SPORTS
Golf prize rises to US$1.5m
The Taiwan Ladies Professional Golf Association (TLPGA) on Friday announced that the 2025 Foxconn TLPGA Players Championship is to tee off on Feb. 27, with total prize money of US$1.5 million, US$500,000 more than last year. Sponsored by Taiwanese manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group, this year’s championship is the second edition of the annual event. Organizers said that this year’s tournament would again be held at the Orient Golf and Country Club in Guishan District (龜山) from Feb. 27 to March 2. Hon Hai also increased the total purse from US$1 million to US$1.5 million, nearer to the prize money offered at tournaments on the US’ Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, which are at least US$2 million. While a finalized roster is to be published on Jan. 17, the organizers said that Taiwan’s Wu Chia-yen (吳佳晏) and Hou Yu-sang (侯羽桑) have been confirmed to participate in the event. In addition, former world No. 1-ranked South Korean professional golfer Shin Ji-yai is also to play in her first event in Taiwan in seven years.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Ladies Professional Golf Association
TRANSPORTATION
Bureau warns of fine scam
The Highway Bureau on Friday warned of scam messages asking for payments of outstanding traffic fines. The fraudulent text messages or e-mails instruct the recipient to click on a link to pay an outstanding traffic fine before a certain deadline, the bureau said in a news release. Recipients should not click the links, as they do not originate from the bureau and are designed to defraud the recipient, it said. While the Highway Bureau sends text messages reminding people to pay outstanding fines, they are simply reminders and never include links, it said. Do not click links from unknown senders, it added. Recipients who are unsure if a text message or e-mail is legitimate should contact their local motor vehicle office to verify the messages, it said.
SOCIETY
Malay, Thai added to sites
The Ministry of Culture has launched Malay and Thai versions of its Web site to introduce Taiwan’s culture to audiences in Malaysia and Thailand, as part of the government’s New Southbound Policy, it said. The ministry said the two new Web sites provide an overview of the ministry’s core policies and achievements in cultural exchanges with Malaysia and Thailand. The sites include sections about contemporary Taiwanese artists, including masters and luminaries in their fields, as well as information about art venues, providing an overview of Taiwanese art and culture, it said. The ministry already provides versions of its Web site in English, Japanese, French, Spanish and Bahasa Indonesia, which are part of its ongoing efforts to promote Taiwanese culture to global audiences since 2013, it said. The New Southbound Policy was launched in 2016 to bolster economic, cultural and people-to-people exchanges between Taiwan and ASEAN members, Australia, New Zealand and South Asian countries such as India.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
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