week7-Gutter oil

Taiwanese ‘gutter oil’ scandal spreads to Hong Kong, Macau

AFP, HONG KONG

Pineapple buns and dumplings have been pulled from the shelves in Hong Kong as authorities check whether they contain what media are referring to as “gutter oil” that has sparked a growing regional food safety scare, officials said yesterday.

An investigation was launched after oil from a Taiwanese company accused of using illegally recycled products — including fat collected from grease traps — was exported to the territory.

Taiwanese authorities say a factory in Greater Kaohsiung illegally used 243 tonnes of tainted products to mix with lard oil in a case that has reignited regional concerns about food safety.

The lard oil — a clear oil pressed from pig fat — was supplied to at least 900 restaurants and bakeries in Taiwan. The owner of the factory was arrested on Sunday.

The scare has now spread to Hong Kong, with local chains forced to pull products from their shelves and experts ramping up spot checks.

Philip Ho, an officer from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, told Radio Television HK yesterday that dozens of food samples had been taken, with results expected in the next few days.

The government’s Centre for Food Safety is also conducting tests on mooncakes from retailers across the territory. The pastries are consumed in vast numbers during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Popular bakery chain Maxim's Cakes removed pineapple buns from its shelves over the weekend after confirming it had used oil from Chang Guann Co (強冠企業), the Taiwanese oil manufacturer at the heart of the scandal.

Macau’s Food Safety Centre said 21 bakeries and food manufacturers had bought oil from Chang Guann through a local importer.

Shoppers in Hong Kong said they were increasingly concerned about the safety of food, especially imported products.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/09/09/2003599324

Structure of the Lead：

when-yesterday
what-Pineapple buns and dumplings have been pulled from the shelves
who-authorities
why-check whether they contain what media are referring to as “gutter oil” that has sparked a growing regional food safety scare
how-not given
where-Hong Kong

Keywords：

1. grease trap     隔油地
2. tainted     被污染的
3. lard oil     豬油
4. reignite     重燃
5. pastry     糕點

Week6-Drug arrest

Taiwan, HK celebs in Beijing drug bust

By Ted Chen ,The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The manager of Ko Chen-tung (柯震東), a Taiwanese actor and singer, in a statement yesterday confirmed rumors that his client had been taken into custody by Beijing authorities for alleged narcotics consumption.

According to a report by China's The Beijing News (新京報), Ko was arrested along with Jaycee Chan (房祖名), a singer and actor from Hong Kong and the son of international kung fu superstar Jackie Chan (成龍). Commentators familiar with the entertainment industry noted that Ko and Chan are close personal friends, and that Chan, who has been residing in Beijing the past few years, is known to frequently host parties.

Reports indicate that both Ko and Chan have been held in 14-day administrative detention in Beijing since last Saturday, and may be released from custody on Aug. 26.

Rumors of Ko and Chan's arrest in Beijing had first gone viral online following a cryptic message that had surfaced on China's leading social media outlet Weibo (微博). The message's author implied that his father was a member of Beijing law enforcement and had just questioned Ko overnight.

Marijuana Discovered in Chan's Beijing Residence

Meanwhile, media reports from China indicate that Ko and Chan were arrested at Chan's Beijing residence as early as last Tuesday, which coincides with the two singers and actors' six-day social media silence. Most notably, reports indicate that the police recovered 100 grams of marijuana from Chan's Beijing residence, an amount deemed to be more than what is plausible for personal consumption, and may have severe legal consequences for Chan, ranging from three to five years of imprisonment to the death penalty if Chinese prosecutors find evidence that Chan intended to distribute the narcotics. In addition, Chinese media reports suggest that urine tests revealed that Chan and Ko had both consumed marijuana.

Ko's management apologized to the public for his misstep and failure to uphold expectations as a role model, while claiming ignorance of his alleged narcotics consumption. Ko's father also issued an apology and expressed regret to the public, and stated that the rising star will face all legal consequences.

Ko first rose to stardom following his role as male lead in 2011's Taiwanese film “You are the Apple of My Eye” ( 那些年，我們一起追的女孩). The film was directed by Taiwanese novelist Giddens Ko (九把刀), who expressed his disbelief and disappointment at Ko Chen-tung's misstep.

Entertainment commentators noted that Ko's rising stardom, in particular in the vast China market, may come to an abrupt halt following his drug arrest. Commentators stated that China's sweeping narcotics crackdown will likely spell doom for Ko's career in the mainland, as convicted offenders are blacklisted.

