SOCIETY
Shen Lyu-shun dies
Former representative to the US Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) passed away on Friday morning at Cardinal Tien Hospital in New Taipei City. He was 73. Born in 1949, Shen was a descendant of Shen Pao-chen (沈葆楨), a Qing Dynasty official who made a mark in Taiwan’s history by pushing for the nation’s modernization and exploration of mountainous areas. Shen served as deputy minister of foreign affairs from 2009 to 2011 and assumed several diplomatic posts, including representative to the US (2014-2016), representative to the UK (2011-2014), and representative to the EU and Belgium (2008-2009).
SOCIETY
Allowance move approved
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Thursday approved an extension of the monthly per person living allowance of NT$750 (US$24.42) and NT$500 for individuals in income and middle-to-low income households for an additional year until the end of this year. Along with the policy’s extension, which Su had announced a day earlier, people from about 600,000 eligible households are to receive this month’s allowance before the Lunar New Year holiday on Jan. 20, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) told a news conference in Taipei after a weekly Cabinet meeting. Su told the meeting that he had authorized NT$4.5 billion for the program and expected the funds to be disbursed to local governments yesterday, Lo said. Su hoped the living allowance would bring “warmth” to recipients ahead of the new year, Lo said. In a statement later in the day, the Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed the extension of the program, which was launched in March last year as a part of the government’s COVID-19 relief measures. Local administrations would determine eligibility for the allowances, meaning that no application is necessary, it said.
SOCIETY
House fire kills five
Five members of a family, including two boys aged 12 and 5, were killed in a suspected arson attack at a three-story house in Taichung’s Dali District (大里) early yesterday, the city’s Fire Bureau said. A 62-year-old woman, a woman aged 38, a 32-year-old man and the two boys, who were pulled from the home by firefighters, were pronounced dead at a hospital, the bureau said in a news release, adding that they were diagnosed as having had out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. A 66-year-old man, who is also a member of the family, escaped alive, the statement said. The bureau dispatched 17 trucks, eight ambulances and 84 firefighters to the scene when it received a report of the blaze at 3:52am, it said, adding that the flames were extinguished at 5:25am. Authorities said they suspect the fire might have been arson, but did not provide details. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
TRANSPORTATION
Air facility fee added
Air passengers who transit in Taiwan would have to pay a NT$500 facility fee per person, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. Aviation regulations would be revised before the new policy is introduced, which exempts children under the age of two, as well as individuals and their companions who have received special dispensation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the transport ministry said. The fee would be collected by airline companies on the government’s behalf — either as part of airfares or at airports — it said, adding that passengers who pay but do not transit would be able to apply for a full refund.
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
FATAL ILLNESS: Untreated symptoms can rapidly worsen to complications such as high fever, seizures and loss of consciousness, and can be life-threatening, a doctor said Hospitals have been reporting dozens of people with heat-related illnesses every day over the past week, given continuous high daytime temperatures, so recognizing the early signs of heatstroke is crucial in preventing serious complications, a Taipei City Hospital emergency physician said. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a heat alert for 19 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures in New Taipei City, Miaoli County and Pingtung County likely to exceed 38°C, and temperatures in 12 cities and counties likely to exceed 36°C for three days straight. More than a dozen people were taken to hospitals for heat-related illnesses every day from