Taiwan Tonight - Formosa English News | Nov. 5, 2026

An unruly drunk man ruined a street performance that a pipa player was putting on in Taipei's bustling Xinyi district. The player was getting to the end of her show when a man reeking of alcohol approached her and demanded she play a song of his choosing. She accepted his request but shortly after was interrupted by the man who whistled at her and got too close to her. The last straw was when he reached out and touched her music stand. Let's hear from the pipa player Renning. This is Team Hero, What does the captain want to hear songs? I want to hear what you like to sing. I was dead scared at the time. There was quite a large crowd in a circle, but he stepped really close to me and stretched out his arms to get a touch. He ended up touching my music stand. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get away since I was carrying my pipa. I stopped the show and told him that I wouldn't continue until he went and stood behind the line. That way, everyone watching was focused on him. I think it was a good way to handle it. Renying has been playing pipa for 18 years now. At the insistence of her friends, she signed up to the exams to become a licensed street performer. For the past five years, she has been filling the capital with her music, racking up more than 30,000 followers on social media. She says the uncomfortable encounter with the drunken man was the first negative experience she's had, adding that she'll be more alert in the future. A massive fire broke out on a four-story chemical plant in Zhangbin Industrial Park, the sky filled with columns of smoke and orange flames. Loud explosions could be heard from inside the factory. One male worker was even trapped on the rooftop of the burning building with the fire just below him. Firefighters continued to spray water to stop the fire from reaching the man. They used a ladder to brave the flames and two firefighters risked their lives to reach out and grab the worker's hand, bringing him onto the ladder and to safety. Dough Kun's place is on the 4th floor. Where he was stuck on the fourth floor, the truck deployed a ladder to rescue and bring him to safety. The fire broke out around 6 p.m. and spread rapidly due to the large quantities of flammable liquids inside the building. The 60-year-old employee was rescued around 8 p.m. and suffered severe burns on his back. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital for emergency treatment. I'm Around 30% of his body was covered in second-degree burns, starting and he was admitted to the burn unit. He is in critical condition. The man survived more than two hours in the fire, which is a miracle. The following 72 hours will be very tense for this worker to as he battles it out under critical observation. speak The cause of the fire is under investigation. Mayor Chiang Wan-an's program to offer free school lunches in Taipei has now. been shrouded in controversy since it launched two months ago. The latest scandal was in Yong'an Elementary School in Zhongshan District. A resealable plastic bag packed with furikake seasoning carries a note with instructions for teachers. Two grams per person. Please help portion. A parent shared the picture on social media saying, No wonder nobody wants to be a teacher now. You worry about the kids being hungry and you have extra duties. I also demand that the Education Bureau I have asked the education department to tell schools that the food should be portioned in a way that lightens the burden on teachers. His free school lunch program lacks supporting measures. It can't be that the city launches a school lunch policy that requires getting help from the parents. The government's duty is to listen to what the people are saying. Instead, every time that someone raises questions, their response is to say, No, we're doing a great job. One tallied up the school lunch scandals, counting two grams of furikake, three bigger-than-normal blueberries, and four longans. Another one compared Taipei with Tainan, where each student gets a full packet with a whopping 13 grams of furikake seasoning. The school has come out to explain the situation. Since furikake is a seasoning, it is not counted as part of the meal, and is therefore provided separately to also account for students with allergies. As for the instructions regarding the portions, The school says it previously received complaints that some students were getting more seasoning than others. Now, if they want more, they can just ask the teacher. provide scallion rice for lunch at this school Our school has been providing furikake seasoning this way for years. The serving of two grams is just the recommended amount. There are no rules to enforce how the seasoning is portioned, and there are no limits on how much they can use. Students who want more can get more from the seasoning area. The seasoning is mixed in with rice to add some flavor. It's not a dish in itself. It doesn't really affect the nutritional value of the meals, but it does contain salt, so children are advised to eat it in moderation. Taipei's education department has asked the school to revise its procedures to not add extra burden onto teachers. Meanwhile, nutritionists continue to work for the health of students. Sir, that's dangerous. There's a truck coming behind you. We'll be right back. The video cuts right before the truck strikes, repeated over and over like he's stuck in a nightmare. This is a promotional video for a politician's campaign, but its suspense had viewers holding their breath. My focus is only on A. I kept watching to see if he was in danger. