SOCIETY
Pair killed in rooftop fire
A student from Tuvalu studying at Ming Chuan University and a Taiwanese woman were found dead after a fire that broke out at a rooftop add-on apartment in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) on Thursday night, police said yesterday. The student, identified as Alimau Logo Susuga, known as Logo, was studying in Ming Chuan’s International Business and Trade Program, the university confirmed yesterday. Police said the man was found along with the woman, who was also dead at the scene in the illegal structure on top of a three-story apartment building. The woman’s identity had not yet been determined because of the seriously charred condition of her body, police said. The cause of the blaze had also not yet been determined and the investigation was continuing, the police added. The fire broke out at about 7pm. Upon receiving the report of a blaze, the Shilin branch of the Taipei Fire Department dispatched 15 fire engines, three ambulances and 58 rescue personnel and paramedics to the scene. However, by the time they arrived the fire had already gutted the apartment, police said. Logo was a member of the Taipei Baboons rugby union club. Long-time club member Andrew Leakey told the Taipei Times: “Logo was a very talented and highly respected member of the club. He will be missed greatly by all his fellow players. The Baboons would like his close friends and family to know that we stand with them at this difficult time.”
ASTRONOMY
Meteor shower to peak today
The annual Perseid meteor shower is to peak late today and early tomorrow, with about 150 per hour predicted, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday. The best time to observe the Perseids, one of the most dazzling meteor showers each year, would be between 10pm today and sunrise tomorrow, the museum said. While the near-full moon might affect visibility, the meteor shower should still be outstanding because of a significant number of bright and colorful fireballs, it said. A fireball is a brighter-than-usual meteor, “brighter than any of the planets,” according to the International Astronomical Union. Meanwhile, another celestial event is expected this month when the Earth passes through the shadow of the moon on Aug. 21, creating a total solar eclipse, although it will be visible only in the US, the museum said. Such an event will not be visible in Taiwan until 2061, it added.
TRAFFIC
Cyclists issued 139 fines
More than 100 traffic tickets have been issued to cyclists for illegally riding on sidewalks since July 17, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Thursday. The Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例) stipulates that anyone caught riding on sidewalks, including covered sidewalks, outside of designated bike lanes or on any sidewalks that do not have signs allowing dual use by pedestrians and cyclists is subject to a fine of between NT$300 and NT$600. Since the regulations came into force last month, 139 traffic fines and 719 verbal warnings have been issued, department Commissioner Chang Jer-yang (張哲揚) said. Although most were let off with a warning, Chang said officers would fine cyclists if they endanger pedestrians. Depending on the circumstances, the final call is to be that of officers at the scene, he added. The measure is being strictly enforced on major thoroughfares such as Xinyi, Renai, Xinsheng S and Roosevelt roads that have a network of bike paths.
DEFENSE
Chinese spy plane spotted
A Chinese military surveillance aircraft on Wednesday was spotted over international waters east of Taiwan, a post on the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Web site said. A map on the Web site showed that the Y-8 aircraft flew over the western Pacific Ocean, through the Miyako Strait and into the East China Sea. Japan scrambled a fighter jet when it saw the Chinese jet, the post said. Several Chinese military planes, including Xian H-6K bombers, have been spotted on similar routes in recent months. On July 25, an H-6K bomber flew close to the nation’s air defense identification zone, passing through the Bashi Channel and the Miyako Strait before returning to Chinese airspace.
SPORTS
Universiade sales lagging
Only 206,409 of the 702,109 tickets available for the Taipei Summer Universiade had been sold as of Friday last week, data provided by the Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee showed. Taipei City Councilor Chen Ping-fu (陳炳甫) said at a council meeting that the sales rates for seven of the competitions were below 1 percent, while those for 60 others were between 1 and 10 percent. Chen said only eight tickets had been sold for a basketball game on Aug. 24 at the University of Taipei’s Tianmu Gymnasium, which can seat 1,726 spectators, while only 15 tickets were sold for a soccer competition at Fu Jen Catholic University Stadium, which can seat 4,078. Organizing committee spokesman Yang Ching-tang (楊景棠) said that sales should pick up after the release of a full list of the competing teams and rosters. Since the Universiade is an international multisport event offering a wide range of games, it takes time for spectators to decide which events they want to attend, he 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