CRIME
Men charged with spying
Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday indicted three retired military officers for allegedly providing China with military intelligence, a breach of the National Security Act (國家安全法). One of the three is a former military intelligence officer surnamed Tsui (崔). After retiring in 1988, he lived in China and returned to Taiwan in 2013, prosecutors said. While in China, Tsui opened a restaurant with another Taiwanese man, surnamed Lee (李), a former counterintelligence officer, prosecutors said. The third man involved in the case is a retired colonel surnamed Yeh (葉). The three men were found to be in contact with active-duty or retired military officers, gathering information that they handed to Chinese national security officers, prosecutors said. They also helped develop an organization for state agencies in China and handed over confidential documents. The men spied for China in return for personal gain, free travel and preferential treatment for their business in China, prosecutors said.
TOURISM
E-visa program expanded
The government has expanded its e-visa program to include travelers from nine more countries with immediate effect, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Six of the new additions are in the Middle East: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The other three are the Commonwealth of Dominica, Montenegro and the Philippines. The Philippines is being included in the program on a trial basis for one year, the ministry said. The e-visa program, which allows foreign visitors to apply online for entry visas, was launched on Jan. 12 as part of an effort to boost tourism. The latest expansion is aimed at attracting more high-end Muslim visitors, the ministry 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