HEALTH
Newborn catches enterovirus
The Department of Health yesterday said a five-day-old boy in a hospital had contracted severe enterovirus this month, becoming the youngest such patient in recent years, but is now in a stable condition. The baby was infected with the Coxsackie B3 virus, said Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), director of the Epidemic Intelligence Center at the Centers for Disease Control. It is suspected that the baby caught the virus from his pre-school-aged brother during a visit, Chuang said. The brother had been admitted to hospital with bronchitis, tonsilitis and symptoms of enterovirus, Chuang said. Newborns are particularly vulnerable to the Coxsackie B3 virus, he said, urging people to wash their hands before touching babies. Enterovirus infections occur all year round, he said, although the types of virus may vary. The department has confirmed 153 severe cases of enterovirus infection so far this year, 149 of which were the enterovirus 71 strain that caused two fatalities.
NATIONAL DEFENSE
MND committed to reforms
Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) yesterday said the ministry would carry out reforms in accordance with the national defense law. The ministry’s policy was to keep a balance between combat requirement, affordable finances and the number of personnel available, he said, adding that the objective was to build a concise and high quality military. The main strategy for the military was to hold back attempted landings by the Chinese military, he said. According to a ministry proposal, the current 275,000-strong military would be downsized to 215,000 in 2015, while the number of generals would be reduced from 379 to 268 at the same time.
DIPLOMACY
Customs pact inked with US
Taiwan and the US on Monday signed a pact to recognize each other’s supply chain security standards, paving the way for quicker and more convenient customs clearance. Acting representative to the US Jacob Chang (張大同) and Barbara Schrage, managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, signed the pact on behalf of the Directorate-General of Customs and the US Customs and Border Protection. Under the pact, those certified as authorized economic operators (AEO) in Taiwan enjoy speedy customs clearance under the US Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism system, and registered US businesses get the same treatment in Taiwan. Taipei implemented the AEO system in 2009 and more than 500 enterprises have joined the program.
CHARITY
TFCF opens Kyrgyz branch
The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) opened its second overseas branch earlier this month in Kyrgyzstan, TFCF chairman Lin Po-rung (林柏榕) said this week. Kyrgyzstan is the world’s seventh-poorest nation, Lin said. Nearly 60 percent of the people live in poverty and 22 percent of children aged five and younger die of malnutrition, he said. Up to 40 percent of children aged 16 and below have been forced to drop out of school and join the workforce, Lin said. The service center will help handle donations from Taiwan and will provide direct services to children, Lin said. TFCF executive director Miguel Wang (王明仁) recently returned from a trip to Kyrgyzstan, where he visited government officials and schools, and presided over the branch’s opening ceremony. Wang called on the public to donate money to help poor children in Kyrgyzstan.
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