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

Dramatic footage shows regional airliner clipping taxi cab and bridge minutes after takeoff

Footage of TransAsia Airways plane crashing.Jonathan Kaiman in BeijingWednesday 4 February 2015 14.36 GMTLast modified on Wednesday 4 February 201515.34 GMT

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.

 Sequence taken by a car dashcam showing the TransAsia ATR72 airplane crashing over the bridge in Taipei. Rescuers are searching into the night for 20 missing people, after 15 were pulled alive from the wreckage.

“Several fire engines, ambulances, water craft and almost 170 rescue staff have been dispatched,” said a press release by the Taiwanese Central Disaster Response Centre. Local TV stations broadcasted footage of rescue workers in life vests and yellow helmets surrounding the plane’s fuselage in inflatable rafts.

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.

 Rescuers carry out rescue operations after a TransAsia plane crashed into a river in New Taipei City. 

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 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.

 Search and rescue team members operate on a TransAsia Airways passenger plane crashed into the Keelung River in Taipei, Taiwan.

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 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.

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.

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

structure

what- A TransAsia Airways flight crashed into stream, killing at least 23 people.

when- 2015/feb/04

where- Keelung River in Taipei, Taiwan

why- One of  the engines broken

who- 58 passengers and crew

how- The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

words

1. careen 傾斜

2. clip 猛衝

3. archipelago 群島

4. turboprop 渦輪推進式的

5. airborne 空運的

6. fuselage 機身

7. combustion 混亂

8. toddler 學步的小孩

6 firefighters perish in Taoyuan blaze

By Amy Chyan, The China Post    January 21, 2015, 12:07 am TWN

Six young firefighters perished in the line of duty in the early hours of yesterday morning while trying to fight a blaze at a bowling alley located in Taoyuan's Xinwu District.

Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) held a meeting in response to the Xinwu fire, and said he estimated that each deceased fireman's family will be receiving a NT$19 million pension.

Responding to the bowling alley's architectural, operational and land use violations, Cheng said that a heavy punishment will be meted out. In addition, Cheng promised to tear down all of the city's illegal structures to avoid future public safety disasters.

The Taoyuan City Government has created an emergency group to help families with funeral plans.

Families of the deceased arrived on the scene with Buddhist priests to summon the souls of the firemen in a spiritual ceremony.

Second Floor Culprit

Built from metal sheets and wooden beams, the three-story bowling alley experienced a powerful explosion after the fire was subdued. The unexpected explosion trapped the firemen, which led to their deaths.

Initial investigations concluded that the fire started on the second floor, with the source of the blaze thought to be the transformer box.

Two brothers, surnamed Liu, who owned the business escaped the fire uninjured. The 52-year-old elder brother was a volunteer firefighter and helped combat the deadly blaze.

The Liu brothers were summoned by police for interrogation and have agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors' investigation.

Timeline of Fire

Citizens informed firefighters of the overwhelming blaze at the Xinwu bowling alley at 2:02 a.m. The Taoyuan Fire Department sent out 99 fire and police personnel to the scene.

The fire was under control by 2:29 a.m. though half an hour later, disaster struck as an explosion trapped members of the firefighting crew after the second floor once again burst into flames.

By 3:46 a.m., six firemen were confirmed to be missing.

The six firemen who died are 26-year-old Chen Feng-hsiang (陳鳳翔), 22-year-old Chen Yen-ming (陳彥茗), 21-year-old Tsai Chang-jung (蔡長融), 22-year-old Chang Kuei-chang (張桂彰), 27-year-old Tseng Chung-jen (曾重仁) and the eldest of the group Hsieh Chun-chieh (謝君杰) who was 29 years old.

After receiving news that their colleagues had died in the fire, remaining fire department personal on scene mourned by calling out “Mission's complete, time to go home,” as a gesture of respect.

DNA Testing To Confirm Identity

Family members of the late firemen arrived to the hospital heartbroken and inconsolable.

Taoyuan General Hospital Sinwu Branch's (桃園醫院新屋分院) Superintendent Chen Rui-chang (陳瑞昌) confirmed that the six men arrived at the hospital with no vital signs.

According to prosecutors, the bodies of the firemen are unrecognizable from the fire and their identities will have to be confirmed through DNA testing as well as the matching of uniforms and protective gear.

