LEISURE
Taipei Zoo raises prices
From Monday next week, tickets to Taipei Zoo are to rise to NT$100 for regular admission, the first price increase in 27 years. General admission for non-Taipei residents is to increase to NT$100 from NT$60, while tickets for students, the military, police officers and firefighters are to rise to NT$50 from NT$30. Tickets for groups of 30 or more are to cost NT$70 apiece. Ticket prices for Taipei residents are unchanged at NT$60, as well as those for the Education Center and trams at NT$20 and NT$5 respectively. Children younger than six, people aged 65 or older, disabled people and their caregivers, and Taipei elementary-school students with an electronic ID can still enter for free. Visitors paying with an EasyCard or other types of electronic payments may use the yellow e-ticket entrance for faster entry. The price increases were approved by the Taipei City Council on Feb. 6.
HEALTH
FDA warns on miso product
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday evening warned the public not to eat a miso product from the Japanese food company Marukome, as cockroaches are likely to have been mixed into a batch of the product. In a statement, the FDA said that 10 325g boxes of a Marukome miso product (PLUS?生味噌?美人), which are to expire on Dec. 31, had been distributed in the local market. It warned people not to buy or eat the product. The agency made the announcement following reports by Japan Broadcasting Corp and Nagano Broadcasting Systems Inc that cockroaches are likely to have been mixed into the product. The food company has voluntarily removed 107,726 units of the product from store shelves, the reports said.
TRAVEL
Cuba visits discouraged
Travel agencies are advised to adjust or temporarily suspend group tours to Cuba following recent incidents in which Republic of China (Taiwan) passport holders have been denied entry, the Tourism Administration said on Tuesday. The advisory is only a recommendation and not a ban, and travel agencies are allowed to continue selling Cuba-related tours, it said. Based on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ four-tier travel advisory regarding safety and security risks, Cuba remains under an “orange” alert, meaning unnecessary travel should be avoided, the Tourism Administration said. The ministry in December last year urged the public to put off travel plans to Cuba after a Taiwanese expatriate family in Canada reported that they had been denied entry because they hold Taiwanese passports, which Cuban immigration officials said their country does not recognize as it upholds the “one China principle.” The Tourism Administration said it has received other complaints of similar incidents from local travel agencies.
MUSIC
Ensemble wins in Prague
Kaohsiung’s Chien-chin Primary School wind ensemble won a gold prize in the Brass Orchestras category at YoungBohemia Prague 2024, a four-day festival held from Wednesday to Saturday last week, the Kaohsiung Education Bureau said in a statement on Tuesday. The ensemble performed a Taiwanese folk song suite and the national anthem in Prague’s Old Town Square, and took part in an event-related parade with other troupes. The bureau cited the students as saying that they were happy to compete and interact with musicians from around the world as, well as promote Taiwan to Europeans.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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