Hogs on farms in Taitung County have been cleared of influenza H1N1, prompting a lifting of the ban on local hog farms and on the sale of pigs to wholesale markets, the government agency in charge of the issue said yesterday.

The pigs on a farm in Taitung, eastern Taiwan that were diagnosed with the influenza A (H1N1) virus late last month are recovering without showing new traces of the virus, a Council of Agriculture (COA) official said Monday.

A Taitung County magistrate will likely become the ruling Kuomintang's (KMT) candidate for the by-election to select a legislator to represent the county, after a KMT poll yesterday showed that support for the magistrate is over the nomination threshold.

The area adjacent to Jiaming Lake in eastern Taiwan has once again emerged as a paradise for wild animals three months after Typhoon Morakot damaged hiking trails to the scenic mountain lake, forest rangers said Wednesday.

It may take at least a century for the coral reefs in waters surrounding the outlying island of Lanyu, also known as Orchid Island, to recover from the damage wrought by Typhoon Morakot, a researcher said Monday.

Controversial county magistrate yesterday registered to run in the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) primary for by-election of a legislative seat representing Taitung County, rousing opposing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) threatening to take legal action against KMT.

A Taitung woman was a victim of a cell phone scam offering a free cell phone in exchange for personal information.

Bulareyaung Pagarlava has traveled far as an internationally recognized choreographer, but for villagers in the tribal community of Chialan Village in the eastern Taiwan's Taitung County, the young man, who grew up in the village, remains very close to them because he has never hesitated to contribute to his hometown.

Incumbent lawmaker Huang Chien-ting elected from the southeastern Taitung County of announced yesterday to relinquish his legislative seat in a move to publicly demonstrate his determination to win the county chief election in December.

Taitung County police recently recovered a stolen antique vase worth millions of NT dollars, only to return it to the owner in pieces, local media reported yesterday.