■ Construction
Projects bill passed
Part of the government's special budget bill earmarked for the expansion of public construction projects passed during the preliminary review in the legislature yesterday. The Legislature's Budgets and Final Accounts Committee passed the budget request of NT$77.4 billion (US$2.34 billion) for this fiscal year, of which NT$520 million was reserved for further discussion. The budget was part of the government's "Ten New Major Construction Projects," which calls for an investment of NT$500 billion over five years from 2004 through next year. Through the completion of the projects, the government hopes to turn the nation into one of the three most competitive countries in the world.
■ Transportation
Too many runs: chief
While the Taiwan High Speed Rail Co (THSRC) has announced its plan to increase one-way train runs to 23 or 25 daily by the end of this month, the chief of the Bureau of High Speed Rail expressed severe doubts yesterday about the company's ability to eventually increase the frequency to 61 train runs a day. At present, the high speed rail only offers 19 one-way train runs every day. The bureau's contract with THSRC stipulates that the latter was required to gradually increase the one-way train runs to 61 within six months after the official launch of the high speed rail. The clock started ticking on the second of this month. Bureau Director-General Pang Chia-hua (龐家驊) said yesterday that the 61 one-way train runs a day was an important goal for the company. The bureau officially requested last month that the company submit a detailed report on the matter, Pang said. The report has yet to be received.
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