WEATHER
Cold weather alerts to start
A user-friendly, color-coded alert system is to be introduced from next month to warn of low temperatures across the nation, the Central Weather Bureau said on Friday. The system has a yellow alert to warn of “cold” temperatures, an orange alert for “very cold” temperatures and a red alert for “frigid” temperatures, the bureau said, adding that the warning system would serve non-mountainous areas throughout the country. A yellow warning would be issued when the temperature in low-altitude areas drops to less than 10?C, the bureau said. If the temperature falls to less than 6?C, or if the forecast is to remain between 10?C and 12?C for more than 24 hours, an orange warning would be issued, it said, adding that a red alert would be used when the forecast is for temperatures of below 6?C for at least 24 hours. For the outlying Matsu Islands, the temperature thresholds for the alerts would be 4?C lower than for the rest of the nation, because the islands’ latitude generally brings cooler temperatures, it said. The aim of the alert system is to make it easier for people to know what to expect, as the warning includes the temperature and the expected duration of the cold spell.
POLITICS
Ma departs for Europe
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last night departed on an eight-day visit to Europe, His office said yesterday. Ma has since last year been an executive fellow of the University of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, so he plans to attend a school event tomorrow in Rome before traveling to London the following day, his office said. On Wednesday, Ma is scheduled to attend a panel discussion with academics and graduate students at the University of Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway, it said, adding that on Thursday, Ma would visit the University of Oxford to meet with university vice-chancellor Louise Richardson and deliver a speech titled “Cross-strait Relations at a Crossroad” at the Oxford Union. During his stay in London, Ma also plans to visit places where Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) set foot when he traveled to England to recruit members for his revolt against the Qing Dynasty, the office said. Ma is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Saturday, it added.
DIPLOMACY
Tuvalu talks target sea levels
Taiwan is to engage in talks with Tuvalu on how to combat climate change, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last week following an appeal by the Pacific island ally for assistance in dealing with rising sea levels. In a recent interview with Japan’s Kyodo News, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano issued a call for global partners to help his country with a land reclamation plan so that it can cope with rising sea levels. There is a serious risk of Tuvalu losing its land due to rapidly rising sea levels, Natano said, adding that the country is developing the land reclamation project to respond to the emergency. Natano said he hopes that other countries would offer assistance to make the plan possible. Natano became the country’s prime minister in an election last month. He succeeded Enele Sopoaga, who led the country for six years. Speculation has spread about whether Tuvalu would follow the Solomon Islands and Kiribati in switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, but Natano said last month that his government would continue to work closely with Taiwan.
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