TOURISM
Nation ranked on halal index
Taiwan is the seventh-best destination for Muslim travelers outside the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member states, according to an annual report released this week by Mastercard and CrescentRating. With a score of 52.4, Taiwan was behind Singapore (67.3), Thailand (61.8), the UK (60), South Africa (53.6), Hong Kong (53.2) and Japan (52.8), the Global Muslim Travel Index 2017 showed. It was ahead of France (52.1), Spain (48.8) and the US (48.6). The index covers 130 destinations worldwide, measuring them by 11 criteria, including whether they are family-friendly, safe in general and particularly for Muslim travelers, have a large number of Muslim visitor arrivals, offer enough dining options, provide adequate halal assurances and access to prayer spaces.
SOCIETY
Dog owner charged
The owner of a dog that allegedly caused a traffic accident on Friday that resulted in the death of a scooter rider could be charged with negligent manslaughter, a prosecutor said. The rider, surnamed Chuang (莊), was riding his scooter in Changhua County’s Hemei Township (和美) when he hit a dog that was allegedly roaming loose on the streets, the police said. Both the dog and the rider died in the collision and police handed the dog owner, surnamed Yang (楊), over to prosecutors. According to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), pet owners are responsible for protecting and restraining their pets and bear a legal responsibility if they run into roads and disrupt traffic, Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office deputy chief prosecutor Lin Han-chiang (林漢強) said.
SOCIETY
Sand sculptors accused
Two foreign sand sculptors visiting Taiwan for an annual exhibition in New Taipei City have been banned from leaving the nation after allegedly sexually assaulting a Taiwanese woman, prosecutors said yesterday. Prosecutors questioned the two men after viewing closed-circuit TV camera footage from the venues where the incident allegedly took place, the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office said. The woman told police she met the two at a reception held by the organizers of the Fulong International Sand Sculpture Art Festival in a hotel in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) on Thursday. The woman said that she drank a lot of alcohol at the event and that after she became very intoxicated, the men took her to a nearby hotel and sexually assaulted her. She reported the alleged incident after she woke up naked and in pain, she told investigators.
EDUCATION
‘Makerthon’ event begins
A regional round of the first “Intelligent Living Makerthon” for vocational college students began yesterday, with National Taipei University of Technology hosting 43 teams comprising 122 contestants. The Ministry of Education is running the nationwide competition as part of its promotion of a “Maker Movement.” The ministry said there would be eight categories at the games, including food, clothing, living, transportation, education and entertainment. Participants at the northern venue were asked to solve problems about dormitory life. The contestants took part in a discussion and are scheduled to give their presentations today. Twenty-five teams will progress to the final on Aug. 14 and 15. The winners will receive a prize of NT$200,000.
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