FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Medic team to aid Ukraine
A volunteer medical team composed of Taiwanese members of the North American Taiwanese Medical Association is to leave for Ukraine today to provide medical services for local residents. Led by physician Tsai Jung (蔡榮), the 11-member team is to stay in Ukraine until Wednesday next week. Aside from providing humanitarian aid, the team would show that Taiwan stands with Ukraine, physician Lin Jung-sung (林榮松) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Legislative Speaker You Si-kun praised the team’s efforts and said that they demonstrate the “Taiwanese spirit.” United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) has donated NT$10 million (US$313,735) to support the kindness of the team. Ukrainians have united to defend their country against Russia’s aggression, which should inspire Taiwan to come together in the face of the threats posed by China, Tsao said.
TRANSPORT
Umbrella-sharing launched
The Taipei MRT system yesterday launched an umbrella-sharing service across its stations, allowing people to rent umbrellas and return them at different sites. A total of 266 umbrella service sites have been set up at the MRT’s 117 stations, operator Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said. The rental fee is NT$19 for the first hour, NT$29 for the second, with a 24-hour cap of NT$39, it said. If the umbrella is not returned after one day, an additional NT$20 would be charged every 24 hours thereafter, it added. If the user has not returned the umbrella after 14 days, or an umbrella is vandalized or lost, the user would be charged NT$799, it said. Users can select various payment methods after downloading the Raingo app on their smartphone or tablet and registering by providing personal information such as a phone number and e-mail address, it said. Users who register successfully before the end of this month and enter a special discount number would receive two coupons, each one allowing them to rent an umbrella free for a 24-hour period, it added.
RETAIL
Eslite to open largest store
Eslite Spectrum is to open its largest branch in Asia at the Yulong City mall in New Taipei’s Sindian District (新店) on Sept. 28, it announced yesterday. In a press statement, the leisure and lifestyle retailer said the 19,000 ping (62,810m2) branch is to occupy B1 to the 4th floor at the mall, and would feature almost 250 vendors. The branch is to hold a soft opening ahead of its formal opening on Sept. 28, the company said. Eslite said it expects the Sindian branch to become its highest-earning location, and to help make up for profits lost when it closes its branch in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) in December. The company has previously said that when the Xinyi store closes, it would move the location’s designated 24-hour bookstore branch to its store in Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. Eslite added that it is planning to start the phased opening of a new branch in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯) in October, which at 7,500 ping, would be its largest store in central and southern Taiwan.
LEISURE
Cijin Beach closed
The Port of Kaohsiung’s operator on Sunday closed off Cijin Beach (旗津海水浴場) pending cleanup, one day after beachgoers reported finding tar balls washed up in a swimming area and along the shoreline. Taiwan International Ports Corp said the beach would be closed for at least three days to complete the cleanup before the forecast arrival tomorrow of Typhoon Saola. After closing off the beach at 6am, contract workers managed to clean up about 12kg of tar balls from the beach by the afternoon, leaving only scattered traces behind, the operator said. The pollution could have leaked from the container ship Angel, which sank about 5km outside the harbor on July 21, but further investigation was needed to confirm the source, it 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