LOTTERY
Lottery prizes top NT$1bn
Taiwan Lottery yesterday announced that it is give out prizes worth NT$1.05 billion (US$31.88 million) for the Lunar New Year. That would be a record high for the Lunar New Year lottery. Prizes are to be drawn daily over 20 days, from Jan. 24 to Feb. 12, Taiwan Lottery president Hsieh Chih-hung (謝志宏) said. The lotteries include the Lotto 6/49, Daily Cash, 39Mark5, 49Mark6, Pick 3, Pick 4 and Bingo Bingo, he said. The top prize for Lotto 6/49, in which buyers have to pick six numbers from 49 numbers, is to be NT$100 million, Hsieh said. Those who pick six out of the nine numbers drawn for the Lunar New Year’s Big Red Envelope would have a chance to win up to NT$1 million from a total prize pot of NT$480 million, he said. Those who match five out of nine numbers and pick the correct number for the Lunar New Year’s Small Red Envelope draw would have a chance to win up to NT$100,000 from a total prize pot of NT$80 million, he added. Additionally, the prizes for Bingo Bingo, in which ticket buyers bet on numbers every five minutes, would be increased.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
SOCIETY
Boat captain drowns at sea
The captain of the Pingtung County-registered Ying Feng 32 died after the vessel capsized yesterday morning. The Coast Guard Administration’s Southern Branch said that it received a report about the incident in waters northeast of Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) at 7:58am, upon which it dispatched its PP-3557 and CP-1071 vessels to the area to provide assistance. The captain, a 66-year-old man surnamed Hung (洪), was found floating in the sea at 8:27am by the person who reported the incident, officials said. The CP-1071 recovered Hung’s body and an attempt to resuscitate him was made on the vessel, which arrived at Pingtung’s Yanpu Inspection Office at 9:05am. He was treated by medical personnel and taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Hung went out to sea after reporting to the coast guard at the New Liuqiu Inspection Office at about 6am, the coast guard said.
TRANSPORTATION
More HSR trains added
Twelve additional high-speed rail services would be available during the Lunar New Year period to meet increased demand, with reservations to open tomorrow, Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said yesterday. Three-hundred-and-eighty extra trains (205 southbound and 175 northbound) are to operate, in addition to the scheduled services between Jan. 23 and Feb. 3, bringing the total number of trains to 2,258, the operator said. THSRC urged people planning to travel north to book their tickets as early as possible, given that services between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2 have mostly sold out. To accommodate demand, the schedules for 18 northbound trains have been adjusted. Sixteen are to arrive after midnight, while two would depart earlier than originally scheduled. Meanwhile, 47 shuttle trains — 10 southbound and 37 northbound — are to operate in northern and central Taiwan between Nangang and Taichung stations. Each train is to have eight cars with non-reserved seating to help with the demand, it added. THSRC said it would provide real-time traffic updates through its online booking systems, such as T-EX App, Facebook Messenger and convenience store ticketing machines, among other platforms. As Feb. 8 is a makeup workday, two additional northbound trains (1504 and 1202) would be added, with ticket bookings available from today, the company said.
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
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.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
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