CRIME
Police hunt for pepper sprayer
Police are still searching for a suspect who released pepper spray inside the Taipei MRT twice over the past two weeks, the Taipei Police Department said. Travelers at Taipei Main Station reported a pungent scent in the station’s underground shopping area at 8:40pm on Monday, police said in a statement. Surveillance footage showed a man spraying the chemicals behind his back, they said. The same man is believed to have released pepper spray as he walked along the Blue Line platform in the station on 8:15pm on March 17, police said, adding that they are trying to establish a motive.
TRAFFIC
Butterflies close freeway lane
The outer northbound lane of a section of Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) was closed until 1pm yesterday to protect large swarms of purple crow butterflies heading north as part of their seasonal migration. Chen Jui-hsiang (陳瑞祥), head of the Taiwan Purple Crow Butterfly Ecological Preservation Association, said the National Freeway Bureau set up protective netting 4m high and 1,100m long along northbound lanes between the freeway’s 251km and 253km markers. It also closed the outer northbound lane along that stretch in Yunlin County’s Linnei Township (林內) at 9am yesterday, as more than 250 migrating butterflies per minute were spotted, Chen said. Later, at about 10am, as many as 1,080 butterflies per minute — the most so far this year — flew along the freeway heading north, Chen said.
SOCIETY
None hurt in factory blaze
No one was injured in a fire that broke out at a factory run by major electronics manufacturer Wistron Corp in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) late on Monday, based on information from the Hsinchu City Fire Bureau and Hsinchu Science Park Bureau. The fire bureau said it received a report about the blaze at 10:22pm, and along with the Hsinchu County Fire Bureau dispatched 23 fire trucks and 112 firefighters to the scene. The fire was put out at 2am, and none of the 464 people evacuated from the factory were hurt. Firefighters found that an outdoor air-conditioning unit on the top floor of the plant had caught fire, the city fire bureau said, without offering further details about what caused the blaze. Data monitored by the science park and the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau indicated that air pollution from the fire had quickly fallen back to normal levels by later yesterday morning.
SOCIETY
Invoice lottery announced
The winning number for the NT$10 million (US$313,519) special prize in the January-February uniform invoice lottery is 16620962, the Ministry of Finance announced on Monday. The winning number for the NT$2 million grand prize is 50008017, while the three numbers for the first prize of NT$200,000 are 73705743, 90315047 and 10604429. The holders of receipts whose serial numbers match the last seven digits of any of the first-prize numbers win NT$40,000, while those with invoices with serial numbers matching the last six digits win NT$10,000. Other prizes are NT$4,000 for receipts with the last five digits of any of the first-prize numbers, NT$1,000 for receipts with the last four digits and NT$200 for invoices with the last three digits. Those holding prize-winning receipts can claim their winnings from Saturday next week to July 5, the ministry said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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