Taipei, Taiwan
CNN
 — 

For thirty minutes, under the punishing midday sun, Taiwan’s capital Taipei rehearsed for war.

Presidential alerts began blaring on cell phones at 1:30pm on Thursday across this city of more than two million people: “[Air Defense Drill] Missile attack. Seek immediate shelter.”

Then came the air raid sirens, bouncing off rows of concrete apartment blocks and office towers. The shrill, ominous sound is instantly recognizable, and for anyone who’s experienced the real thing, gut-churning.

Police with loud whistles began shouting and ordering all traffic to pull over. Drivers had to abandon their cars at blinking traffic lights and seek shelter. Buses sat idle and empty in the middle of normally bustling streets.

Civil defense volunteers in yellow vests guided people into shelters, basements, and underground malls.

The MRT – Taipei’s gleaming, air-conditioned subway system – kept running, though passengers were told to remain on platforms.

At ground level, the city emptied. Businesses closed their doors as customers and employees watched the streets empty in seconds. It almost felt like you’d traveled back in time to the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic.

The reason for this annual drill is the unspoken but ever-present threat of an attack or invasion by Taiwan’s giant neighbor to the north. China’s Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be taken by force if necessary.

While democratic Taiwan has long been used to those threats, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the increasingly shrill rhetoric from Chinese leader Xi Jinping and conflict in the Middle East have thrown into sharp relief what could be at stake if peace falters.

“I feel nervous when I hear the siren. While China has been there all along, when the sirens go off, it reminds me of that large threat next to us,” said Carl Chu, a Taipei resident. “War could happen anytime. We need to shoulder our own responsibility, be prepared and know how to protect ourselves.”

Jessica Fang, another Taipei resident, added: “Many used to view these drills as a mundane routine. But because of what happened in Ukraine and Israel, this year it feels closer to home. War could happen whether you want it or not, so you have to be prepared for that possibility. These drills make us take it more seriously.”

For the first time this year, Taiwan combined its two major civil defense exercises, Wan An and Min An, into a single, island-wide rehearsal: the 2025 Urban Resilience Exercise, staged in conjunction with Han Kuang 41, the country’s largest-ever military simulation.

This year’s drills are ten days, twice as long as before. The timing is no accident. Tensions with Beijing remain high. While polls suggest most Taiwanese don’t believe an invasion is imminent, the government is preparing with focus and urgency.

Beyond sirens and evacuations, the drill included mass casualty simulations and emergency supply drops. In Neihu, outside the Tri-Service General Hospital, the military staged a live response to an imagined missile strike. Medics in full protective gear treated mock victims as nearby roads were sealed off.

Across Taiwan, more than 22,000 reservists, nearly 50 percent more than last year, are involved in scenarios ranging from urban combat to cyber defense.

In recent days, soldiers have conducted drills in subway tunnels and exhibition halls, converting civilian infrastructure into test battlegrounds.

The Ministry of Defense has emphasized both military readiness and public engagement, including new outreach to foreigners in Taiwan with instructions in English explaining what to do and where to go.

The government is also urging citizens to download shelter maps, learn evacuation routes, and recognize the distinct siren tones.

When the all-clear sirens finally sounded, Taipei quickly bounced back to normal.

Within seconds, traffic and pedestrians returned to the streets as folks carried on with their days and tried to beat the summer heat and humidity. Most believe the next time they hear sirens, it’ll be another drill.

But these days, nobody can be sure.

Reuters
 — 

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered the setting up of a new investigation team, involving police and prosecutors, to look into the deadly Halloween crowd crush that killed 159, mostly young people, in 2022, his spokesperson said on Thursday.

Lee’s move to launch a new probe came as he met the bereaved families of victims from recent major disasters, including the Halloween crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district, his spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told a briefing.

Lee, who took office in June, has promised to make the country safer and to prevent any repeat of the disasters in recent years that have often been blamed on the inadequate response by authorities.

The president said the new investigation team would work alongside a special commission that was launched in September last year to look into the case, according to the spokesperson.

At the meeting with Lee, Song Hae-jin, a representative for the families of the crush victims, said police records and information regarding the government’s response to the disaster had been withheld from the special commission.

During his meeting with the bereaved families, Lee bowed deeply as he apologized for any failures by authorities.

