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.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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