■ Direct links
Poll reveals support
More than 50 percent of Taiwanese are eager to open direct links with China, but are worried about the security threat they may pose, according to a poll released yesterday. The survey by TVBS cable news was conducted this week, as the government prepares to release a plan for air links with China by the end of the month. According to the poll, 51 percent of Taiwanese support the opening of direct flights to China, and 30 percent are opposed to the move. The other 19 percent didn't have an opinion. Although the poll showed strong support for the opening of flights, 52 percent of those questioned said they were also worried about the security risks of such a move. Forty percent weren't worried and the rest didn't have an opinion.
■ Health insurance
Dead debtor found
The cash-strapped Bureau of National Health Insurance has not let up in its efforts to chase down a woman for payment of overdue health insurance premiums, local news media said yesterday. But the bureau's perseverance was fruitless as the debtor has been dead for more than five years, the Central News Agency said. For five years and six months, the bureau has sent its monthly bill to policy holder Chang Chin, despite the fact that she died in 1997 at the age of 81. Her son-in-law said he had informed the bureau about her death many times, but the bureau continued to send the dead policyholder a bill every month, with the overdue amount now totalling NT$39,864 (US$1,140).
■ Oral Sex
Man says he's innocent
A married man who was sued for adultery recently pleaded his innocence though he admitted that he had frequent sexual contact with his female colleague, a local newspaper said yesterday. His plea came a day after the Taiwan High Court reached a decision on Monday that the crime of adultery could only be prosecuted in cases involving sexual intercourse. Citing the decision, the man, identified by his family name Lee, told prosecutors he was wrongly sued because he had never had sexual intercourse with his girlfriend, though they had engaged in active sexual play for eight months, the paper said. Lee's angry wife, who had sued the pair for adultery, cried foul, but in the face of the High Court decision, the prosecutors could do nothing, the paper said.
■ Education
Cross-strait plan discussed
The Ministry of Education will sponsor a two-day seminar at Nanhua University in Chiayi today and tomorrow to lay out the ministry's policy on cross-strait academic and cultural exchanges, a ministry spokesman said yesterday. The spokesman said that over the past several years, an ad hoc Chinese affairs group under the ministry has sponsored a series of such seminars for university and college administrators. Cabinet officials in charge of Chinese affairs will present the latest information on government policies and guidelines, as well as measures relating to cross-strait exchanges, the spokesman said. Statistics released by the Mainland Affairs Council indicate that exchanges between academic and cultural establishments on both sides of the Strait have become more frequent in the past decade. As of the end of September, the government had approved nearly 70,000 applications from China for visits to Taiwan for academic or cultural activities.
Agencies
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai