EDUCATION
Schools prepare for heat
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday said he has asked the city’s schools to adjust their schedules for outdoor classes when temperatures exceed 36°C, to prevent students from getting sunburned. Asked whether schools would cancel lessons on days with extreme heat, Hou said there should be a central-government policy that county and municipality governments could follow. Teachers determine whether to reschedule outdoor classes based on the day’s temperature, New Taipei City Education Bureau Deputy Director Liu Ming-chao (劉明超) said. There is no policy to cancel classes based on a specific temperature, as sometimes the apparent temperature was high despite a lower measured temperature, he said. As other mayors and commissioners have expressed a desire for the Ministry of Education to establish policy on the issue, the department would bring it up at a July 21 meeting of education departments heads with the ministry.
DIPLOMACY
Representative appointed
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said that Lou Chen-hwa (羅震華), a counselor at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Saudi Arabia, is to head the Taiwan Representative Office in Somaliland. Although the east African nation is not recognized by the international community and has no official diplomatic ties, it has 22 representative offices, and Canada, Denmark, Djibouti, Ethiopia, the EU, Turkey, the UK and the UN have established representative agencies there. Taiwan on Wednesday announced that it and Somaliland in February had agreed to establish representative offices in their respective nations. Once the offices are set up, the two sides would cooperate in agriculture, mining, fishing, energy, public health, education and information technology, the ministry said.
NATIONAL DEFENSE
Surge caused capsizing
An unexpected wave surge on Friday caused a vessel to capsize, critically injuring three soldiers during a navy landing drill, the military said yesterday, citing the initial findings of an investigation. A craft with seven Republic of China Marine Corps 99th Brigade personnel aboard at about 9am overturned off Zuoying District’s (左營) Taoziyuan (桃子園) beach in Kaohsiung. As of yesterday, three of the soldiers were in intensive care units with pulmonary edema, a condition caused by an abnormal amount of fluid in the lungs, the navy said. The navy is looking at ways to prevent similar incidents and to improve safety during training exercises, the Navy Command said. All seven soldiers are experienced and elite combatants, the navy said.
SOCIETY
Former politician dies
Former Examination Yuan president Chiu Chuang-huan (邱創煥) on Thursday died at the age of 94, his daughter Chiu Pei-lin (邱珮琳) said. Chiu Chuang-huan was one of many young Taiwanese politicians recruited into the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and local government in the 1970s and 1980s under a policy initiated by then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) to promote more Taiwanese to high-profile government posts. Chiu was born on July 25, 1925, in Changhua County. He held many government and party posts, including minister of the interior, vice premier, senior adviser to the president, Examination Yuan president, Taiwan provincial governor and KMT vice chairman. On Feb. 11, he was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia and died at his home on Thursday, his daughter said.
FUKUOKA SITUATION: Japanese media reported that the pathogen is expected to be identified by the summer, while the CDC downplayed the idea that it was hMPV A “mysterious cold-like illness” reported in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture does not seem to be a new disease, but Japanese authorities have been asked about the situation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The Fukuoka Prefectural Medical Association on Wednesday told a news conference that a “mystery cold” that has become a hot topic on social media is “highly likely to be caused by some kind of viral infection,” Japan’s KBC News reported. “Many people are experiencing symptoms starting with a sore throat, followed by a runny nose, phlegm and a severe cough,” KBC News reported, citing association officials. Health authorities are
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of upcoming AI and technology events, saying he plans to meet with clients and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) during his visit. After landing at Taipei Songshan Airport, Huang posed for photos with fans and handed out Yakult drinks to reporters and supporters waiting at the scene, saying he has “a lot to do” during the trip. Asked about reports that Nvidia’s planned headquarters site in Taipei’s Beitou Shilin Technology Park could break ground on May 27, Huang said that if the company holds an event, he would
Carrefour Taiwan is to begin using a new name from the start of July, but it cannot divulge the name until then, the chairman of the supermarket chain's parent company said today. President Chain Store Co chairman Lo Chih-hsien (羅智先) was asked by reporters after a shareholders' meeting to confirm whether the company has settled on a new name for the supermarket brand. In March, the government-registered name of two Carrefour Taiwan branches was quietly changed to "Le Chia Kang" (樂家康) in Chinese, raising speculation that has been selected as the name. Lo said that because of local regulations and contractual obligations, the
The Philippines would likely be involved in any conflict over Taiwan due to its proximity to the democracy claimed by China, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said, reiterating a stance that risks angering Beijing. “In the Philippines, we do not have a choice because Taiwan is so close to the Philippines and we have almost 200,000 Filipino nationals living and working in Taiwan,” Marcos said in an interview with Japanese media in Manila on Monday. The Philippine leader’s comments come ahead of a state visit to Japan next week, where he is to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to discuss security
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