WEATHER
Koinu land warning lifted
The land warning for Typhoon Koinu was lifted yesterday morning as the storm left Taiwan and headed toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that downpours were still likely in parts of the country. The sea warning was lifted at about 11:30am, it said. However, the CWA continued to issue heavy rain warnings in eastern, northern and southern Taiwan, cautioning against mudslides, falling rocks and flooding. Taitung County and mountainous regions of Pingtung County could be the hardest hit, with more than 200mm of rainfall expected within the day, or more than 100mm within 3 hours, the CWA said. In Yilan and Hualien counties, as well as in the rest of Pingtung and coastal areas in Taipei and New Taipei cities, rainfall could top 80mm during the day or 40mm in an hour, it said. People in the outlying counties of Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties should stay vigilant against the possibility of strong winds, which could reach 88kph, it added.
LITERATURE
Novel translation awarded
A Spain-based academic has won the 2023 PEN Catalan Translation Award with her translation of a work by Taiwanese novelist Wu Ming-yi (吳明益) into Catalan, the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. Autonomous University of Barcelona professor Mireia Vargas-Urpi, who teaches in the school’s Department of Translation and Interpretation and East Asia Studies, was awarded the honor for her translation of Wu’s The Man With the Compound Eyes (複眼人), the PEN Catala announced on Friday last week, the ministry said. Her Catalan translation published last year was the 18th translation of the novel since its publication in 2011.
CRIME
E-cigarette factory raided
An electronic cigarette factory was discovered on Wednesday in New Taipei City, the first illegal facility of its kind discovered in Taiwan since new tobacco control regulations took effect in March, the city government said on Thursday. E-cigarettes were banned in Taiwan starting March 22 as part of amendments to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防治法). Acting on a tip-off, a National Immigration Agency brigade launched a search on Wednesday at a residential unit in Sanchong District (三重) and found four undocumented migrant workers and a foreigner who overstayed their visa at the location. The five individuals were found making and packaging e-cigarettes at the site, the city government said. Authorities found three e-cigarette packaging and filling machines, 84 cartons of finished vaping products, four cartons of semi-finished products and 35 bottles of e-cigarette liquids at the site, with a street value of nearly NT$10 million (US$310,492), which were seized and sealed, it said.
CRIME
Two arrested over drugs
Two suspects linked to an alleged cross-border drug trafficking scheme that involved disguising amphetamines as milk powder were arrested after a shipment of narcotics smuggled into Taiwan was seized earlier this year, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Tuesday. CIB Third Investigation Corps Captain Chang Wen-yuan (張文源) told a news conference that a man surnamed Hsiao (蕭), 35, and an accomplice surnamed Chen (陳), 28, were taken into custody after 10.46kg of amphetamines in 10 cans of milk powder, with a street value of more than NT$10 million, were seized in two raids in April.
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