Week 4 - TransAsia plane crashes in Taiwan river

A Trans Asia 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.

Trans Asia 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 Trans Asia Airways at a later date.

he 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 flameout 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. Lin Liqing, manager of the Teyung Group, said that she had just arrived in Taipei to help with the handling of the incident.

“We are currently heading to the crash site and checking the passenger list with Trans Asia 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.

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 Trans Asia, Chen Xinde, has publicly apologized for the crash.

Wednesday’s crash is the second by a Trans Asia flight within the past six months — in July 2014, Trans Asia 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.

URL: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/04/taiwan-plane-crash-lands-in-river

Key words

careen：傾斜

aviation：航空

vital sign：生命跡象

Mayday：「快來幫幫我」求救訊號

What: A Trans Asia Airways flight crashed in Taiwan River.
Where: Taiwan
When: not given
Why: engine flameout

How: A Trans Asia Airways flight careened past buildings clipped a highway and crashed into a shallow stream

Week 3 - Deadly attack on satirical magazine in Paris

Deadly attack on satirical magazine in Paris

Three heavily armed men have attacked a French satirical magazine based in Paris, killing at least 12 people, including four cartoonists and two policemen, officials have said.

The lawyer of the magazine confirmed that four cartoonists working with the publication, including the editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as 'Charb', were among the dead. Police said 11 people were wounded in the incident, adding that four were in a critical condition.

The cartoonists known as Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski were also killed in the attack, AFP news agency quoted a judicial source as saying.

Charlie Hebdo has drawn repeated threats for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, among other controversial sketches.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the assault was carried out by three attackers.

According to witnesses, one was a driver and the other two were attackers in terms of their role in the incident, police said. 

In amateur camera footage shared on the internet, the attackers are heard shouting: "We have avenged the Prophet Mohammad." 

The gunmen fled eastwards towards the suburbs, dumping their car in a residential area, police said. They then hijacked two other cars, wounded their drivers and ran over a pedestrian.

Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Paris, said journalists and cartoonists reported several masked men dressed in black entering the building who then began to fire with automatic weapons.

"Some journalists took refuge on the roof," Rowland said.

"Charlie Hebdo has pushed boundaries in the past, and continues to challenge the idea of censorship."

President Francois Hollande, speaking outside the office of the magazine, described the attack as having been carried out by barbaric people.

"This is an attack on free speech." he told reporters. "No one can harm the spirit of this country which is this newspaper".

The magazine had tweeted acartoon of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, minutes before the attack.Rowland said that a terrorism alert has been raised to its highest level in the wake of the attack.

France's Muslim leadership sharply condemned the shooting as a "barbaric" attack and an assault on press freedom and democracy.

"This extremely grave barbaric action is also an attack against democracy and the freedom of the press," the French Muslim Council (CFCM) said in a statement.

The body represents France's Muslim community, which is Europe's biggest and estimated to number between 3.5 million and five million people.

Hollande held a cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace over the incident on Wednesday.

Huge crowds gathered in Paris and other major cities in France in a show of support for the staff of Charlie Hebdo.

Demonstrators in Paris were seen holding up banners in support of free speech, including one written, "Je suis Charlie (I am Charlie)", a slogan that has gone viral on social media.

French authorities said that school trips and all school outdoor activities have been cancelled until further notice while the gunmen are at large.

US President Barack Obama's spokesman said the US "condemns [the attack] in the strongest terms".

Josh Earnest said US officials have been in close contact to assist the French in the wake of the incident.

Earnest said the French have been "stalwart allies" in the US fight against the ISIL, adding: "We know they are not going to be cowed by this terrible act."

Various countries, including Russia, Qatar, Kuwait, Britain, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Canada, have also condemned the attack.  

網址: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2015/01/french-newspaper-attacked-paris-gunmen-201517111836139681.html

KEY WORDS
confirm: 證實
hijack：劫機
refuge:避難

What: Three armed men have attacked a French satirical magazine based

Where: in Paris

When: NOT GIVEN

Why: NOT GIVEN

How: NOT GIVEN

Week 2 - Sydney siege: Hostages held in Lindt cafe

Sydney siege: Hostages held in Lindt cafe

The Lindt cafe in the city centre is surrounded by armed police. Officers have made contact with the gunman.

Five people have been seen running from the building. It is not clear how many remain inside. A black Islamic flag has been displayed at the window.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it was "profoundly shocking" that people were being "held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation".

