Miaoli police authorities recently found an unexpected twist in a suspected thief who fell in love with his victim after mugging her of NT$56, local media reported yesterday.

A five-year-old boy from Miaoli died yesterday from sepsis following a burn injury sustained last Friday.

A woman in Miaoli City accepted NT$5,000 in settlement after she accused a man of deliberately letting go during a tango dip, local media reported yesterday.

An illiterate woman has been arrested in central Taiwan for allegedly scamming 30 people out of NT$140 million by claiming to have access to an old woman's fortune, reported the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday.

Amid a row over a British company's plans to build a tobacco plant in a Miaoli township, Taiwan's Health Minister Yeh Ching-chuan said Thursday that his agency is basically opposed to the project.

Police yesterday arrested five men suspected of blackmailing an elderly couple with photos they took of themselves having sexual intercourse.

Chinatrust Hotel Chunan, the first international tourist hotel in Miaoli County, northern Taiwan is ready to become operational, as it has obtained an operating license from the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, tourism officials said yesterday.

The 2009 Hakka Tung Blossom Festival kicked off in Miaoli County Saturday with a ceremony that was attended by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, along with Council for Hakka Affairs Minister Huang Yu-cheng, Miaoli Magistrate Liu Cheng-hung and Wu Po-hsiung, honorary chairman of the World Hakka Federation and also chairman of the ruling Kuomintang.

A prominent educator from Mongolia visited the Miaoli branch of the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) in northern Taiwan yesterday to exchange views with social welfare workers there.

A master's degree holder was convicted of defamation and fined NT$6,000 on Wednesday, according to the United Daily News.