DIPLOMACY
The Philippines says thanks
Philippine President Benigno Aquino III is grateful for Taiwan’s assistance with post-disaster relief efforts, a Filipino official said on Wednesday. “Aquino has praised Taiwan as a friend in need,” the official said. Taiwan has donated US$200,000 in cash and airlifted about 100 tonnes of relief supplies, worth US$1.8 million, to help survivors of Typhoon Haiyan, which battered the central Philippines on Nov. 8. Manila Economic and Cultural Office chairman Amadeo Perez Jr on Wednesday in Taipei also expressed his heartfelt thanks. The Philippines’ gratitude for Taiwan is difficult to express by words, he said, adding that his nation will respond to the goodwill of Taiwan’s authorities and people in a humble way. An EVA Airways plane on Wednesday flew 90 cases of tents and food supplies to Manila and a navy vessel will soon transport more supplies. The air force has already made 12 flights with relief goods on its C-130 cargo planes.
CULTURE
Outdoor broadcast in Taipei
A typhoon threat forced the cancellation of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s (雲門舞集) annual outdoor performance in Liberty Square at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial in July, but the company will make it up to disappointed Taipei fans tonight with a live broadcast of the premiere of founder Lin Hwai-min’s (林懷民) newest work, Rice (稻禾). To mark its 40th anniversary, Cloud Gate has organized a broadcast of the sold-out performance at the National Theater, which begins at 7:45pm, to two large screens erected in the plaza behind the theater for the thousands of people who are expected to pack the square. The outside audience will also be invited to help raise two massive red banners, which have been inscribed with propitious blessings for favorable weather, peace and prosperity (風調雨順 , 國泰民安) The broadcast will also be aired in the municipal cultural centers Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Pingtung and Yilan counties, as well as Hsinchu City, and will be available to viewers on outlying islands via an Internet feed. Chunghwa’s emome site and Public Television Service’s high-definition channel.
DIPLOMACY
Officials to head to APEC
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are preparing for APEC’s Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting next month in Beijing. Delegates at the meeting will discuss regional economic growth and integration, as well as the agenda for the next year’s APEC summit, Department of International Organizations director-general Tom Chou (周台竹) said yesterday. The organization’s summit next year will be held in Beijing.
SCIENCE
Team studies earthquakes
Five researchers from Taiwanese universities are joining counterparts in India on a 10-year earthquake research project in the Himalayas. The project is being sponsored by the National Science Council and carried out in collaboration with Kumaun University of India. The five-member team will also travel across the Gangetic Plain while conducting research on several major faults lines. Team member Chang Chung-pai (張中白), an earth science professor, said they will collect and analyze data. Other team members are Chyi Shyh-jeng (齊士崢) from National Kaohsiung Normal University, Yang Chin-yi (顏君毅) from National Dong Hwa University, Ching Kuo-en (景國恩) from National Cheng Kung University and Akano Yhokha, who is studying for her doctorate at National Central University.
FOOD
Krispy Kreme offers treats
Sweets lovers are in for a treat, as Krispy Kreme Taiwan is to offer free doughnuts this and next weekend. The company is holding two events in Taipei on Saturday and on Dec. 1 to cook up enthusiasm ahead of the grand opening of its first Taiwanese store on Dec. 12, according to Krispy Kreme Taiwan’s Facebook page. Krispy Kreme said it plans to give away 2,000 dozen starting at 1pm on Saturday, but did not give more details for the Dec. 1 event. The new store is in a cinema area in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義). US-based Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is looking to fill the hole left by US doughnut chain Dunkin’ Donuts, which pulled out of Taiwan in February. The company’s main competition locally will be Japanese chain Mister Donut, which has more than 50 stores across the nation.
BOTANY
Endangered plants get boost
The nation has established a standard operating procedure (SOP) for reproducing its wild endangered plants, said Chang Li-hui, an assistant researcher at the Council of Agriculture’s Endemic Species Research Institute. The extinction of any species not only represents the problems the particular species is facing, but indicates changes in the food chain, which may affect the whole ecosystem, Chang said. Taiwan has 163 wild plant species that are classified as “critically endangered,” Chang said, citing a survey by the institute last year. There are fewer than 250 plants in each of those 163 species, she said, adding that the situation may have worsened since Typhoon Tembin struck eastern Taiwan in August last year. A five-member team that includes Chang will conduct further evaluation and try to reproduce a certain orchid first, before other endangered plants, she said.
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