ASTRONOMY
Year’s biggest moon coming
The biggest and brightest full moon of the year will appear early tomorrow morning, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said yesterday. The moon is to reach its closest proximity to Earth this year at 1:43am, when it will be 357,000km away, the museum said. If there are good weather conditions, stargazers will be able to see the moon easily at any point between 5:59pm today and 5:41am tomorrow, it said. Compared with other full moons this year, today’s moon will be about 30 percent brighter than usual, museum researcher Chang Kuei-lan (張桂蘭) said. However, it will be difficult to notice this moon’s difference in size compared with other full moons in just one observation, Chang said. She suggested that to to get a better sense of the difference, astronomy buffs should look at images of other full moons throughout the year as a basis for comparison.
BUSINESS
Starbucks opens in Kinmen
Starbucks opened its first store in Kinmen yesterday, in a bid to establish its franchise on the nation’s outlying islands after two failed previous attempts. The outlet is the US coffeeshop chain’s only store on the islands, but its 317th outlet nationwide. To mark the opening of the store at the Wind Lion Plaza next to Kinmen Airport, Starbucks unveiled three commemorative mugs and take-away cups displaying the county’s architecture, including the Guningtou Battle Museum and swallow-tail roofs that are a unique Fujianese architectural feature. The new outlet is also selling a limited number of Kinmen Wind Lion postcards. Starbucks previously operated two stores in Penghu, but they closed shortly after opening. A day earlier in Kinmen, President Chain Store Corp, which operates the nation’s 7-Eleven convenience stores, inaugurated its 17th outlet in the county.
POLITICS
Shen exits Taipei race
Less than two months after announcing his decision to run in the Nov. 29 Taipei mayoral election, former legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) on Friday announced that he is dropping out of the race. Shen broke the news in a mass message broadcast on the social networking app Line. The independent candidate said he is “terminating my campaign with immediate effect” due to a knee injury and a lack of momentum for his mayoral bid. Although he is well-liked in some circles for his reputation as an outspoken and fair-minded politician, opinion polls have consistently shown the 74-year-old commanding support rates of just 8 percent to 15 percent, trailing the two main contenders, independent Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Sean Lien (連勝文).
TOURISM
Thailand waives visa fees
Taiwanese visitors to Thailand will not have to pay for tourist visas starting from yesterday until Nov. 8, the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei announced on Friday. The normal price of a tourist visa for Thailand is NT$1,200 for Taiwanese passport-holders. Thailand is a top travel destination for Taiwanese and the fee waiver is expected to benefit more than 30,000 travelers per month during the three-month period, according to the Thai Tourism Authority. The authority advised Taiwanese travelers that they will still need to apply for visas at the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei during the fee-waiver period, adding that fees for business visas and temporary residence permits are still in place.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
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