Week7-Chang Guann Gutter Oil

Taiwan’s ‘Gutter Oil’ Scandal
By THE EDITORIAL BOARDSEPT. 18, 2014

Since Sept. 4, the Taiwanese authorities have been struggling to control a food scare caused by 645 tons of adulterated cooking oil produced by the Chang Guann Company and distributed to more than 1,200 restaurants, schools and food processors. As of Monday, health authorities had identified a wide array of more than 1,300 food products tainted by the oil, including instant noodles, snacks, cakes, dumplings, bread, canned pork, meat paste and glutinous rice. Taiwan obviously needs a stronger food-safety policy with meaningful penalties.

Chang Guann has been buying what’s known as “gutter oil” — recycled oil from restaurant waste and animal byproducts — from an illegal factory and mixing it with lard to make its Chuan Tung cooking oil. Though the illegal factory had been in business for more than a decade, the authorities had failed to detect what it was up to. Chang Guann had also managed to delude inspectors. Recycled gutter oil can contain carcinogens. No case of illness has been reported so far. Chang Guann was fined a trifling $1.67 million for its illegal sales.

The investigation also revealed that Chang Guann had been importing lard from Hong Kong that was intended for industrial purposes but falsely listed by the Hong Kong company as fit for human consumption.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is now working to set up a system to monitor about 100 oil manufacturers and 500 importers in Taiwan, requiring them to register information about their products. Submitting fraudulent information could lead to a maximum fine of $100,000 and suspension of business for one year.

The scare follows a series of other food scandals last year; in one case, a factory owner was sentenced to 16 years in prison for adding a banned coloring agent, copper chlorophyllin, to olive oil. The Taiwanese authorities need to be doing more than reacting to food-safety problems on an ad hoc basis to ensure that what people eat is safe.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/opinion/taiwans-gutter-oil-scandal.html?_r=0

Structure of the Lead：

WHO- the Taiwanese health authorities
WHEN-Monday
WHAT-identified a wide array of more than 1,300 food products tainted by the oil
WHY-the Taiwanese authorities have been struggling to control a food scare caused by 645 tons of adulterated cooking oil produced by the Chang Guann Company and distributed to more than 1,200 restaurants, schools and food processors.
WHERE-in Taiwan
HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. scare (n.)大恐慌[C] 
2. adulterate (v.) 攙雜，攙假 
3. taint (v.) 沾染；汙染 
4. lard (n.) 豬油[U] 
5. delude (v.) 欺騙；哄騙；迷惑[（+into）] 
6. carcinogen (n.)【醫】致癌物質 
7. trifling (adj.) 不重要的；微不足道的；無聊的 
8. fraudulent (adj.) 欺詐的，欺騙的 
9. copper chlorophyllin (n.) 銅葉綠素 
10. ad hoc (phr.)【拉】特別的（地）

week6--Iraq ISIS

Islamic State committing 'staggering' crimes in Iraq: U.N. report

BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY
GENEVA Thu Oct 2, 2014 1:24pm EDT

 Islamic State insurgents in Iraq have carried out mass executions, abducted women and girls as sex slaves, and used child soldiers in what may amount to systematic war crimes that demand prosecution, the United Nations said on Thursday.

In a report based on 500 interviews with witnesses, also said Iraqi government air strikes on the Sunni Muslim militants had caused "significant civilian deaths" by hitting villages, a school and hospitals in violation of international law.

At least 9,347 civilians had been killed and 17,386 wounded so far this year through September, well over half of them since the Islamist insurgents also known as ISIL and ISIS began seizing large parts of northern Iraq in early June, the report said.

"The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein.

In a statement, he called again for the Baghdad government to join the International Criminal Court, saying the Hague court was set up to prosecute such massive abuses and direct targeting of civilians on the basis of their religious or ethnic group.

Islamist forces have committed gross human rights violations and violence of an "increasing sectarian nature" against groups including Christians, Yazidis and Shi'ite Muslims in a widening conflict that has forced 1.8 million Iraqis to flee their homes, according to the 29-page report by the U.N. Human Rights Office and the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

"These include attacks directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, executions and other targeted killings of civilians, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated against women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance, wanton destruction and looting of property, and denial of fundamental freedoms."

