there were 1,509 centenarians in Taiwan as of Wednesday, up from 1,399 the previous year. Taipei had the most, at 297, followed by New Taipei City (新北市) at 229 and Greater Taichung with 114. Taoyuan County, Greater Tainan and Greater Kao-hsiung also had more than 100 centenarians. Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said centenarians were “treasures of the country,” because they had witnessed the Republic of China’s birth, growth and democratization. Jiang said the ministry would give the plaques, each weighing about 10.2g, to individuals 100 or older for the Double Ninth Festival — the traditional senior citizens’ day on the lunar calendar — as a gift symbolizing longevity and good fortune.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard