WEATHER
Festival to have clear skies
Chances for clear skies are high in western Taiwan during the Mid-Autumn Festival today, while residents in northern and eastern parts of the country might have to less ideal moon-watching conditions the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. As Typhoon Jelawat gradually moves away from Taiwan, a more stable weather pattern is expected across the nation, with occasional showers likely only in Yilan County, Hualien County and mountainous regions in the greater Taipei area, the bureau said. However, strong winds might continue to be felt in coastal areas, the bureau said, predicting gusts of up to 110kph in western Taiwan. Much lower temperatures are also expected during the festival, with daily lows dropping by about 3°C nationwide due to the effect of a new wave of seasonal winds passing over Taiwan during the weekends, the bureau said.
SOCIETY
Students win cooking event
Students of the Taipei Kai-ping Culinary School have won first place in an international cooking competition in the Australian city of Canberra on Friday, the second consecutive year in which students from the school took first place in the annual competition. Lin Hung-yu (林鴻宇) and Tu Jui-ting (杜睿庭) used Australian lamb and vegetables to create their winning recipe, outshining eight teams from five countries at the International Secondary Schools Culinary Challenge that took place from Monday through yesterday. The winners said they found it difficult to cope with the environment because it was different from where they have cooked in Taiwan. Taiwan’s representative to Australia Katharine Chang (張小月) attended the award ceremony and congratulated the students on their win.
HEALTH
Taipei residents live longest
Taipei residents are the longest-living in the country last year with an average life expectancy of 82.7 years, but the average for the nation’s 23.2 million citizens fell slightly by 0.03 years from a year earlier to 79.15, the Ministry of the Interior said. The life expectancy of Taiwanese men was 75.96, down 0.17 years from last year, while that of Taiwanese women was 82.63, up 0.08 years, said the ministry in a statement. The cause for the decline in average life expectancy for men was a higher number of deaths — 4,833, a 5.42 percent increase from the previous year, it added. Among the five municipalities, the second-highest life expectancy was New Taipei City (新北市) (80.46), Greater Taichung (78.98), Greater Tainan (78.44) and Greater Kaohsiung (77.97), the statistics showed. Hsinchu residents topped the other 18 cities and counties with a life expectancy of 80.45, while Taitung County (74.36) and Hualien County (75.7) recorded the two shortest life expectancies for the second consecutive year, the ministry said.
SPORT
‘Taichi’ event coming
A world championship for the traditional martial art of taichi (太極拳) is scheduled to be held in Taiwan from Oct. 6 to Oct. 7 to help promote and enhance the sport, an event organizer said yesterday. Now in its fourth year, the event, to be held in Taoyuan County, is expected to draw 500 practitioners from 19 countries around the world. The match will be divided into two categories: individual forms and weapons demonstration, and pushing hands. The federation hopes competitions will promote taichi and make it a world-class sport.
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
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
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