POLITICS
Follow-up went well: MOFA
Efforts to contact the signatories of an open letter to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) who voiced concerns about the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s actions against the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration over the alleged disappearance of 36,000 official documents were favorably received, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday. Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), director-general of the Department of North American Affairs, said most of those contacted by the ministry appreciated the chance to communicate their concerns. Former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi and 33 others from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia published a letter earlier this month expressing concerns that the charge involving former DPP officials was politically motivated. “We understand they acted out of concern for Taiwan’s democracy. We welcomed this and also let them know we wished they would respect our administrative and judicial procedures,” Linghu said.
ENTERTAINMENT
‘Swing’ nominated for award
US-based Taiwanese director Kuo Yen-ting’s (郭彥庭) first animated film, Swing, has been nominated for a Student Academy Award, just weeks after it won the Tokyo Big Sight Award at the Tokyo International Anime Fair 2011. Kuo, in his late 20s, said he had been entering various competitions and understood that each festival has a “different taste.” Recognition from judges “both in the East and the West” had given him greater confidence to continue in his work, he said. Swing is a four-minute film about how people influence the perspectives of those on the brink of death. Kuo said he chose death as the topic because of the experience of losing his grandfather four years ago. The film was aimed at encouraging audiences to “reconsider life and death,” he said. For his next production, Kuo wants to create a Taiwanese superhero who could use betel nuts as his or her weapon, he said.
DIPLOMACY
Chen Chu seeks flood tips
Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) will lead a delegation of city officials to the Netherlands today to learn about its experiences in preventive flood management, Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆), director-general of the city’s Information Bureau, said yesterday. Lai said the city would like to draw upon Dutch experiences to guide its policies in hydraulic infrastructure, urban planning and environment protection because Greater Kaohsiung is located in the same kind of low-lying area as the Netherlands.
SOCIETY
Teens’ suicide bid kills one
Two teenagers jumped from a Taipei high-rise on Monday in an apparent double suicide. The boy survived, although he suffered multiple bone fractures, while his girlfriend died. Firefighters said they received an emergency call about 9am saying that two people had jumped from a building on Hsinlung Road in Wenshan District (文山). They rushed the pair to Wanfang Hospital. Witnesses said the pair jumped, holding onto each other, from the 12th floor, and hit a parked car before landing on the street. No suicide notes were found. An initial investigation determined that the teens were students of Taipei Jingwen High School and Taipei Jingwen Vocational High School, and were considered to be “a couple” by classmates. Because of opposition by both sets of parents, they “eloped” on Wednesday last week. The parents of the 17-year-old girl had threatened to file a lawsuit against her boyfriend.
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