SOCIETY
Gas leak hospitalizes 14
Three people were in a critical condition following a carbon dioxide leak at an onshore construction site for an offshore wind farm in Changhua County yesterday morning that resulted in 14 people being hospitalized. The leak occurred as workers were filling 200 cylinders with carbon dioxide, the Changhua County Fire Bureau said. First responders found three workers who were experiencing cardiac arrest in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park (彰濱工業區), the bureau said. Doctors resuscitated a man surnamed Chien (簡), whose heart had stopped beating, the Tungs’ Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital said. A man surnamed Wang (王) with lacerations on his head was hospitalized, while a man surnamed Pan (潘), who was comatose when he arrived at hospital, had regained consciousness and was being treated for inhalation of unknown substances, a hospital spokesperson said. Changhua County Fire Bureau personnel said it was about 10am when they received a report about the incident at the construction site, where workers were erecting a voltage reduction station.
Photo courtesy of Red Bull
MEDIA
Chunghwa boss faces claims
Chunghwa Telecom Co chairman Kuo Shui-yi (郭水義) was yesterday accused of special breach of trust for allegedly paying more than NT$400 million (US$12.5 million) to help ELTA TV cover a NT$500 million fee to obtain exclusive rights to broadcast the Paris Olympics in Taiwan. ELTA secured the rights after also receiving NT$80 million from the Sports Administration, meaning it paid only NT$20 million for the rights, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yang Chih-tou (楊植斗) said, while filing a complaint against Kuo with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法). Before the Olympics started, ELTA also collected NT$18 million in fees from Taiwan Public Television Service and Chinese Television System to broadcast the Games and provide footage to domestic news channels, Yang said. He said he believed that Kuo acted in contravention of his duties with the intention of benefiting himself or a third party, causing Chunghwa Telecom to engage in unlawful transactions that were inconsistent with its business practices, and resulting in the telecom incurring significant economic losses.
SPORTS
B-Boy makes major final
Breakdancer Sun Chen (孫振), also known as B-Boy Quake, has become the first Taiwanese to reach the final of The Notorious IBE, a major hip-hop dance gathering in the Netherlands. Quake lost to Colombian B-Boy Alvin in the men’s solo final in Heerlen on Sunday, capping off his historic run at the three-day breaking competition. It was “the stage I watched since I was little,” he wrote on Instagram after the final battle. Sun had outdanced Alvin 2-0 in the pre-qualifiers for an Olympic Qualifier series in Budapest in June. The B-Boy from Hsinchu has solidified his reputation as a trailblazer for Taiwanese breakdancers by appearing this year’s Games, which hosted breaking for the first time in Olympic history. He failed to advance to the quarter-finals in Paris, but in the Netherlands demonstrated how he had taken his moves to the next level in just one week. Sun also competed in the five vs five crew battle as a member of City4Crew, but they were ousted in the quarter-finals. He is next to compete at Outbreak Europe in Slovakia and the World Battle in Portugal.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
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
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
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 —
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