WEATHER
Unstable weather forecast
A front north of Taiwan is forecast to bring unstable weather to the country for a week, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Much of Taiwan could see intermittent rain or thundershowers in the next few days, with parts of the country likely to experience heavy or torrential rain, the bureau said. People should take an umbrella or raincoat when going outdoors, it said. Hot weather is also forecast, with temperatures across the country expected to reach 30°C to 33°C, it said. Mountainous areas in the south could have even higher temperatures, it said. Typhoon Guchol, the third so far this year, as of 2am yesterday was 1,050km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving northward, the bureau said, adding that its trajectory indicated it would not directly affect Taiwan. However, Keelung, the Hengchun Peninsula and Lienchiang County would likely have high swells, it said.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
Couple rescued from sea
A Taiwanese man and his Singaporean partner were rescued unharmed after being dragged out to sea while paddleboarding in Taitung County yesterday, the Coast Guard Administration said. It is suspected that the pair, both in their early 40s, were caught in a current and were unable to make it back to shore due to exhaustion, the coast guard said. The woman was about 10m from shore and her partner 50m out when they were rescued, it said. Rescue personnel threw a lifebuoy to the woman and swam to the man, it said, adding that the two were brought back to shore by 7:06am. They were not sent to hospital, it said.
SPORTS
Fourth grader wins gold
Cheng Yu-chieh (鄭宇傑), a fourth-grade student on the taekwondo team of Hualien County’s Jiali Elementary School, won gold at the National Junior Taekwondo Championship on Saturday last week. The school’s taekwondo coach, Yen Hsiang-ping (閻祥玶), on Tuesday said that Cheng only received his black belt at the beginning of this year. He performed really well in his first performance at a national competition and demonstrated maturity beyond his years, Yen said. He showed no fear, even after losing the first engagement in the final, he said. His calm in the face of an initial setback and his ability to follow instructions demonstrated that he can perform well under duress, he said, adding that Cheng had made the final by winning two bouts without dropping a point.
ENTERTAINMENT
‘Dao V2.0’ announced
U Theatre is to mark its 35th anniversary this year with a new version of its 2017 piece Dao, showcasing the troupe’s signature tai chi-infused moves and visceral drumming. Dao was inspired by the “vivid and energetic” strokes that make up the collection of works by calligrapher Tong Yang-tze (董陽孜), titled The Sayings of Laozi and Zhuangzi, said Huang Chih-chun (黃誌群), U Theatre’s artistic and musical director. The revamped version, Dao V2.0, is an “upgraded” version of the original, featuring two completely revamped acts that focus on tai chi to better embody the philosophies of Chinese philosophers Zhuangzi (莊子) and Laozi (老子), U Theatre founder and director Liu Ruo-yu (劉若瑀) said. Dao V2.0 is scheduled to be performed at the National Theater in Taipei from Sept. 22 to 24, at the National Taichung Theater on Nov. 25 and 26, and at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) on Dec. 9 and 10.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its