TransAsia Airways plane crashes in typhoon-hit Taiwan, killing 47

BY FAITH HUNG AND MICHAEL GOLD

TAIPEI Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:39pm EDT

(Reuters) - A TransAsia Airways turboprop plane crashed on its second attempt at landing during a thunderstorm on an island off Taiwan on Wednesday, killing 47 people and setting buildings on fire, officials said.

The plane, a 70-seat ATR 72, crashed near the runway on the island of Penghu, west of the mainland, with 54 passengers and four crew on board, they said. No one was killed or hurt in the buildings.

Eleven injured people on the plane were taken to hospital, the government said.

The aircraft took off from Taiwan's southern city of Kaohsiung, headed for the island of Makong, but crash-landed in Huxi township of Penghu County, the main island of the chain also known as the Pescadores.

"It was thunderstorm conditions during the crash," said Hsi Wen-guang, a spokesman for the Penghu County Government Fire Bureau.

"From the crash site we sent 11 people to hospital with injuries. A few empty apartment buildings adjacent to the runway caught fire, but no one was inside at the time and the fire was extinguished." About 100 firefighters were sent to the scene, as well as 152 military personnel and 255 police, he added.

According to an official at the Civil Aeronautics Administration, air traffic control reported that the inclement weather at the time of the crash did not exceed international regulations for landing.

Visibility was 1,600 meters and the cloud cover was as low as 600 meters, added the official, who declined to be identified.

Television networks aired footage of TransAsia's president, Chooi Yee-choong, bowing in apology.

"We express our deepest apologies to everyone for this unfortunate event."

Typhoon Matmo hit Taiwan on Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and strong winds, shutting financial markets and schools. It passed the island and headed into China, downgraded from typhoon to tropical storm.

TransAsia Airways is a Taiwan-based airline with a fleet of around 23 Airbus and ATR aircraft, operating chiefly short-haul flights on domestic routes as well as to mainland China, Japan, Thailand and Cambodia, among its Asian destinations.

(Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/23/us-taiwan-crash-idUSKBN0FS1EK20140723

Structure of the Lead：

  WHO- not given

  WHEN- on Wednesday

        WHAT- a TransAsia Airways turboprop plane killed 47 people and setting buildings on fire.

  WHY- landing during a thunderstorm on an island off

  WHERE- in Huxi township of Penghu County

  HOW- crashed near the runway on the island of Penghu

Keywords：

   1. Pescadores：澎湖群島

   2. adjacent：鄰近的

   3. Aeronautics：航空學

Police: Robin Williams’ Death Due to Hanging

Comedian Robin Williams died of hanging on Monday morning, said Marin County sheriffs.

Lieutenant Keith Boyd made the announcement at a Tuesday press conference at the Marin County Sheriff’s Office in San Rafael, Calif.

Boyd said that Williams, 63, was suspended with a belt around his neck. He was clothed and rigor mortis had set in. Police said the actor was found by his assistant in a seated position in his home in Tiburon, just north of San Francisco.

There were also superficial wounds found on one of his wrists, said Boyd, indicating that Williams may have tried to slash his wrist before the hanging. A pocket knife was also found nearby the scene.

An investigation is ongoing into his death, which was due to asphyxia. His publicist noted that the actor had been struggling with depression as of late, and recently entered a 12-step rehab for drug abuse.

Williams was last seen alive by his wife on Sunday night.

The investigation is ongoing. A toxicology report will be conducted but will take two to six weeks to be completed.

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/robin-williams-death-due-to-hanging-1201281095/

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Robin Williams

WHEN- on Monday morning

WHAT- Death Due to Hanging

WHY- the actor had been struggling with depression as of late, and recently entered a 12 step rehab for drug abuse.

WHERE- in his home in Tiburon, just north of San Francisco.

HOW- Williams was suspended with a belt around his neck, and tried to slash his wrist before the hanging.

Keywords：

1. rigor mortis : 死後僵硬

2. asphyxia : 窒息

3. ongoing : 不斷的

4. toxicology : 毒藥學

South Korea ferry disaster: prosecutors seek death penalty for captain

Prosecution tells court Lee Joon-seok should be sentenced to death after more than 300 killed in capsized ferry

South Korea prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Lee Joon-seok, captain of the Sewol ferry that sank in April with the loss of more than 300 lives.

South Korean prosecutors have sought the death penalty for the captain of a ferry that capsized in April, leaving 304 people, most of them schoolchildren, dead or missing.

