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.
‘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
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
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
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
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