Taiwan Tonight - Formosa English News | Nov. 3, 2026

Puma Shen's mayoral run in Taipei has taken on so much steam that campaign flags for the candidate are cropping up even outside the capital. In one peculiar case, a sailboat set off from Hualien on Tuesday morning with several flags on its mast, including the rainbow LGBT flag and the orange and white ocean wave flag. The sailboat will carry several travelers on a tour of Taiwan by sea organized by a private group. The organizer says the two flags are meant to support the values that Shen stands for, as well as openly gay legendary TV host Kevin Tsai. Let's hear more. We hope that Puma Shen's campaign will be joyful and focused on policy rather than personal attacks. We fully agree with such an approach. I think that Puma Shen and Kevin Tsai have elevated Taiwan to a new level. I respect them tremendously and support them, so that's why we put up a rainbow flag and a campaign flag for Puma Shen. As we go around Taiwan, we hope to show with our actions how much we love and support Taiwan. The sailboat set off from Hualien to embark on a voyage around Taiwan organized by the Hualien Sailing School. There were also a few other flags on the vessel. The pro-Taiwan independence flag known as the flag of Taiwan the Formosa and the flag representing Taiwan as a rainbow whale. The school's director stressed that the voyage has no political affiliation saying they simply admire Shen and Tsai's work. The sailboat is expected to take a southern route around Taiwan and arrive in Taipei on November 27th. The route may be adjusted according to sea conditions with safety remaining the top priority. Puma Shen's many fans arrived at an ocean merchandise store lining up to collect banners and trinkets. However, the local borough warden was not a fan. He began scolding them, taking videos, and even calling the police. It's our community practice environment. Our apartment complex is a peaceful environment. All of you lining up here are a nuisance. Hurry up and leave. Go home. This is Chunying Borough in Da'an District. A store owner had posted an announcement online saying he could give out Puma Shen's merchandise banners and other items to support Shen. He didn't expect the turnout to be this huge, with a long queue stretching far and wide. Although everyone was waiting quietly, the borough warden was causing a scene, driving them away. If this is your community, your family... Can you allow strangers to be trapped in your homeland? No, you should protect the safety of our community. Which building are you talking about? I can bring people to your house. Locals taking photos silently turned away and didn't want to escalate the situation. But the borough warden kept saying it was private property and outsiders couldn't enter. He even called the cops. When the police arrived, they apparently said there was no illegal activity. The police might have The police perhaps was not aware of this. Radical expression in open areas will cause large commotions. If you look at Article 305 of the criminal law, entering private areas is already something illegal. We'll This has always been a quiet community and we don't want to disturb residents. If you want to have conversations, then please lower your voice and maintain the quiet and also don't shout. be Everyone was slow to cooperate and then, right of course, more and more people came. I had to come out twice or thrice to warn them. During the owner's interview, the borough warden stood on the side recording. Netizens discovered he's a supporter back. of the KMT's legislator, Luo Ziqiang. In our community, In our community, there are three big no's. Politics, ethnic discussions and religion. We are a democratic nation. This is a democratic society. Within public housing, there are different opinions, political ideas, and stances. I am also a resident here. President Lightning, though, once said, it doesn't matter if we have different political views. We must stand as one nation. As elections draw closer, both parties and their supporters are under major scrutiny. Fans were excited to see American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz back in Taipei. Sadly, it was a letdown. The lights are down and Jason Mraz is already performing, but at the back people are still looking for their seats. The concert was scheduled to start at 7.30 on Monday evening. Just 10 minutes before opening, staff were still setting up the seats. Concert goers started flooding in with nobody to guide them, causing major bottlenecks. It's now 7.35pm and there are tons of people still looking for their seats. The signs and numbering are wrong and the seating areas are messed up. There is a whole seating area missing at the back. So many people have nowhere to sit. It's crazy. The seating arrangement differed greatly from what was advertised, and an area that was supposed to be elevated turned out to just be foldable chairs on the ground. The chaos left fans complaining that whole sections became a free-for-all, rendering the numbered ticket seat system completely useless. Because we bought the ticket price, you already The ticket we bought cost 5,280 NT, so how come our seats were so off? In the end, we had to look for our seats and find a spot for ourselves. And instead of sitting, we had to stand. Everyone was standing at the back, blocking the entrance. The whole experience was terrible. The poor organizing made fans flood social media with so many complaints that the event organizer posted an apology on its official website. Right. The original arrangements were for seats to be from row 1 to row 100. But in the end, there were some major changes near the back. There was a timing discrepancy between our staffing agency and the team responsible for assigning and putting up the seat labels. For the services provided, Since the service was below the standards reasonably expected within the industry, the organizer should offer reasonable compensation to affected customers to protect its reputation and fulfill its social responsibility. Several concert goers have reported the incident with the Consumer Protection Committee in hopes of getting compensation for their terrible experience. One of Taipei's mayoral candidates happens to share a name with a popular international sports brand. No, it's not Jiang Wan'an, but Puma Shen. The coincidence has left people wondering about the legality of wearing clothes from that brand on election day. After all, sporting campaign symbols to the voting booth is indeed illegal. Election officials say simply wearing clothes of any given brand is not problematic. Here's what Puma Shen himself had to say on the matter. It's already an established brand, so in theory, wearing clothes from that brand shouldn't pose a problem in the eyes of the law. But still, there is a little bit of a grey area depending on how you interpret it. So I would still recommend everyone to just wear regular clothes to the polls. That would avoid any controversy. And