He was speaking after chairing a meeting of the national security committee in Canberra.

Earlier Mr Abbott said: "Australia is a peaceful, open and generous society - nothing should ever change that and that's why I would urge all Australians today to go about their business as usual."

Senior police officers say they are on a footing "consistent with a terrorist event".

The incident began as people were arriving for work in Martin Place on Monday. Witnesses saw a man with a bag and gun walk into the Lindt chocolate shop and cafe.

Lindt said about 10 employees and 30 customers were thought to be inside at the time. Nearby offices were evacuated and police asked people to remain indoors and away from open windows.

The BBC's Jon Donnison in Sydney says an enormous police operation is in place, on a scale few Sydney residents will have seen.

About six hours into the siege, three people were seen running from the building housing the cafe. Two more people followed about an hour later. It is not clear whether they escaped or were released.

New South Wales Police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn said: "Those people are now being assessed to make sure their health is okay and then police will talk to them."

"Our approach is to resolve this peacefully. It might take a bit of time but that is our priority," she added.

網址: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-30473983

Key words
Prime Minister 首相
hostage 人質

Assess 暗殺

What: Hostages were held by the gunmen

Where: The Lindt café in Australia

When: NOT GIVEN

Why: NOT GIVEN

How: NOT GIVEN

Week 1- Airasia crash

AirAsia pilots may have turned off plane computer system before crash, report claims

The pilots of the AirAsia flight which plunged into the Java Sea last month had cut power to a critical computer system as they struggled to deal with the unfolding crisis, a report suggested on Friday.

All 162 people on board were killed when flight 8501 crashed on 28 December, en route from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, in stormy weather.

On Thursday, Indonesian investigators said that the less experienced co-pilot was flying the plane as stall warnings began to sound, while the captain was monitoring him and communicating air traffic control.

The Airbus A320-200 climbed so rapidly - probably to avoid the bad weather in the area - that it lost lift and began falling.

The new report from Bloomberg, which cites two unnamed sources “with knowledge of the investigation”, said that pilots had shut down power to a flight protection system after trying to deal with a string of alerts from it.

The separate computers, which serve as back-up to each other, control the plane’s rudder - preventing it from making turns that are too sharp - and prevent the aircraft from going too slowly. If they lose power or go wrong they will shut down.

But it is not clear why the crew should have turned them off, nor why the plane then went into a steep climb, as the pilots should still have been able to fly the plane manually.

Investigators did not comment publicly on whether the flight augmentation computers were turned off in their Thursday briefing. They said their final report would not be ready for at least six to seven months.

The flight and cockpit data recorders showed that the jet was cruising at a stable altitude of 32,000 feet when the plane made a sharp left and the crew contacted ground control requesting permission to climb to 38,000 feet.  Controllers in Jakarta asked them to stand by. 

The chief investigator of Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, Marjono Siswosuwarno, said satellite images from the time of the crash showed storm clouds in the area reaching up to 44,000 feet.

He added that the jet had been in a dangerously fast climb and stalled before falling to 24,000 feet, the last position recorded on radar.
“In many cases, the engine is not strong enough to fly in this high angle,” Siswosuwarno said.

He said investigators were examining whether turbulence or updrafts were a factor in the steep climb.

Indonesia Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan said previously that the Airbus A320 was climbing at around 6,000 feet a minute. 

Ertata Lananggalih, another investigator with the National Transportation Safety Committee, said the pilots were conscious during the three minute descent and trying to control the plane.

The Wall Street Journal reported that unnamed sources indicated that it was the first officer’s control stick which pulled the plane’s nose up.

Reuters meanwhile reported that officials believed Captain Iriyanto, 53, an Indonesia air force veteran with about 20,000 flying hours logged, had taken over control of the aircraft from his less experienced French co-pilot Remi-Emmanuel Plesel when it started to climb and then descend.

The investigation team told reporters that the aircraft was in sound condition when it took off and all crew members properly certified.

Asked about the status of the flight augmentation computers prior to the crash, a spokesperson for Air Asia said: “We are unable to comment at this time as we would like to avoid adding to speculations while the investigation by The National Transportation Safety Commission is still ongoing.”

Indonesian rescuers have so far retrieved 72 bodies. Unconfirmed reports said another body may have been found on Thursday, drifting around 1000km from the crash site.

