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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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