DIPLOMACY
Taipei hopes to pay respects
The government hopes to send officials to South Africa to attend the state funeral or memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela, who died at age 95 on Thursday last week. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it has conveyed its wishes to South Africa, though officials said they are uncertain if Taiwan will receive an invitation to the memorial events due to the absence of diplomatic ties between the countries.
POLITICS
Koo starts Taipei campaign
Lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday unveiled his campaign theme for Taipei’s mayoral election: “GOOD TAIPEI+,” with eight of the 22 Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei city councilors attending the press conference to show their support. Koo is trying to win a four-way race and secure the party’s nomination for the election, which will be held in December next year. Koo appears to have won the support of the former New Tide faction, the DPP’s most powerful faction, as four of the eight councilors belonged to the group. Taipei City Councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) said the group has decided to throw its support behind the lawyer. That means Koo should have no problem winning the support of more than half of the DPP Taipei councilors, which would benefit his chances in the primary. The lawyer’s biggest challenge remains the more popular independent aspirant Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who has been leading all pan-green camp aspirants in support and is deliberating whether to join the DPP.
CONSUMER RIGHTS
GM labeling to be tightened
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday said that it plans to tighten its regulations on the compulsory labeling of food products containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients, adopting the standards used by the EU. Compulsory labeling will apply to food products with GM ingredients accounting for at least 0.9 percent of their weight, FDA Deputy Director-General Chiang Yu-mei (姜郁美) said. The current minimum level, based on the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法), is 5 percent, but “we will follow the EU standard” and will notify the public of the planned change by the end of the month, she said. After the notification process, public opinion will be sought and academics and other experts will discuss the plan, according to an FDA official responsible for public affairs, implying that the change may not be implemented soon.
CHARITY
Swazi campaign launched
The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families yesterday launched a campaign that it hopes will recruit 500 sponsors to provide material aid for impoverished children in the southern African country of Swaziland. The social welfare organization said that each sponsor will be responsible for a NT$700 donation each month to provide basic day-to-day necessities for the children. Sixty-three percent of Swaziland’s 1.4 million people live below the poverty line, the group said. Low-income individuals in outlying areas live on less than US$1 a day. One in every four adults in Swaziland is infected with HIV, and many children acquire it from their HIV-infected mothers during pregnancy. Only half of Swazi children make it to age two, with one-third of them dying before their first birthday. Survivors are often abandoned or suffer from developmental delays, the organization added.
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
WARNING: Domestic coffee producers mainly grow arabica beans, as they self-pollinate, but they are more likely to have consistency issues, an expert said Taiwan ranks third in coffee consumption per capita in Asia, the latest Ministry of Agriculture data showed. Taiwanese consume 1.77kg, or 177 cups of coffee, per person each year, less only than Japan and South Korea, at 600 cups and 400 cups respectively, the ministry’s Tea and Beverage Research Station said. Although the nation mainly relies on imported coffee, there has been an increase in home-grown coffee bean production, the ministry said. Cuttings and other techniques are commonly used to ensure domestic beans have stronger floral and fruity flavors, it said. It is a fast-expanding market with Taiwan’s coffee consumption
RSS