JUDICIARY
Another sentence for Wu
The Taiwan High Court yesterday announced that former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) will have to serve a 19-year-and-two-month prison term for her involvement in the state affairs fund, a land purchase deal in Longtan Township (龍潭), the Nangang Exhibition Hall construction deal, offshore money laundering and the bribery case involving former Taipei 101 chief executive Diana Chen (陳敏薰). The High Court also ruled that Wu must pay a fine of NT$158 million (US$5.3 million). Taichung Prison’s Pei Teh Hospital in February last year ruled that Wu was incapable of serving a jail term in the hospital because her health.
ENVIRONMENT
Air quality warning issued
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday warned of bad air quality nationwide through today after the Central Weather Bureau forecast a strong northeast monsoon may bring sand and other air pollutants from northern China. The EPA said increased wind speed near the ground surface might also cause sand problems in central and southern Taiwan. Although the level of the monsoon’s impact on air quality will also be affected by rainfall, the EPA said people with cardiovascular or respiratory diseases, elderly people, children or people with weaker resistibility to such substances should avoid doing vigorous physical activity outdoors today and tomorrow.
WEATHER
Temperatures set to drop
Cooler temperatures are expected today because of a northeast monsoon affecting the country, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The mercury is expected to fall to between 18oC and 24oC in northern and northeastern Taiwan, while the center and south will see a bigger drop in nighttime temperatures, the bureau forecast. Warmer weather could be expected from tomorrow until Friday, but the arrival of a front and the return of the northeast monsoon on Saturday could send temperatures lower again over the weekend, it said. Meanwhile, parts of eastern and northern Taiwan could see intermittent rain today due to the influence of the monsoon, the bureau said. From tomorrow to Friday, the weather around the nation will be cloudy to sunny, with localized intermittent showers in the mountainous areas of northern and eastern Taiwan, the bureau said. On Saturday and Sunday, intermittent rain can be expected in northern and northeastern Taiwan and in mountainous areas in central and southern Taiwan, because of the influence of the front and the monsoon, the bureau said.
BUSINESS
Herb expo set for Kaohsiung
An exhibition to promote Chinese medicine, herbs, natural products and the biotechnology industry will be held in Taiwan for the first time ever, starting on Thursday. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said the three-day Taiwan International Herb and Natural Products Expo to be held in Greater Kaohsiung would feature a wide array of products such as fresh Chinese herbs, medicinal plants, health products, bio-medicine, natural beauty products and related technology and services. About 140 local and foreign exhibitors are expected to take part in the fair at 200 booths, TAITRA said. Two seminars on business opportunities in the industry and future trends will also be held, with the participation of about 300 local and foreign experts.
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
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
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