CRIME
Couple held on child’s death
The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered police to detain and hold incommunicado a married couple pending further investigation into the death of their seven-month-old daughter. The court said the Indonesian man and Taiwanese woman might collude to destroy evidence after the court found that their statements did not match. The Taoyuan Police Department’s Yangmei Precinct said that the 24-year-old father confessed that he on Sunday last week beat the girl to death because she was crying. The couple kept the body in their refrigerator until Wednesday, when they buried her on a beach, police said. The girl’s aunt contacted police on Thursday after learning of the incident, police said. Investigators yesterday said they had not yet completed a forensic examination of the body.
ASTRONOMY
Solar eclipse starts today
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecast cloudy to sunny skies across the nation today, making it ideal to watch the rare annular solar eclipse. The anticipated event would be visible in parts of Chiayi, Hualien, Kinmen, Nantou, Penghu, Taitung and Yunlin counties, and Kaohsiung and Tainan, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The eclipse would be visible from about 2:44pm to 5:26pm, starting in Kinmen County and ending in Taitung County, the CWB said. The complete “ring of fire” is expected to occur at about 4:10pm to 4:15pm for less than a minute, it added. A partial solar eclipse would be visible in other areas, the museum said.
FISHERIES
Agency investigates assault
The Fisheries Agency on Thursday said it is investigating reports that a Taiwanese fishing boat captain allegedly assaulted an Indonesian crew member while in Sri Lankan waters. Several Indonesian news outlets reported the incident and that after the ship reached port, a group of crew members assaulted the captain. Alleged video recordings of the second incident show a man being dragged out of a ship’s cabin and punched repeatedly by a group of about 10 people, while several appear to try to stop the attack. Voices can be heard shouting in Indonesian: “Just because we are at sea doesn’t mean you can call us pigs and dogs,” and “We can earn money anywhere, but we will do it with dignity.” Fisheries Agency Deputy Director General Lin Kuo-ping (林國平) said that if the captain is Taiwanese or the ship is registered in Taiwan and the incident is proven, the captain could be turned over to prosecutors and charged under the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法).
TRAVEL
CAL requires online check-in
China Airlines (CAL) on Friday said that from tomorrow it would require all passengers to board its flights through online check-in services, to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. Passengers can use CAL’s Web site or mobile app to check in online from 48 hours to 80 minutes before their flight departs, it said, adding that it would suspend all kiosk check-in services at airports in Taiwan. Although CAL ground staff would still help with boarding, there would only be a few people present, the carrier said. Passengers who have completed online check-in can check-in their luggage at the airport or Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT line’s Taipei Main Station, CAL said. Those who have only carry-on luggage can proceed to the waiting area 40 minutes before departure, it 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