“As the head of the state, I would like to formally apologize on behalf of the government for failing to fulfill its responsibility to protect the lives and safety of the people, and for the many people who lost their lives as a result,” he said as some relatives wept.

Seattle
Reuters
 — 

The deadly Air India crash last month has renewed a decades-old debate in the aviation industry over installing video cameras monitoring airline pilot actions to complement the cockpit voice and flight data recorders already used by accident investigators.

One of the industry’s most influential voices, International Air Transport Association head Willie Walsh, a former airline pilot, said on Wednesday in Singapore there was a strong argument for video cameras to be installed in airliner cockpits to monitor pilot actions to complement voice and flight data recorders already used by accident investigators.

Aviation experts have said a preliminary report from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) raised questions over whether one of the pilots of Air India flight 171 cut off fuel to the Boeing 787’s engines seconds after takeoff, leading to an irrecoverable situation.

The crash in Ahmedabad, India, killed 241 of the 242 people aboard, as well as 19 people on the ground.

As of now, “based on what little we know now, it’s quite possible that a video recording, in addition to the voice recording would significantly assist the investigators in conducting that investigation on the issue of mental health,” Walsh said.

Advocates for cockpit video cameras say the footage could fill in gaps left by the audio and data recorders, while opponents say concerns about privacy and misuse outweigh what they argue are marginal benefits for investigations.

Video footage was “invaluable” to Australian crash investigators determining what led to Robinson R66 helicopter breaking up in mid-air in 2023, killing the pilot, the only person aboard, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report, which was released 18 days after the Air India crash.

The video showed “the pilot was occupied with non-flying related tasks for much of this time, specifically, mobile phone use and the consumption of food and beverages,” the report said.

The ATSB commended Robinson Helicopters for providing factory-installed cameras and said it encouraged other manufacturers and owners to consider the ongoing safety benefits of similar devices.

In 2000, US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Jim Hall urged the Federal Aviation Administration to require commercial airliners be equipped with cockpit image recorders.

Hall’s recommendation came in the wake of 1999’s Egyptair Flight 990 crash, when the first officer intentionally crashed the Boeing 767, according to the NTSB, killing all 217 people on board.

“In the balance between privacy and safety, the scale tips toward safety, unequivocally,” air safety expert and former commercial airline pilot John Nance said. “Protecting the flying public is a sacred obligation.”

Another aviation safety expert, Anthony Brickhouse, said that as an accident investigator, he is in favor of cockpit video, but acknowledged that commercial pilots have real concerns.

Video on Air India flight 171 “would have answered lots of questions,” he said.

Air India declined to comment. India’s AAIB, which is expected to release a final report within a year of the crash under international rules, did not reply to request for comment.

US pilots’ unions such as the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Allied Pilots Association (APA) say the voice and data recorders already provide enough information to determine the cause of a crash and that the cameras would be an invasion of privacy and could be misused.

Calls for cockpit cameras are an understandable reaction to “the stress of not knowing what happened immediately after an accident,” said APA spokesperson Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot.

“I can understand the initial reaction of the more information, the better,” but investigators already have enough data to adequately determine an accident’s cause, leaving no need for cameras, he said.

To make flying safer, current safety systems should be enhanced to record higher-quality data, rather than adding video cameras, an ALPA spokeperson said.

There are also concerns the footage could be used by airlines for disciplinary actions or that video could be leaked to the public after a crash, said John Cox, an aviation safety expert, retired airline pilot and former ALPA executive air safety chairman.

A pilot’s death being broadcast on “the 6 o’clock news is not something that the pilot’s family should ever have to go through,” he said.

If confidentiality can be assured around the world, “I can see an argument” for installing cameras, Cox said.

Cockpit voice recordings are typically kept confidential by investigators in favor of partial or full transcripts being released in final reports.

Despite that, International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations said it was skeptical that confidentiality could ever be assured for cockpit videos.

“Given the high demand for sensational pictures, IFALPA has absolutely no doubt that the protection of (airborne image recorder) data, which can include identifiable images of flight crewmembers, would not be ensured either,” the organization said in a statement.

Boeing declined to disclose whether customers are able to order cockpit video recorders, while Airbus did not reply to request for comment.