CRIME
Taiwanese deported to China
Two Taiwanese arrested in October last year on alleged telecom fraud charges were yesterday deported to China by the Philippine authorities, the third such incident in a year. Philippine Bureau of Immigration officers escorted the Taiwanese and a Chinese suspect onto a commercial flight to Beijing. All three are alleged members of a telecom fraud ring. Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila officials expressed grave concern over the deportations. The Taiwanese were among a group of 13 Taiwanese and 12 Chinese arrested that month. On Feb. 12, seven of the Taiwanese were sent to Beijing. In April last year, the bureau deported 78 Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to Tianjin, China. The office has warned Taiwanese not to engage in illegal activities in the Philippines.
ASTRONOMY
Messier marathon planned
An amateur astronomy event planned tonight in the Alishan Forest Recreation Area (阿里山國家風景區) is to see participants compete to spot as many objects as possible from a catalogue compiled by French astronomer Charles Messier. Seventeen contestants have signed up for this year’s Alishan Messier Marathon at Siaoliyuanshan (小笠原山). Over the past few years, it has become a tradition for skywatchers in the northern hemisphere to try to find the 110 objects listed in the Messier catalogue in one night. The event is to begin with a search for Messier objects low in the western sky, which are best seen approximately 30 minutes after sunset, Chiayi Forest District Office Deputy Director Lee Ting-chung (李定忠) said. The marathon would test participants’ observation skill, astronomical knowledge and fitness, he said, adding that it would end just before sunrise tomorrow with a search for objects above the eastern horizon. To eliminate light pollution, organizers have arranged for nearby street lights to be turned off from 4pm today to 5:40am tomorrow and have banned the use of laser pointers, he said.
CHARITY
TAS club to hold book sale
The Taipei American School’s (TAS) Orphanage Club is to hold its annual book sale today from 10am to 5pm in the school’s forecourt and lobby. The club has collected thousands of books, as well as hundreds of magazines. Money raised at the event is used to help the 49-year-old club assist orphans and needy children in Taiwan, outlying islands and overseas. Admission is free, and the fair is to be held rain or shine. The school is at 800 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6 in Taipei’s Tianmu neighborhood.
TRAVEL
Ministry upgrades Haiti
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday lowered the travel alert for Haiti from “orange” to “yellow” due to improvements in the political and economic situation in the country. The Bureau of Consular Affairs said on its Web site that massive anti-government protests in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other major cities have subsided, with life gradually returning to normal in most areas. However, the ministry warned that isolated incidences of violence are still being reported, with protesters barricading roads in some places. Several international airlines, including Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways and Air Transat, are still adjusting or have canceled flights to Haiti until the end of next month, the bureau said. The ministry urged travelers to confirm their flights before departure and to avoid gatherings or protests. Code “yellow” means that travelers should review travel plans and be extra vigilant when visiting.
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