■WEATHER
Heavy rain expected
Heavy rain was expected in northern and eastern Taiwan beginning last night resulting from the peripheral effects of Typhoon Lupit, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. The storm was moving at 15kph toward the northern Philippines’ Luzon Island yesterday, bureau forecaster Tang Shun-jan said. Although Lupit will not hit Taiwan, its periphery, combined with the northeastern monsoon, will result in heavy rainfall in northern and eastern regions over the next two days, he said. In particular, Yilan County may experience torrential rain, defined as 24-hour rainfall exceeding 200mm, and Hualien County could see heavier rain, meaning rainfall exceeding 350mm in 24 hours, Tang said.
■CRIME
Thirst foils burglar
A thirsty burglar fell victim to his habit of capping successful break-ins with a drink, as police traced him via DNA left on glasses and cans at the crime scenes, an official said yesterday. The man, identified only by his surname Chen, committed a number of burglaries in residential areas around Taipei from 2006 to last year, a spokesman for the Taipei District Court said. On one occasion he drank from a wine glass, and on another from a can, leaving saliva from which his DNA could be extracted, the spokesman said. The thefts of items such a laptops and flat-panel TVs led the court to sentence Chen to one year and 10 months in jail on Tuesday, he said.
■ENVIRONMENT
Fish fry video on the way
The Kaohsiung City Government has commissioned a video of fish fry to be released to students and faculty at schools around the city with the aim of promoting the concept of marine resource conservation, city officials said yesterday. As Kaohsiung is a major fishery base, over the past 20 years the city government has been releasing selected species of fry into the waters around the city every year, officials from the city’s Marine Bureau said. This year, the coral reef areas of Chaishan (柴山) and neighboring regions were selected for the release of some 22,000 orange-spotted groupers, the officials said. Weather and other conditions would be considered when deciding when to release the fish, the officials said, adding that orange-spotted groupers had been selected for the second year because of their hardiness and high economic value. Segments featuring experts showing how to properly release the fish would be included in the video. Copies of the DVD will be distributed to 160,000 students and faculty at 139 elementary and high schools, the officials said.
■ENVIRONMENT
EPA awards prizes
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday awarded prizes to 19 companies, NGOs and government departments in a ceremony held in Taipei to reward organizations that adopted proper waste management and recycling techniques and minimized waste. EPA Minister Stephen Shen (沈世宏) said that these companies, including Nan Ya Plastics (南亞塑料工業) and China Motor (中華汽車) were a fine example in the fight against global warming. “With everyone’s hard work, our country can maintain its environmental well-being and ecological protection as our economy and manufacturing industry improve,” Shen said. Out of 32 applicants, three organizations — Unimicron Corp (欣興電子公司), Taoyuan General Hospital (行政院衛生署桃園醫院) and Fooyin University (輔英大學) — received awards for outstanding performance.
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