NUCLEAR POWER
Referendum passes hurdle
The Central Election Commission said on Tuesday that a referendum on the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City, has passed the initial hurdle after garnering endorsement from more than 120,000 people. The referendum question: “Do you support the installation of fuel rods in the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City?” was initiated by National Taiwan University professor Kao Cheng-yan (高成炎) and received 121,831 endorsements, the commission said. The commission said that it has sent the results to the Executive Yuan for confirmation by its Referendum Review Committee. In the second stage, the initiative will need to obtain the endorsment of 5 percent of the total electorate, or more than 904,000 people, before the referendum can go ahead, the commission said.
TOURISM
Taoyuan airport ranked 18th
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport was named the 18th-best airport worldwide in the World Airport Awards yesterday, up six places from last year. It was the airport’s best performance in the annual awards, following its rankings of 24th and 29th in the past two years respectively, said Taoyuan International Airport Co, which operates the airport. The improved ranking could be attributed to the renovation of the airport’s Terminal 1 and smooth progress of a project to improve restrooms, the company said. The airport was ranked No. 10 in Asia and No. 4 among airports that handle between 30 million and 40 million passengers annually.
TOURISM
EVA named 12th-best airline
EVA Airways (EVA) was yesterday named the 12th-best airline at the Skytrax World Airline Awards. In the rankings, which are dominated by Asian carriers, EVA follows Cathay Pacific Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Garuda Indonesia, Asiana Airlines, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa and Qantas. EVA was also named the sixth-best airline in Asia. The awards were based on a 10-month survey of nearly 19 million air travelers from 100 countries that examined passenger satisfaction across 41 performance indicators — including the check-in and boarding process, onboard seat comfort, cabin cleanliness and food quality.
FOOD
FDA slams meat packers
Only two out of a total of 86 meat packing plants in the nation passed food safety standards, the Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday, demanding immediate improvements. The majority failed food safety regulations, including two crucial food management systems upon which consumers rely — Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Good Hygiene Practices (GHP) — the administration said. The HACCP is a set of measures designed to prevent food products from various hazards during production, while the GHP is meant to guarantee food safety from production to storage and sale. Only two meat packing plants passed the tests, while 69 reported minor flaws and will be supervised to make sure improvements are made, the administration said. The remaining 15 plants were well short of required standards and have been instructed to improve within a certain time period, it said. In terms of tests on food additives, 30 percent of the plants failed because they do not maintain professional management systems, the administration said.
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