TOURISM
Kaohsiung courts airlines
Civil Aeronautics Administration Director-General Jean Shen (沈啟) yesterday said that she will try to persuade two Taiwanese budget carriers to base themselves at Kaohsiung International Airport, in response to wishes by local tourism officials and tourism business operators in Greater Kaohsiung that the airport be developed into a base for low-cost airlines. She also promised to allocate NT$15 million (US$495,000) of the administration’s funding next year for comprehensive development projects at the airport. Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Hsu Chuan-sheng (許傳盛) said there have been many successful cases overseas in which budget carriers have helped city development. He added that an increase in the number of cross-strait flights serving the city, along with budget airlines basing themselves at the airport, would help narrow the development gap between Greater Kaohsiung and Taipei.
SOCIETY
Medal designer shortlisted
The Tang Prize Foundation yesterday named the 10 contestants who made it to the final round of a competition to design the medals for winners of the Tang Prize — billed as the “Asian Nobel Prize.” They are Matthew Dent from Britain, Kenji Ekuan from Japan, Massimo Zucchi from Italy, Chen Jun-liang (陳俊良) from Taiwan, Naoto Fukasawa from Japan, Soren Skafte Overgaard from Denmark, Harry Williamson from Australia, Kan Tai-keung from Hong Kong, Gunter Wermekes from Germany and Irma Boom from the Netherlands. A total of 61 designers from 15 countries entered the competition. In the final round in May, the designers are to present designs for each of the four categories of the Tang Prize: sustainable development, biomedicine, Sinology and rule of law.
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