SOCIETY
Chemistry exhibit opens
A new permanent exhibition about chemical science was opened to the public yesterday at the National Taiwan Science Education Center in Taipei. The center said the exhibition, titled “Exploring the World of Chemistry,” was aimed at changing the common perception that chemistry is difficult to understand. The exhibition has imported from England a display of objects made from 65 different elements, hoping to help visitors learn about the elements in a more friendly way than memorizing the periodic table, center director Chu Nan-shyan (朱楠賢) said. Information on how to keep beef juicy while cooking, how to make fruit juice without actual fruit, how clothes can by made by petroleum, the size of molecules and other questions related to people’s daily lives can be learned during a visit to the exhibition, the center said.
LABOR
Office workers want new jobs
Up to 82.33 percent of the nation’s office workers want to land a new job before the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 10 next year, because of the economic slowdown, a recent survey showed. Among those interested in getting a new job, 36.7 percent said they were planning to do it earlier than expected due to the potential instability of their current jobs, according to the poll conducted by 1111 Job Bank. However, 26.07 percent said they were more cautious about making changes in their careers out of concern about the weak labor market. Slow economic growth has led to a diverging trends, with some workers speeding up job-change plans to avoid salary freezes, unpaid leave or even layoffs, while others are delaying similar moves, the online job agency said.
CRIME
Mob boss’ sentence upheld
The Taiwan Supreme Court on Friday upheld the life sentence given to an organized crime boss who ordered an execution-style killing in 2010. Yang Ding-jung (楊定融), was accused of ordering Liao Kuo-hao (廖國豪), who had yet to turn 18 at the time, to kill Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠), someone against whom Yang held a grudge, in broad daylight at Weng’s office in Taichung on May 28, 2010. A friend of Weng surnamed Lai (賴) was also killed in the shooting. The Taichung District Court sentenced Yang to life imprisonment for manslaughter and stripped his civil rights for life. The verdict and sentence were upheld by the Taichung branch of the High Court, which found that Yang instructed Liao to murder Weng and then let Liao shoulder the blame. The Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts. Its ruling is final. The high-profile case drew attention not only because of the execution-style killing in broad daylight, but because it was later discovered that police officers were sitting around relaxing in Weng’s office at the time of the shooting.
TOURISM
Double-entry permits offered
Taipei will offer Chinese tourists double-entry permits to encourage them to take cruises in and out of Taiwan, National Immigration Agency Director-General Hsieh Li-kung (謝立功) said yesterday. Under the new measure, which will take effect on Tuesday, Chinese tourists may apply for a double-entry permit if they can show tickets for cruises from any port in the country or documents showing a reservations for such trips, Hsieh said. The double-entry permit will allow the tourists to arrive in the country, either by plane or on a cruise ship, and then enter Taiwan again on a cruise ship that leaves and then returns to Taiwan.
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