Incidentally, Ko starred in a government anti-drug campaign, while in 2009 China's National Narcotics Control Commission had selected Jackie Chan as its anti-drug ambassador.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/08/19/415224/Taiwan-HK.htm

Structure of the Lead：

where-in a statement

when-yesterday

what-confirmed rumors that his client had been taken into custody by Beijing authorities

why-for alleged narcotics consumption

who-The manager of Ko Chen-tung (柯震東), a Taiwanese actor and singer

how-not given

Keywords：

1. custody     保管
2. narcotics     毒品
3. administrative detention     行政拘留
4. viral     病毒
5. cryptic     神秘的
6. marijuana     大麻
7. plausible     合理的
8. prosecutor     檢察官
9. abrupt halt     突然的停止
10. crackdown     鎮壓
11. ambassador     大使

week5-Ebola

Elaborate Ebola claims all lies: CDC

Staff writer, with CNA

A suspected Ebola case reported to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) appears to be a hoax after a test on a young man hospitalized on Friday came back negative, a health official said yesterday.

The 19-year-old student now faces a fine of between NT$10,000 and NT$150,000 under the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法), which requires people to provide factual information about communicable diseases.

CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that the test was negative after samples were rushed to a lab in Taipei early in the morning.

The young man’s story about traveling in Africa and eating bat meat are now believed to have been entirely made up.

Chuang said earlier that a search based on the personal information provided by the man yielded no record of him ever leaving Taiwan, despite claims that he had recently been to Nigeria. It turns out that he does not even have a passport, Chuang added.

The claim was also suspicious because Nigeria was declared Ebola-free in October, even as other west African nations continue to battle the spread of the virus.

It was not immediately clear why the young man had given false information to doctors at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, where he was admitted late on Friday.

If the test results had come back positive, the man would have been the nation’s first Ebola case.

The student, who is said to have taken an extended leave from school, has shown no symptoms since being hospitalized and has given contradictory accounts of his condition and purported travels, Chuang said.

The man told doctors in Greater Kaohsiung that he had recently traveled to Nigeria, where he ate a meal made from bat meat. Bats are known to be carriers of the Ebola virus, which has caused about 6,200 deaths this year, mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The man complained of a fever and other symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea, the hospital said.

Even though the man had not traveled to the three West African nations still listed as having ongoing Ebola outbreaks, the hospital reported the suspected case to the CDC at about midnight on Friday after careful evaluation, Kaohsiung Department of Health official Tsai Wu-hsiung (蔡武雄) said.

As a precaution, the patient had been placed in a negative pressure isolation ward, officials said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/12/07/2003606151

Structure of the Lead：

when-yesterday

what-A suspected Ebola case reported to the Centers for Disease Control appears to be a hoax after a test on a young man hospitalized on Friday came back negative

who-not given

where-not given

why-not given

how-not given

Keywords：

1. hoax     惡作劇

2.factual     真實的

3.purported     聲稱的

Week4-MH17

Dutch MH17 relative visits crash site: report

AFP
October 21, 2014, 12:03 am TWN

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands--A Dutch relative of a victim of downed flight MH17 has traveled to the crash site in eastern Ukraine to search for the remains of his missing cousin, Dutch television reported Sunday.

National public broadcaster NOS showed Robby Oehlers as he searched the burnt remains that still litter the site where the Malaysia Airlines flight crashed on July 17, killing all 298 on board.

Dutch forensic experts have so far identified 278 of the victims, but no trace has been found of Daisy Oehlers, 20, who was on her way to Bali with her friend Bryce Frederiksz, 23 when the Boeing 777 crashed.

German intelligence has accused pro-Moscow rebels of shooting down flight MH17 using missiles captured from Ukrainian government forces, media reported on Sunday.

Kiev and the West had previously charged that MH17 was blown out of the sky by separatist fighters using a BUK surface-to-air system supplied by Russia — charges denied by Moscow.

Oehlers' family was “angry and frustrated because it's taking so long” to find her, said the NOS.

“Robby Oehlers therefore decided to visit the site himself and organized it through contact with the separatists,” the broadcaster said.

Four Dutch experts returned to the crash site in pro-Moscow rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine a week ago, but the Dutch government have repeatedly complained that they have not been granted full access.

Dutch forensic experts called off their search of the area in early August because of fighting between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists in the area.

Shelling could be heard in the distance as Oehlers inspected a turquoise suitcase that may have belonged to his cousin lying amongst pieces of charred landing gear and engine lying around the site.

“It's sad to say, but an investigation simply cannot be done at this stage,” Oehlers was quoted as saying.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/europe/2014/10/21/419924/Dutch-MH17.htm

Structure of the Lead：

who-A Dutch relative of a victim of downed flight MH17

when-Sunday

what-search for the remains of his missing cousin

why-not given

where-THE HAGUE, The Netherlands

how-traveled to the crash site in eastern Ukraine

Keywords：

1. litter     使凌亂

2. forensic     法庭的

3. separatist     獨立派

4. shelling     砲轟

5. turquoise     寶綠色

6. charred     燒焦的

Week3-Nuclear power plant

Activists want no referendum and no nuclear plant

By Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

During the first day of the new legislative session yesterday, anti-nuclear power environmentalists again gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, calling on legislators to stop the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), and withdraw the referendum proposal on the plant.

