By Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterGloria Hotel Group （華泰大飯店集團） is to shut down its 50-year-old Gloria Prince Hotel （華泰王子大飯店） in Taipei’s Zhongshan District （中山） next month to pave the way for an urban renewal project and cut losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials yesterday said they have arrested nine people on suspicion of human trafficking, and rescued nine Taiwanese.
The suspects are being accused of luring Taiwanese to Cambodia with lucrative job offers, before forcing them to work in their fraud operations.
The criminal ring was allegedly led by Lee Chen-hao (李振豪), who is suspected of being a boss of a Taipei chapter of the Bamboo Union triad, the officials said.
Lee and two men working for him have been placed under judicial detention pending further investigation, they said.
The CIB, with support from the National Police Agency, on Tuesday
A parade and dance competition is to be held on the streets of Taipei on Sunday to mark Santo Nino, an annual celebration of the Philippines’ Catholic history, the Manila Economic and Cultural Office said on Wednesday.
Usually held on the third Sunday in January, Santo Nino is celebrated in commemoration of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 bringing a statue of the baby Jesus as a baptismal gift to Hara Amihan, the wife of the ruler of the the Rajahnate of Cebu in what is now the central Philippines.
For this year’s holiday, the office and the Taipei City Government have