w4-TransAsia plane crashes in Taiwan river, killing at least 23 people

TransAsia plane crashes in Taiwan river, killing at least 23 people

A TransAsia Airways flight in Taiwan carrying 58 passengers and crew careened past buildings, clipped a highway and crashed into a shallow stream, killing at least 23 people.

TransAsia GE 235, a domestic flight from Taipei to Kinmen – a small archipelago near mainland China – crashed at 10.56am local time, according to Taiwan’s aviation council, about three minutes after it took off. Astonishing dash-cam videos posted online showed the turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft in its final airborne moments, turning vertical over a highway and clipping a taxi cab and a bridge with its left wing.

At the moment, things don’t look too optimistic,” said Wu Jun-hong, a Taipei Fire Department official who was coordinating the rescue, according to the Associated Press. “Those in the front of the plane are likely to have lost their lives.”

The driver of the clipped taxi cab “has been sent to a local hospital”, an assistant to the Crown Taxi Company’s general manager who identified himself as Mr Yang told the Guardian.

“He has head injury and concussion, but all of his vital signs are stable.” Yang added that the company planned to raise the topic of compensation with TransAsia Airways at a later date.

The last communication from one of the aircraft’s pilots was “Mayday Mayday engine flameout”, according to an air traffic control recording on liveatc.net.

A flame out occurs when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion, resulting in an engine failure.

The flight’s black box has been recovered, according to local media.

“Weather conditions were good and the pilot had 14,000 hours of flying hours and the co-pilot 4,000 hours,” Lin Zhiming, a representative from Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

Among the passengers were 31 mainland Chinese tourists, travelling with two local travel agencies: Teyung Group, and Flying Tours.

“We are currently heading to the crash site and checking the passenger list with TransAsia Airways,” Lin said. She added that the passengers had been sent to eight local hospitals, and that she had not yet been able to visit them.Lin Liqing, manager of the Teyung Group, said that she had just arrived in Taipei to help with the handling of the incident.

The manager of Flying Tours said that among 15 mainland Chinese tourists on the plane who were travelling with the agency, he had only confirmed one injured passenger – one of the two infants on board. He had no information on the remaining 14 people.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS showed rescuers pulling a toddler alive from the wreckage and rushing him or her to safety.

The chief executive of TransAsia, Chen Xinde, has publicly apologised for the crash.

Wednesday’s crash is the second by a TransAsia flight within the past six months — in July 2014, TransAsia flight ATR-72 crashed while attempting to land in the Penghu Islands soon after a typhoon, killing 48 people. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-TransAsia

   WHEN-10.56am

   WHAT-plane crashes

   WHY- not given

   WHERE-Taipei

   HOW-not given

Keywords：
1.archipelago:群島，列島
2.turboprop:渦輪螺旋槳發動機
3.clip:疾馳而過
4.executive:經理
5.infant:未成年人
6.shallow:淺的

w3-Six firefighters perish in Taoyuan blaze

Six firefighters perish in Taoyuan blaze

Six firefighters, all in their 20s, were killed in Greater Taoyuan yesterday morning after the bowling alley in which they were battling a blaze collapsed. All six were found dead when rescuers managed to reach them.

Officials from the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office announced that an inquiry would be conducted into the deaths to investigate the cause and circumstances of the fire, and to determine if there had been any negligence or dereliction of duty.

The fire broke out early yesterday morning at about 2am at a three-story building in Sinwu District (新屋). The proprietor operated a bowling alley on the second floor and a swimming pool on the ground level, with the third floor used as a dormitory for employees.

The six firemen were on the second floor, near the bowling alley’s counter area, when a burst of flames erupted at shortly before 3am and the burning structure collapsed, trapping the firefighters.

“Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion, then the burning metal-sheet roofing caved in. It was terrible, because we knew some firefighters had gone inside to battle the fire,” an eyewitness was quoted as saying.

The bodies of the six firefighters were transported to the Sinwu Branch of Taoyuan General Hospital for identification by DNA testing and post-mortem examinations.

Two civilians, including the proprietor of the building, surnamed Liu (劉), were pulled from the fire and sustained minor injuries.

A total of 104 firefighters employing 36 fire engines and other vehicles were dispatched to the blaze.

Officials including Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國), Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) sent condolences and paid tribute to the firefighters for their sacrifice in the line of duty.