Lee Joon-seok, 68, has been charged with homicide. The prosecution told the court he should be sentenced to death for failing to carry out his duty, before resting its case in a trial that has taken place amid intense public anger towards the crew.

Lee was among 15 accused of abandoning the sharply listing ferry after telling the passengers to stay put in their cabins. Four, including the captain, face homicide charges.

The rest face lesser charges, including negligence. A three-judge panel is expected to announce its verdicts in November. No formal pleas have been made but Lee has denied intent to kill.

There have been no executions in South Korea since 1997 despite several death sentences in recent years.

“Lee supplied the cause of the sinking of the Sewol … he has the heaviest responsibility for the accident,”said lead prosecutor Park Jae-eok. “We ask that the court sentence him to death.”

The prosecutors sought life sentences for the other three charged with homicide, and prison terms varying from 15 to 30 years for the rest.

The Sewol capsized and sank on a routine voyage on 16 April, triggering an outpouring of nationwide grief and sharp criticism of the government of President Park Geun-hye for its handling of the rescue operation. The crew members on trial have said they thought it was the coastguard’s job to evacuate passengers.

 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/27/south-korea-ferry-disaster-prosecutors-death-penalty-for-captain

Structure of the Lead：

 WHO- Lee Joon-seok

 WHEN- April sixteenth

 WHAT- Lee Joon-seok should be sentenced to death

 WHY- caused more than 300 killed in capsized ferry

 WHERE- South Korea

 HOW- not given

Keywords：

1. prosecutor :起訴人

2. capsized : 翻船

3. homicide : 殺人

4. negligence : 疏忽

5. verdict : 判決書

6. triggering : 觸發

Malala Yousafzai pleads for Nigerian abducted girls

14 October 2014 Last updated at 17:59

Malala Yousafzai has called on Nigeria to intensify efforts to free 219 schoolgirls who were abducted by Islamist militants six months ago.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner said campaigners needed to raise their voices "louder than ever" to demand the freedom of the girls.

The Boko Haram group sparked global outrage when it seized the girls.

Foreign governments including the US and China, have sent experts to Nigeria to help track them down.

Boko Haram fighters abducted the girls during a raid on their boarding school in Chibok town in north-eastern Nigeria in April.

Malala said in a statement that the schoolgirls needed to be reunited with their families and receive a quality and safe education.

"I urge the Nigerian government and the international community to redouble their efforts to bring a quick and peaceful conclusion to this crisis," Malala said.

Critics accuse government of not doing enough to secure the release of the girls - a charge ministers deny.

A mother's pain

"We are in a desperate situation. Sometimes, when we go to the farm and remember what has happened we just start crying and can't work," Hannatu Dauda told the BBC.

She says she last heard from her abducted daughter, Saratu, when Boko Haram raided her boarding school in Chibok in April.

"When she called, we were all lying in the compound. She said: 'Some people have come to take us and they have rounded us up. Please pray for us'. And then her father and the rest of us kept praying," Mrs Dauda recalls.

"After some minutes she called again to say: 'Daddy they have taken all of us from school. We have been loaded onto a truck and we don't know where they are taking us to. Please tell my mummy to forgive me until we meet again'," she adds.

Will Nigerian schoolgirls ever be freed?

Activists earlier tried to march to the official residence of President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.

But Maureen Kabrik, an organiser of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign in Nigeria, said an "army of policemen" halted the protest.

"We're here. We're a civil group. We're not a disobedient group," she told BBC Focus on Africa.

"Yet, they stopped us with heavy arms."

The police have not commented on why they blocked the march.

Malala, a 17-year-old Pakistani campaigner for girls' education, met Mr Jonathan in July to discuss the abductions.

She won the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month, making her the youngest ever recipient of the award.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29615162

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- Malala Yousafzai

   WHAT- called on Nigeria to intensify efforts to free 219 schoolgirls

   WHY- the schoolgirls needed to be reunited with their families and receive a quality and safe education.

   WHERE- Nigeria

   HOW- I urge the Nigerian government and the international community to redouble their efforts to bring a quick and peaceful conclusion to this crisis

Keywords：

１．abduct：誘拐／綁架

２．boarding school：供寄宿的學校

３．reunite：再結合／重聚

４．desperate：鋌而走險的／危急的

５．compound：熔爐

６．disobedient：不服從的／違抗命令的