■ Weather
Typhoon to bring rain
Light Typhoon Melor, located 570km east of Manila at 8am yesterday, is expected to bring rain to eastern Taiwan in the next few days. According to Central Weather Bureau forecasts, from yesterday evening Melor would bring three or four days of rain to eastern Taiwan. Another typhoon, Parma, is currently moving away from Taiwan. The medium typhoon is unlikely to affect the nation's weather.
■ Education
Little English on islands
There is a noticeable gap between Taiwan proper and the smaller islands it controls regarding English-teaching resources and learning environments, according to a recent survey conducted by the privately run King Car Education Foundation. The poll results show that 93.6 percent of school children questioned around the country think it is important to learn English. However, the poll also revealed that only 34 percent of those polled really enjoy learning English, while 38 percent in Taipei County acknowledged that they learn English only in order to pass examinations. The results also show that a larger ratio of primary school students on the islands do not like learning English and that there are insufficient English textbooks and language learning activities at their schools. Some 47 percent of them said they have never read any English books, while about 44 percent said they have no confidence in talking with foreigners in English.
■ Politics
Siew off to Boao Forum
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) left for Hong Kong yesterday, on his way to an economic meeting in Boao, Hainan Province. Siew said the focus of the Boao forum will be discussion on the promotion of development and economic cooperation in Asia, and will not touch on cross-strait economic issues or issues concerning direct links. The Boao Forum, initiated by 26 countries, including Japan, Australia and the Philippines in 2001, is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization.
■ Culture
Aborigines want own council
The Pingpu Plains Aborigines Association of Taiwan (台灣平埔原住民協會) yesterday urged the government to establish a Cabinet-level council for Pingpu affairs. Pingpu Aborigines are the Aborigines living in the plains area. The group said that there were various Cabinet-level councils for Hakkas, oversea Chinese and Aborigines, but there was not such council for Pingpu people, and the Council of Indigenous People did not take charge of Pingpu affairs either. It said that having a separate Pingpu council could ease concerns of Aborigines in mountain areas that their resources would be divided. The association also wants the government to help maintain and promote their declining culture.
■ Crime
Police find drug factory
Police announced yesterday that they had raided a large amphetamine manufacturing factory in Kaohsiung seizing drugs with an estimated street value of NT$500 million. Police and investigation agents raided the factory in Taliao, Kaohsiung County, the previous day, seizing 14kg of amphetamine in solid form and nearly 700kg in liquid form, as well as a large amount of equipment used to manufacture the drug. Police arrested chief suspect Lee Wen-cheng (李文成) and were continuing to track down two other suspects, who were still at large.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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