week 4 -Malaysia Airlines MH17 was shot down in Ukraine

More Flight MH17 bodies leave Ukraine

REPERCUSSIONS:EU ambassadors yesterday discussed options for more sanctions on Russia, while some Dutch called for a Putin daughter to be kicked out of the country

Two Dutch military aircraft carrying remains of victims from the Malaysian plane disaster departed for the Netherlands yesterday, while Australia’s government dispatched 50 police officers to London to prepare to join a proposed UN team to secure the scattered wreckage.

All 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 — most of them Dutch citizens — were killed when the plane was shot down on July 17.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who says he fears some remains will never be recovered unless security is tightened, has proposed a multinational force mounted by countries such as Australia, the Netherlands and Malaysia that lost citizens in the disaster.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was traveling with her Dutch counterpart, Frans Timmermans, to Kiev to seek a memorandum of understanding with the Ukraine government to allow international police to secure the area where the wreckage fell, Abbott said.

Details including which countries would contribute and whether officers would be armed and protected by international troops were yet to be agreed, Abbott said.

The first bodies of the crash victims arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday and were met by Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and hundreds of relatives of victims.

Ukraine’s government said 51 containers of bodies and body parts had been cleared for yesterday’s flights.

At least 200 bodies were aboard the train that brought them from the crash site to Kharkiv earlier in the week.

Russia yesterday brushed off accusations by US officials that Russia was responsible for “creating the conditions” that led to the crash.

The US officials said that the plane was likely shot down by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile fired by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said in a video statement that if the US officials indeed had the proof the plane shot down by a missile launched from the rebel-held territory, “how come they have not been made public?”

Meanwhile, calls to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughter from the Netherlands over flight MH17 have fallen flat, with many noting that their Argentine-born queen has not been punished for her father’s junta past.

Despite calls from Ukrainian activists and right-wing Dutch newspapers for Maria Putin, 29, most in the Netherlands said that you cannot blame a child for the sins of his or her father.

Mayor Pieter Broertjes of Hilversum, which lost several inhabitants in the crash, hit the headlines on Wednesday after calling for Maria to be kicked out.

However, Broertjes rapidly withdrew his call, saying it had been “unwise” and came “from a feeling of impotence.”

Maria moved to the Netherlands with her Dutch partner two years ago.

In related news, the EU would target state-owned Russian banks and their ability to finance Moscow’s faltering economy in its most serious sanctions so far over the Ukraine crisis under proposals considered by EU governments yesterday, diplomats said.

Ambassadors of the 28-nation bloc met in Brussels to discuss options drafted by the executive European Commission in response to the downing of Flight MH17.

In the key measure, European investors would be banned from buying new debt or shares of banks owned 50 percent or more by the state. These banks raised almost half of their capital needs in EU markets last year.

The proposals also included an arms embargo, although diplomats said it would apply to future deals.

After months of hesitation, powerful EU states including Germany, are now pushing for quick action.

Despite German urgency, several diplomats said they believed economic sanctions would not be finally agreed yesterday and a further ambassadorial meeting next week may be required.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2014/07/25/2003595910/2

Structure of the lead:
Who-Two Dutch military aircraft 
When- yesterday
Where- from the Malaysian plane disaster departed for the Netherlands
What-
How-

key words:
 dispatch: 派遣
 secure
scatter
 wreckage.

week 3 -Taiwanese among six killed in California

Taiwanese among six killed in California

SANTA BARBARA:Hong Cheng-yuan was the roommate of suspected killer Elliot Rodger. The foreign ministry is still checking whether another victim is Taiwanese

US authorities have confirmed that at least one of the victims in a killing spree last week in California was a Taiwanese student, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said yesterday.

Representatives from the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Exchange Office (TECRO) branch in Los Angeles has “established direct contact with local authorities” and the University of California at Santa Barbara to offer its assistance, Kao added.

On Friday night, Elliot Rodger, 22, allegedly stabbed to death his two roommates — Hong Cheng-yuan (洪晟元), also known as James, 20, and George Chen, 19 — and a visitor, Wang Weihan, 20, from Fremont, California, in their apartment near the university campus.

