DEFENSE
Soldier killed in accident
A soldier was killed in a towing accident at Tainan Air Base on Sunday night, the military said. The 22-year-old air force corporal, surnamed Chen (陳), lost his balance and fell from a moving tow truck, and was run over by the trailer he was towing at about 8:25pm, the air force said in a statement. Chiu Shou-shun (邱首順), a spokesman for the air base, said that Chen was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Su Shih-yang (蘇世揚), head of Tainan Municipal Hospital’s emergency department, said that Chen had no vital signs upon arrival at the emergency room. He had apparent head injuries, and his skull and limbs were deformed. He was pronounced dead after doctors spent 71 minutes trying to revive him. The air force said it has formed a team to work with prosecutors to investigate the cause of the incident.
CRIME
S Korean’s appeal denied
The Kaohsiung branch of the High Court yesterday denied an appeal by a South Korean man to have his detention order lifted. The man was detained on May 4 on suspicion of killing his South Korean girlfriend. Kaohsiung prosecutors initially sought to detain the man, surnamed Kim, on April 27 on suspicion that he had killed his girlfriend, surnamed Lee. The Kaohsiung District Court initially released Kim on bail of NT$100,000, but banned him from leaving Taiwan. On May 4, the court approved a request by prosecutors to have him detained. Kim and Lee arrived in Kaohsiung on April 22 and checked into a hotel. On the morning of April 25, Kim called hotel staff saying that he had found Lee not breathing. Lee was rushed to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Prosecutors and forensic specialists said they suspected foul play after finding bruises on Lee’s head, arms and legs. During questioning, Kim said that he got along well with Lee and that her injuries were sustained in a fall. However, prosecutors said that they had found messages that Lee had sent to a friend in South Korea saying that Kim had been physically abusing her for a long time.
CULTURE
Museum hosts rights events
The National Human Rights Museum is to hold online and offline events to mark International Museum Day on Thursday, the New Taipei City-based museum said yesterday. The museum said it would publish a short documentary on its Facebook page on Friday featuring Ankang Reception House, where political dissidents were secretly interrogated during the 1970s and 1980s. On Saturday, the Jingmei White Terror Memorial Park, housed inside the former Jingmei Military Detention Center, would host a seminar organized by Ukrainian Voices, a group of Ukrainians in Taiwan. The seminar is to bring together journalists and humanitarian volunteers to share Ukrainians’ experiences of exile and resistance following Russia’s invasion of their country. The park is also to host an exhibition titled “When Temporary Becomes the Ordinary: Days of War for Ukrainian Women” until Nov. 21. The exhibition documents the war in Ukraine from the perspectives of local women. The museum’s Green Island White Terror Memorial Park is to host an exhibition titled “Listening to the Overtones of Fissures” from tomorrow until Sept. 17 as part of the Green Island Human Rights Art Festival.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
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
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS