ANIMALS
Animal hotline launched
The Taipei City Animal Protection Office yesterday launched a new 24-hour hotline that people can use to report and seek assistance for animals that are found ill or injured, or are being abused. The 1959 Animal Protection Hotline is an updated version of the city’s rescue hotline, which was started in 2010, shortly after the office was established, Taipei Department of Economic Development head Lin Chung-chieh (林崇傑) told a news conference. The new 1959 hotline — a near homophone for “You save, I save” (你救我救) in Chinese — offers the same free, 24-hour services as the previous system.
TRANSPORTATION
HSR services added
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) on Monday said that services would be increased from this week to meet an expected rise in demand. The company would run six additional trains — two southbound trains on Fridays, two southbound and two northbound trains on Sundays — from Friday to Dec. 25 excluding Friday next week to Nov. 27, as the local elections are on Saturday next week, the THSRC said in a statement. Reservations for the added services are to start today for trips before Dec. 11, the statement said. Groups of 20 or more are eligible for a 20 to 30 percent discount if they book tickets for reserved seats in standard cars on designated trains and dates that have the same departure time and destination, it said. Student groups of 11 or more including adult passengers are eligible for a 30 percent discount under the company’s preferential “field trip” program if they book tickets based on the same terms and conditions, it said. To help people cast ballots in the place where they have their household registration, THSRC last month announced that an extra 52 services would operate from Friday next week to Nov. 28, with bookings accessible from today.
SPORTS
Howard tries chicken butt
Former NBA star Dwight Howard, who has joined the T1 League’s Taoyuan Leopards, toured a Taoyuan night market on Monday and tried some popular street foods, including chicken butt. “Chicken ass? Chicken ass?” Howard said in surprise after he was told what the chicken on a stick he sampled was. His tour of the night market was streamed in a 52-minute video on Instagram. “I just ate some chicken ass, y’all. This is some good-ass chicken,” he said, laughing. The video also showed him sampling chicken fillet, oyster omelet and fried sweet potato balls. He also tried his hand at several games at the night market. Howard arrived in Taiwan on Thursday to much fanfare after the Leopards announced his signing earlier last week. His first game is expected to be a home game on Saturday at National Taiwan Sport University Arena in Taoyuan.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
A former member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, said in an interview with Business Insider that the elite unit’s role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would be more limited than some might expect. The report follows an earlier one in September by the Financial Times, which said the “clandestine US Navy commando unit” has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China. “You don’t use a scalpel for a job a hammer can do,” the former Navy Seal said to Business Insider on condition of anonymity.