■ Religion
Buddhist master in Canada
Zen Buddhist Master Sheng Yen (聖嚴) of Taiwan delivered a lecture on Buddha's teachings in Vancouver on Saturday entitled "A Peaceful Mind is the Source of all Peace." In his first speech in Canada in eight years, Yen said that peace is fortune, that peace derives from the heart and that if one seeks peace, one must first examine the thoughts circulating in one's mind. Talking about a recent journey he made to the Middle East, Yen said that prior to the journey many people warned him against going there, on the grounds that it would be unsafe to travel in an area rife with military conflicts. He said he had no fear because his mind was at peace. He said it had been his honor to share Buddha's teachings with people and policy-makers in the Middle East at a time when peace is keenly needed worldwide. More than 2,300 people, Chinese as well as foreigners, attended Yen's Vancouver speech. He was in Israel and Palestine from Dec. 9 to Dec. 15 in an effort to help put an end to conflict in the area by means of spiritual enlightenment.
■ Earthquakes
Tremor shakes southeast
An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale jolted the country yesterday, but there were no reports of damage or casualties, seismologists said. The tremor struck at 1:16pm with its epicenter 11.6km northwest of Taitung, the Seismology Center said. The quake, originating 10.8km underground, followed a 6.6-Richter scale earthquake on Dec. 10, which was the most powerful to hit the nation this year but caused only minor damage and injuries in the south.
■ Animals
Tiger bites zookeeper
An employee of the Taipei Zoo was bitten by a tiger yesterday afternoon when he was cleaning an outdoor animal-display area. Yang Tsung-hsian (楊崇賢), vice president of the zoo, said the employee was bitten in the leg. He was sent to a hospital for treatment. The biggest zoo in the country, Taipei Zoo has more than 2,300 animals and 310 different species. There are eight outdoor display areas and several indoor display areas. The man was bitten in the Asian Tropical Rainforests Animal Area. In the Education Center of the zoo there are special houses displaying nocturnal animals, koalas, penguins, insects and other animals.
■ Human Rights
Chen wants to help disabled
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that promotion of the rights of the disabled is one of the government's goals. Chen said that the government is striving to establish a "fair and just" welfare state and that it will adopt a "pragmatic and creative" approach to promote the welfare of and services for the disabled. He noted that as of the end of September, around 810,000 people in Taiwan are registered as disabled, or around 3.73 percent of the population. This, he said, highlights the fact that their basic needs should be addressed and their rights better protected. He noted that the government has appropriated a budget of NT$24.99 billion (US$73.5 million) this year to take care of the disabled. In addition, he said that in order to better provide for the disabled in low- and middle-income families, the monthly subsidies will be raised by NT$1,000 to between NT$3,000 and NT$7,000 starting Jan. 1.
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