■Travel
Nudists fly in birthday suits
A travel agency in Texas is offering what it claims are the world's first-ever flights for nudists, the firm said Thursday. Castaway Travel in Houston is offering a round-trip flight to Cancun, Mexico, on a chartered, 170-seat Boeing 727 for US$499. The offer is being marketed as "Naked-Air." Passengers must remain clothed through security, boarding and takeoff but may disrobe when the plane reaches cruising altitude. Each nudist will receive a towel on board, said travel agency head James Bailey. "Nude etiquette always requests you take a towel -- you always have a towel between you and the seat," he told the Miami Herald. Flight and cabin crews will remain fully clothed. "We have no regulations pertaining to nudity on board an aircraft," said Federal Aviation Administration spokes-woman Kathleen Bergen. "It's not a safety issue." Castaway Travel has reserved an entire hotel in Cancun where nudists will have the run of the place for an entire week.
■ Online games
HK's youngsters addicted
More than one in seven Hong Kong youngsters are addicted to the Internet and play online computer games for up to 12 hours a day, a news report said yesterday. A study has found the territory with a population of 6.8 million has more than 400,000 online game players aged 10 to 29 who spend an average of 10 hours a week playing, the South China Morning Post reported. Of those, 14.7 percent -- more than one in seven -- are classified by a psychologist as being addicted to the Internet, spending more than four hours a day logged on. Some spend up to 12 hours a day playing online games. More than 1,000 people with an average age of 18 were interviewed for the survey by psychologist Andrew Tang for Hong Kong youth welfare group Breakthrough. Two computer-game addicts have dropped dead at their terminals in Hong Kong in the past year.
■ National debt
Argentina to defer on debt
Argentina and the IMF agreed on a plan enabling the country to defer payment on US$6.6 billion in debt coming due through August and safeguard its access to IMF aid. The short-term agreement also lets Argentina avoid falling further into arrears by restructuring US$4.4 billion in payments to the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. The refinancing of late and future debt payments will restore the availability of credit from those two government-backed lenders, Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna and Central Bank President Alfonso Prat-Gay said in a statement.
■ Online sales
UK's Christmas sales rose
British shoppers ordered goods worth UK Pound 949 million (US$1.53 billion) via the Internet in the three weeks before Christmas, an increase of 79 percent on the year-earlier period, the BBC reported, citing an Internet retailers' association. During the same period, spending at traditional retail outlets rose 4.9 percent, the BBC said, citing the British Retail Consortium. Internet trade accounted for 4 percent of Britain's total December retail sales, the BBC said, citing the Interactive Media in Retail Group. "The Internet really came of age this Christmas as a place to buy wines," Rowan Gormley, the chief executive officer of Virgin Wines, told the BBC. "We sold nearly 400,000 bottles of wine in December alone -- a bottle a second on some days."
Agencies
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft