■ Diplomacy
Dalai Lama sends envoy
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, has designated a special envoy to attend President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) May 20 inauguration, Presidential Office sources said yesterday. According to the sources, Tashi Wangdi, the Tibetan government-in-exile's representative in New Delhi, India, will travel to Taipei to attend Chen's inaugural ceremony on behalf of the Dalai Lama. The sources said Tashi Wangdi's attendance at the ceremony will epitomize the importance the Dalai Lama has attached to relations between Taiwan and the Tibetan government-in-exile. In 2000, the Dalai Lama also sent a special envoy to attend Chen's inauguration. The respected Tibetan spiritual leader sent a message expressing his concerns after Chen was slightly wounded in a failed assassination attempt on the eve of the March 20 presidential election. After Chen narrowly won re-election, the sources said, the Dalai Lama sent a congratulatory letter to Chen. Tashi Wangdi held many important posts in the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamsala in northern India before assuming his current post. He is one of the most senior Tibetan politicians.
■ Diplomacy
Florida delegation to visit
A 21-member delegation of the Florida State Senate and State House of Representatives left for Taipei on Saturday to attend President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration. Chu Wen-hsiang, director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Miami, saw the Florida State legislature delegation off at the airport. Chu told Florida lawmakers that Chen's upcoming inauguration marks a new milestone in Taiwan's democratic development. "You'll be able to witness a glorious moment in Taiwan's political history by attending the ceremony," Chu said. In addition to attending Chen's inauguration, the Florida delegation will also visit Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council, the Taipei World Trade Center and the Industrial Technology Research Center, as well as Taiwan's major tourist attractions, including the National Palace Museum and Taroko Gorge. The mission will leave Taiwan May 22.
■ Weather
Typhoon could miss Taiwan
Typhoon Nida, the second tropical storm of the year in the Pacific, may miss Taiwan, since it appears that a strong Pacific high pressure system will alter its path, the Central Weather Bureau forecast yesterday. Nida, originally a low pressure system that gained momentum and developed into a medium-strength typhoon southeast of the Philippines on Saturday, is not expected to affect the May 20 inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), a weather bureau meteorologist said. Although the possibility of Typhoon Nida directly hitting Taiwan is almost zero, weathermen said they will keep a close watch on the situation.
■ Earthquake
Tremor rattles buildings
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hit Taiwan yesterday, shaking buildings in Taipei, the Seismology Center said. There were no reports of damage or casualties. The tremor struck at 2:04pm, with an epicenter 64.3km east of Chengkung, a coastal town in the southeast. Its focus was 12.5km below sea level. Taiwan, lying near the junction of two tectonic plates, is prone to earthquakes. A quake with a magnitude of 5.8 shook Taiwan on May 1, killing two Taiwanese and injuring a Canadian tourist.
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