ENTERTAINMENT
‘Panda’ awards taking votes
Taipei Zoo is asking netizens to show their support for young giant panda Yuan Zai (圓仔) and one of its keepers, both of whom are in the running for two Giant Panda Zoo Awards, an online prize dedicated to panda conservation. The zoo asked animal lovers to vote for 18-month-old Yuan Zai, which has just begun living apart from her mother, and Chen Yu-yen (陳玉燕), the director of the Panda House. While the young panda is vying for “Panda Personality of 2014,” Chen is competing in the category of “Human Panda Personality of 2014.” About 240,000 online ballots were cast during last year’s competition, in which Yuan Zai won the “Panda Personality of 2013: The Bear.” Voting is to continue through Sunday on the Giant Panda Zoo Web site, founded by Belgian panda enthusiast Jeroen Jacobs. The awards site can be found at: www.giantpandazoo.com/panda/giantpandazooawards/voting.
SOCIETY
220,000 call abuse hotline
The government’s domestic violence and child abuse hotline received more than 220,000 calls last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said earlier this week. After accounting for “invalid calls,” the ministry handled 150,693 pleas and questions brought to the 24-hour “113” hotline last year, Department of Protective Services Director Chang Hsiu-yuan (張秀鴛) said. About half of the calls centered on violence between intimate partners; 25 percent were inquiries about or reports on child-protection issues; close to 20 percent were over violence between siblings and other family members; and the rest were about rape, other sexual assaults and abuse of elderly people, Chang said. The number of calls related to non-domestic child abuse increased by 8 percent from last year, Chang said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) yesterday authorized the execution of convicted murderer Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), the first death row prisoner to be put to death since President William Lai (賴清德) took office. Huang was to be executed via a firing squad yesterday evening, which would leave Taiwan with 36 convicts on death row. Huang on Oct. 1, 2013, broke into his ex-girlfriend Wang Ping-chih’s (王品智) residence in New Taipei City, where he raped and murdered Wang. He also killed Wang’s mother. Huang was bitter over the breakup and her accusation that he had stolen NT$200,000 (US$6,074) from her bank account, prosecutors said
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