SOCIETY
Man’s phone stops bullet
Smartphone manufacturer HTC Corp confirmed yesterday that one of its products helped save the life of its owner by blocking a bullet, but urged its customers not to try to replicate the act. HTC said the smartphone was an EVO 3D, which was released two years ago and has a 4.3-inch touchscreen. The company described stopping a bullet as “an individual’s non-standard use” of the smartphone. According to an Associated Press report, the cellphone saved the life of an employee of a gas station outside Orlando, Florida, early on Monday. Quoting local police, the report said that a robber armed with a revolver ordered two employees to open the safe at the gas station. When they failed to comply, the robber fired a shot at one of the clerks’ abdomen, but the cellphone stopped the bullet, police said. Police said the worker had no idea the bullet had hit his cellphone until he pulled it out of his shirt pocket.
AGRICULTURE
Expo tickets on sale
Tickets for the Yunlin Agriculture Exposition in December are now on sale at the nation’s four major convenience store chains: 7-Eleven, Family Mart, Hi-Life and OK Mart. People who order a ticket before Dec. 24 will be entitled to a 20 percent discount, while those who buy in bulk will obtain a discount of between 0.4 and 0.6 percent, Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) said. A full-priced ticket to the expo on weekdays costs NT$150, while entry on weekends and holidays costs NT$200. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) has booked 100 tickets for the event, event organizers said. The expo in the south-central county will showcase organic and environmentally friendly concepts in the local agricultural and arts sectors. It is scheduled to open on Dec. 25 and run until March 6 in Yunlin’s Huwei Township (虎尾).
SPORTS
Surfing event to be held
The Taiwan Open of Surfing, to be held from Nov. 15 until Nov. 17 in Taitung County, is expected to give a boost to the nascent sport in Taiwan by increasing international participation. Now in its third year, the event has been elevated to an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) one-star event, making it the most important surfing competition to be held in the nation to date. Approved as an event on both ASP and the Asian Surfing Championships (ASC) calendars, the Taiwan Open includes categories such as ASP international professional men’s longboards, ASC professional women’s shortboards and ASC mixed professional longboards.
TRANSPORT
Tires added to inspections
Tire tread depth will be included on the list of license plate application inspection items and on the list of vehicles’ regular inspection items starting on Jan. 1 next year, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. Insufficient tire tread depth reduces the friction between running tires and the road, degrading performance and increasing fuel consumption, the ministry’s Department of Railways and Highways said, adding that cars with worn tires and shallow tire treads may even slip when driving in rainy weather. The new regulation will require tire tread depth for cars to be at least 1.6mm, and car drivers with tire tread depth less than 1.6mm will be asked to replace them with new tires and apply for re-inspection within a month, or face having their license plate suspended, the ministry said.
CULTURE
Taipei to hold noodle event
This year’s Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival is to take place on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10 at the entryway of Taipei Expo Park’s Yuanshan Park Area. The event is aimed at promoting one of the city’s best-loved dishes and is now in its ninth year. The festival features beef noodle competitions and an area where vendors can offer visitors their award-winning noodles for NT$50 (US$1.70), the Taipei City Government said. The highlight of this year’s edition will be an international competition that is being held for the first time and will see nine foreign contestants showcase their beef noodle cooking skills. In addition, three local winners from previous festivals are to compete with chefs from countries including the US, India and Singapore. Taipei officials said they hope to boost business for local vendors, adding that beef noodles generated more than NT$1.1 billion in revenue last year, compared with NT$780 million in 2008.
AGRICULTURE
New tech makes waste fuel
Taiwan has developed a hydrolysis technique that can turn agricultural waste into biofuel, Academia Sinica researcher David Ho (賀端華) said. Taiwan produces more than 2 million tonnes of agricultural waste a year, consisting of 1.5 million tonnes of rice straws, 350,000 tonnes of sugarcane waste and 220,000 tonnes of woodchips, Ho said. Burning this type of waste pollutes the air and burying it produces methane, which is considered a greenhouse gas. By contrast, the locally developed technique converts waste into bioethanol or biowood, Ho said. However, he said the process still needs to be refined before it is commercially viable, since the cost of bioethanol it produces is about NT$55 (US$1.86) per liter, compared with NT$35 per liter on average for gasoline.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all