DIPLOMACY
AIT officials take posts
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday announced that the new head of its Kaohsiung branch, Neil Gibson, and his deputy, Samuel Goffman, have officially assumed office. The assignment is Gibson’s second stint at the AIT, it said in a news release. Since joining the US Department of State in 2009, he has also been dispatched to Japan, the Philippines, Paris and Iraq, it said. Prior to his career in the foreign service, Gibson, who holds a master’s degree in international relations and a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business, was an international investment specialist at the US Department of Commerce, it said. The California-native speaks Mandarin and Japanese, the AIT added. Goffman has worked in the foreign service for 12 years and has been based in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Chengdu, as well as in Warsaw and Washington, it said.
MILITARY
China announces drills
China’s Fujian Maritime Safety Administration yesterday issued a no-sail order for an area close to Taiwan proper where live-fire military drills are scheduled to take place today and tomorrow. According to the coordinates given by the agency, the drills would be staged in Xinghua Bay, about 160km from Taiwan proper, from 7am to 8pm on both days. The announcement comes as President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) are in Kinmen County to mark the 65th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment, a battle in which Taiwan fended off Chinese People’s Liberation Army aggression with the assistance of US military aid.
WEATHER
Kaohsiung bridge damaged
Mudslides on Tuesday triggered by heavy rain damaged a makeshift bridge in Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan District (桃源), forcing the closure of schools and government offices in three villages yesterday, local authorities said. A landslide-induced debris flow in the Yusui River (玉穗溪) washed away parts of the temporary Mingba Kelu Bridge, which forms part of Provincial Highway No. 20, the Southern Cross-Island Highway, disrupting traffic in Fusing (復興), Lafulan (拉芙蘭) and Meishan (梅山) villages. The Taoyuan District Office announced the closure of schools and offices in the villages for safety reasons. The bridge, which serves about 500 residents in the three villages, was destroyed in 2021 following heavy rain and landslides, and a temporary bridge was built. Reconstruction of the Mingba Kelu Bridge is expected to be completed in 2025, the Kaohsiung City Government said.
WEATHER
CWB tracks depression
A tropical depression in waters northeast of the Philippines could strengthen into a tropical storm next week, but it is too early to tell whether it would have a direct effect on Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. The weather system, which was about 850km southeast of Taipei, was not expected to gather strength or move much over the next few days due to it being in a large low-pressure zone, CWB forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) told reporters. The depression could move into the Bashi Channel on Monday or Tuesday next week, and strengthen into a tropical storm this weekend or next week, Huang said. While the system would not affect Taiwan this week, its movements in the longer term remain highly uncertain and require additional observation, Huang said.
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