SOCIETY
Driver crashes into 7-Eleven
A learner driver in Miaoli County crashed into the front of a 7-Eleven convenience store after mistaking the vehicle’s gas pedal for the brake, local authorities said yesterday. The Miaoli Police Bureau’s Toufen Precinct said that the 25-year-old man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was practicing driving with his mother on Sunday on Yongzhen Road in Toufen City (頭份), when at about 3pm, Chiu pulled into the parking lot of a 7-Eleven. Rather than apply the brakes, he accidentally stepped on the accelerator, causing the vehicle to lurch forward into the store’s front glass windows. No one was injured, as the seating area where the windowed shattered was empty, police said. Chiu, who tested negative for alcohol, was fined NT$18,000 for driving without a license. He must also compensate the store for damages, police said.
SEISMOLOGY
Quake shakes Chiayi County
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County in southern Taiwan at 3:51am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the quake was 41.8km east-northeast of Chiayi County Hall in Meishan Township (梅山) at a depth of 12.3km, CWA data showed. Its intensity, which measures the actual effects of a seismic event, was the highest in Chiayi County, Chiayi City, and neighboring Yunlin and Nantou counties, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in nearby areas, including Tainan, Taichung and Changhua County. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries following the quake. Aftershocks are not expected, CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) said. The quake was a “fracture zone earthquake” caused by tectonic collisions and therefore unlikely to cause aftershocks, he said. The earthquake was “unrelated” to the Meishan (梅山) fault, a geological feature closely associated with the 1906 Meishan earthquake — the nation’s third-most deadly seismic event — which resulted in the deaths of about 1,260 people, he said. In April, Wu said that a Meishan fault earthquake had not occurred in more than 120 years, so the “accumulated potential energy is indeed worth paying attention to.”
SOCIETY
Tainan hosts 500-table feast
The Tainan City Government on Sunday hosted a nearly 500-table banquet featuring dishes showcasing the city’s cuisine. The large-scale indoor feast at the International Conference Center represented the culmination of “Tainan 400,” a series of cultural events organized by the government to promote the city. Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) welcomed guests at the banquet, tickets for which were advertised at NT$1,200 per diner. Four renowned Taiwanese chefs collaborated on the menu — Wang Yi-yung (汪義勇), Shih Tsung-jung (施宗榮), Hung Chun-nan (洪俊男) and Kuo Yu-hung (郭育宏). It leaned heavily on classic Tainan flavors. The dishes included “Tainan-style Buddha jumps over the wall” (a rich soup), “Shaohsing sea prawns” and “Oily grouper” (a sea bass dish). Entertainment was provided by Dutch opera singer Martin Hurkens and a guzheng (古箏) musical ensemble from Tainan National University of the Arts. A guzheng is a traditional Chinese plucked string instrument. Organizers originally planned to serve only 400 tables, each seating 10 diners, but high demand for tickets led them to increase the total number of tables to 488.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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