■ HEALTH
Trip leads to quarantine
Eight Taiwanese students who traveled to Thailand this month on graduation trips tested positive for A(H1N1) influenza upon their return, the Central Epidemics Command Center said yesterday. Two separate tour groups, with a total of 74 people, were in Thailand from June 1 to last Sunday. The two groups’ tours were organized by the same Thai travel agency and met while in Thailand. The guide for one group had flu-like symptoms but recovered, the center said.
■ EDUCATION
Lawmakers review bill
The legislature’s Education and Culture Committee completed the preliminary review of a proposed amendment to the University Act (大學法) yesterday that would give female students who are pregnant or already a parent more time to complete their schooling. The amendment would allow students who are pregnant, have just had a baby or have to take care of children under the age of three to take more time to complete their undergraduate or graduate studies. Current regulations require students to complete their undergraduate programs within four years, though the programs can be extended by a maximum of two years. Students pursuing master’s degrees or doctoral degrees must complete their programs within four years and seven years respectively.
■ POLITICS
KMT seeks better links
A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from central and southern Taiwan have established a platform to enhance communication with children and women’s welfare groups. Legislator Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) said the government has spent a large amount of money on infrastructure while ignoring children and women.
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