consider this, setting aside the legality of it all. Imagine that you happen to walk into a group of people who support the other They might see things differently. If they look at your clothes and they might say, hey, you're campaigning, or you're breaking election laws, and then an argument might break out. That wouldn't be ideal at the polls on election day. I like to wear pants. If I usually wear Puma and I change into Adidas clothes or some other brand just for the election, wouldn't that be bizarre? In any case, the ballot doesn't say Puma Shen. It says Shen Boyang. The Central Election Commission says that only concrete attempts at campaigning are against the law. Examples include canvassing for votes at polling stations or near polling stations and wearing campaign items such as vests or badges. Such behavior is punishable with fines of up to $1 million NT, so be sure to check your outfit before heading out to vote. With a growing number of people looking for natural fibers in their clothing, more and more shoppers are checking the labels when buying garments. But what if the information on the labels is not accurate? Taiwanese clothing brand NET recently became the center of a controversy after a customer discovered that the fiber content of a polo shirt wasn't quite as advertised. The label said 86% cotton, but a lab test later found that there was, in fact, no cotton in the garment at all. A shopper felt that the 86% cotton polo shirt they bought felt odd to the touch and tried to get a refund. The store told them to rest assured that the fiber content of the garment was correct, but the shopper took it for a lab test and found it was more than 90% polyester. They sent me back in a hurry. The shop told me they would take it to get tested. Then when it came back, they told me it was all correct. I was very surprised, so I got the polo shirt back and I took it to get it tested myself. The results then found it had no cotton at all. If I wanted to buy it from the start If what I wanted to buy was a cotton garment and what they gave me didn't contain any cotton, I wouldn't want to buy it. Some people really care about the fiber content. Others think that as long as it's cheap, it's all right. Business operators regarding the goods or services they provide Businesses must provide consumers with sufficient and accurate information about the goods or services they offer. They must not engage in misleading, concealing, or deceptive practices. Any violation may render the business liable for breach of contractual obligations. NET has since issued an apology, admitting to oversights in its internal procedures for product labeling, quality checks, and customer service. Effective immediately, the retailer is offering unconditional returns for the disputed garment, hoping to ease consumer backlash and restore its brand reputation. Around 10.30 in the morning, many were caught by surprise in a local vegetable market when the scaffolding of a building undergoing demolition suddenly collapsed, leaving people below to run for their lives. Unfortunately, some were unable to escape and were severely injured. I think someone just said something. In the morning, some said it was shaking, but nobody paid attention to it, so this happened and it crashed down. Parts of Beitou Market in Taipei are undergoing construction and demolition of the old market. The scaffolding collapsed, taking with it six scooters and four people who were sent to the hospital. The life-and-death situation caused many to panic and seek shelter under the canopies of nearby stores. The loud crash of the scaffolding falling terrified everyone and could be heard from two streets away. Injured individuals were rushed to the hospital in ambulances. One of the injured was a construction worker that had fallen from the third floor of the scaffolding Due to severe injuries, he remains in the ICU. Ah, like that's so. When he arrived, his condition was serious. He had fallen from the third floor to the ground. There was a sudden change in consciousness, but when he was sent to a hospital, he was conscious and he could speak. We conducted a thorough examination and found that he had some bleeding in the brain. We call this an epidural hematoma. Additionally, we found a fracture in his left rib and a stable fracture in his pelvis. However, there was no hemothorax, pneumothorax, or bleeding in the pelvis or abdomen. A preliminary assessment by civil engineers reveals the scaffolding was not adjusted to the height of the building after demolition. Even after unloading in layers, it remains five stories high. And with the added strong winds, it's clear what caused the disaster. . With regards to the construction company and contractual obligations, we will immediately impose a heavy penalty and order a work stoppage. At the time of the incident, the mayor's wife, Shi Fangxuan, was campaigning in the streets in the nearby market. After the incident, Mayor Jiang also immediately arrived at the scene. The city government has fined the company 2.5 million NT and ordered a stoppage on the project. Existing CCTV footage and municipal data are analyzed by vision language models to detect anomalies, turning the raw observations into trackable data. From there, reporting, dispatching and any subsequent tasks are managed seamlessly. Kaohsiung's Smart Lighthouse project enables the city to be proactive, responding in real time rather than addressing issues after the fact. We are currently in the global... We currently have the world's earliest and largest sovereign AI at the city level. It serves as the brain for municipal governance. The city's presentation focused on four main applications, traffic, public works, water management and environmental protection. With the new system, municipal data no longer languish in silos. Here is a suggestion from the platform. This platform aims to break down these data silos, allowing the city's central brain to integrate disparate data sets to make well-informed decisions. Real-time traffic conditions from the Transportation Bureau. City buses acting as inspectors for the Public Works Bureau. Image recognition to detect flooding for the Water Resources Bureau. AI monitoring of emissions and street litter for the Environmental Protection Bureau. Through the city's smart governance platform, municipal departments can keep track of incident locations, live video, and response progress to delegate, dispatch personnel, and fix problems while also tracking outcomes. Among all the worldwide efforts to build out smart cities, this one is truly a pioneer. Using existing municipal data, AI technology and municipal workflows allows the city to detect anomalies earlier. Agencies can then get the information they need to quickly address any issues, gradually realizing the promise of improving municipal governance through technology. According to the mayor, a true smart city makes quiet improvements behind the scenes, making life better even when you don't notice it.