■ AVIATION
Bomb scare diverts plane
A Taiwan-based China Airlines (CAL) passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Hangzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province yesterday after a passenger claimed to have a bomb on board, Taiwan’s Aviation Police Office said late yesterday evening. The 58-year-old passenger reportedly told cabin crew he had explosives in his luggage, the office said. The plane, which was on its way to Shanghai from Taipei, was diverted to Hangzhou. A preliminary investigation by local police found no explosives in Lin’s luggage. He claimed to have made the comment as a joke, the office said. The plane eventually took off again for Shanghai — minus Lin, who was detained in Hangzhou, according to the office.
■ FOOD
Farmers make halal bid
The farmers’ association in Taichung County’s Shihkang (石岡) said it was applying for Halal certification of its new ponkan mandarin orange cake to tap into Muslim markets abroad. Halal certification is recognition that products are permissible under Islamic law and are thus edible, drinkable or usable by Muslims. The Shihkang farmers’ association has been forced to add value to its ponkan mandarin oranges, which is a major crop in that area, following poor sales last year. After much trial and error, it came up with the orange cake, which is expected to hit the market this month. The association plans to export it to Southeast Asian countries with large Muslim populations.
■ SEAFARING
Koxinga honored with ship
A replica of a 17th century Ming Dynasty ruler’s ship was launched yesterday at Anping Harbor in Tainan City and is expected to make a voyage to Japan next April, Tainan city government officials said yesterday. Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (�?]) said the ship, which was built to commemorate the Chinese general Koxinga, known in Mandarin Chinese as Cheng Chen-kung (鄭成�?would sail for the Japanese city of Hirado, where Koxinga was born in 1624. The officials said the ship, which is not self-powered and was towed into the harbor by a fishing boat, would have to undergo seven days of tests in the harbor before being fitted with navigation equipment and an engine. To reconstruct the ship, Tainan city officials traveled to Japan in 2008 to obtain a copy of a painting of the vessel from the Hirado City Government. Based on the 1706 painting, the 29.5m replica was completed in 18 months, with funding of NT$80 million (US$2.5 million) from the Council for Cultural Affairs.
■ NATURE
Coastal forests important
The country must put more effort into restoring coastal forests, which can provide protection against wind and tides, a Council of Agriculture official said. Chen Tsai-hui (陳財輝), an analyst at the council’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, said the coastal forests had declined substantially in recent years because of coastal industrial parks, fishing ports, and recreational and wind power facilities. The western coastline is suffering serious erosion, Chen said. The overuse of concrete armor units and bulwarks defeats the purpose of their construction, often resulting in encroachment at sea, he said. Land subsidence along the southwest coastline has also resulted in coastal forests being swamped, he said. To limit the damage from high tides and sandstorms, more forests should be planted along the nation’s 1,250km of coastline, Chen 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