■ DIPLOMACY
Chen stops not yet decided
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said yesterday that the US had not yet responded to the issue of the arrangements for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) stopovers in the US during his visit to Central American allies that will begin on Aug. 20. Huang said that most of the press coverage about Chen's stopovers was speculation as the president's itinerary was still under review. The government will try its best to coordinate with the US on the issue, Huang said. Meanwhile, the ministry held a swearing-in ceremony for four diplomats. Representative to Thailand Roy Wu (烏元彥), Representative to Peru Huang Lien-sheng (黃聯昇), Representative to Papua New Guinea Chen Shan-lin (陳杉林) and Representative to South Africa Tu Sheng-kuan (杜聖觀) took their oath of office and will soon assume their new positions.
■ DEFENSE
English camp held
More than 230 National Defense University students participated in an English camp at Fuhsingkang campus in Taipei yesterday, as part of the military's efforts to upgrade its officers' English comprehension ability. The university organized the five-day English camp, hiring nine foreign-certified English teachers to instruct the students on making English a part of their daily lives. Fuhsingkang campus director Major General Wang Ming-wo (王明我) encouraged the students to take advantage of the camp to learn to express themselves in English. Communication is very important, especially to a military officer, he said, adding that it is a tool that an officer can use to explore the world.
■ HEALTH
Pap smear screening low
More than 40 percent of Taiwanese women do not undergo a pap smear test at least once a year, even though free cervical cancer screening has been offered by the government since 1995, a doctor at National Cheng Kung University Hospital said yesterday. Cheng Ya-ming (鄭雅敏), a doctor in the hospital's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said that about 500,000 women around the world die from cervical cancer every year. This type of cancer also poses as a major health threat to Taiwanese women, with the number of new cases per year reaching 6,000. With some 1,000 Taiwanese dying from cervical cancer each year, it has become the leading cause of death among women in the country. He said women aged 30 to 50 form the bulk of those undergoing annual screening, with few women who have reached menopause requesting such tests.
■ HEALTH
Stores to help with first aid
Taipei health authorities are working on a plan to make the city's 2,000 convenience stores part of its first aid network, officials with the city's Department of Health said yesterday. They said the plan will see convenience store employees offered the opportunity to go on training programs so that they can be issued with first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification. They said that with appropriate training, these stores can supplement the emergency medical services provided by hospital emergency rooms and the city's Fire Department. Kao Wei-chun (高偉君), section chief in charge of medical services administration, said the government hoped the employees of at least 70 percent of the 2,000 convenience stores could have their employees qualified in CPR and first aid before the end of this year.
■ CRIME
Thai arrested at airport
A Thai woman was arrested on Sunday at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for trying to leave on a bogus passport, National Immigration Agency officers said yesterday. The 45-year-old woman, identified as Parawee Vichaivong, admitted that she obtained the false passport for NT$30,000 from a human-trafficking group. The woman was detained while preparing to board a flight to Bangkok. Vichaivong entered the country last year and began working in a massage parlor.
■ LAW
Illustrator sues phone seller
A popular illustrator and author who uses the pen-name Jimmy has sued an online Chinese mobile phone seller for infringing upon his copyright, a Chinese court news Web site reported yesterday. The case is being handled by the Chaoyang District Court in Beijing, according to www.chinacourt.org which is sponsored by the Supreme People's Court of China. In his petition filed with the court, Jimmy accused the seller, which operates through the Web site www.18900.com, of allowing its customers to download his illustrations as mobile phone themes without his authorization, the report said. They include illustrations from some of his popular illustrated books, such as Turn Left Turn Right, Moon Forget, Sound of Colors and Missing My Cat, the report said. In addition to requiring the seller to stop the unauthorized download service, Jimmy is demanding that the seller pay him 300,000 Chinese yuan (US$39,651) in compensation, post an apology statement on its Web site and pay for his lawyer fees and travel costs.
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