Taiwan Tonight - Taiwan News | Aug. 28, 2026

Bus operators in Taipei on Friday attended an anti-terrorism workshop hosted by the Taipei Department of Transportation. The activities included realistic situations of attacks, with members of the public acting out the roles of perpetrators and hostages. Special Task Force members also took part, throwing riot-control grenades to test and enhance a bus driver's response. Let's hear more. All these situations could arise on a bus. We hope the drills will help drivers learn how to respond to these incidents. Drivers are the focus of the training. The first step is evacuating passengers safely, then getting off the bus, turning off the power source, and waiting for firefighters to arrive. The drills covered all sorts of situations that may happen on the road, from traffic accidents to terrorist attacks. Drivers were taught how to respond to large numbers of injured passengers, and most importantly, how to respond to a fire on an electric bus. In such a situation, firefighters are required to constantly hose down the battery with water to keep it cool, as lithium batteries can get hot and reignite even with no flames are present. Of course, the most important aspect is keeping everyone safe, so evacuating passengers and reporting incidents were a key part of the schedule. Down in Kaohsiung, it was a wet morning, wet enough to cause flooding in sections of the city's streets. No wonder this car's windshield wipers are whipping away rain. Yellowish mud-filled waters gushing by the truck of this street-side vendor who, despite his helpless state, still found it in him to take a video of the scene. The water was rushing down this way. It looks like a river, don't it? Every time it rains now, it always floods. A lot of scooters over there weren't able to ride past. I even helped lift up one scooter, because if I didn't, it would have gotten pushed over and carried away. Flooding is so severe on this street in Xiaogang district that cars and scooters are leaving wakes that would impress a boat captain. Vehicles are being treated to a free drive-thru car wash, thanks to passing cars creating ocean-like waves. After going down a street inundated by muddy water tinged with yellow, this driver said that today driving felt more like piloting a boat. Scooter riders going from the eastern part of Xiaogang district to Daliao district had to prioritize safety, as this morning's downpours left the area flooded. During the morning rush hour, traffic in both directions had to slow down and proceed with caution. With sections like Yanhai Road turned into shallow waterways, vehicles had to be careful. This scooter is parked on the side of the road as its driver films the water rushing by. The drainage system isn't able to deal with this deluge of water, hence the wakes vehicles are creating as they pass by. With all these recent heavy rains, getting to work on streets like Yanhai Road has become a difficult ordeal. The heavy rain in Kaohsiung on August 28th is a result of the outer bands of typhoon Soudao and southwesterly winds, which combined to cause flooding. In Daliao district's Jiaming Bureau, the roads have become rivers, essentially stuck in their homes. People are flummoxed about how to get to work. If you walk from over there to here, the water reaches your knees. If you take the other way, it'll go up to your calves. The footage of this security camera showed that the rain started coming down a little after 7 a.m. A 10-minute downpour was enough to create murky flood water that was mixed with mud. It's flooded all the way to here. The entire area is caked in mud. After the flood water receded, the streets were left muddy, creating a slippery situation for scooter riders. The area outside of Jiaming Elementary School also was flooded today. The students' first day back at school was abruptly canceled. Sometime a little after 6 a.m., we realized that the roads nearby the school had rising flood water on both sides of the street. We made the call to inform parents that the first day of school would need to be pushed back. In Lingya district, many scooter drivers suffered through a commute that featured heavy rain. Life was difficult for workers making their way to the office, but things were much merrier for Qicawa fans who gathered at an apartment store just to get their hands on knickknacks. Many braved the rain to arrive at 7 a.m., even though the event started at 9 a.m. The line of these Qicawa fans almost reached 100 meters, proving that rain or shine, people can't get enough of these small and cute creatures which are now in theaters near you. Taipei is cracking down on smoking, but some of the city's designated smoking areas are leaving people pretty fired up. One is located at a 240-year-old historic landmark, raising the question, is the city protecting its heritage or playing with fire? From smoking spots that are little