TRANSPORTATION
Train malfunction resolved
Despite reports of smoke coming from a malfunctioning train yesterday morning, the Taipei MRT Red Line continued to operate normally due to rapid response by maintenance personnel, Taipei Rapid Transit Co (TRTC) said in a statement. Smoke was reported coming from a train heading toward Tamsui as it passed Jiantan Station, with some passengers saying they smelled burning.The smoke was caused by friction braking applied after the train’s propulsion system malfunctioned at 8:47am, TRTC said. Maintenance personnel boarded the train immediately to handle the issue, with the Taipei MRT Operation Control Center ensuring that the approximately 600 passengers on the train were able to get on the next service, it said, adding that the whole situation was resolved in about three minutes. The issue has been fully resolved and checks into how the propulsion system malfunctioned would be done when the train is back at the depot, the statement added.
SOCIETY
Man struck by falling tree
A 67-year-old motorcyclist was yesterday seriously injured and is being treated in a hospital after he was struck on the head by a falling tree in Taipei, local authorities said. The Taipei Fire Department said it received a report at 11:39am about the incident that took place near Civic Boulevard and Zhongshan N Road, Sec 1. Upon arriving at the scene, paramedics found the man, surnamed Lin (林), unconscious and without vital signs, and rushed him to Mackay Memorial Hospital for emergency treatment, the department said. The tree that fell on the man had been growing on the sidewalk and had cracked at the bottom of the trunk near the roots, it said, adding that it had asked the city government to investigate the matter. At 11am — at about the time of the accident — Taipei was reporting sustained wind speeds of 15kph and gusts of up to 35 kph, Central Weather Bureau data showed.
CRIME
Seven charged over gun
Seven Marine Corps officers have been indicted for allegedly replacing a handgun from an armory in Pingtung County with an air gun replica last year, prosecutors said on Tuesday. The commanding officer of the Marine Corps Recruit Training Center, surnamed Pan (潘), a squad leader surnamed Cheng (鄭) and a battalion commander surnamed Lin (林) were charged, along with four company commanders, the Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The seven are accused of conspiring to purchase an air gun and storing it in the armory in place of a missing .45-caliber handgun, prosecutors said. As part of the cover-up, the accused etched the same serial number onto the air gun as the lost weapon, which has not been found, they said. The handgun was only discovered missing by a sergeant, surnamed Wu (吳), performing a weapons check on March 4 last year. Although Wu immediately reported the matter, no action was taken until March 20, when Lin and the four company commanders went and purchased an air gun to replace it, prosecutors said. Pan, who was by this time aware of the missing weapon, did not report the matter to the authorities as required. Prosecutors said they would defer the prosecutions of five other officers connected to the case as they have shown remorse and are first-time offenders. Superior officers up the chain of command did nothing to report the missing weapon, and their subordinates were only following orders, they added.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to