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.
‘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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