■ CRIME
Man jailed over fire deaths
A man was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for urging neighbors to jump from a burning building, causing two deaths, local media reported yesterday. The man, identified by his surname Hsueh (薛), was convicted of manslaughter after an April blaze in Taoyuan County that trapped four people on the sixth floor of their apartment building, media reports said. Ignoring instructions from the firefighters, Hsueh yelled at the four, urging them to jump, the reports said. Two of them leapt straight to their deaths, while one was paralyzed and another severely wounded, they said.
■ TOURISM
PRC tourists visiting lake
More than 1,000 Chinese tourists will celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival at Sun Moon Lake, officials said yesterday. The festival falls on Oct. 3 this year. In anticipation of the occasion, the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration will put on a free lakefront concert and fireworks for visitors on the night of the holiday. Expected visitors to the area will include several groups of Chinese tourists totaling more than 1,000 people, who will gather at the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village for a party, then move to the lakeside to admire the full moon, Nantou County Government officials said. Officials said that the county's focus on promoting festival tours had produced good results. For example, a special package launched during the Lunar New Year holiday last year attracted more than 3,000 Chinese tourists, and approximately 2,000 Chinese tourists took part in the 27th mass swim across Sun Moon Lake on Sept. 20 — the highest number of Chinese participants on record, they said.
■ AGRICULTURE
Taiwan to buy US produce
Taiwan is expected to purchase US$3.5 billion in soybeans, corn and wheat from the US over the next two years under the terms of letters of intent sealed between the two sides on Thursday in Washington. Taiwanese representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) said Taiwan is the US' ninth-largest trade partner and the seventh-largest market for US agricultural exports, with 95 percent of Taiwan's wheat imports supplied by the US. In terms of per capita consumption, Taiwan is the world's biggest consumer of US agricultural products, Yuan said. He said the visit by the Taiwanese delegation was a demonstration of the importance Taiwan attaches to economic and trade relations with the US, adding that he hoped the two sides would sign a free-trade agreement soon. The 22-member delegation is headed by Paul Sun (孫明賢), chairman of the World Vegetable Center. After leaving the US capital, the delegation will travel in two groups to various US states for field visits and meetings with local organizations and officials.
■ EDUCATION
TAS marks 60 years
The Taipei American School (TAS) celebrated its 60th anniversary yesterday with a birthday cake and students singing Happy Birthday at the school lobby. Aside from having a birthday cupcake for lunch, students also received a surprise birthday present — pencils commemorating the school's 60th anniversary. TAS was founded by American and Taiwanese missionaries, the school said in a statement. “Classes started at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary with only 8 students on Zhongshan North Road in the city on September 26, 1949,” the release said. “The school now has nearly 2,200 students representing 31 nationalities.”
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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