EDUCATION
Taiwan studies course set
The Centre of Taiwan Studies at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is to hold its annual Taiwan Studies Summer School from June 18 to June 20 in London. This year’s key themes include the Sunflower movement, history education in Taiwan, introduction on the Resources for Chinese Studies in Taiwan and the legal basis of Taiwan’s claim to the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The program is to feature lectures by experts and academics in the fields of Taiwan and China studies, including Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉), associate research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Political Science, Centre of Taiwan Studies director Dafydd Fell and former Taipei Times deputy national news editor Michael Cole. The event is cosponsored by Taiwan’s National Central Library’s Center for Chinese Studies and will also include “research training seminars” for students interested in conducting research in the field of Taiwan studies, which are to provide “an excellent opportunity for postgraduate students to receive feedback from academics working in various fields,” according to the center. Researchers or students wishing to attend the seminars can register via the center’s Web site and provide an abstract for their proposed topic and prepare a short presentation. The seminars are to be held on the morning of June 20. Attendance at the summer school is free, but requires prior registration. For more information and the participation registration form, visit soas.ac.uk/taiwanstudies/summerschool/. SOAS offers the only master’s program in Taiwan Studies outside of Taiwan, which includes “advanced interdisciplinary courses on Taiwan’s society, culture, politics, language and economics,” according to its Web site. In addition, it organizes regular lecture series, film screenings and discussions on topics related to Taiwan.
DIPLOMACY
Chow trip being planned
Activities for a trip by first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) next month to Japan are still being planned, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said yesterday. He said the arrangements for Chow to visit to attend the opening of a Tokyo exhibition of treasured Chinese artifacts belonging to the National Palace Museum have not been affected by a recent foot injury she suffered. The museum will exhibit 231 artifacts at the Tokyo museum and a later exhibition at the Kyushu National Museum. The National Palace Museum’s Chiayi County branch is scheduled to hold an exhibition of 150 artifacts from the two Japanese museums in 2016. Lin made the remarks at a meeting of the Legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
ENTERTAINMENT
Twins appear on US show
Twins Zony (謝佐妮) and Yony (謝佑妮), who gained fame on YouTube with a series of dance videos, were set to dance their way onto the Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday. “These two are flying all the way from Taiwan to be on my show. The people on their 14-hour flight sure are lucky,” DeGeneres tweeted on Tuesday. The tweet includes a link to a short video in which the excited six-year-old girls introduce themselves and greet the US comedian. The twins gained fame in Taiwan after a video of them dancing to South Korean girl group Crayon Pop’s song Bar Bar Bar dressed in scooter helmets and tutus was posted on YouTube in February. The video has since gained more than 1.6 million hits on YouTube and the girls have been invited to perform on Taiwanese TV shows.
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