■The Philippines
Typhoon aids escape
High waves whipped up by a typhoon helped 15 Taiwanese fishermen escape from a Philippine port where they had been detained for months for violating territorial boundaries, officials said yesterday. Typhoon Imbudo, which hit the northern Philippine island of Luzon last week, made the sea there so rough that ropes securing the four boats in the port of Aparri snapped just before dawn on Friday, and the vessels were swept out into the open sea, government officials said. The boats and their crews had been detained by the Philippine navy -- one in May this year and three in May last year -- for allegedly fishing illegally in Philippines waters. Some 17 Chinese and Indonesian sailors who had also been detained on the Taiwanese vessels arrived in Tungkang port in southern Taiwan on Saturday with the Taiwanese crews, the officials said.
■ Employment
Sanitation work attracts 234
Due to economic sluggishness, engineers and owners of small- and medium-sized enterprises were among candidates competing for 28 openings offered by the Taipei County Government yesterday in its public sanitation department. Many of the other candidates were college graduates seeking their first jobs. The 234 hopefuls sprinted down a running track carrying heavy sandbags on their backs, trying their utmost to cross the finishing line ahead of their opponents. With each male runner carrying a 40kg sandbag and the women carrying 20kg, the racers competed in a 30m dash competition to prove they were physically qualified to work as street cleaners and garbage collectors. Some runners managed to finish, but many stumbled and fell, either out of nervousness or because the weight was too much for them.
■ Liberia
Ambassador leaves Taiwan
Taiwan Ambassador to Liberia Chen Yeo-chio (陳永綽) left for Ivory Coast yesterday after a home consultation visit. Chen said prior to his departure that he and the other embassy staff will return to the strife-torn Liberian capital of Monrovia from Ivory Coast once an interim government has been installed in the West African state. Chen, along with the other embassy staffers, took shelter in Ivory Coast early this month because of escalating violence in Monrovia. He returned to Taipei from Ivory Coast last Monday for his first home consultation since Liberia lapsed into a civil war two months ago. His residence in the outskirts of Monrovia was looted by rebel forces in his absence and during his stay in Taipei.
■ United States
Alliance establishes branch
The Global Alliance for Democracy and Peace established a branch in Austin, Texas on Saturday. Deputy Minister Liao Sheng-hsiung (廖勝雄) of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, Deputy Representative C. H. Lee (李辰雄) of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, and many overseas Chinese leaders attended the inauguration ceremony. The Austin branch of the alliance issued a statement expressing the hope that Taiwan's achievements in promoting democracy will become a catalyst for democratization in China. It said that only when democracy and peace prevail in China can peace and stability be maintained in the Taiwan Strait region on a long term basis.
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