WEATHER
Temperatures to drop
Temperatures around the nation are likely to drop over the weekend with the arrival of a cold front from China, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The mercury could hit lows of 13°C to 14°C in northern Taiwan, 14°C in central Taiwan and 15°C in the southern and eastern parts of the country, the bureau said. Eastern Taiwan and northern areas could also see intermittent rain tomorrow, the bureau forecast. Relatively warm temperatures are likely to return on Monday as the front moves offshore, but the arrival of another cold front and a strong northeast monsoon on Tuesday could push temperatures down again slightly in northern and eastern Taiwan, the bureau said. Intermittent rain is also expected nationwide on Tuesday, the bureau said.
DIPLOMACY
Foreigners cut from party
Not as many foreign guests will be invited to attend President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) May 20 inauguration ceremony as were invited to his first inauguration in 2008, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. The decision is a cost-cutting move, said Wu Chin-mu (吳進木), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Central and South American Affairs. Apart from high-ranking officials from Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies in the region, Wu said his department does not intend to invite guests from other countries. MOFA spokesman James Chang (章計平) confirmed that invitations will be issued based on a set of guidelines provided by the Presidential Office. About NT$20 million (US$625,000) should be saved by canceling the firework displays and parties that usually accompany presidential inaugurations, according to an anonymous source familiar with the matter.
LABOR
Excess overtime is common
Excessive overtime was found to be the most common type of labor law violation in a recent wave of inspections conducted by the Council of Labor Affairs, an official said yesterday. The inspections, carried out in the second half of last year, targeted businesses that had a record of poor compliance with labor laws. Chen Hui-ling (陳慧玲), chief of the council’s Department of Labor Standards, said that of 4,517 violations found, 1,227 cases (27.2 percent) involved extending overtime beyond the legal limit. Failure to pay overtime was second-most common, with 1,200 cases (26.6 percent). There were 667 cases (14.8 percent) of employers failing to keep attendance records, and 432 cases (9.6 percent) of workers not being fully paid, Chen said.
DIPLOMACY
Ma to meet Boao delegation
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is scheduled to meet today with vice president-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and his delegation before they leave for China to attend this year’s Boao Forum, which will start tomorrow. Wu, who will be attending the forum in his capacity as the top advisor to the Cross-Straits Common Market Foundation, might meet with Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (李克強), who is widely tipped to be China’s next premier, during the conference on Hainan Island. Sources familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that if Wu and Li meet, their talks will focus on economic issues and not touch upon sensitive political topics. Former foreign minister Fredrick Chien (錢復) is heading the 50-strong delegation, which includes Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), Taiwan Stock Exchange chairman Schive Chi (薛琦) and Cathay Financial chairman Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖).
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