WEATHER
Foehn winds forecast
Afternoon thunderstorms could ease off across the nation today due to a strengthening Pacific high-pressure system, while the southeastern parts of the nation might experience Foehn winds — hot and dry gusts that can send temperatures soaring, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. More stable weather is forecast for most parts of the nation, the bureau said, adding that while chances of thunderstorms remain, they are not likely to be as intense or as long as the one earlier in the week. The Foehn winds, which often send temperatures higher than 36oC, could affect southeastern Taiwan through Monday, the bureau said. Temperatures in Taitung County’s Dawu Township (大武) rose to 38.7oC last week under a similar weather pattern, setting the highest reading in the nation this year, the bureau said.
AVIATION
Tigerair drops Thailand route
Budget carrier Tigerair Taiwan, a joint venture between China Airlines and Singapore’s Tiger Airways, yesterday said it would end services between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Chiang Mai in northern Thailand from Aug. 3. The carrier said it would shift its focus to the Northeast Asian market, where travel interest is stronger. Tigerair, which launched flights to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport in April, is to start offering services to Japan’s Okinawa and Osaka this month and next month respectively. A Taoyuan-Tokyo (Haneda) service is likely to be in place no later than January next year, it added. People who have already bought tickets to Chiang Mai can either get full refunds, change their destination to Singapore, Bangkok or Macau without extra cost, or make up the difference in prices to get tickets to Tokyo, Okinawa or Osaka, Tigerair said.
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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