(Resource: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/taoyuan/2015/01/21/427026/p2/6-firefighters.htm)

structure

who- Six young firefighters

when- yesterday morning

where- Taoyuan's Xinwu District

why- While trying to fight a blaze at a bowling alley.

what- Six young firefighters perished in the line of duty.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

(Resource: http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2014/10/141021-Toyo-Ito-National-Taichung-Theater-6527965279.asp)

Structure

where-Taichung

when- 2005-2014

what- Displaying architecture in a gallery is always a challenge.

why- x

how- x

Words

1.ingenuity 獨創性

2.grid 網格

3.tubular 管狀的

4.void 排洩

5.hourglass 沙漏

6.slated 預定

7.forum 討論會

8.woo 懇求

9.chronologically 按年代的

10.don 穿上

11.primordial 原始的

12.morphs 生態學的

13.truss 架構

14.intricate 複雜的

15.underpinnings 支撐

Behind the Video of Eric Garner’s Deadly Confrontation With New York Police  Sponsored Links byUpdated July 23, 2014

On July 17, Ramsey Orta was talking to his friend, Eric Garner, about where to eat dinner — Friday’s, maybe, or Applebee’s. They eventually decided on Buffalo Wild Wings, but Garner never made it. Soon, a fight broke out nearby, Orta says, and after Garner helped break it up, New York Police Department officers on the scene accused Garner of selling untaxed cigarettes and attempted to arrest him.

Garner, a 43-year-old father of six who was unarmed at the time, argued with the officers about why he was being targeted. To corral Garner, one officer used what appeared to be a chokehold, a technique banned by the NYPD. Several others helped drag him to the ground. Garner, who had a history of health problems, died soon after.

Orta recorded the incident on his phone and the video has helped turn the fatal encounter from a local tragedy into a national debate over the use of force by police. Orta, 22, says he’s known Garner for several years and called him “the neighborhood dad.” Orta’s video shows what appears to be one officer pressing Garner’s face into the sidewalk as other officers attempt to subdue him. On the ground, Garner can be heard repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe.”

“I felt like they treated him wrong even after the fact that they had him contained,” Orta says.

Since Orta’s video became public after being published by the New York Daily News, the officer who grabbed Garner by the neck, Daniel Pantaleo, was ordered to turn in his badge and gun; another was reassigned to desk duty. The four emergency medical workers who responded to the scene have also been suspended without pay. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was “very troubled” by the footage, and both prosecutors and the NYPD are investigating the incident.

Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, criticized the department’s response as “a completely unwarranted, kneejerk reaction for political reasons and nothing more.”

Orta recorded another violent arrest at the same location in Staten Island a week earlier. He says officers have harassed him since the Garner video became public, but he says he isn’t likely to put his camera away if something happens in his Staten Island neighborhood again.

“It just gives me more power to not be afraid to pull out my camera anytime,” he says. “Even if they’re pushing me back, I might just like keep going forward and if I get arrested, hey, I got something on camera.”

Source: http://time.com/3016326/eric-garner-video-police-chokehold-death/

Words

1. corral 包圍  

2. subdue 壓制  

3. badge 徽章   

4.prosecutor 檢察官  

5. unwarranted 無根據的

Structure

where-  New York

who - Eric Garner , Ramsey Orta , New York Police

when- On July 17

why- New York Police Department officers on the scene accused Garner of selling untaxed cigarettes and attempted to arrest him.

what- Garner argued with the officers about why he was being targeted and one officer used what appeared to be a chokehold, a technique banned by the NYPD. 

how- Being pressed on the ground, Garner can be heard repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe” and then he died.

Site of Deadly Himalayan Blizzard and Avalanches Is Popular With Hikers

At least 23 hikers are dead along the Annapurna hiking circuit.

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 16, 2014

The Himalayan hiking circuit where at least 23 climbers were killed in a blizzard and avalanches this week is less than 200 miles from Mount Everest. But its trails appeal to a whole different type of adventurer.

Whereas Everest, the world's tallest mountain, attracts the world's most accomplished alpine climbers, Nepal's Annapurna circuit, the site of Tuesday's disaster, is among the Himalaya's most popular treks for casual hikers. It's been dubbed the "world's greatest trek."