FEMALE "SEX SLAVES"

In a single massacre on June 12, the report said, about 1,500 Iraqi soldiers and security officers from the former U.S. Camp Speicher military base in Salahuddin province were captured and killed by Islamic State fighters.

However, the bodies have not been exhumed and the precise toll is not known. No one disputes that Iraqi military recruits were led off the base near Tikrit unarmed and then machinegunned in their hundreds into mass graves by Islamic State, whose fighters boasted of the killings on the Internet.

Women have been treated particularly harshly, the report said: "ISIL (has) attacked and killed female doctors, lawyers, among other professionals."

In August, it said, ISIL took 450-500 women and girls to the Tal Afar citadel in Iraq's Nineveh region where "150 unmarried girls and women, predominantly from the Yazidi and Christian communities, were reportedly transported to Syria, either to be given to ISIL fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves".

Islamic State pushed on with its assault on a Syrian border town on Thursday despite coalition air strikes meant to weaken them, sending thousands more Kurdish refugees into Turkey and dragging Ankara deeper into the conflict.

Islamic State and allied groups have attacked and destroyed places of religious and cultural significance in Iraq that do not conform to its "takfiri" doctrine, the U.N. report said, referring to the beliefs of Sunni militants who justify their violence by branding others as apostates.

But the report also voiced deep concern at violations committed by the Baghdad government and allied fighters, including air strikes and shelling that may not have distinguished between military targets and civilian areas.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/02/us-mideast-crisis-un-idUSKCN0HR0R120141002

 Structure of the Lead：

WHO- Islamic State insurgents

WHEN-on Thursday

WHAT-carried out mass executions, abducted women and girls as sex slaves, and used child soldiers in what may amount to systematic war crimes that demand prosecution 

WHY-not given

WHERE- in Iraq

HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. staggering (adj.)驚人的
2. insurgent (n.)叛亂者；暴動者
3. abduct (v.)綁架；劫持
4. prosecution (v.)起訴；告發
5. array (n.)（排列整齊的）一批；一系列；大量[S]
6. perpetrate(v.)做（壞事）；犯（罪）
7. commissioner (n.)（政府部門的）長，長官
8. prosecute(v.)起訴；告發
9. gross(adj.)惡劣的；下流的
10. sectarian (adj.)宗派的；派別的；偏執的
11. infrastructure (n.)公共建設
12. rape (n.)強姦
13. desecration (n.)褻瀆神聖；汙辱
14. wanton(adj.) 惡意的；肆無忌憚的
15. loot(v.)搶劫，洗劫；強奪
16. massacre (n.)大屠殺，殘殺
17. exhumed(v.)（從墳墓處）掘出（屍體）；發掘
18. predominantly(adv.)佔主導地位地；佔優勢地；顯著地
19. assault (n.)攻擊，襲擊
20. coalition (n.)結合，聯合
21. doctrine (n.)(宗教的）教義，教旨
22. apostate(n.)叛教者；脫黨者；反叛者
23. shelling(n.)砲擊

Week 5-Ebola

Ebola still spreading in western Sierra Leone, Guinea's forest: U.N
BY STEPHANIE NEBEHAY
GENEVA Tue Dec 9, 2014 4:01pm EST

More foreign health workers are needed to help tackle the Ebola epidemic, which is spreading quickly in western Sierra Leone and deep in the forested interior of Guinea, a senior U.N. official said on Tuesday.

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 6,331 in the three worst hit countries, with Sierra Leone overtaking Liberia as the country with the highest number of cases, the World Health Organization says.

"We know the outbreak is still flaming strongly in western Sierra Leone and some parts of the interior of Guinea. We can't rest, we have to still push on," said David Nabarro, the U.N. Special Envoy on Ebola.

More treatment centers are opening in Sierra Leone but they need additional trained staff, he told a news briefing.

"We don't yet have the full number of functioning treatment centers and places where people who are ill can be kept away from others," he said.

"We are anticipating several hundred beds to come on stream in the next few weeks, and that will lead to the situation calming down."