Cheng said his government would seek the maximum compensation payment possible for their dependents according to official regulations, which would be about NT$19 million (US$600,000) per family.

Taoyuan Fire Department Chief Hu Ying-ta (胡英達) said the building’s operating permit, received in 1994, approved the facility’s swimming pool business and the second floor for residential use.

“The bowling alley did not have a permit, so it was operating illegally. The third floor is also an illegal add-on structure,” Hu said, adding that the building passed a fire safety inspection last year.

After finding out the bowling alley had been operating illegally for 20 years, Cheng was incensed, mandating government officials to make inspections to identify all illegal buildings in Taoyuan within 10 days.

Meanwhile, a number of questions were asked following the incident, including whether the firefighters were equipped with inadequate protective and communication equipment; why there was a lack of accountability among government officials regarding the existence of illegal structures; and why no action had been taken against many known illegal businesses.

Commenting on the incident, the National Association for Firefighters’ Rights (NAFR) said it highlighted a widespread lack of personnel and adequate equipment among firefighting squads across the nation.

NAFR secretary-general Cheng Ya-ling (鄭雅菱) said firefighters could benefit from the use of infrared imaging equipment, such as thermographic cameras, which can be used to establish the topography and temperature of a fire prior to entry.

Fire stations in Taoyuan possess only two thermographic cameras, an insufficient number to significantly reduce the risk to firefighters, Cheng said.

She added that firefighting squads often have a drastic shortage of personnel, leading to the common absence of an incident safety officer and an emergency reaction team at fires.

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-firefighters

   WHEN-2am

   WHAT-firefighters perish in Taoyuan blaze

   WHY- not given

   WHERE-Taoyuan

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

1.prosecutor::檢察官

2.negligence:疏忽

3.dereliction:怠慢

4.post-mortem:驗屍

5.compensation:補償金

W2-Toyo Ito's National Taichung Theater on Display

Toyo Ito's National Taichung Theater on Display

By Naomi R. Pollock, AIA

Displaying architecture in a gallery is always a challenge. This is especially true with a building still under construction. And even more so when that building is Taiwan’s National Taichung Theater—unarguably Tokyo architect Toyo Ito’s most ambitious project to date. Taking Ito’s structural know-how and spatial ingenuity to new limits, this extraordinary complex appears as a rectangular block. But contained within is a spectacular 3D grid of tubular voids hinted at by the hourglass-shaped cutouts that define the elevations. Expanding and contracting, the hollows accommodate the various programmatic pieces, including a 2014-seat theater, an 800-seat theater, and a 200-seat black box. Slated for a grand opening in November 2015, the design and construction of this important work is the subject of TOTO Gallery MA’s latest exhibition titled The Making of the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House 2005-2014. (Built by the Taichung City Government, Republic of China (Taiwan), the building was renamed the National Taichung Theater shortly before the exhibit opened.)

Mounted chronologically on the walls of the gallery’s lower level, drawings and photos document the complex’s initial development, while study models in the middle of the room are evidence of the trial and error approach necessitated by Ito’s unique architecture. Upstairs, the gallery turns its attention to construction via video commentaries and photo essays. But the most of effective means of explaining Ito’s architecture is the 360-degree, virtual site visit.The building began in 2005 when Ito was awarded its commission after winning an international competition. But the exhibition opens with Ito’s earlier competition entry for the Forum for Music, Dance and Visual Culture in Ghent, Belgium. In response to the medieval city’s poche-style urbanism, he proposed a boxy volume and carved out the needed spaces. Though his idea did not succeed in Belgium, it wooed the jury overseeing the Taiwanese competition and is the starting point of the Gallery MA show.

Donning a programmed headset transports the viewer to the heart of the building as it is taking shape. A tilt of the head in one direction orients the eye towards a shadowy recess, while leaning in another unveils a cavernous room. Here skin and structure become one and floors, walls, and ceiling merge into a single, but complexly, curving surface. Both primordial and futuristic, the interior morphs continuously, like a dreamscape come to life.

Unsurprisingly, the nuts and bolts construction is one of the most curious aspects of this building. Offering a behind-the-scenes look is the full-scale mock up of a wall section displayed in Gallery MA’s exterior terrace. It illustrates the walls’ assembly by revealing an elaborate web of rebar bent by hand that functions as a three-dimensional truss. This is covered with metal mesh and finally topped with a smooth coating of concrete, completely concealing all of these intricate underpinnings. On its own, the fragment resembles an abstract sculpture, but its bold shape enables the viewer to imagine how the walls’ irregular geometry will mold the interior space.

