■ SARS
Hospital workers indicted
Taipei Chief Prosecutor Chen Ta-wei (陳大偉) indicted former Jen Chi Hospital superintendent Liao Cheng-hsiung (廖正雄) and chief physician Lin Jiunn-yan (林俊彥) yesterday for concealing the SARS outbreak at the hospital at the end of April. Chen's indictment also suggested a 42-month sentence for Liao and a 30-month sentence for Lin. After his investigation, Chen said that both Liao and Lin should be blamed for their negligence during the outbreak when a SARS patient, who was only identified by her surname Lee, came to the hospital for medical treatment on April 17. The hospital was not on alert for potential SARS patients and let Lee stay in a normal room along with other patients, which speeded up the outbreak. Chen said, given that the outbreak at the hospital resulted in the death of a nurse and six patients, Liao and Lin should take responsibly as leaders of the hospital.
■ SARS
City says condition `green'
The Taipei City Government's Bureau of Health announced yesterday that the city would not take any further SARS-prevention measures at this point in time, including taking temperatures or wearing a mask in the hospitals or in public places. Chang Shang-chwen (張上淳), convener of the bureau's SARS prevention committee, told a press conference that the bureau classified the current condition as "green light," which means there are only sporadic cases found in other countries. If a case of infection enters Taiwan, then the warning signal will turn yellow, and the bureau will ask people to take the preventative measures, Chang said. "If there is a collective infection, the signal will turn red and all epidemic controls will go into effect, he said.
■ Politics
Yu pushes referendum
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the Executive Yuan's continued push for a referendum is "inevitable" and he urged the legislature to complete referendum legislation as soon as possible in the current session. Yu noted during an Executive Yuan floor meeting that a referendum committee under the Cabinet convened its first meeting Sept. 4 as part of the initiative to promote the implementation of referendum. He urged the legislature to "heed the voice of the people and complete referendum legislation" and to work with the Cabinet to push for a historically significant referendum on or before the presidential election next March.
■ Diplomacy
Delegation to push UN bid
A delegation of more than 170 ministers and parishioners will travel to the US to appeal for UN membership under the name of Taiwan, the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan announced yesterday. The delegation will also visit Washington to meet with Taiwanese diplomats and members of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), a pro-independence group. To promote Taiwan's Aboriginal peoples, the delegation will take part in a festival of immigrants in New York. Officials said the delegation includes 62 Aborigines, who will don traditional costumes and display Aboriginal clothes in the festival to highlight that "Taiwan is not part of China." The highlight of the trip will be the mobilization of around 5,000 overseas Taiwanese next Tuesday when the UN General Assembly meeting opens in New York. This group will first travel to the PRC consular office to lodge a protest before making an appeal for UN membership in Hammarskjold Square in front of the UN headquarters.
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