■ POLITICS
KMT names appointments
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) revealed the names of five Cabinet members appointed to its Central Standing Committee (CSC) yesterday: Cabinet Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川), Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以), Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) and Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國). The appointments will enhance cooperation between the party and the government, the KMT said. KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said the five designated CSC members would attend the CSC’s weekly meetings starting next week. The KMT began inviting Cabinet members to CSC meetings earlier this year.
■ POLITICS
Taisugar official to resign
Taiwan Sugar Corp chairman Wu Rong-ming (吳容明) yesterday reiterated his intention to resign, saying he wanted to express dissatisfaction at the Cabinet’s decision to promote Chen Ching-bin (陳清彬) to company president. Wu said that under the rules governing state-owned enterprises, a candidate for president should be recommended by the chairman to the Cabinet. Wu said he had recommended Chi Tsung-chi (紀聰吉), a land management professor at Feng Chia University, but that the Cabinet violated the system to choose Chen. In response, the Cabinet said it would respect the final decision of Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) after he returns from the APEC forum in Peru.
■ HEALTH
Official encourages flu shots
The Department of Health yesterday called for those at high risk of catching influenza to get free flu vaccines before the end of the month. Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director General Lin Ting (林頂) said the remaining stock of free flu shots should be given to those who are vulnerable to influenza before being offered to others next month. Lin said senior citizens, children between the ages of six months and three years, elementary students in the first to fourth grades, medical professionals, those who live in nursing homes or other care facilities and poultry workers should get the shots. He said that the centers had purchased 3.2 million doses this year, of which 700,000 shots remained as of Monday. “Due to the enthusiastic response to the offer, only around 610,000 shots for adults and around 80,000 shots for children are left,” he said. He estimated that when the shots are offered to the public on Monday there will be around 600,000 shots left. The CDC estimated the influenza outbreak this year would peak in early January. As it takes about two weeks for a flu shot to build protection, Lin urged the public to get shots no later than the middle of next month.
■ CRIME
Smuggled goods seized
The Keelung Customs mobile inspection brigade seized 11,250kg of smuggled herbicide, it said yesterday. The seized herbicide, Nitrofen, which is primarily used by growers of rice and certain vegetables to control broadleaf weeds and grasses, has an estimated market value of NT$30 million (US$1 million), the office said. It said the team had inspected a shipment of 45 drums allegedly containing an organic surface active agent because it suspected that the bottom of the drums contained a solid material. The team drilled holes in the bottom of the barrels with the consent of the importer and discovered they concealed Nitrofen. Officials are continuing to investigate the case.
■ CRIME
Fake credit cards seized
Customs officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport seized 201 fake credit cards from a Taiwanese passenger returning from Macau last Thursday, the Taipei Customs Office said on Monday. The credit cards were discovered when the passenger, surnamed Liao, was passing through customs. Considering it abnormal for a passenger to carry so many credit cards, the officials decided to request help from the National Credit Card Center to determine whether the cards were fake, the customs office said. After a verification process lasting several days, the center reported that all the cards were fake, although they appeared to be issued by various well-known banks, including the Bank of East Asia in Hong Kong, the DBS Bank of Singapore and two British banks, Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC.
■ NAVAL
Gutted ship towed back
A Taiwanese fishing boat found empty and gutted by fire in the South Pacific was being towed back to Taiwan for investigation after hopes faded of finding its 29 crew members alive, an official said yesterday. The scorched shell of the Tai Ching 21 was found near Kiribati on Nov. 9 with no sign of the crew members — from Taiwan, China, Indonesia and the Philippines — or its three life rafts and one lifeboat. A New Zealand Air Force Orion airplane spent more than 30 hours searching 54,000km² of ocean in the central Pacific north of Fiji, but found nothing. The air search was suspended on Saturday. Fiji Navy Warrant Officer Anare Rasunusunu said the boat was being towed back to Taiwan, and “from there they will make an assessment and investigation.”
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