網址: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/30/airasia-pilots-turned-off-planes-computer-system-before-crash-report

Key words

manually 手動地
augmentation 增加 增大
examine 檢查
turbulence (大氣)湍流
speculation 推測

What: AirAsia pilots may have turned off plane computer system before crash, report claims

Where: the Java Sea

When: last month

Why: the plane crashed in the Java Sea

How: NOT GIVEN

ＷＥＥＫ７ Nepal Ｓnowstormｓ

Nepal snowstorms kill at least 20 people in Himalayas

The search for trekkers missing after blizzards swept through Nepal resumed on Thursday as the death toll from the extreme weather reached at least 20 people, including eight foreign hikers. 

Rescuers said the death toll could rise as dozens of other foreigners and locals who had been trekking were out of contact due to poor communication links and could have been caught in blizzards.

An avalanche buried one Indian and four Canadian trekkers in Phu on Wednesday, said the chief administrator of Manang district. The snow buried the trekkers’ bodies and digging them out would take days, he said.

Three yak herders were killed in the same district, about 100 miles north-west of the capital, Kathmandu, and their bodies were recovered on Wednesday.

In neighboring Mustang district, four trekkers caught in a blizzard died on Tuesday. Rescuers recovered the bodies of the two Poles, one Israeli and one Nepali from the Thorong La pass area. The pass is on a route that circles Mount Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest peak.

It was initially thought the group had been caught in an avalanche, but Baburam Bhandari, governor of Mustang, said the group perished in a blizzard.

He added that emergency workers had rescued five German, five Polish and four Israeli trekkers who were trapped in the snowfall early on Wednesday. One German tourist fractured his leg, he said. They were taken to Jomson town by helicopter.

Police said eight Nepalis had also been killed in Mustang, which is about 150 km (93 miles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.

A government official said more bodies were likely to be found and that it was unclear how many people were on the snow-covered route, but dozens were believed to be stranded.

An avalanche on Mount Dhaulagiri – near the Annapurna area – hit climbers at the base camp who were preparing to scale the 8,167m (26,800ft) peak, the world’s seventh tallest. Two of the missing climbers were from Slovakia and three were Nepalese guides.

Weather forecasters said the blizzard was caused by cyclone Hudhud, which hit neighboring India several days ago.

October is the most popular trekking season in Nepal, with thousands of foreigners hiking in the Himalayan Mountains.

An avalanche in April just above the base camp on Mount Everest killed 16 Nepalese guides, the deadliest single disaster ever on the mountain. Climate experts say rising global temperatures have contributed to avalanches in the Himalayas.

網址http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/himalayan-snowstorm-nepal-mustang-district

Key words
trekker:長途跋涉
blizzard:暴風雪
dig:挖
cyclone:颶風

Avalanche：雪崩
What: Avalanche killed at least 20 persons in Himalayas

Where: Himalayas which is located in Nepal

When: NOT GIVEN

Why: The blizzard was caused by cyclone Hudhud, which hit neighboring India several days ago.

How: NOT GIVEN

week 6-the Scottish referendum

Scottish referendum a model for Taiwan
After the Scottish independence referendum ends, a new UK will surely emerge. Rather than having London as the core, there is now a call for a fairer balance of power throughout the union.

The flag of Scotland will now stand for more than just the blue backdrop to the Union Jack, as the Scottish people’s decision to remain in the union, through self-determination, has instigated the need for renewed negotiations on the UK’s constitutional arrangements. This referendum has precipitated a new understanding of what plebiscitary democracy means. Britain, an island state, set the standard for both plebiscitary democracy and nationalism in the 21st century.

What can Taiwan learn from the referendum process?

While the pro-unification and pro-independence camps might be more concerned about the outcomes from the perspective of their respective positions, this is perhaps a good time to examine Taiwan’s “birdcage” Referendum Act (鳥籠公投). The nation’s referendum process is pseudo-democratic, falling short of the more civilized standards seen in the Scottish referendum.

When Holyrood pushed for a referendum, the British Parliament at the Palace of Westminster — an instigator of modern representative democracy — did not pass a law to restrict the content of the referendum due to its fear of direct democracy. Nor did the British prime minister establish a referendum review committee to check whether a proposal was appropriate. The Scottish people did not have to collect 1 million signatures first in order to have the right to hold a referendum. Nor was a threshold imposed, so the ruling Conservative Party did not have to call on its supporters to boycott the referendum in order to nullify the results by ensuring that the threshold was not reached. As a result, there has been little controversy over the outcome, which was immediately accepted by the unification and independence camps, allowing the UK to concentrate on the future.

