A guide who led a group of climbers up Mt. Jade slipped and fell into a valley Jan. 8; his body was found yesterday.

A chained car accident occurred late afternoon yesterday in southern Taiwan causing two deaths and nine injuries, local media reported.

Two thieves who attempted to steal 150 pigs from a farm from Chiayi County ended up running away on foot after the truck became stuck in mud yesterday. The pigs were left at the scene.

Chiayi, the sun-blessed southern county, aims to draw the world's attention by hosting the 2009 Chiayi International Band Festival from Dec.25 to Jan.3, 2010, at the Chiayi City Municipal Stadium.

Medium-sized tour buses are now allowed to travel to the typhoon-ravaged Alishan Mountain area, following the reopening of the area to minibuses last month, the Directorate General of Highways (DGOH) announced yesterday.

An earthquake of 4.6 magnitudes on Richer Scale hit Chiayi yesterday at 11:36a.m., causing the High Speed Rail(HSR) to suspend its service for one and a half hours, United Daily Evening News reported.

A group of 54 people from around Taiwan embarked on a two-day volunteer holiday last weekend on Alishan, Chiayi County to help clean up hiking paths and restore the ecological environment there in the wake of damage to the area by Typhoon Morakot in early August.

Two local chiefs in the county of Chiayi were convicted of rigging an election for the treasurer of a farmers' association and sentenced each to half a year in prison yesterday.

A 2-year-old toddler in Chiayi was reunited with her mother Saturday after being looked after by policemen in a police station for six days.

A female law clerk found herself in an unexpected confrontation with a cobra at the district court office yesterday in Chiayi City, local media reported.