SOCIETY
Taipei to help man’s family
The Taipei Public Works Department said it would help the family of a motorcyclist who was struck and killed by a falling tree on Wednesday make a compensation claim under a city insurance policy. The 67-year-old man, surnamed Lin (林), was seriously injured when a roadside tree fell on top of him as he rode along Zhongshan N Road on Wednesday morning. He was found without vital signs and later pronounced dead at Mackay Memorial Hospital. The department said late on Wednesday that it had sent officials to the hospital to console the man’s family and to offer its help in applying for compensation. Under a roadside tree insurance policy taken out by the city, it said, the man’s family is eligible to receive NT$15,000 (US$471) as consolation and, following relevant authorizations, compensation of NT$6 million.
POLITICS
Parris Chang dies at 86
Former National Security Council (NSC) deputy secretary-general Parris Chang (張旭成), who also served as a four-term legislator of the Democratic Progressive Party, has died at the age of 86. His wife, Lin Hsiu-chu (林秀菊), said on Wednesday that Chang passed away on Saturday last week after being hospitalized in April due to complications related to COVID-19. Born in Chiayi County in 1936, Chang left Taiwan in the 1960s to pursue graduate education in the US, later obtaining a doctorate in political science from Columbia University and settling in the country as a dual citizen. After returning to Taiwan in the 1990s, he served in the Legislative Yuan representing overseas citizens from 1993 to 2004 and as NSC deputy secretary-general from 2004 to 2006. Lin said that his legacy would be honored at a ceremony in Taipei on Sept. 23.
TRANSPORTATION
Taipei MRT launches feature
The mobile app for the Taipei MRT has added a new feature that makes it easier for passengers to locate each other when traveling on MRT trains, Taipei Rapid Transit Co said. The “train meet-ups (相約列車)” feature on the Taipei MRT Go app, which is only available in Mandarin, allows passengers to share their train information with friends via social media, the company said in a press release last month. Passengers are required to enter the car number and door number which are located near the door inside each car before sharing a message, which allows the app to locate the train on a real-time MRT map for message recipients.
SOCIETY
Police clarify ‘bat’ case
The Taitung Police Bureau on Thursday defended its handling of a recent incident in which a bat-wielding man confronted a foreign motorcyclist in an apparent road rage incident. In a Reddit post earlier this week, a user going by the name Aggro_Hamham shared a video and described a motorcycle trip from Taitung to Hualien, in which, after he honked at a truck that tried to move into his lane, the driver “brake checked” him and threatened him with a baseball bat. Chang Kuan-hao (張冠?) from Taitung Police Bureau’s Taitung Precinct on Thursday pushed back at online criticism of the department. He said both parties were brought to an area police station, where the driver of the truck apologized for his actions, which the motorcyclist accepted. Chang said police only learned the driver had brandished a baseball bat on Monday — the day after it happened — when the video was posted online. The investigation into the case remains open, Chang said.
‘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 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
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