■ Culture
Pingtung gets giant penis
A group of sculptors has carved an 8.5m long wooden penis, hoping to set the world record for the longest sculpture of the male genital, a local TV station reported yesterday. Eight sculptors in Pingtung spent half a year carving the wooden penis. Now their 10.8 tonne artwork is on display at an amusement park in Pingtung, the report said. The sculptors' plan to apply to the Guinness Book of World Records to have their creation officially declared the longest in the world, the report said. "The Asian certification center for the Guinness World Records said the Guinness World Records have a category for wooden sculptures, but the Guinness World Records Museum in London could reject the application if it considers the sculpture immoral," Huang Chih-ying, from the Guinness World Records Asian certification center in Taichung said.
■ Health
Hospitals set holiday hours
Taipei's larger medical centers reminded the public yesterday that they will be closed from Tuesday through Thursday next week for the Lunar New Year holiday. Although the emergency room will still see patients, most hospitals will only open for half day on Feb. 11 and 12. Not until Feb. 14 will most hospitals resume their daily operation. The National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital will be closed Tuesday through Thursday and offer partial inpatient services on Friday and Saturday. Tri-Service General Hospital said it would be open on the morning of Feb. 12. Cathay General Hospital, Catholic Cardinal Tien Hospital, and Shinkong Wu Ho-su Memorial Hospital said they will only be closed half day on Tuesday and will remain open the rest of the week.
■ Government
Sunshine policy in south
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said yesterday that his administration will follow a sunshine policy. Chen made the remark in his first administrative meeting since assuming post as acting mayor on Tuesday. Chen said that sunshine stands for "health and transparency," adding that all administrative work, policy-making and promotions in the future will be made apparent, in line with this policy. Chen held the meeting at a fisherman's wharf at Kaohsiung Harbor to signify his determination to build the port city into an "ocean capital."
■ Cross-strait Ties
Killer gets death sentence
A Chinese man has been sentenced to death for killing a Taiwanese businessman, the man's 5-year-old son and two other people during a failed robbery, a newspaper reported yesterday. Xiong Xudong attacked Hsu Man-li in Guangdong Province last November after being discovered breaking into Hsu's home, the Beijing Evening News reported. The report said the verdict had been handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in Dongwu on Thursday. Death sentences in China are automatically appealed but rarely overturned.
■ Education
NTU inks cooperative pact
National Taiwan University (NTU) signed a cooperative agreement yesterday in Taipei with the National University of Mongolia (NUM) as part of its efforts to help promote academic exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. The agreement was signed by NTU President Chen Wei-chao (陳維昭) and his counterpart, Tserensodom Gantsog.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
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