POLITICS
Kenneth Fan passes
Taiwanese writer and political commentator Kenneth Fan (范疇), known for his unique insights into issues related to Taiwan and China, has died at the age of 68, an online platform founded by Fan said on Wednesday. The Indo-Pacific Risk Forecast Center, also called insightFan, said in a statement that Fan died of cardiovascular disease at home early on Monday. No public memorial service is to be held, per Fan’s wishes, it said. Fan wrote several books on cross-strait issues and had a long been a columnist for several Asian media outlets. Fan upheld the idea that “communist China is not equivalent to China,” and praised Taiwan as a model for “striving in between the great powers and at the same time shaping democracy and freedom,” the statement said. The political commentator had always promoted this “Taiwanology” in the international community.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
SOCIETY
House fire kills two
A fire in Taoyuan on Wednesday claimed two lives and left one person in a critical condition, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The fire started at 7:28pm in a house on Longshou Street in Taoyuan District (桃園), resulting in the deaths of an 85-year-old woman surnamed Kan (干) and a 57-year-old woman surnamed Chien (簡), while severely injuring an eight-year-old boy surnamed Kan (干), prosecutors said. Kan and Chien were the boy’s great-grandmother and grandmother, they added. After a preliminary investigation, prosecutors said the fire started in the great-grandmother’s bedroom and could have been deliberately set, but the exact cause of the fire is still being investigated. The great-grandmother did not have a good relationship with the grandmother and had been unstable following her husband’s recent death, prosecutors said, adding that the great-grandmother’s body was burned beyond recognition with a lighter next to her. The grandmother was later pronounced dead, while the boy was resuscitated and was in intensive care, prosecutors said.
HEALTHCARE
Hornets attack 100 hikers
Two members of a 100-member tour group from New Taipei City were unconscious and nine others injured after a hornet swarm attacked them at Taitung County’s Luanshan Forest Museum (鸞山森林博物館) on Wednesday, local authorities said. One injured woman said the attack happened after one person tried taking a shortcut. After the person swatted away a hornet, a large swarm appeared, she said. Aliman, the museum’s founder, said the tour group was apparently attacked by lesser banded hornets, resulting in multiple injuries. Eleven people were sent to area hospitals after the attack, with two unconscious when emergency services arrived, the Taitung County Fire Department said
HEALTHCARE
Non-mRNA vaccine coming
Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is likely to arrive next month, making it the second vaccine offered against more recent strains, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration received documents late last month to begin reviewing the vaccine for emergency use authorization, CDC spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said. If it passes review, the doses could begin arriving some time next month, Tseng said. Novavax is a subunit protein vaccine, which might be a good option for people who experienced adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines like Moderna, Tseng 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