The number of telephone calls from people seeking counseling from the Lifeline counseling service was more than 123,700 last year and it might be higher this year as a result of the economic slump, Taiwan Lifeline International secretary-general Lin Chih-hung (林志鴻) said yesterday.
Lin said the number started to rise markedly in December last year when many people lost their jobs as a result of the global financial crisis.
Compared with the previous December, the number represented an increase of 20 percent, he said.
“Many jobless workers turn to the Lifeline assistance system with concerns that they might lose face or worry their families,” he said, predicting that the number would climb to 150,000 within two years if factories continue to close and the unemployment rate continues to climb.
Forty percent of the calls last year were from men and 60 percent from women, Lin said.
The 30 to 39 age group made up the largest proportion of callers at 27 percent, followed by the 40 to 49 age bracket, which accounted for 25 percent of the total.
Most of the people making calls had a high school or university education, Lin said.
He said that this was also an indication that people with higher education levels were better able to take advantage of social resources and public channels to deal with their emotional problems.
People living in urban areas made more calls than those living in rural areas, Lin said, ascribing the difference to stronger and more diverse pressures from fast changes and a quicker pace of life in the nation’s cities.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry