CINEMA
‘Beyond Beauty’ still a hit
A month after Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above (看見台灣) first gave Taiwanese a new perspective on their nation, the documentary is continuing to post strong box office sales, surpassing the NT$110 million (US$3.72 million) mark over the weekend. Already the nation’s highest-grossing documentary, the film raked in an additional NT$9.06 million in Taipei alone between Friday and Sunday, distributor Activator Marketing Co said yesterday. That represented a 25 percent increase over the previous weekend, in which it was honored with the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary. The distributor said that as of yesterday, the film had taken NT$115 million since it opened on Nov. 1, making it the 15th-highest-grossing film — either foreign or domestic — at the box office this year. Made over the course of three years, the 93-minute documentary provides a rare bird’s-eye view of Taiwan’s natural beauty, while stressing the importance of environmental protection.
AVIATION
Hau wants more flights
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday called on China to open more routes and increase the frequency of flights to Taipei to meet the strong demand for air travel across the Taiwan Strait. Such an expansion would also help lower ticket prices, and increase exchanges between Taipei and major Chinese cities, Hau said during a luncheon with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘). Hau said that since direct air links were launched between Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, tickets for the route have been selling like hot cakes, with prices remaining high. He noted that occupancy rates of more than 90 percent were recorded when two low-cost Chinese air carriers, Spring Airlines and Juneyao Airlines, launched their inaugural flights to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Sunday.
INVENTIONS
Nation bags 189 medals
Taiwan won big at this year’s Seoul International Invention Fair which concluded on Sunday, bagging a total of 189 medals and five special awards. Taiwan presented 222 inventions at the show, the most of any participating country and won 68 gold medals, 64 silver and 57 bronze. Inventors representing 31 countries presented a total of 704 creations at the show, which opened on Thursday last week. Several of the Taiwanese who showed their creativity in Seoul were from Chaoyang University of Technology. Its students won 11 medals (three gold, five silver and three bronze).
POLITICS
Itu Aba budget frozen
The Legislative Yuan’s Interior Committee decided yesterday to freeze the NT$200 million (US$6.75 million) budget for a new wharf and improvements to the runway on Itu Aba (Taiping Island, 太平島), located in the disputed South China Sea, pending an environmental impact assessment. The funds are part of more than NT$1 billion requested by the Coast Guard Administration for infrastructure projects on Taiping, the largest of the Spratly Islands chain, which is claimed in whole or in part by several countries, but administered by Taiwan. Coast Guard Administration Minister Wang Jinn-wang (王進旺) said that once the wharf is completed, the island would be able to accommodate ships of up to 3,000 tonnes, facilitating maritime patrols and rescue operations in the nearby area.
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