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's very effective. It grabs attention. That's it, that's it. The guys have been dealing with that for a��안 t. I'm Thank you. But I want to let you know that in the future, we'll probably be hearing all over again, but we've got a few more videos we could do. I'm about to get hit in the video, but I actually get away. Yeah. Like what? Yeah. Then the truck comes again. Like if you've got more, you know, something in the future. That'd be lovely. I kept filming like this for about three hours straight. We've got a few more videos that were probably going to be coming out in the future now. Okay. This is the 24th episode of Rai Hue. So that's it for now. It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much. Thanks again. I went back and forth 24 times. Thank you. And good luck to reporter Scott. It was really stressful because if I hit him while he's sitting there, And thank you, as always. Have a great day. Thank you. I would be in trouble too. Bye. Thanks for watching. Thank you everyone. Where are you? Where are you eating? This creative video definitely got a lot of views, but the candidate could get fined because shooting a film in the middle of the roads is against the law. Carrying a backpack, dragging their luggage, the 10 members of a Taiwanese tour group finally landed in the airport, but their faces seemed to carry more exhaustion than joy. After many days of that expedition, all of us just wanted to take the helicopter and go home. I watched them fly closer to us. I thought, if they fly so close, won't they collide? And then just as I thought it, it happened. Recalling the nightmarish scene, the trekkers still feel anxious. None of them could have imagined that after reaching the Mount Everest base camp at the end of October, the trip would end in disaster. Their eyes had watched the helicopter fly in from the right side. At the same time, another helicopter flew in from the left, preparing to land. Both helicopters couldn't dodge each other and violently collided, and instantly sent shattered fragments flying everywhere. One of them has only one nerve. The first helicopter should have been for the first group to board. Then the second helicopter came and everyone ran backwards. Because I was standing further back, I was pushed. Actually, speaking of the crash, so many fragments sprayed out. I thought it was quite scary and quite nerve-wracking. Thankfully, the direction of the explosion was going in another way and not coming toward us. Two women from a Taiwanese tour group suffered minor injuries. Everyone else was unharmed. Since helicopters are the only way to travel from base camps at Mount Everest, the tour groups needed to wait for another one to arrive. It is to do with the high mountains and steep ridges. Helicopters are very important modes of transportation at high altitudes. Given the thin air, low density and many valleys, it is a very difficult operation for helicopters. A two-week summit takes nearly half a year to prepare for, but accidents can always happen. It was a close call, but the trekkers were finally able to return home. The Legislative Yuan on Thursday held a session about China's transnational repression. Several government agencies delivered a special report on the issue. Among the people listening in on the presentations was comedian Huang Yihau, who has been the target in several repression plots. One lawmaker from the KMT, Wang Shao-lin, had an issue with the report, saying it was focusing too narrowly on China and suggesting there were other forces as well. Let's hear more. But are there no other foreign hostile forces besides the CCP? The Mainland Affairs Council and the National Security Council have taken an extremely narrow view of what amounts to a foreign hostile force. I'm looking forward to hearing more from you after this question. I was looking forward to hearing legislator Wang Xiaoling name some other foreign hostile forces after her question, but she didn't. She just left everyone hanging to figure it out for themselves. I honestly don't know who else she thinks poses a threat to Taiwan. Maybe she can compile her own list. I didn't understand some of her remarks, so I turned around to ask the people around me. But from the look on their faces, it was clear that they also didn't know what she was on about. Comedian Wang Yihao was targeted in a series of attacks after mocking Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a routine. A club he was performing in had paint and feces thrown at it. He was also later injured in a prearranged car collision where the goal was to leave him with broken arms and legs. The plot was traced to individuals in China who provided funding and instructions. As China's transnational repression grows increasingly aggressive, the DPP and Executive Yuan have proposed several legislative