SOCIETY
Wang Tso-yung dies
Former Control Yuan president Wang Tso-yung (王作榮) died from pneumonia on Tuesday at the age of 95, his family said. Wang, who headed the government watchdog from 1996 to 1999 under then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), felt unwell on Sunday and was admitted to Taipei Veterans General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia, according to People First Party Legislator Thomas Lee (李桐豪), who was one of Wang’s students. Wang’s condition deteriorated on Monday, leading to septicemia and shock, which caused his death on Tuesday morning, the lawmaker said. Wang’s last public appearance was on June 17, when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) honored him with an Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon for his contribution to the country. He received the honor while sitting in a wheelchair and had to thank Ma through his son, Wang Nien-tsu (王念祖), who said the award gave his father the greatest pleasure.
WEATHER
Tropical storm brings rain
A tropical storm that formed in the South China Sea yesterday may not affect the nation directly, but it could trigger heavy showers in eastern and southern parts of the nation, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. As of 2pm, Tropical Storm Jebi was centered 980km southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), moving northwest at 9kph, the bureau said. The storm was packing sustained winds of 65kph, gusting to 90kph. The storm is expected to remain far from Taiwan over the next few days, forecasters said. Ships operating in waters south of Taiwan have been warned to be on the alert for high waves. Jebi, which means “swallow” in Korean, is the ninth storm of this year’s Pacific typhoon season.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
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