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.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
Taiwan is planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence (AI)-based X-ray imaging to customs clearance points over the next four years to curb the smuggling of contraband, a Customs Administration official said. The official on condition of anonymity said the plan would cover meat products, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, large bundles of banknotes and certain agricultural produce. Taiwan began using AI image recognition systems in July 2021. This year, generative AI — a subset of AI which uses generative models to produce data — would be used to train AI models to produce realistic X-ray images of contraband, the official
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