SOCIETY
Dog adoption planned
The government is planning to launch a new initiative next year aimed at encouraging people to adopt animals kept at animal shelters, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday after a new documentary focused attention on the plight of strays. The program will include incentives such as offering free rabies vaccinations to dogs and subsidies for neutering pets, the council said in a statement. The documentary, Twelve Nights, which hit theaters last month, highlighted that stray dogs are killed if they are not adopted within 12 days of their arrival at a shelter. The council said it hoped that the documentary would encourage more people to take the animals home as pets. The new initiative would complement efforts already made by the council to increase the rate of animal adoptions from the shelters and reduce the need to kill strays, the statement said.
TRAVEL
Lanterns voted must see
The sky lantern festival in Pingxi District (平溪), New Taipei City (新北市), was recently named by the world’s largest publisher of travel guides as one of the world’s 14 festivals a person must attend in their lifetime. More than 100,000 lanterns are launched into the sky every year at the celebrations during the Lunar New Year, Fodor’s Travel wrote last month on its Web site, adding that festival activities include food and fireworks. Each year, the festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors to Pingxi, the only place in the nation where the release of sky lanterns is permitted. First held in 1999, the festival was also named one of the 52 things to do in 2013 by CNN Travel in an article published in January. Fodor’s picks also included the Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, Oktoberfest in Germany and the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in the US.
SOCIETY
NIA Web site translated
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said it finished renewing its “Living in Taiwan” Web site, adding seven languages to the service so that it is available in Chinese, English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian and Indonesian. When the Web site was first launched in 2005, it was available in Chinese and English. A Japanese version was made available in November last year. With the increasing number of foreign residents from Southeast Asian countries, the agency decided to add in four more languages to provide information related to living in Taiwan. The agency said the Web site provides an interactive question-and-answer service, and users only need to enter keywords to search for related information.
CRIME
Pageant hopeful returns
A woman was able to return home safety after allegedly being duped by human traffickers into traveling to South Africa for a beauty contest. The woman, who has only been identified by her surname, Yeh (葉), said that human traffickers asked a Taiwanese beauty pageant association to provide them with a candidate to take part in beauty contest in South Africa. After Yeh arrived in South Africa, she was allegedly confined to her quarters and almost sold into prostitution, she said. She said she avoided that fate by contacting Lin Shu-li (林書立), an official with the Criminal Investigation Bureau stationed in South Africa, who helped her regain her freedom. The bureau said it is still investigating the case. The association that allegedly recommended her to go to South Africa could not be immediately reached for comment.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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