An antique violin worth more than US$300,000 was on its way back to Taiwan yesterday after being stolen from a snoozing musician on Hong Kong's Star Ferry.

The Tainan County government on Monday afternoon confiscated newborn ligers — hybrids of a tiger and a lion — from a private zoo to be sheltered at a research institute in Pingtung and said the zoo operator will be fined.

The suspense over Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair's possible decision to run for mayor of Greater Tainan City in November is expected to linger on for at least for a few more days.

The man known as “His Holiness Grandmaster Professor Yun Lin” of the California-based Black Sect Tantric Buddhism and Yun Lin Temple passed away on Wednesday due to multiple organ failure.

Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair was angered by a report yesterday saying that Tainan City's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominee William Lai will support him to bid for Lai's current seat as a legislator, should Lai go on to win the mayoral race.

Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair expressed yesterday sympathy and understanding about Kaohsiung Magistrate Yang Chiu-hsing's decision to quit the opposition Democratic Progressive Party to run for mayor of Kaohsiung City in November.

Incumbent Tainan City Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair said yesterday that he plans to announce in mid-August whether he will defy his party and run in the Nov. 27 race for mayor in the newly created Tainan special municipality.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) under the Ministry of Interior arrested on Wednesday a Lithuanian man on scholarship to study Taiwan for cashing NT$46,000 with two forged European traveler's checks.

Southern Taiwan was hit by torrential rains early Tuesday, pummeling coastal areas and disrupting traffic in mountainous regions but also replenishing the area's depleted reservoirs.

The cultural and tourism department of Tainan City offers a lot of promotional deals during the summer vacation to attract visitors.