Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (
As Hau presented his first report on municipal developments to the Taipei City Council yesterday, city councilors lashed out at him for failing to mention problems with the Taipei Arena and Maokong gondola system in the report. Councilors questioned his administration's ability to operate the arena.
"Since the Hau army marched into the arena a month ago, the place has been in ruins and the city's sports bureau has refused to provide information to councilors," Taiwan Solidarity Union Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) said in a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council.
Democratic Progressive Party councilors Hung Chien-yi (洪健益) and Chuang Rei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) questioned the legitimacy of the special team the city government formed to run the arena.
They said the city government's involvement in the management of the arena violated the Government Procurement Act (採購法).
"The city government has no ability to manage the arena and it is against the law to skip the public bidding process to select a management team," Chuang said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) councilor Lai Su-ru (
Hau said the city government had reduced rental fees at the arena, as it did not seek to make a profit from the operation.
The city government would consider continuing to run the facility if the operation proved successful, he said.
"The arena is public property, and the city government's goal is to revive the arena," Hau said.
The city government took over the arena last month and formed a special team led by Taipei City Secretariat Deputy Director Yang Hsi-an (
Hau has said the city would run the arena for one year, following which it would find a new operator through public tender.
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