■ AGRICULTURE
COA checks for salmonella
The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said it would step up checks for salmonella after wire services recently reported that children could be infected with salmonella by touching pet food. The council’s Department of Animal Industry said it had been conducting regular inspections of pet food since the Pedigree dog food scare in 2004. However, most of the inspections have focused on checking for aflatoxin, melamine and heavy metal content, which pose a more serious health threat to pets than salmonella, the department said. Salmonella contamination is usually found in products before they are packaged, it said, adding that in many countries, checks for salmonella are conducted by manufacturers. However, to reassure pet owners, the department will use some of its aflatoxin-testing funds for carrying out salmonella testing, it said.
■ SOCIETY
Man ‘marries’ goddess
A man out of luck in earthly love has married a goddess after she ordered him to do so in a dream, a Chinese Television System (CTS) report said yesterday. The man, surnamed Lin, claimed the Lotus Fairy, a Taoist deity, started coming to him in his sleep after he went to her temple to seek her blessing following a series of failed relationships, CTS said. The goddess soon instructed Lin to marry her and to comply, the 40-year-old held a “wedding ceremony” in which a young woman holding a statue of the goddess stood in for the bride, the report said. Since the wedding, Lin has moved the statue to his home in central Taiwan to worship her and claimed that his “wife” has protected him from both illnesses and accidents, the report said.
■ ENVIRONMENT
Taipower fine overturned
The Taipei High Administrative Court on Tuesday ruled that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) did not have to pay a fine imposed by the Taipei County Environmental Protection Bureau for failing to complete a nuclear waste storage project on time. The ruling said the bureau did not have right of jurisdiction to impose a NT$540 million (US$16.8 million) fine on Taipower. The bureau had imposed a series of fines on Taipower between 2007 and 2008 for allegedly violating the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) and not submitting a contingency plan regarding the delay of the project, which was originally scheduled to be completed in 2006. The bureau can appeal the court’s decision.
■ CRIME
Man nabbed over road paint
The Taipei City Police Department’s criminal investigation corps yesterday said they had arrested a man who allegedly defaced roads by pouring and spreading white paint on them. Shen Lai-jing (沈賴敬), a 50-year-old carpenter, was arrested at his residence late on Tuesday night. Shen, who is suspected of defacing newly asphalted roads at 11 locations, only admitted to doing so at one location, but said it was not intentional. He said he had accidentally kicked off barrel of paint onboard his scooter while driving. “He said it was an accident and that no politics was involved. However, prosecutors will do more questioning and keep investigating,” corps deputy Lee Wen-chang (李文章) said. Shen was charged with vandalism, endangering public safety and obstructing the work of public servants. The city government last year launched a seven-year program to fix and repave the city’s major boulevards. Lee said fixing the damage caused by the paint at the 11 locations would cost the city NT$880,000.
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