Taipei City prepares naturalization test for foreigners
The Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs will hold a naturalization test on July 19. Those interested in taking the test should register with district offices by next Monday, the department said last Wednesday. The department said foreigners or non-native residents who are interested in taking the test should bring their alien resident certificates and one passport photo to register, as well as the NT$500 fee to complete registration by next Monday. More information on the location of local district offices is available at the Taipei Citizen Hotline at 1999. Test takers can download samples of the latest test questions at www.ris.gov.tw.
Community Service Center announces summer hours
The Community Service Center will operate on a half-day basis from 9am to 1pm next month, but will resume normal office hours from 9am to 5pm on Aug. 3. The center said the weekly coffee mornings on Wednesdays, however, would continue throughout the summer break. The number for counseling emergencies during the summer break is 0932-594-578. Meanwhile, Community Service Center Intercultural trainer Amy Liu has written a new book titled Taiwan A to Z: The Essential Cultural Guide, which offers insights into Taiwanese culture and provides the necessary information any expatriate in Taiwan should know. Copies of the book are available at the Community Center for NT$490 each, the center said.
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