amendments to strengthen Taiwan's response. However, all of the proposals have been stalled due to opposition from KMT and TPP lawmakers. A man in Yilan thought he was being real sleek with a method he came up to avoid paying delivery fees to send packages around Taiwan. On Tuesday, the 27-year-old surnamed Zhang sent a total of six packages to Shulin by abandoning them on the luggage racks inside trains. Each box said the recipient was Xi Jinping. His plan was to later go to the lost and found to pick up the packages for free. But the plan came crumbling down after a train driver found the packages and called the police. Let's hear more. On the train, nobody finds it strange if there are suitcases or packages on the luggage racks. But this package destined for Xi Jinping quickly set alarms off, especially as the local elections draw near. I'm starting to speak now. I'm starting to speak now. The Taiwan Railway has filed a fraud complaint. Preliminary investigations indicate the suspect was trying to save on transportation costs. He did not intend to intimidate the public, and he did not have political motives. The case has been referred to the New Taipei District Prosecutor's Office. The train conductor handed the suspicious packages to the police, who used a metal detector to check for explosives. But the cardboard boxes contained nothing more than clothes and discarded receipts. The sender, Mr. Zhang, says he wrote Xi Jinping on the boxes so that nobody would dare to touch them. But it turns out that it was precisely what set off warning bells. Amid the current state of cross-strait ties and the uptick in China's repression tactics overseas, national security agencies have gotten involved. They will further investigate whether Mr. Zhang has any other motives or connections. Just two months left in 2026, many companies are rolling out their calendars for next year. One international airline is marking the arrival of new aircraft featuring its new Boeing 787 rather than destination photos. From the tarmac to the cabin, the calendar introduces the new aircraft to potential passengers. Calling all aviation enthusiasts. With the countdown to 2027 underway, airlines are preparing to welcome new aircraft into the fleets next year. One has even incorporated the new jets into its calendar design. The calendar shows airline staff, pilots and crew members executing their duties, introducing a side of their work that travelers are less familiar with. The star of the show is the newest addition to the airline's fleet, the The Boeing 787. If the 787 were a person, it would be... Stable. Stable. I don't know. I think it's quite good to wear a cool suit. The 2027 calendar is all about the Boeing 787, showing off the aircraft from different perspectives. January shows it on the tarmac, followed by a look at maintenance work in February. March and April introduce ground and cargo operations, while travelers prepare to board in May. June and July offer a glimpse inside the cabin, while August through December show more details. The photographers and models are eager for the calendar's release. It includes pilots, flight attendants, ground staff, and the repair team. We hope to welcome the new year with these vibrant pictures. I think this time we included more images of the plane, which is different from the destination photos we normally show. The new 787 brings surprises in the premium business class cabin. A plum blossom light fixture casts a soft glow, while panel design My favorite is the plum blossom light fixture in the premium business class cabin. I think this thoughtful detail gives passengers a warm and familiar atmosphere throughout their journey. The 2027 calendar captures everyday moments of airline staff, pilots and crew while offering a glimpse inside the new luxurious Boeing 787 aircraft. Freshly cooked noodles with specialty sesame sauce are piled high in a large bowl. The shop doesn't hold back, filling each portion to the brim. One bowl is only 50 NT, enough to satiate even the most ravenous appetite. It's pretty thin, okay. It's super filling. They give such huge portions, the bowl is overflowing. I probably won't be able to finish it. I'll leave a bit. I haven't had a huge appetite these days. For a similar price elsewhere, You'd get half the amount. This shop in Kaohsiung's Zuo Ying district is known for its huge portions, with each bowl heaped high with noodles and the side dishes just as generous. They're still drawing new customers, while some regulars have been coming for over a decade. I started coming here 14 or 15 years ago. I always ask for half a portion because I can't finish it. Even without ordering sides, just one bowl of noodles is huge. I don't know what's happening in Tokyo. Some customers ask for more noodles, so I give them more for free. That little bit doesn't make much difference to me. This shop is happy to satisfy any appetite for just 150 NT coin. A similar eatery in Pingdong is just as generous with their pig's blood soup. Each spoonful has big cubes of pig's blood, leaving virtually no empty space. This bowl only costs 25 NT, or 35 NT with intestines, a truly unbelievable deal. With their dirt cheap prices and huge portions, these eateries keep customers coming back for more.