■ Transportation
MRT tries out voice system
The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) began a six-month trial run of a voice-guided system at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall MRT station to better assist visually impaired commuters. If the test is successful, a more complete system will be installed in all MRT stations, according to the company. The new voice-guided system includes a broadcast speaker, an infrared ray sensor, a Braille board and a service bell speaker. The infrared ray sensor will broadcast the message, "visually impaired passengers who need help please stay on the right side, and press the service bell to talk to our staff members," when it senses approaching passengers. The company urged visually impaired or disabled passengers not to hesitate to ask for help at MRT stations if needed.
■ Society
Offensive map removed
A publisher has withdrawn tourist maps from CKS International Airport showing a pop singer with a profanity on her T-shirt, the company said yesterday. The free map of Taipei shows singer Vivian Hsu (徐若瑄) wearing a pink sleeveless T-shirt with the words "dirty white slut" printed on it in gothic letters, a pink cap and hot pants. The words seemed to refer to promiscuity. The map's publisher, the Vision Group, said there had been no complaints about the slogan, but it had still decided to remove the maps from the airport. "The person responsible for issuing the map didn't understand English, but when we saw the picture, we thought it better to withdraw it from circulation," a company spokeswoman said. The map is still available at some hotels in Taipei, though. "We have no right to interfere with the hotels, they make their own decision about the map," she said.
■ Politics
CCP officials `chat' with Li
Writer and independent legislator Li Ao (李敖) yesterday told the press that Chinese authorities had "visited him for a chat" after his first speech in China on Wednesday during which he championed freedom of speech and took repeated swipes at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In his speech to an audience of about 500 people at Peking University on Wednesday, Li advised the 69 million members of the CCP to relax and stop "wearing a poker-face." Li told the press yesterday that his second speech to an audience at Tsinghua University today will go ahead as scheduled, as will the pungency of the content of his speech.
■ Health
Flu-shot campaign starts
Free inoculations for selected people will begin this week, drawing on the 2.15 million doses of influenza vaccine purchased earlier this year, the Department of Health said yesterday. Health officials said that the medicine is similar to last year's, and that they hoped to see a higher inoculation rate than the 60 percent achieved last year. The free shots are offered to medical personnel, children, rare-disease patients as well as workers in the poultry or livestock industries. Officials from the health department's Center for Disease Control reminded those involved in raising, slaughtering or shipping poultry and livestock to receive inoculations. The inoculation rate last year for this industry was the lowest in the country at 59.9 percent, while those in the medical care and quarantine industries had the highest rate at 88 percent. Hospitals and clinics will provide shots to the general public for between NT$400 and NT$500 each.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
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