TRADE SHOWS
Eight firms attend SAITEX
Eight Taiwanese companies took part in the Southern African International Trade Exhibition (SAITEX) earlier this week in Johannesburg, South Africa. In its 22nd year, the annual event brought together more than 1,000 exhibitors from 51 countries and drew more than 16,000 buyers. The products exhibited by the Taiwanese companies included tire manufacturing equipment, mobile power packs, adult and baby diapers, computer peripherals, knitting machines, uninterruptible power supplies, trolleys, platform trailers, tool cabinets, shoes and socks. Since the start of this year, South Africa has implemented strict electricity rationing measures, making various power supply products popular. Although this was the first year Taiwan had a presence at the exhibition, business was better than expected, delegation head Lee Wen-sheng (李文生) said.
CHARITY
Gaoshu raises funds for girl
A community in Pingtung County’s Gaoshu Township (高樹) on Friday announced it raised more than NT$100,000 (US$3,212) to help an Indonesian girl with cancer pay for her medical expenses and future plans. The Jiuliao Primary School third-grader surnamed Cheng (鄭) was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer. Cheng was born to a Taiwanese father and an Indonesian mother in Indonesia. She came to live with her grandparents in Pingtung three years ago. Cheng’s parents work in Indonesia and her grandmother is ethnic Indonesian. Since Cheng does not have a Taiwanese national identification card, she is not covered by the National Health Insurance system. Principal Hsieh Tien-te (謝天德) said people at the school hoped she would recover soon and return to school. Cheng’s grandmother has not decided if Cheng should return to Indonesia to be with her parents or stay in a hospital in Taiwan.
HOLIDAYS
Taipei observes Canada Day
Many Taiwanese and people from overseas showed up at Canada Day celebrations held in Taipei yesterday that featured Canadian culture and specialty foods, including beavertails, a traditional pastry. This was the first year in which visitors to the Taipei celebrations had a chance to taste beavertails — fried dough pastries made in the shape of a beaver’s tail — according to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (CCCT), which organized the event. The celebrations were held at the Hakka Cultural Park in Taipei to mark Canada’s 148th birthday, which falls on Wednesday. Visitors to the event also had an opportunity to sample Canadian beef, a Quebec specialty called poutine, various brands of Canadian beer and Bloody Caesar cocktails, the CCCT said.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Mango festival begins
The month-long International Mango Festival began yesterday in Tainan. At one of the festival’s major venues, Tsou Ma Lai Farm (走馬瀨農場), people lined up for a cup of mango ice. Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) said at the festival that Tainan has about 6,580 hectares of mango farms, representing about 54 percent of the nation’s total. In terms of the area given over to mango cultivation and the volume produced, the municipality is the nation’s most important, Lai said. Thanks to plum rains, production has increased by 10 percent over the past year to reach 82,000 tonnes. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council said 33 large-scale overseas mango buyers over the past two years have created business opportunities worth US$3 million.
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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