The Pingtung District Court granted the equivalent of one year pay to a teacher who was fired for not abiding by a school rule that required children of educators to enroll in the school, local media reported yesterday.

A woman in the southern Pingtung City complained about the lax administrative procedure at a telephone company that issued four new mobile phones to someone who had filed applications using her ID card lost 10 years ago.

Bees used to pollinate melons have been stolen in Pingtung County and police are hunting down the suspect and the missing bees, said police yesterday.

A policeman's wife is reported to have helped police to track down a robber — who conducted a fake car accident to steal her purse, by taking the offender's license plate number.

A middle-aged woman surnamed Tung was injured by an explosive device that she had picked up around the military base at Hengchun Township in Pingtung County.

Law enforcers busted a drug trafficking attempt in Pingtung County yesterday when the suspects allegedly smuggled 847kg of ketamines from China.

Crabs spotted off Taiwan's southern coast last year have been confirmed as belonging to a new crab species that has never been reported in official documents, the Kenting National Park Headquarters announced Monday.

A scooter passenger accused of leaving his friend, the driver, behind after a fatal accident in Pingtung last year was indicted yesterday for abandonment, according to the Apple Daily News.

Global warming has taken a serious toll on Taiwan's ecology as the type and amount of algae growing under the sea in waters off southern Taiwan's Kenting National Park and the island's northeastern region have largely perished, an expert warned yesterday.

A five-week Hakka arts festival will open in Liukuei township, Pingtung County, Nov. 21 to showcase traditional and innovative aspects of the ethnic group's culture, the top official in charge of national Hakka affairs announced Tuesday.