SOCIETY
Last ‘comfort woman’ dies
The last known Taiwanese “comfort woman” died on May 10 at the age of 92, the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation said yesterday. The term refers to women who were forced to provide sexual services to Japanese soldiers during World War II. A private funeral was held by the woman’s family, the foundation said in a Facebook post, adding that it was attended by foundation chair Theresa Yeh (葉德蘭). The news of her passing was announced only yesterday, because the woman had asked for privacy before her passing, it said. Hopefully, the history of sexual slavery will not be forgotten with the passing of “comfort women” in Taiwan, the foundation said. It added that it would continue to demand that the Japanese government apologize and compensate such women and their family members for exploiting them during the war.
AVIATION
Unknown object halts flights
An unidentified flying object detected at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport resulted in flight disruption that affected more than 1,000 passengers yesterday morning, Taoyuan International Airport Co said. Flights were halted in and out of Taiwan’s main international gateway after a China Airlines pilot spotted the object, the company said. The closure lasted for about 40 minutes before air traffic resumed at about 10:10am, the company said, adding that seven flights were affected. Five flights approaching the airport for landing or preparing for takeoff — those belonging to Peach Aviation, EVA Airways, Starlux Arlines and AirAsia — were delayed, affecting 919 passengers. A Cathay Pacific and a Xiamen Airlines flight arriving from overseas carrying 280 passengers were diverted to Kaohsiung International Airport, the company said. Airport authorities were unable to identify the object, which was spotted only by the China Airlines pilot, but they do not rule out the possibility that it was a drone, the company said. Members of the public are encouraged to report suspected drone sightings to the airport at (03) 273-2043, it added.
SOCIETY
Choreographer dies at 97
Choreographer Liu Feng-shueh (劉鳳學), the first Taiwanese to hold a doctoral degree in dance, the first to promote Chinese modern dance and one of the first National Arts Award winners, died at home in Taipei on Wednesday. She was 97 years old. Born in China in 1925, Liu began learning ballet when she was a child. In the 1950s, she began to study, collect and document the dances of Taiwan’s indigenous communities. Neo-classical Dance Co, founded by Liu in 1976, lists on its Web site the “four small trees” Liu said she planted: her modern dance works, Confucian dance works, Tang dynasty court dance and music, and a study of indigenous dances. She won acclaim from the Congress of Research on Dance in the US as an outstanding academic of dance in 1977 and 2004, according to the National Culture and Arts Foundation, which named her one of the five winners of the first edition of the National Arts Awards in 1997. The New York-based Dance Notation Bureau in 2005 called Liu “an authority on the Chinese dance tradition” and “a pioneer of modern dance in Taiwan.” Her digitized dance notation that documents the styles she studied has been credited as a precious recording of the oriental dance history in Taiwan.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
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