■ Weather
Bureau warns of cold front
The Central Weather Bureau issued a low temperature alert yesterday as the first cold front this winter hit the nation last night. Heavy rainfall is expected to occur in northern and northeastern Taiwan over the weekend, the bureau said. The cold mass from the north will hover above Taiwan until Monday. Earlier this week, the bureau even predicted that the cold weather might bring snow to the Yushan region. The lowest temperature will probably occur tomorrow, with the temperature in coastal areas of central and northern Taiwan, Kinmen and Matsu likely to drop below 10oC. The bureau warned fish breeders to take precautions against potential damage brought by the low temperatures.
■ Politics
KMT serious about coalition
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to meet with People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) over the two parties' cooperation. Wang made the remarks after receiving Ma at his residence yesterday morning. Ma said the party considers forming a coalition with the PFP a serious matter and he wished Wang -- on good terms with Soong -- to convey the party's sincerity. Wang said the two parties should realize that their mutual understanding and collaboration would help the stability of the political situation. "Ma needs to meet with Soong so that they can talk out their ideas frankly. It wouldn't be hard to form the coalition as long as they are in good faith," Wang said.
■ Politics
`Feudal' words draw fire
Former presidential adviser Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) yesterday came under fire from female lawmakers across party lines for his remarks on Thursday that people wearing skirts weren't fit to be commander in chief. Koo suggested that Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) was not qualified to run in the 2008 presidential election. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lan Mei-ching (藍美津) told a press conference that Koo's stance on the matter was full of "male chauvinism." "I don't understand why the elders still have such an out-of-date idea inherited from the feudal period," DPP Legislator Hsu Rong-shu (許榮淑) said. KMT Legislator Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) said she regretted that Koo viewed women in that way. "He doesn't even know how to respect people," she said.
■ Society
Three doctors disciplined
Three doctors in Taipei City Hospital's department of internal medicine were disciplined by the hospital administration yesterday after a patient died falling out of bed. The patient, surnamed Hsia, was hospitalized on Dec. 2 suffering from cholecystitis. In the early hours of Dec. 3 Hsia was discovered by hospital staff lying unconscious on the ground beneath his bed. CPR was performed and Hsia's doctor and duty physicians were informed, but Hsia died soon after. Hsia's family has blamed his death on the absence of medical staff in the ward. The hospital held a review meeting on Thursday and decided to discipline the director of the internal medicine department, the doctor in charge of Hsia and the physician who was on duty the night of Hsia's death, the hospital's Vice President Huang Chun-cheng (黃遵誠) said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
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