Of particular interest to Taiwanese was the nature of the question asked in the Scottish referendum: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

There were only two simple choices — yes or no — while the referendum was implemented by a simple majority method. This is a civilized referendum system, a model that could point the way for furthering Taiwan’s democratization.

As a former member of the Cabinet’s referendum review committee, I used to support all the proposals during my term, irrespective of whether they were proposed by the blue or the green camp. Eventually, I chose to withdraw from the committee to show my protest against the unfair mechanism.

Today, many of my former colleagues serve as Examination Yuan and Control Yuan members or chair conglomerates. This highlights the barriers of interest to the civilization of Taiwan’s referendum system.

Thanks to the efforts of their ancestors, the Scottish people have been able to avoid the bloody wars that tore Ireland in two, and now they have had the chance to decide their own future through a referendum. The option was always there and has become an example for Taiwan’s democracy to follow.

Key words
core:核心
backdrop:背景
self-determination:自主
instigate:教唆

Plebiscitary: 國民投票的
democracy:民主政治
unification:統一
boycott: 抵制
nullify:使無效
Cabinet:內閣

What: What can Taiwan learn from the Scottish referendum process?

Where: Taiwan

When: After the Scottish referendum

Why: The nation’s referendum process is pseudo-democratic, falling short of the more civilized standards seen in the Scottish referendum.

How: the chance to decide their own future through a referendum.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2014/09/24/2003600432

WEEK 5 -Michael Brown Shoot

Mourners at the Friendly Temple Baptist Church in St Louis sang, prayed and remembered the life of Michael Brown.

Mr Brown, 18, who was unarmed, was killed on 9 August after being stopped by a white police officer for walking in the middle of the street.

His death sparked days of protests and violent clashes, but tensions appear to have eased in recent days.

Two poster-sized photos of Mr Brown were placed inside the church near the casket, along with another photo of him as a small child.

Those in the church sang, clapped and danced to gospel music before the service started.

Mr Brown's family addressed mourners, describing Michael as a gentle soul.

His cousin, Eric Davis, said his generation had stood up to what had happened in Ferguson.

We have had enough. We have had enough of having our brothers and sisters killed in the streets," he said. "Hear our voice. We have had enough of this senseless killing."

Addressing the mourners, civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton said people had a right to protest without police intimidation.

"America is going to have to come to terms when there's something wrong, that we have money to give military equipment to police forces, when we don't have money for training and money for public education," he said.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon did not attend, while President Barack Obama sent three White House aides to represent him.

The mood outside the church was peaceful and sombre, said BBC correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan, in St Louis.

"We don't know the Brown family but our hearts empathize with them for their loss and the senseless violence," one mourner told the BBC.

But there is still anger in Ferguson, which has a majority black population, after the shooting by police officer Darren Wilson - who is currently suspended on full pay.

"If Darren Wilson is not charged, there will be an uprising," another mourner said.

A grand jury panel of residents has begun hearing evidence in the case, though the country prosecutor has said the process could take until October.

Many residents have demanded that Officer Wilson should be arrested and prosecuted.

Witnesses have said Mr Brown was shot as he held his hands up in a position of surrender, while the police and supporters of Mr Wilson have said he fired during a fight with Mr Brown.

The response by the authorities, who flooded the town with hundreds of officers in riot gear and brought in the national guard, has been criticized as heavy-handed.

The authorities were also criticized for not being transparent enough in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, when they refused to name the police officer involved.

However, police also say the protests were inflamed by agitators who travelled to Ferguson from elsewhere, and that they responded to threats made against them and the firing of weapons from the crowd.

Ahead of the funeral, Michael Brown's father made a plea his plea for calm. He said on Sunday: "Tomorrow all I want is peace."

網址: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28924099

KEY WORDS

Mourner: 哀悼者

Tension: 緊張的情勢

Address: 發表演說

Empathize: 理解

Prosecute: 起訴

Plea: 懇求

What: Mourner sprayed and remembered the life of Michael Brown.

Where: at the Friendly Temple Baptist Church in St Louis 

When: not given

Why: His death sparked days of protests and violent clashes

How: not given: