Customers reportedly needed an introduction from someone familiar with the business. They then had to call the casino and stand in front of a camera before the door was unlocked.

The officer, surnamed Wang, reportedly first climbed over a wall behind his police station with a sickle and cut down two bunches of bananas belonging to a local resident. About two weeks later, he stopped beside nearby farmland before dawn, pulled two young avocado trees from the ground, and replanted them at his home.

Afritai Ltd. (亞非台有限公司) founder Ubadigha Chinweze told Kaohsiung Times that he first noticed the opportunity while working part-time at a scrapyard as a student in Taiwan. One of his jobs was helping load shipping containers bound for Africa. The experience showed him that many Taiwanese used cars and auto parts still had value in overseas markets.

One of the fatalities occurred in Kaohsiung’s Shanlin District (杉林區) on Thursday evening. Police said a 73-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃) was swept away after falling into a drainage ditch while walking toward farmland with her husband. Her body was later recovered downstream.

The new Tainan-Penghu route would allow travelers in the Tainan area to depart directly from Jiangjun instead of traveling to Kaohsiung or Chiayi to take a boat to Penghu, officials said.

The Central Weather Administration (中央氣象署) issued a heavy rain advisory Monday morning for nine cities and counties, including Kaohsiung and Pingtung, as moist southwesterly winds continued to affect Taiwan.

The Tainan Tourism Bureau (台南市政府觀光旅遊局) said it has trained seven certified sign-language guides, including two with Class B sign-language interpreter certification. The guides are expected to join the city’s walking-tour program, beginning with the Confucius Temple route, which links several major cultural sites in central Tainan.

Army Recognition said the southern drills showed Taiwan is training for practical coastal combat conditions rather than a symbolic display, with mobile precision fires becoming a central part of homeland defense.

The trees, known in Chinese as fenghuangmu (鳳凰木), usually bloom from May to July. Their bright orange-red flowers have made them a familiar sight in southern Taiwan.

The Southern Region Water Resources Branch said the latest rain was helpful but not enough to end the water shortage pressure. Forecasters expect another possible plum rain front in early June, but officials said conditions remain uncertain and water dispatching would continue to be adjusted based on rainfall and reservoir levels.