SOCIETY
Aquarium whale dies
A beluga whale at the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Pingtung County died on Wednesday of sepsis, museum authorities said yesterday. The whale, named Blue, had refused to eat and had shown symptoms of fever and a high white blood cell count for five days before its death, the officials said. An autopsy determined the cause of death as sub-acute sepsis due to a bacterial infection of unknown origin, the museum said. Blue was one of a second group of four belugas that the museum acquired from Russia eight years ago. The other three have already died. The last three surviving belugas at the museum are from an earlier group of six that arrived at the museum more than 10 years ago.
DIPLOMACY
Salvadorean minister visits
Taiwan and El Salvador are soon to sign a letter of intent on bilateral cooperation, solidifying the friendship between the two diplomatic allies, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said yesterday. While welcoming Salvadorean Foreign Minister Hugo Roger Martinez Bonilla at the Executive Yuan, Jiang said Taiwan is working to raise its international profile and hopes El Salvador will continue to support that effort. The premier expressed appreciation for the Central American country’s support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and other international bodies. He also extended an invitation for Salvadorean President Salvador Sanchez Ceren to visit Taiwan. Martinez said he is in Taiwan to celebrate the country’s National Day on Oct. 10 and to invite more businesspeople to invest in his country.
CULTURE
Precious stone heads abroad
The Meat-shaped Stone, one of the two most popular pieces in the National Palace Museum’s collection, is soon to be exhibited overseas for the first time. The 5.73cm-tall Qing Dynasty piece of banded jasper, carved to resemble a piece of braised pork belly, is to go on display for two weeks from Tuesday at the Kyushu National Museum in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The stone is likely to be shipped to Japan in the next day or two, but the exact date has not been divulged for security reasons. The piece is to be part of the “Treasured Masterpieces from the National Palace Museum, Taipei” exhibition of 110 items that is to run until Nov. 30 at the Kyushu museum. Among the artworks in the exhibition are paintings, embroideries, calligraphy, ceramics, bronze and jade objects.
HEALTH
Ebola response teams set up
Hospitals at the regional level and higher are to form specialized teams within two weeks to respond to any possible cases of Ebola, Centers for Disease Control deputy head Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said yesterday in the wake of a confirmed Ebola case in the US. The case — the first to be diagnosed outside Africa — flashed a “big warning signal” in the efforts to fight the Ebola epidemic. Chou said the Ministry of Health and Welfare has set aside funds to establish the response teams and has “prepared itself well to fight the battle.” Besides imposing the strictest level of quarantine measures on travelers from Africa, particularly west Africa, the ministry has also sent doctors to the region to obtain hands-on experience in fighting the disease, he said. As of last Friday, the total number of reported Ebola cases across Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal had reached 6,574, with 3,091 fatalities, according to the WHO.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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
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