CULTURE
Comic fair to animate Taipei
This year’s edition of the annual Comic Exhibition is to open on Aug. 7 in Taipei, featuring graphic artists, writers and voice actors from Taiwan and Japan. Fifty-five Taiwanese and Japanese artists are to hold 35 book-signing events at the fair, according to the Taipei-based Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association, the event’s main organizer. Among them are Japanese voice actor Yuki Kaji, who voiced the main character in the popular anime series Attack on Titan, and Japanese manga artist Isaku Natsume, known for her work on False Memories 2. More than 60 publishers are to set up 530 booths at the exhibition, a 20 percent increase compared with last year, the association said. It estimated that visitor numbers could surpass 600,000 this year. The event, now in its 15th year, is to run until Aug. 12 at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1.
WEATHER
Depression may bring rain
A tropical depression that formed east of the Philippines on Saturday could bring rain to the eastern half of the country from Wednesday, the Central Weather Bureau said. The depression, which remained about 2,000km from Taiwan as of Saturday evening, is likely to continue strengthening as it moves toward the nation, forecasters said. Whether it will develop into a tropical storm depends on the strength of the high pressure system over the Pacific, the bureau said. Before Wednesday, most parts of the country are likely to see typical summer weather, with sporadic thunderstorms in the afternoon, it said. Daytime highs are expected to range from 33oC to 35oC nationwide, the bureau added.
FISHERIES
Shrimp catch at decade-high
The nation’s sergestid shrimp harvest hit a 10-year high this year, prompting authorities to put in place a mechanism to prevent overfishing and oversupply, the Council of Agriculture has said. The major fishing period for sergestid shrimp runs from November to May and the nation’s fishermen have caught more than 1,600 tonnes of the crustacean as of this May, 200 tonnes more than the previous year and the largest amount caught over the past decade, the council said in a statement. The value of this year’s sergestid shrimp harvest is expected to reach NT$460 million (US$15.25 million), the statement said. Sergestid shrimp are small, nearly transparent crustaceans that are a popular ingredient in Asian cuisine.
CRIME
Man arrested for bomb claim
A man who claimed to have explosives in his luggage was arrested by police at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. The man, surnamed Shih (施), went to the China Airlines counter at the airport yesterday morning and checked in for Flight CI791 to Hanoi. While checking in his luggage, a ground crew member asked Shih if the suitcase contained any contraband. “Yes, explosives,” Shih was reported as saying. The crew member then called police, who took Shih away for questioning. It has been reported that Shih said his comments were a joke and that he admitted to having drunk alcohol earlier. The police did not find explosives in his luggage, but still brought him to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office for further investigation. Participating in a bomb hoax is a crime punishable by up to three years in jail or a maximum fine of NT$1 million (US$33,340).
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