WEATHER
Showers to continue
Temperatures rose nationwide yesterday with the western part of the country seeing highs of more than 30?C before midday. However, a front that moved in late yesterday is expected to bring temperatures down to about 26?C in the north today, the Central Weather Bureau said. Brief showers or thunder showers are forecast for northern areas after yesterday’s weather front, the bureau said, adding that another front that is arriving tomorrow is expected to bring more extensive precipitation. Yesterday morning, a high of 32?C was recorded in Greater Taipei, followed by 31.9?C in Chiayi County. The warm temperatures followed Friday’s highs of 32.3?C in Taipei and 31.4?C in Keelung and Hsinchu cities. They are the highest temperatures experienced in those areas so far this year.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Sculpture set for Yuanlin
The Yuanlin train station in Changhua County is to feature a sculpture designed by famed avant-garde Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama as part of the station’s landscaping work, which is due for completion in June next year. The sculpture called Let’s Go and See Our Boyfriends in High Heels is to cost NT$6 million (US$196,200) and be set up in a plaza in front of the new, elevated train station, Railway Reconstruction Bureau officials said. It will make Yuanlin the first train station to feature a Kusama sculpture, which is to be installed along with three other major public artworks that are to be added around the station by January 2016 at a total cost of NT$17 million, officials said. The 3.98km elevated section of railway crossing Yuanlin Township is scheduled to open in October this year.
AGRICULTURE
Garlic exports to rise
The Agriculture and Food Agency said yesterday that it plans to increase exports of garlic to 8,000 tonnes this year in an attempt to lower the domestic supply and stabilize prices. It said garlic output destined for export has surpassed the production target of 5,000 tonnes because of the cooler weather. The surplus will be sold overseas to help local garlic growers ride out the financial impact. The price of garlic in Yunlin County, the major garlic-growing region, has sunk to NT$10 per kilogram, NT$13 to NT$15 down from the same period last year, local news reported. The Yunlin County Government has initiated a program for exporters to register their export volumes, in which they purchase garlic cheaper than the original farm price and finish exporting it within one month, the agency said. The measure will remain in place until May 15.
DIPLOMACY
Fisherman back after 5 years
A Taiwanese captain who was imprisoned on a charge of illegal fishing in Tanzania was released on Friday after five years of efforts by his family and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The foreign ministry said in a news release that Hsu Ching-tai (許清泰) was arrested for fishing illegally in Tanzanian waters in 2009, and sentenced to 20 years in prison as a result. Over the past five years, Hsu’s family and the ministry have made extensive efforts to appeal the case on Hsu’s behalf. The Court of Appeal of Tanzania announced his release on Friday. Taiwan’s representative office in South Africa will arrange for the fisherman’s early return to Taiwan, the ministry 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