SOCIETY
Truck crashes into building
A dump truck early yesterday crashed into an apartment block in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), prompting the evacuation of 16 residents from the building. The truck crossed a pedestrian island before crashing into the building and getting stuck in a pedestrian arcade, police said, adding that no one was injured in the incident, which occurred at about 12:20am. Residents from five households were placed in a nearby hotel overnight by the Taipei City Government due to safety concerns, police said. The driver of the truck, a 47-year-old man surnamed Wang (王), said he departed from New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) at about 10pm, heading for the city’s Sijhih District (汐止). He said he lost control of the vehicle when checking his navigation system while driving through Xinyi and crashed into the building. The damaged apartment block is one of several buildings in the area earmarked for demolition as part of an urban renewal project, which has been stuck in limbo for nearly a decade in part due to some owners refusing to sell their homes, local media reported. Police said they are investigating the cause of the incident.
CULTURE
Jazz fest set for August
An annual summer jazz festival hosted by the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) would be held over two weeks this year, with musicians from home and abroad performing at nine shows, the NTCH said. The 21st edition of the festival would be staged at the theater in Taipei from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2 with the theme “Play it Forward,” and would include an outdoor party and jazz workshops, it said in a statement. One of the highlights is to be a free performance on Aug. 19 by Swedish jazz band MusicMusicMusic, which would feature saxophone and piano players at the NTCH Main Plaza, the statement said. In related news, a summer music festival that would feature 29 shows by about 130 performers, including jazz musicians, opened in Taichung on June 9 and would run until Oct. 14, the Taichung City Government said. The shows would include dancing, street performances and singing, which would complement the Taichung Jazz Festival scheduled for Oct. 10 to 22, said Chen Jia-jun (陳佳君), head of the city’s Cultural Affairs Bureau.
CRIME
Two arrested in drug bust
Two people were arrested in a police raid on a suspected amphetamine laboratory late last month, the Taichung Police Department said yesterday. Police seized 200g of amphetamine and nearly 2 liters of processed liquid residue, as well as a large amount of cold medicine, the department said. They detained a 40-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳) and a 35-year-old man surnamed Yang (楊) as suspects. Chen and Yang were later arrested by the Yunlin District Prosecutors’ Office for suspected contraventions of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例), police added. Taichung police were alerted to the activities of the suspects following a tip-off that they were producing methamphetamine in three rented spaces in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, said Chen Pu-ching (陳步青), an officer at the Taichung Police Department. The suspects purchased more than 20,000 cold pills to extract pseudoephedrine, a chemical precursor for the illicit manufacture of amphetamine, the officer said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
EXERCISES: A 2022 article by a Chinese intelligence expert identified at least six People’s Liberation Army assault boats hidden inside the Hong Kong-flagged ship A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that had been docked at Taichung Port and which previously took part in Chinese military exercises departed from the port on Saturday, the Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Taichung branch said yesterday. The statement came in response to a post on the social media platform X by Taiwan-based journalist Chris Horton that said the ship, the SCSC Fortune, had been docked at the port since Tuesday and questioned whether Taiwan has any rules regarding foreign civilian vessels that have participated in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises. Horton referenced a 2022 article by Chinese intelligence expert Rod Lee that
PROBLEMATIC: Popular hotpot restaurant chains were among the list of restaurants that failed the inspection and have been ordered to remove bad ingredients The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of hotpot ingredients in hotpot restaurants resulted in a 16.7 percent failure rate. Eight vegetables had excessive pesticide residue and two other items had aflatoxin and excessive preservatives. As the weather is getting colder, more people eat at hotpot restaurants so a random inspection of ingredients was conducted in October to ensure food safety, the department said. Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) said 60 different ingredients were tested: 15 high-risk vegetables, 15 processed food items, 10 soy-based food items, five meat items, five lamb items, five seafood items and five peanut powder
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