Taiwan Environmental Protection Union founding chairman Shih Hsin-min (施信民) said the referendum proposal suggested by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) is aimed at exploiting the “problematic” Referendum Act (公民投票法), ignoring public opinion and supporting the Cabinet’s will of allowing the plant to go into operation.

Although Lee last week publicly announced that he wished to withdraw the proposal, Shih said the proposal has already passed the first reading and is scheduled for a second reading in this session, so even if Lee claims to want to withdraw the proposal, he still has to go through procedures to make it effective.

“Lee should finish going through the procedures as soon as possible. The Legislative Yuan should acknowledge the public’s wish to bring a halt to the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project,” he said, urging the KMT caucus not to block the proposal withdrawal.

The protesters said President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating had already dropped to 9.2 percent and if he does not stop the construction project, it may even plunge lower.

Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) of the Green Party Taiwan said, ahead of next month’s National Day, that “we do not have anything to celebrate, because we have so many nuclear power plants in the nation and Taiwan is the only country that builds nuclear power plants right next to its capital.”

Pan said the public is invited to join in a “Fourth Nuclear Power Plant termination” relay walk around the nation, ending at the Presidential Office on Jan. 1.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/09/18/2003572423

Structure of the Lead：

who-anti-nuclear power environmentalists

when-During the first day of the new legislative session yesterday

what-calling on legislators to stop the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), and withdraw the referendum proposal on the plant.

why-not given

where-in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei

how-gathered in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei

Keywords：

1.session     會議

2.referendum     公投

3.exploit     利用

4.problematic     有問題的

5.Cabinet     內閣

6.acknowledge     承認

7.halt     停止

8.caucus     黨團

9.termination     終止

10.relay     接力

Week2-Taipei MRT

MRT attacker kills 4 people, injures 22

By Stacy Hsu  /  Staff writer, with CNA

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

when-not given

what-allegedly killed four people and injured 22 yesterday in a random killing spree

why-not given

where-on a train of the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Bannan Line

how-not given

Keywords：

1. allegedly     據稱

2. apprehend     拘押

3. director-general     總幹事

4. alighted     下車

5. subsequently     後來
6. ill-fated     命運多舛
7. remorse     悔意
8. deploy     部署
9. patrol     巡邏
10. metro     地鐵
11. compensation     賠償金
12. incur 招致

Week1-Malala

Pakistan teen Malala wants to be prime minister

AFP
October 12, 2013, 12:02 am TWN

NEW YORK CITY -- Teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai told an audience in New York Thursday that she would like to become prime minister of Pakistan to “save” the country.

In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour at a sold-out public event, she also said winning Friday's Nobel Peace Prize would be a “great honor.”

Asked about her conflicting dreams of becoming a doctor or a politician, and whether she would like to become premier, Malala said she wanted to help her homeland.

“I want to become a prime minister of Pakistan,” she told Amanpour to cheers from the audience.

“I think it's really good because through politics I can save my whole country,” she added.

“I can spend much of the budget on education and I can also concentrate on foreign affairs.”

Malala was shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban on Oct. 9, 2012, for speaking out against them, demanding that girls have the right to go to school.

She was flown to Britain for specialist care and made a remarkable recovery, going on to become a global ambassador for children's rights.

The 16-year-old has written an autobiography, addressed the United Nations and set up the Malala Fund.

On Thursday, she won the prestigious Sakharov human rights prize from the European parliament and has been tipped as a firm favorite for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“If I got the Nobel Peace Prize I think it would be such a great honor and more than I deserve,” she said.

“The Nobel Peace Prize would help me to begin this campaign for girls' education.”

The real prize, she said, would be to see every child, black or white, Christian or Muslim, boy or girl, go to school and “for that I will struggle and work hard.”

She paid tribute to previous Nobel laureates, including scientist Abdus Salam who in 1979 won the prize for physics — Pakistan's only Nobel to date.

“Everyone who has got a Nobel prize, they deserve it but when I think of myself I think I have a lot to do,” she told Amanpour.

The Pakistani Taliban have threatened to try to assassinate her again and security was tight for her public event in New York late Thursday.

“They can only shoot a body, they cannot shoot my dreams,” Malala said.

Her appearance coincided with the International Day of the Girl Child.

According to UNICEF, around one in three females in the developing world is forced to marry as a young teenager or child, making them more likely to leave school early.

Providing mothers with even just a primary education could save 1.7 million children from stunted growth and malnutrition each year, the United Nations says.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2013/10/12/391097/Pakistan-teen.htm

Structure of the Lead：

who-Malala Yousafzai

when-Thursday

what-she would like to become prime minister of Pakistan

why-to save the country

where-in New York

how-not given

Keywords：

1. sold-out     滿座
2. conflicting     矛盾的
3. premier     總理；首相
4. ambassador     大使
5. assassinate     暗殺
6. coincide with     與...一致
7. malnutrition     營養不良