WEATHER
Cooler temperatures coming
Beginning today, temperatures in northern Taiwan could drop to 21°C because of stronger northeast winds, the Central Weather Bureau said on Sunday. Bureau forecaster Chiang Li-hung (姜禮鴻) said lows in northern and central areas could hit 21°C or 22°C, and 24°C or 25°C in the south. Starting tomorrow, highs will drop to 29°C in the north, while highs in central and southern regions will be 31°C or 32°C, he said. The bureau’s forecast showed relatively cooler weather would continue from tomorrow through Saturday. Chiang said chances of showers are still high in the northern and northeastern regions.
DESIGN
Taiwanese nabs gold at IDEA
Industrial designer Hsieh Jung-ya (謝榮雅) won a gold medal at this year’s International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Saturday for packaging he designed for a limited edition of the Tatung electric cooker. The packaging for the cooker’s 50th anniversary is made of gold-colored ecofriendly pulp, based on the concept of a golden anniversary for marriage, according to the GIXIA Group headed by Hsieh. It was the second IDEA gold medal Hsieh has won. His previous medal was in 2006 in the environment category for a fence. Organized by the Industrial Designers Society of America, IDEA is among the world’s four major design awards, along with iF and Red Dot of Germany and Japan’s G-Mark.
HEALTH
Taiwanese don’t exercise
Taiwanese exercise the least of anybody in the world, contributing to non--communicable diseases (NCD) in the country, Department of Health Minister Chiu Wen-ta (邱文達) said in a speech at an APEC meeting in San Francisco on Saturday. Speaking at the Health System Innovation Policy Dialogue, Chiu said the lack of exercise was one of the four major reasons for NCDs and the most serious factor in Taiwan. Based on a standard of exercising at least three times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time, Chiu said Taiwanese exercised less than people in most other countries. Chiu said the situation needed to be improved to lower Taiwan’s cancer rates — one of the four major NCDs along with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease — by 10 percent. Chiu also shared Taiwan’s experiences in cancer prevention and treatment. He said more widespread breast cancer screenings, pap smears and oral cancer screenings had helped to lower their incidence rates. Taiwan was also the first country to prevent incidences of hepatitis B and liver cancer through vaccinations, he said.
SOCIETY
Centenarians to get gold
The Ministry of the Interior has decided to give each centenarian in the country a gold plaque as a commemorative gift. The ministry said there were 1,509 centenarians in Taiwan as of Wednesday, up from 1,399 the previous year. Taipei had the most, at 297, followed by New Taipei City (新北市) at 229 and Greater Taichung with 114. Taoyuan County, Greater Tainan and Greater Kao-hsiung also had more than 100 centenarians. Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said centenarians were “treasures of the country,” because they had witnessed the Republic of China’s birth, growth and democratization. Jiang said the ministry would give the plaques, each weighing about 10.2g, to individuals 100 or older for the Double Ninth Festival — the traditional senior citizens’ day on the lunar calendar — as a gift symbolizing longevity and good fortune.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
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