more than painted squares to a jail cell replica that got pulled down in less than a month, Taipei's smoking areas are going up in smoke. The Lian-Tai Historical House and Museum is a perfectly preserved traditional house in the Minnan courtyard style. Located in Taipei's Zhongshan District, it's free to enter. The architecture is stunning, and so is the fact that the smoking room is inside the landmark. The 240-year-old house recently got a new addition, a smoking area delimited by potted plants. Though most of the building is made in bricks and tiles, the doors and pillars are wooden. Is Taipei playing with fire? Putting the smoking area in the historic site is questionable. There's so much wood. Designated smoking areas is good. Nobody wants to inhale secondhand smoke, but it should be outside in a separate structure. Taipei Mayor Jiang Wan'an says regular reviews will be conducted. The city now has 267 smoking areas, many of which are getting dragged through the inferno. Taipei is investing big in its popular smoke-free city policy, but can you find a smoking area in this car park? No? Look harder! The smoking area at this car park is simply a square painted on the floor. No walls, no shed, nothing to contain the smoke. The local councillor offered her blunt opinion on the design. It's beyond the pale. You draw a square on the ground, just like any other parking spot, and tell people it's a smoking area, and ask everyone just go and stand there. At this other parking lot, at least the area has glass walls on three sides, and for some reason, three handrails. Online, critics were fuming, saying so that's where the MRT handrails went. The Taipei city government has put out ideas, but they lack planning and execution. Everyone's just guessing what the higher-ups want. From the get-go, it's unclear which unit should be in charge of what. That's how we ended up here. They can't even provide data when you ask them for it. The most egregious example might be the prison core smoking area set up in Gongguan, with a price tag of 140,000 NT. The bars aren't just reminiscent of a jail. They also don't block smoke in any way. The fence didn't last a month and has been taken down. What a waste. Translated as black tea at the temple corner and serving staples like egg pancakes and Taiwanese-style giant macarons from 6am to 5pm, this Hualien restaurant has been a favorite of foodies across Taiwan since 1951. Recently, it's been especially busy ever since the owners announced that September 8th would be the final day it'd be open. This eatery has been around for 75 years. Its most unique aspect is the pipes connected to the ceiling. Starting on the second floor, drinks like black tea and sour plum juice travel down these pipes. But being open for nearly eight decades means equipment has aged. And to make matters worse, multiple earthquakes have taken their toll. Therefore, the owners decided to rebuild the restaurant from the ground up. Loyal longtime customers were worried that the restaurant of their childhood memories was about to disappear. Fortunately for them, the renowned breakfast and brunch shop will open again, whether that date is in 2028, 2029, or even later. Well, only time can tell. And once again, a reminder to be extremely careful with charging power banks. A family from Taichung posted a video online of a fire that started in their own kid's bedroom due to a power bank that had left charging overnight. The child had plugged the power bank into the wall before going to sleep, but not long afterwards, the device caught fire, filling the room with smoke. The manufacturer has since contacted the family and has announced a recall for the model. Let's hear more. We contacted the buyer. We'll be collecting the problematic product for tests and offering refunds to people who bought the same model. The transformer and the battery are combined into one in a power bank. The transformer gets hotter on its own, and so does the battery as the device charges. Together, the temperature climbs higher and higher, which increases the chances of a short circuit. The outer plastic casing of the self-combusting power bank melted completely, and the battery was charred black. Fortunately, nobody was injured, even though the child was asleep right next to the device. So what should you do if a power bank catches fire? Experts say first unplug the device, then pour abundant water over it to cool it down. But of course, the best way to stay safe is prevention. By buying power banks that meet standards. Heavy downpours have battered southern Taiwan for days now, and the mountains are absolutely saturated with water. Besides flooding, the showers caused a retaining wall to collapse without warning in Kaohsiung's Xiaogang district. The three-story wall gave in on Friday afternoon, crushing several scooters and nearly reaching into people's homes. The footage is shocking. The retaining wall