Rodger then drove to the Alpha Phi sorority house on campus and shot three women on the lawn.

Katherine Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19 — both students at the university — were killed. The third women, as yet unidentified, is being treated for multiple gunshot wounds.

Rodger drove on to a local deli, went inside and shot and killed Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20.

He injured 13 more either with gunshots or a car that he used as a battering ram against bicyclists and skateboarders.

The killing spree claimed seven lives, including Rodger’s.

The Santa Barbara County Sherriff’s Office said Rodger took his own life after the rampage.

US media reports said Rodger had uploaded multiple YouTube videos, including one, which has since been removed, titled Day of Retribution, promising to have “his revenge against humanity” — particularly the women whom he claims rejected him.

Hong, who identified himself on Facebook as having grown up in Taipei, had graduated from Lynbrook High School in San Jose, California, the TECRO office in Los Angeles said.

The office is still seeking confirmation with the university whether Chen was also Taiwanese.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/05/27/2003591349

structure of the lead:
who :US authorities
where:California
when:last week 
what:one of the victims was a Taiwanese student
why: no given
how:Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said yesterday

key words:

suspected:有嫌疑的
spree:狂歡
Representative:代表
sorority:女生聯誼會
skateboarder:溜滑板的人
allegedly:據說
battering ram :撞車;大槌

week 2 - Taipei MRT, mass murder, killer, attack

MRT attacker kills 4 people, injures 22

KILLING SPREE:The attack was allegedly carried out by a student, who told police he had always wanted to ‘do something big’ and allegedly showed no signs of remorse

A 21-year-old student allegedly killed four people and injured 22 yesterday in a random killing spree on a train of the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Bannan Line.

The four victims were a 47-year-old woman, a 62-year-old woman and two men aged 20 and 30. They had reportedly lost all vital signs before they were rushed to the New Taipei City Hospital’s Banciao Branch, the Taipei Hospital and the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital respectively.

It was the first deadly attack on an MRT train since the Taipei commuter rail system went into commercial service in 1996.

The suspect, who has been identified as Cheng Chieh (鄭捷) from Greater Taichung’s Tunghai University, allegedly started attacking passengers around him with a 30cm-long fruit knife while the train was traveling between the Longshan Temple Station and the Jiangzicui Station at approximately 4:26pm.

He was apprehended by security guards, police officers and other passengers shortly after the train stopped at the Jiangzicui Station, from where he was taken to the Jiangzicui police station for questioning.

According to New Taipei City Police Department Director-General Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩), Cheng boarded an MRT train heading to the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center at the Jiangzicui Station earlier in the afternoon and alighted at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Station.

He subsequently hopped on the ill-fated train heading to the Banciao Station before carrying out the killing spree, Chen added.

“The suspect told us that he had since elementary school wanted to ‘do something big’ and that he had shared the idea with some of his high-school and college classmates,” Chen said.

Chen said Cheng originally planned to execute the idea after he graduated from university, but decided to move it forward to yesterday after giving it some thought last week.

“He bought two fruit knives of different sizes from a supermarket before he boarded the trains… His blood-alcohol content registered 0.04mg/L and he has no medical records of mental illness,” Chen said.

“He showed no signs of remorse during questioning,” Chen added.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said that for the next two weeks, the city government planned to deploy 80 special police officers to MRT stations to conduct routine patrols, to assist the 143 MRT police officers.

“Our priority is to restore order and security at MRT stations to make sure that our passengers do not feel afraid when taking the metro,” Hau said.

New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said the city government had instructed all available police officers to patrol the areas surrounding the city’s 34 MRT stations shortly after the incident, in an effort to tighten security.

Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (台北捷運公司) general manager Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said the company would give NT$4 million (US$132,000) in compensation to the families of the victims and would take care of all medical expenses incurred by the injured passengers.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/05/22/2003590929

structure of the lead:
who : A 21-year-old student, Cheng Chieh (鄭捷)
where: a random killing spree on a train of the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Bannan Line.
when:yesterday
what:killed four people and injured 22
why: no given
how:no given

key words:
spree:狂歡;戲耍
allegedly:據說
remorse;懊悔;後悔