Taichung Mayor Jason Hu signed a pledge yesterday to designate the second Sunday of August as “Happy Family Day” on a proposal submitted by a city councilor.

The traffic camera at the Hsianglan section of Provincial Highway No. 9 has captured an average 1,500 speeding drivers each month, which has resulted in a whopping NT$20 million (US$689,655) in annual revenue for Taitung County, officials said.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) reported a magnitude 5.0 earthquake off the Taitung coast yesterday.

A fire performance that went awry at a nightclub in central Taiwan caused a blaze that killed nine people in the early hours of Sunday morning, one of the deadliest in recent years in Taiwan.

Hot springs, a fire dance and delicious banquet feasts will welcome visitors wishing to tour Taitung this spring.

Teenage killer Liao Kuo-hao (廖國豪) was sentenced by a district court yesterday to a total of 25 years in jail for his role in two murders, including the high-profile shooting of Taichung gangland kingpin Weng Chi-nan last May.

The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday decided that the official nominee of the party's presidential candidates for the 2012 election would be decided based exclusively on opinion polls, despite the continuous petitions made by former Vice President Annette Lu who launched a campaign to ask the party to allow its members to vote in addition to the public poll.

The principal of the National Taitung University Affiliated Physical Education Senior High School (NTPEHS) formally resigned from his position yesterday after members of the school administration voted for him to step down, marking the first time a high school principal was ousted by faculty through votes, local media reported yesterday.

Eight Chinese tourists were slightly injured Saturday in eastern Taiwan's Taitung County when their tour bus crashed into a custard apple farm, police said that day.

This winter, be prepared to enjoy the great outdoors! Starting mid-December, a series of athletic competitions set against nature's backdrop will take place across the Great Snow Mountain (Dasyueshan), the Taoyuan East Eye Mountain Forest, Taitung's Chihpen and Kenting.