started tilting until it suddenly tipped over, unleashing a landslide of soil, rocks and trees. Fortunately, nobody was in the area where the scooters were parked. The closest person was in a white car just a few steps away, which narrowly escaped, getting buried under the debris. The mud reached across the street and was as close as one meter of hitting nearby residences. Though no one was injured, locals say it was a scary incident nonetheless. A man carefully wraps red bean and salted egg yolk in dough. After baking in the oven, these mooncakes are ready to eat. But this isn't a bakery. It's actually a prison. Here, inmates make and sell mooncakes during the mid-autumn festival. It's very rewarding to learn something new from scratch. Plus, lots of customers have said they like our mooncakes, egg yolk pastries and mung bean cakes. The inmates take pride in hearing that people enjoy their baked goods. Their Big Brother Mooncakes, a mid-autumn festival special, often sell out fast. We estimate that we make 30,000 to 35,000 mooncakes a year. The quantity of each variety is about what they can make over a two-week period. I think that one inmate's family does this type of work, so he started helping with the family business when he went home. It gives them a chance to learn baking skills. They also get some compensation for the work they do making them. Learning to make mooncakes gives the inmates a lifelong skill. But these mooncakes can't be delivered. People have to pick them up in person at the Taitung District Prosecutor's Office. Fruit is a great snack in the hot summer. But this watermelon looks much smaller than normal. A farmer holds one smaller than the palm of his hand, biting into it to show it's ripe. Lots of people are trying these many watermelons, just one-third the size of a normal one. They're sweet and juicy, with a very thin and edible rind. Plus, they're organic. This is a next-generation variety developed by crossbreeding a foreign variety. It's called a mini-watermelon or mini-ball. I call it a couple's watermelon because it's too much for one person, but just right for two. Cheng grows the mini-watermelons in a greenhouse. They average around 15 centimeters in diameter, with some as small as 5 centimeters. They're sweeter than most watermelons and just the right size for two people to share. Because the rind is so thin, if we grow them outdoors, they can crack easily, especially with all the rain in Yilan. The plants are also more vulnerable to pests and diseases, so growing them in a greenhouse protects them and helps them produce better fruit. Once you chill them, they get even crispier and sweeter. I'd say they have one of the finest textures of any watermelon grown in Taiwan. The Yilan branch of the Agriculture and Food Agency held an event recently to promote these watermelons and other organic produce from the area, showing the skill of Yilan's farmers. After registering their marriage, it's a tradition for newlyweds to take photos with their friends and family in front of the special wedding backdrop setup inside the household registration office. All of the Taipei offices redesigned their displays recently, but some have proven more popular than others. One in Neihu District had the best feedback. When reporters went to check it out, they found a couple came just for the backdrop. If you were about to get married, which backdrop would you choose to commemorate your big day? When newlyweds register their marriage, besides choosing an office that's convenient or has some special meaning, a lot of couples now choose the one with the best photo backdrop. Standing among tea fields, gazing at Taipei 101 in the distance as the Malkong gondola goes by, it's not hard to spot what's special about Wenshan District. Or you can stand by a building from Bopilia, which gives Wanhua District its historic flair. All of the household registration offices in Taipei have redesigned their wedding backdrops, sparking discussion online. I think the ugliest right now is Xinyi District. They just have a Taipei 101 with a heart. It looks tacky, like a place tourists would take pictures. We came to Nehu for the backdrop. Since all the other places in Taipei, I thought, eh, no thanks. Before registering their marriage, this couple took a look at all the office backdrops and ultimately decided on the Nehu one as the best place to take photos with friends and family. We wanted a tech-forward look for modern urban couples, so we blended elements of a circuit board from the Nehu Tech Park into the outline of the Jilong Riverfront and cityscape. Taipei has a diverse variety of designs this time around. We believe the wedding backdrops won't affect couples' desire to tie the knot. Art is subjective after all. What's most important is signing your name next to your partner's on that marriage certificate, taking the first step toward the rest of your lives together.