Considering the theater’s unconventional form and construction, the displays are pretty conventional by and large. But they succeed in building expectation and excitement for what shows signs of becoming a masterpiece.

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-Toyo Ito

   WHEN-2005-2014

   WHAT-building theater

   WHY- not given

   WHERE-Taichung

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

1.architecture:建築學

2.ingenuity:獨創性

3.elevation:高度；海拔

4.chronologically:按時間先後

5.woo:招致

6.unveil:揭露

7.primordial:原始的

8.concrete:混凝土

9.intricate:錯綜複雜的

10.masterpiece:傑作

W1-Mexico investigators say missing students killed

Mexico investigators say missing students killed

Investigators confirm 43 college students were killed in September bus hijacking, but doubts remain over the evidence.

28 Jan 2015 04:04 GMT | Latin America, Mexico, Crime

Investigators in Mexico say they are now certain that 43 college students missing since September were killed and incinerated after they were seized by police in southern Guerrero state.

It was the first time Mexican attorney general Jesus Murillo Karam said definitely that all were dead, even though Mexican authorities have DNA identification for only one student.

A laboratory in Innsbruck, Austria, which examined DNA samples believed to be linked to the case, declared it was impossible to identify the others.

The attorney general on Tuesday cited confessions and forensic evidence from an area near a garbage dump where the September 26 crime occurred that showed the fuel and temperature of the fire were sufficient to turn 43 bodies into ashes.

"The evidence allows us to determine that the students were kidnapped, killed, burned and thrown into the river," Karam said in a news conference that included a video reconstruction of the mass slaying and of the investigation into the case.

He added that "there is not a single shred of evidence that the army intervened ... not a single shred of evidence of the participation of the army," as relatives of the victims have claimed.

'Mistaken identity'

Karam said the motive was that the members of a local gang, the Guerreros Unidos, mistakenly believed the young men were rival gang members when they hijacked some public transit buses in Iguala.

The links between the police who allegedly seized the group and the local gang members remain unclear but many of the suspects testified that they knew the men were students.

The students, known for commandeering buses and taking over toll booths to support their leftist causes, said they were taking the buses for transport to an upcoming demonstration in Mexico City.

Karam's explanation seemed unlikely to quell the controversy and doubts about the case, in which the federal government has been criticised for acting slowly and callously. 

Thousands of people demonstrated in Mexico City Monday night, demanding the students be returned alive.

"They pretty much gave the same story as they had given two months ago. There are not many additional details," said analyst Alejandro Hope. "They are searching for closure but I'm not sure they're going to get it."

Not 'sufficient evidence'

The attorney general has come under attack from many quarters, including the students' relatives and fire experts, who say the government's version of what happened is implausible. Family members are still searching in hopes of finding the students alive.

The Argentine Forensic Anthropologists, an independent team hired by parents to work with federal investigators, told The Associated Press on Sunday that there is still not "sufficient evidence" to link the charred remains found by authorities in a river in the town of Cocula to what happened at the garbage dump.

Karam said the information was based as well on 386 declarations, 487 forensic tests, 16 raids and two reconstructions.

So far 99 people have been detained in connection with the crime, including the former mayor of Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca.

The case has sparked protests inside and outside Mexico over the four months since the students disappeared, and has forced the Mexican government to turn its attention from touting economic and education reforms to dealing with the country's crime and insecurity problems.

Analysts said protests were likely to continue as long as there was no unimpeachable evidence that the remains belonged to the students.

Source: Agencies

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-Mexican student

   WHEN-September

   WHAT-missing students killed

   WHY- protest

   WHERE-Mexico

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

1.seize:抓住；捉住

2.gang:（歹徒等的）一幫，一群

3.implausible:難以置信的

4.authority:當權者

5. forensic:法庭的

6.laboratory:研究室

7.attorney :律師

8.federal:國家的
9.declaration:宣布
10.unimpeachable:清白的

Week 7-Taiwan’s ‘Gutter Oil’ Scandal

Taiwan’s ‘Gutter Oil’ Scandal

Since Sept. 4, the Taiwanese authorities have been struggling to control a food scare caused by 645 tons of adulterated cooking oil produced by the Chang Guann Company and distributed to more than 1,200 restaurants, schools and food processors. As of Monday, health authorities had identified a wide array of more than 1,300 food products tainted by the oil, including instant noodles, snacks, cakes, dumplings, bread, canned pork, meat paste and glutinous rice. Taiwan obviously needs a stronger food-safety policy with meaningful penalties.

