POLITICS
Ma Ying-jeou visiting the US
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) departed to the US on Sunday, where he plans to deliver a speech at New York University, meet with academics from two Washington-based think tanks and attend a banquet hosted by Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Ma’s office said in a news release. Ma is also to lead a delegation of Taiwanese students from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation’s Dajiu Academy to visit the nonpartisan, nonprofit National Committee on US-China Relations in New York. During the trip, they are to meet with Brookings Institution and Heritage Foundation academics at forums in Washington and members of the Committee of 100, a nonprofit US leadership organization composed of US citizens of Chinese descent. They are also to visit the New York headquarters of the World Journal, the largest Chinese-language newspaper in the US. Hsiao is to hold a dinner banquet in Ma’s honor at Twin Oaks in Washington.
WEATHER
Cooler weather forecast
Seasonal northeasterly winds are to affect Taiwan’s weather twice this week, bringing precipitation and lower temperatures, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Sunday. The first northeasterly wind system is likely to arrive today, while the second is to affect Taiwan from Friday to Sunday, CWA forecaster Chen I-hsiu (陳伊秀) said. The first system is to bring mild showers to the eastern half of Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula. With pressure increasing over the Pacific tomorrow and on Thursday, most of Taiwan would have cloudy skies with a chance of sun, but eastern Taiwan and mountainous areas would experience afternoon showers, Chen said. Northeasterly winds arriving on Friday would bring atmospheric precipitation, leading to periodic rain north of Taoyuan and in mountainous areas in the north and east, she said. This week, temperatures in the north and east would hit highs of 25°C to 27°C, while lows would range from 21°C to 24°C. Central and southern Taiwan would have highs of 29°C to 31°C and lows of 22°C to 25°C, she said.
AGRICULTURE
Official talks dairy concerns
Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) on Sunday praised her county’s dairy industry, but called on the central government to improve its management of dairy imports at the source. Changhua producers are not worried about competition from foreign countries, but they hope the government would require the place of origin to be clearly marked on imported milk, Wang said. Wang made the appeal as tariffs on dairy products from New Zealand are to be reduced to zero by Jan. 1, 2025, under the Taiwan-New Zealand Economic Cooperation Agreement. She did not elaborate on why she had the concerns.
HEALTHCARE
NHI expands cancer coverage
From next month, people with two types of cancer would be eligible to receive chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatment under the National Health Insurance (NHI) system, the National Health Insurance Administration said on Sunday. The treatment, which takes immune T-cells and modifies them with CARs so that they can recognize and destroy cancer cells, would be available to people with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that meet certain criteria, the agency said. Although the exact criteria have yet to be finalized, it is estimated that about 110 people would benefit, 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