Submachine Gun Among New Taipei City Arsenal

Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers arrested three men in New Taipei City yesterday and confiscated 8 guns including a Skorpion machine-pistol. Police made the arrests after investigating a 46 year-old man named Zheng (鄭), who was suspected of trafficking in black market firearms. Police had been tipped off to the operation last month. Yesterday afternoon, at around 4:00pm, police swooped on a construction company in Zhonghe District, where Zheng and his accomplices were believed to be making a transaction. The

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Nursery Teacher Fired after Terrorizing Toddlers on Halloween

A nursery teacher working at a private childcare center in Kaohsiung lost her job after a video of her wearing a horror mask and chasing terrified infants around a playroom went viral on social media. The video caused public outrage after it was uploaded to a public Facebook group. The director of the childcare center issued an apology on the center’s own Facebook page, stating that the teacher had been asked to leave, but the center closed down the page

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Drunk Driver Pretends to be Passenger after Fatal Accident

The driver of a car that slammed into a scooter, killing the rider yesterday evening, got into the backseat and pretended to be a hapless passenger. When police arrived at the scene the man told them he didn’t know how he had gotten there or who had driven his car. At around 7:00pm, October 30, a 37 year-old man named Liao (廖) was driving along the coastal highway between Jinshan and Danshui Districts in New Taipei City when he hit

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Bus Crashes and Burns in New Taipei City

A municipal bus crashed into a building in Xinzhuang District and caught fire early this morning after the driver lost consciousness at the wheel. Fortunately, the bus was not carrying passengers at the time. According to Liberty Times Network, at around 5:00am, the 41 year-old driver fainted while stopped at an intersection and his foot hit the accelerator. The bus traveled for around 40 meters before crashing into the building. After crashing, the driver’s foot appears to have remained stuck

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Witnesses Mistake Drunk Punk for Movie Stuntman

The presence of a film crew at the scene of an accident early yesterday morning in Kaohsiung City led bystanders to believe they had just witnessed a spectacular movie stunt. Actually, they had just witnessed the lead singer of a nu metal band drunkenly smash through a crash barrier while attempting to avoid a pedestrian crossing the road. At around 5:00am, Sunday, October 29, a 24 year-old driver lost control of his vehicle and ended up vertically parked on a

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Family of Four Incinerated in Own Home: Fire Department Cautions

The Taipei City Government Fire Department issued a press release this morning urging people to install smoke detectors in their homes, and escape gates in security bars after a family of four died in a blaze in the early hours of the morning today, October 29. At around 3:00am, a fire broke out on the third floor of a building on Yanping Road and quickly spread in the uninhabited apartment used for storage. The Lai family were trapped in their

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Elderly Injured in Stampede for Freebies

Dozens of senior citizens were injured and one was rushed to hospital after a stampede for lucky tickets and free gifts at a Taipei City Government organized event this morning, October 28. Taipei City Social Welfare Department held an annual Senior Citizen’s Day activity and invited older residents to join the Mayor on a hike starting in Beitou District. Around 7,000 people were expected at the event, according to a press release issued by the Social Welfare Department. According to

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21 Year-old Firefighter Dies Fighting Factory Fire

A young firefighter was found dead by colleagues after entering a factory on fire in Hsinchu County this afternoon. The firefighter was wearing breathing apparatus at the time, and the cause of death has not been established. At around 2:00pm, 21 year-old Lin Yongxuan (林永軒) was on the third floor of the 7 floor factory with another firefighter and a member of staff of Solartech Energy Corp. According to media reports, Lin’s colleague left to replenish his air tank, and

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Truck in Horror Crash Overloaded: Driver Unlicensed

A police investigation into a crash on Freeway 3 in Taichung yesterday, that saw a family of three killed, revealed that the truck was overloaded, and the truck driver was not licensed to drive a heavy vehicle. Shortly after 3:00pm yesterday, October 24, a semi-trailer carrying steel beams went out of control in the south-bound lanes, jumped the central traffic divider, and slammed into an Audi sedan traveling north-bound. The 41 year-old driver of the sedan, his 35 year-old wife,

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Worker Clearing Giant Hornets Falls to his Death

A man fell 40 meters to his death while attempting to remove a hive of Asian giant hornets in Taroko National Park today. The sixty year-old man named Yeh was working in a four-person team outsourced to deal with the hornets, which are also called tiger head hornets. National Parks authorities had deemed the hornets a threat to visitors in the park. The hive was described as being the size of two basketballs and located on a tree next to

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Bus Brakes Fail: 1 Dead, 23 Injured

A tour coach carrying a group from a church in Tainan crashed on a mountain road in Nantou County this afternoon leaving one passenger dead and 23 people injured. The group from the Presbyterian Tainan Datong Christian Church had just visited Qingjing Farm and were on their way home on Provincial Highway 14 when the driver suddenly called out “brake failure” and crashed into a tree at around 3:00pm. According to reports including United Daily News, some passengers were thrown

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