But the 150-mile (241 kilometer) circuit turned deadly on Wednesday, and those who know the area say the inexperienced climbers who frequent the route were likely unprepared to contend with extreme weather conditions. Many people are still missing, with dozens feared dead, as helicopters rescued hikers from the area on Thursday.

Dosty Quarrier, a former therapist in Asheville, North Carolina, hiked the three-week-long circuit right out of college in the 1990s. "It really wasn't that hard," she said. That's partly because she and a friend hired a porter to carry supplies and partly because the trail "was a nice gradual elevation change."

Quarrier followed recommendations from locals and travel guides about acclimating to the altitude and had no problems going over Thorung Pass, the highest point on the circuit.

The pass, nearly 18,000 feet (5,486 meters) high—about the same elevation as Base Camp on Mount Everest—is near the site where the bodies of 12 hikers were discovered Wednesday. In the U.S., the only peaks as high as that are in Alaska, said Adrian Ballinger, owner and head guide for Alpenglow Expeditions.

"In normal conditions, you can go over that pass and not see any snow or bad weather," Ballinger said. Autumn weather conditions are generally stable, he continued, but "these are mountain conditions, and these storms are not unusual."

Inexperienced climbers would be challenged by the difficult conditions that developed during the heavy snowfall that struck the region earlier this week, he said.

An accomplished climber, Ballinger's first trip to Nepal, nearly 20 years ago, was to the Annapurna circuit.

Some climbers might include the Annapurna when training to attempt peaks like Mount Everest, said Conrad Anker, an accomplished climber and National Geographic Explorer. But for the most part, he said, the hiking community and the mountain climbing set are very different.

"Annapurna is manageable for trekkers with little experience," according to a BBC travel guide. "The circuit is more known for its varied terrain than its difficulty, and while some days can be a challenge, each day can be completed by mid-afternoon."

Jake Norton, a climber on Eddie Bauer's mountaineering team based in Evergreen, Colorado, said he was troubled by news reports that seemed to compare this week's tragedy with the avalanche that killed 16 expedition workers on Everest in April. (See "Sorrow on the Mountain: How April's Deadly Everest Avalanche Unfolded.")

"They're 100 percent different animals," he said. "The only similarities between the two are that they included snow and the Himalayas."

Still, Norton said, "there's this misperception that trekking is less risky [than climbing]."

Expeditions attempting Everest pay close attention to weather forecasts, Norton said. But there is a sense among some trekkers and guides on the Annapurna circuit that they needn't keep an eye on weather reports.

"I can only assume they were surprised by this storm," said Ballinger.

Norton hopes the tragedy won't deter future visitors to Annapurna. "It's not like trekking in Nepal has suddenly become deadly dangerous," he said.

(Resource : http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141016-annapurna-hiking-circuit-nepal-avalanche/)

Structure
what-The Himalayan hiking circuit where at least 23 climbers were killed .
why- A blizzard and avalanches caused.
when-Tuesday
where- The Himalaya's most popular treks
how- x



Words
1.avalanche v.無法應付/n.雪崩
2.alpine 高山的
3.trek 艱苦跋涉
4.contend with 對付
5.elevation 海拔/高度
6.acclimate 使適應新環境
7.terrain 地勢/岸群

19 August 2014 Last updated at 09:56

Jackie Chan's son Jaycee in drug arrest

The son of Hollywood actor Jackie Chan has been arrested on drug-related charges, Chinese state media say.

Actor Jaycee Chan, 31, and Taiwanese movie star Kai Ko, 23, were detained last Thursday, Beijing police said in a statement on their official microblog.

Police said both men tested positive for marijuana, with more than 100 grams of the drug found at Mr Chan's home.

Their arrest comes amid an ongoing crackdown on drugs which has already netted several celebrity figures.

Gao Hu, 40, who appeared in the 2011 Zhang Yimou film "The Flowers of War", was detained earlier this month for possession of marijuana and methamphetamines, state media said.

'Huge influence'

In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "forceful measures" to tackle illegal drug use.

By arresting the son of one of the country's most famous actors, the Chinese authorities are sending a clear sign that drugs will not be tolerated, reports the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing.

A government anti-drug adviser told the Associated Press news agency that Chinese celebrities were being targeted because of the "huge influence" their behavior had on "their large numbers of fans".

