■ Crime
Sex party bust nets drugs
Taipei police busted 27 men at a sex party on Saturday, finding a variety of drugs. Late Saturday night, the Taipei Police Headquarters' Chungshan Precinct broke into an apartment on Chienkuo North Road and forcibly halted the sex and drug party. The naked arrestees asked the police to show a search warrant and accused the officers of trampling their human rights, as they noted the media were waiting outside the apartment. The police officers said they found drugs including ecstasy and the latest 5Meo-peace from Japan. Twenty-seven men were sent to the police station for interrogation and examination. Two men were found to be HIV-positive. They said condoms were used during sexual intercourse. Police officials said that "others had not seemed to concern themselves with the news of HIV-positive party partners."
■ Politics
Chirac's words `regretful'
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs regrets that French President Jacques Chirac felt it necessary to criticize Taiwan for what he called moves to upset the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶隆) said yesterday. Referring to the warning made by Chirac to Taiwan's leadership in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), in Beijing the day before, Lu said that it is Taiwan's desire and the direction of its policies to settle peacefully cross-Taiwan Strait issues. It is regrettable that Chirac made the comment regarding Taiwan in an "unacceptable manner," particularly when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) expressed goodwill toward Beijing in his National Day address, Lu noted.
■ Diplomacy
Embassies host parties
Embassies and representative offices abroad held a variety of activities on Saturday to celebrate Double Ten National Day, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. The embassy in the Dominican Republic organized a charity activity at a stadium because the Caribbean country is still suffering from damage caused by a recent hurricane. The embassy staff made pizzas and hot dogs for 625 orphans gathered at the stadium, where Dominican Republic First Lady Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez was in attendance. Donations of US$62,267 were collected from Taiwanese expatriates and the government. Taiwanese expatriates living around the world, including southern California, New Jersey, Texas, Spain and Thailand also held a series of activities to celebrate the nation's birthday.
■ Diplomacy
Chen, Lu meet VIP guests
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) received foreign dignitaries yesterday at the Presidential Office for the Double Ten National Day celebrations. Chen and Lu expressed their gratitude to those who had arrived from overseas, including Swaziland Prime Minister Absalom Dlamini, Chad Minister of Foreign Affairs Nagoum Yamassoum, Malawi National Assembly Speaker Rodwell Munyenyembe and Palau Grand Judge Arthur Ngiraklsong. Also present were American Institute in Taiwan Director Douglas Paal, Japanese Interchange Association in Taipei Director Masaji Takahashi, and Burkina Faso Ambassador Jacques Sawadogo. Chen and Lu also received legislative delegations from Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, the US, Japan, South Korea, Iceland, Latvia, Poland and Russia, as well as 34 journalists from around the world.
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