MILITARY
Drill ramp-up under way
The military is gearing up for annual drills involving its three services in an effort to solidify the country’s defense capabilities amid a growing threat from China, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual Han Kuang series of exercises will be held in two stages, with live military drills scheduled for next month and computer-aided war games set for July, said Major General Hau Yi-chih (郝以知), who is assistant deputy chief of the General Staff for Operations and Planning. More than 200,000 military personnel from the army, air force and navy will participate in the five-day exercises scheduled to begin on April 16 , Hau said. “All existing military equipment” will be incorporated into the exercises, including the Hsiung Feng 2E cruise missile, Hao added. Three parts of the exercises will be opened to the public, ministry spokesperson David Lo (羅紹和) said.
WEATHER
Better weather on the way
Warmer and drier weather is expected across the nation beginning today, but it might also increase the probability of fog in several regions, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Daytime temperatures are expected to rise above 20?C throughout most of the nation as the strength of a cold air mass weakens, the bureau said. The chances of showers should decrease in most areas, with partly cloudy to sunny skies expected in the central and southern parts of the country. However, the rising temperatures will likely bring fog, especially in the west and the islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, the bureau said, adding that the mild weather pattern is expected to last until the weekend, when rain will likely return.
CRIME
Jacky Wu charged
Jacky Wu (吳宗憲), a popular TV variety show host, was indicted by Taipei prosecutors yesterday on embezzlement charges. Prosecutors said Wu, who is also board chairman of Alpha Photonitek Corp (APC), collaborated with Lienming Mobile Technology chairman Hsu Fang-yang (許豐揚) to skim money from a transaction between the two firms. On Jan. 5, 2009, the two allegedly orchestrated a deal in which Lienming spent NT$180 million (US$6 million) to purchase a number of APC’s LED products, prosecutors said. They added that Wu pocketed NT$12.5 million from the deal, while Hsu took NT$20 million. Prosecutors said the pair were charged with securities violations and if Wu were found guilty, he would face a prison sentence of between three and 10 years, as well as a fine of between NT$10 million and NT$200 million. Wu yesterday denied any wrongdoing in the case, saying he would clarify the matter in a hearing.
VETERANS AFFAIRS
Ideas on new system mulled
The Veterans Affairs Commission will soon make recommendations on veterans’ support mechanisms for a voluntary military service system that would replace the existing compulsory system in 2015, Veterans Affairs Minister Tseng Jing-ling (曾金陵) said. The draft measures will prioritize education and employment to facilitate veterans’ transition from the military to civilian life rather than just offering medical and home care, Tseng said. The commission, which was originally designed to take care of veterans who defended the country during World War II and fought in the Chinese Civil War, will undergo a transformation, he added.
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