Beijing Municipal Anti-Drug Office deputy director Jin Zhihai however, said that police were not specifically targeting celebrities.

"If there is an increased crackdown on drugs, the number of celebrity offenders will also rise," he told the Beijing Times on 14 August.

Last week, 42 artist management agencies in Beijing signed an agreement with police pledging not to recruit celebrities with reported drug use problems.

'Very big mistake'

Mr Chan, whose father Jackie was named an official "Narcotics Control Ambassador" by Chinese police in 2009, had been put under "criminal detention" for the suspected crime of "providing a shelter for others to abuse drugs", Beijing police said.

If convicted, he faces a maximum prison term of three years.

Mr Ko, a Taiwanese actor and singer, won the best new actor award in 2011 at the Golden Horse film awards - known as the Oscars of the Chinese-language film industry. He also won a Chinese Film Media award for his role in the movie "You Are the Apple of My Eye".

Accused of consuming drugs, Mr Ko had received a two-week detention term, his management firm Star Ritz Productions said.

"I feel very regretful, very sorry to all the people who support me. I've been a very bad example, I've made a very big mistake," he said in an interview broadcast on Chinese state television on Tuesday.

Beijing police also said two other people, a 36-year-old assistant and a 33-year-old suspected dealer, were detained in the incident.

Mr Chan's management firm M'Stones International apologised on his behalf for the "social impact" caused and said they would "supervise his rehabilitation and help him return to the right path".

His father Jackie has not yet commented on the incident but his publicist told the Associated Press news agency that Mr Chan had traveled to Beijing to deal with his son's arrest.

Structure

who- Jaycee Chan and Kai Ko

where- Beijing

what- Actor Jaycee Chan and Taiwanese movie star Kai Ko have been arrested on drug-related charges.

why- Both men tested positive for marijuana, with more than 100 grams of the drug found at Mr Chan's home.

when- Last Thursday

how- They were detained last Thursday


Words
1.marijuana 大麻
2.crackdown 鎮壓
3.methamphetamine 比安非他命強的興奮劑
4.municipal 市政的
5.deputy 代理的/負的
6.rehabilitation 恢復名譽
7.publicist 公關人員

Ferguson Next: Here's how to end the school-to-prison pipeline, starting now

Dismantling racism needs step-by-step fixes where systematic, life-long discrimination begins: in America’s classrooms

                                    

Michael Brown was unarmed when Darren Wilson shot him in the middle of a residential street in broad daylight – and his unnecessary death sparked months of protests in Ferguson, Missouri. A grand jury’s decision not to indict Wilson on a single charge spurred even more calls for fundamental reforms of law enforcement and the justice system in Ferguson, in the state of Missouri and across America.
But ending the institutional racism that allowed a white man who killed an unarmed black teenager to walk free requires more than just reforming the processes that started after Michael Brown died. It requires us to begin where Brown began – at school, where children of color are labeled (and sometimes treated) as little more than criminals before they’ve lost their baby teeth.
When we asked readers for your bright ideas about reform, several suggested that we need to start with our schools and ending the school-to-prison pipeline for good. Criminalizing children instills a distrust for law enforcement early, and more cops in schools has meant more misdemeanor charges in lieu of visits to the principal’s office. Those trends also dramatically overcriminalize students of color – 70% of American students arrested for offences in school are black or Hispanic.
We spoke with Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights group leading the fight against a system that “relentlessly criminalizes young people of color”, about how to start working to end the school-to-prison pipeline.


(Source: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/10/end-school-to-prison-pipeline)


Structure -
what- Dismantling racism needs step-by-step fixes where systematic, life-long discrimination begins: in America’s classrooms
who- not mention
where- Ferguson, in the state of Missouri and across America.
when- Started after Michael Brown died
why- Criminalizing children instills a distrust for law enforcement early, and more cops in schools has meant more misdemeanor charges in lieu of visits to the principal’s office.
how-A civil rights group leading the fight against a system that “relentlessly criminalizes young people of color”, about how to start working to end the school-to-prison pipeline.


Vocabulary
1.dismantle 廢除
2.indict 控告
3.instill 逐漸滲透
4.misdemeanor 輕罪
5.lieu 代替/場所
6.hispanic 講西班牙語的人
7.relentlessly 殘酷地/持續不斷地