URBAN RENEWAL
Kaohsiung gets green rules
New buildings in Kaohsiung will soon have to meet green construction standards based on regulations that cleared Kaohsiung City Council on Monday. Huang Chih-ming, a Kaohsiung Public Works Bureau official, said the rules, which were the first green building standards passed by a local government, could be put into effect by July. They will apply to new commercial buildings more than 16 stories high, public buildings or factories costing more than NT$50 million (US$1.69 million) or buildings for public use of six-stories or over. Such buildings will be required to either put in solar power systems or cover 80 percent of their roofs with gardens, incorporate rain collection systems and include bicycle parking as well as installing showers in bathrooms. Existing buildings will be subject to the new rules if an application is made to change their purpose of use. Developers were largely positive about the plans, with one saying that “the government has good intentions.”
CRIME
Businessman spy sentenced
Taiwanese businessman Lai Kun-chieh (賴坤玠) was sentenced to 17 months in prison on charges of spying for China, according to a ruling yesterday by the Taiwan High Court. Lai, 35, was found to have attempted to collect data for the Chinese government from a Taiwanese army officer, the court said. Lai was recruited by Li Xu (李旭), a deputy department chief in the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, in February 2010 while Lai was working in China, the court said. When he returned to Taiwan, Lai approached a former schoolmate, an army officer surnamed Tsao (曹), in an attempt to gather missile technology intelligence. Lai was caught last year handing over a US$19,830 bribe to Tsao, who had tipped off his superiors.
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
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