Chang Guann has been buying what’s known as “gutter oil” — recycled oil from restaurant waste and animal byproducts — from an illegal factory and mixing it with lard to make its Chuan Tung cooking oil. Though the illegal factory had been in business for more than a decade, the authorities had failed to detect what it was up to. Chang Guann had also managed to delude inspectors. Recycled gutter oil can contain carcinogens. No case of illness has been reported so far. Chang Guann was fined a trifling $1.67 million for its illegal sales.

The investigation also revealed that Chang Guann had been importing lard from Hong Kong that was intended for industrial purposes but falsely listed by the Hong Kong company as fit for human consumption.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is now working to set up a system to monitor about 100 oil manufacturers and 500 importers in Taiwan, requiring them to register information about their products. Submitting fraudulent information could lead to a maximum fine of $100,000 and suspension of business for one year.

The scare follows a series of other food scandals last year; in one case, a factory owner was sentenced to 16 years in prison for adding a banned coloring agent, copper chlorophyllin, to olive oil. The Taiwanese authorities need to be doing more than reacting to food-safety problems on an ad hoc basis to ensure that what people eat is safe.

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-Chang Guann Company

   WHEN-Sept. 4

   WHAT-gutter oil

   WHY-not given

   WHERE-Taiwan

Keywords：

1.adulterate:攙雜，攙假

2.processor:加工者

3.taint:使感染，使腐壞

4.glutinous:黏稠的

5.byproduct副產品

6.inspector:檢查員

7.delude:欺騙

8.fraudulent:欺詐的

Week 6-Taiwan actor Ko Chen-tung cut from blockbuster after drug arrest with Jaycee Chan

Taiwan actor Ko Chen-tung cut from blockbuster after drug arrest with Jaycee Chan

The fourth instalment of the Chinese blockbuster franchise Tiny Times will not feature Taiwanese actor Ko Chen-tung, after he was arrested for drug use in Beijing in July, state media reported.

The 23-year-old actor, also known as Kai Ko, served 14 days in detention in Beijing for drug offences after he was detained along with Jaycee Fong Cho-ming, son of Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan.

China’s media watchdog has warned mainland production companies not to use stars involved in prostitution, gambling or drug abuse. China Radio International reports that Ko’s scenes in Tiny Times 4, due for release in February, are being reshot.

The Tiny Times franchise, which has been called China’s ‘Gossip Girl’, has been hugely successful. On its release in July, the third film knocked Transformers 4 off the top of the Chinese box office, taking more than 306 million yuan in its first four days and setting a record for a 2D film.

Writer-director Guo Jinming said earlier this year he might have to cut Ko from the fourth film, though he later denied he was in talks with an actor to replace him.

“The movie has to be submitted for censorship and it’s beyond my ability,” Guo told the Beijing News in September.

Ko, who made a tearful confession of drug use on state TV in August, has already lost a number of high-profile endorsement deals, including with Canon, KFC, and Quaker Oats.

The actor will also reportedly be cut from ‘Monster Hunt’, the live-action debut of Chinese director Raman Hui, who previously co-directed ‘Shrek the Third’.

Jaycee Chan was formally arrested in September on suspicion of “accommodating drug users” and potentially faces as much as three years in prison.Jackie Chan, who was named a Chinese anti-drug ambassador in 2009, has publicly apologized for his son’s behavior and blamed his failings as a parent.

“I am always a father. I used to be an unqualified father. Now, after this event, I want to be a qualified father,” Chan told reporters last month.

Ko and Chan were detained as part of an ongoing anti-drug campaign. This week Chinese police announced that more than 100,000 drug users had been "investigated" and 12 tonnes of narcotics seized in the past 50 days alone. 

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-Ko Chen-tung and Jaycee Chan

   WHEN-in July

   WHAT-drug offences 

   WHY-not given

   WHERE-Beijing 

  

Keywords：

   1.detention:滯留；延遲

   2.censorship:審查（制度）

   3. apologize:道歉

   4. confession:聲明；供狀

   5. accommodate:向……提供

   6. suspicion:嫌疑

   7.ongoing:進行的；不間斷的

   8.narcotics :麻醉劑，致幻毒品