■ ENVIRONMENT
Old compounds to go green
Plans are being drawn up to transform 55 of the nation’s old industrial compounds into eco-friendly facilities in line with the government’s aim of establishing a low-carbon society. Officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Industrial Development Bureau said the bureau was considering installing solar panels in aging industrial compounds — which cover a combined total of more than 10,000m² — as part of its efforts to realize the renovation plan. “All the solar panels and LED equipment will be products manufactured by Taiwanese companies,” the officials said. Juifang Industrial District in northern Taiwan, Chushan Industrial District in central Taiwan and Kuantien Industrial District in the south will serve as “flagship” versions of the planned eco-friendly facilities, which will focus on ecology, culture and health-related concepts, the officials said.
■ EDUCATION
Turkish school seeks home
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsiung (楊秋興) promised yesterday to help the nation’s first Turkish school find a permanent location for its campus. Kivam Junior High School, which has borrowed school buildings from Kaohsiung City’s Kaohsiung Municipal Rueifong Junior High School since its establishment two years ago, recently proposed a plan to the county government to build a permanent school. The school, which accepts both Taiwanese and international students, has 50 students in three classes. Yang said the county government had plenty of plots of land to offer the school and vowed to help it in any way possible.
■ POLITICS
Conference to discuss China
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and National Chengchi University will cosponsor an international conference on China today and tomorrow. Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) will deliver the keynote address on cross-strait relations and the government’s China policies. The conference, titled International Conference On China: Six Decades and After, will feature sessions on cross-strait relations, China’s political, social and regional development, and a variety of other issues, the council said in a press release. The attendees include Brantly Womack of the University of Virginia, Scott Kastner of the University of Maryland, Zhao Ding-xin (趙鼎新) of the University of Chicago and You Ji (由驥) of the University of New South Wales. The council said the opinions and views collected at the conference would help the government understand China’s evolution and serve as a reference for setting China policy and managing cross-strait issues.
■ MEDIA
BTCO hosts Andrew Cahn
The British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) has invited Andrew Cahn, chief executive of UK Trade and Investment — a UK government organization responsible for marketing the country overseas — to share his experiences in the UK’s creative industry. A BTCO newsletter said Cahn would speak at a workshop in Taipei on Wednesday, titled Going for Gold: London 2012 and UK Creative Industries. Admission to the workshop is free and open to all. The workshop is part of the office’s efforts to showcase the development of the creative industry in the UK over the past 50 years, and is meant to correspond with an exhibition it is hosting at the Taiwan Design Expo, which opened in Taichung City on Friday. The exhibition, titled Love and Money — 50 Years of Creative Britain, will run through Oct. 18.
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