WEATHER
Rain expected today
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast rain across the nation today and into tomorrow as seasonal northeasterly winds continue to strengthen and a wet weather system from southern China moves east. Moisture brought by the two weather systems would gradually ease up today, resulting in drier and cloudy weather across some parts of Taiwan except northern, eastern and southern regions, which might see sporadic showers, the administration said. On Tuesday and Wednesday, seasonal northeasterly winds would continue to bring sporadic showers to Taipei and the surrounding area, eastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) in the south, it said. In other parts of Taiwan, drier and sunnier weather is to emerge on those two days, as the wet weather system from southern China eases up, it said.
SOCIETY
Pet memorial park opens
The first pet memorial park in Taiwan, “Happy Heaven Park,” opened in Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋) on Friday, providing pet cremation, columbarium spaces and tree burials, a city official said. Taoyuan Department of Agriculture Director-General Chen Kuan-yi (陳冠儀) said the memorial park is the only legal pet memorial park in the nation, but three to four more service providers are applying to set up pet memorial parks in the city. Taoyuan Mayor Chang San-cheng (張善政) said at the park’s opening ceremony that more services related to burying and memorializing pets would be provided, in the hope that all pets can be treated properly after their passing.
SOCIETY
Scooter rider killed in crash
A 42-year-old scooter rider has died after an underage driver on Friday afternoon struck him from behind while waiting in a left-turn box in Taichung’s Shalu District (沙鹿), police said yesterday. Police from nearby Cingshui District (清水) said in a statement that prosecutors were investigating the fatal collision at the intersection of Jhongcing Road and Jhongshan Road at 1:18pm. The scooter rider, surnamed Tsai (蔡), was stopped on Jhongshan Road when an unlicensed teenage driver drove a vehicle through a red light into the scooter left-turn box, police said. Tsai and his six-year-old daughter, who was a passenger on the scooter, were thrown to the ground and then struck by a second vehicle that was legally passing through the intersection from Jhongqing Road, police said. Tsai’s daughter is being treated for abrasions at a hospital, they said.
CRIME
Shop owner arrested
A Chinese herbal medicine shop owner has been arrested for allegedly selling rhinoceros horn powder, Taichung police said last week. His case has been turned over to prosecutors for further investigation, they added. Police raided the shop on Sept. 25 after received a tip that the owner, surnamed (林), was allegedly selling rhino horn powder. Among the alleged customers was a 65-year-old person identified as Ho (何), who reportedly spent NT$4.8 million (US$148,034) buying rhino horn powder starting in May 2021 to treat cancer before dying in April this year, police said. Powder obtained by a member of the public, allegedly from Lin’s shop, was verified by experts as coming from the horn of Indian rhinos, which the Ministry of Agriculture categorizes as a Class 1 endangered wild species, police 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