The deadly virus is spreading especially in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown and Port Loko, where a more intense response is needed, said Nabarro, a veteran public health expert.

"Although I hate predictions, I am at least confident that unless something goes radically wrong we will see an improvement there (in Freetown). It's a bit like what Monrovia was like 4 to 6 weeks ago and I think that it will certainly calm down."

The rise in the spread of Ebola in western Sierra Leone reflects the fact that tribal-led communities have yet to fully accept the outbreak and take action to avoid infection, he said.

"There are reports coming through of places where people who are sick, staying at home and perhaps infecting their families."

The second "particularly troublesome" area is the northern part of Guinea's interior, a region known as Guinea Forestiere where the epidemic began nearly a year ago, Nabarro said.

"We have been working very closely with Mali to try to make sure if cases perchance cross the border that they can be dealt with very quickly."

Mali has reported eight Ebola cases, six fatal, to date.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/09/us-health-ebola-who-idUSKBN0JM24X20141209

Structure of the Lead：
WHO- a senior U.N. official
WHEN-on Tuesday
WHAT- he said that more foreign health workers are needed to help tackle the Ebola epidemic
WHY- Ebola epidemic is spreading quickly
WHERE- in western Sierra Leone and deep in the forested interior of Guinea
HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. tackle (v) 著手處理
2. forested (adj) 樹木叢生的
3. toll (n) 傷亡人數
4. outbreak (n) 爆發
5. overtake (v) 超過
6. flame (v) 燃燒
7. push on推動；繼續做某事
8. envoy (n) 使者；外交使節
9. veteran (adj) 經驗豐富的
10. radically (adv) 根本地；完全地
11. Freetown (n) 自由城（非洲塞拉利昂首都）
12. Monrovia (n) 蒙羅維亞（賴比瑞亞首都）
13. perchance (adv) 偶然地；意外地

Week 4- TransAsia Airways plane crash

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

BY FAITH HUNG AND MICHAEL GOLD

TAIPEI Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:39pm EDT

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.

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

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- A TransAsia Airways turboprop plane

   WHEN- Wednesday

   WHAT- killing 47 people and setting buildings on fire

   WHY- it crashed on its second attempt at landing during a thunderstorm on an island off Taiwan

   WHERE- Penghu

   HOW- not given

Keywords：

1.     turboprop(n.)渦輪螺旋槳式飛機

2.     runway(n.)(機場的)跑道

3.      township(n.)小鎮

4.     Pescadores (n.)澎湖群島

5.     spokesman (n.)發言人

6.     adjacent(adj.)毗連的，鄰接的

7.     extinguish(v.)熄滅

8.     personnel (n.)人員

9.      Civil Aeronautics Administration (n.)交通部民用航空局

10.  inclement(adj.)天氣險惡的

11.   exceed(v.)超過

12.   decline (v.)下降；下跌

13.   footage (n.)（以呎表示的）英尺長度

14.  shut(v.)關閉

15.   downgrade (v.)降低

16.   fleet (adj.)快速的；敏捷的

17.   short-haul (adj.)短程運輸的

18.   domestic (adj.)國內的

Week3 -- Taiwan 4th Nuclear Plant

Taiwan to halt construction of fourth nuclear power plant

TAIPEI, April 27 Sun Apr 27, 2014 4:08pm BST

The Taiwan government will halt construction at the island's fourth nuclear power plant, an official said on Sunday, as local opposition to atomic energy continues to mount.

President Ma Ying-jeou met with lawmakers from his Kuomintang Party (KMT) and reached a decision to seal off the plant's first reactor after the completion of safety checks, KMT spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi told reporters.
Construction of the second reactor will be halted immediately, the spokesman added.
The move is the latest sign of pressure on Ma's administration from opposition parties and anti-nuclear activists, who are concerned about the safety of such facilities in earthquake-prone regions of Taiwan following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Taipei over the weekend, urging the government to abandon nuclear energy.
On Friday, Ma refused opposition demands for an immediate referendum on the future of Taiwan's contentious fourth nuclear plant, but reiterated that the government would hold such a vote before the facility starts operations.
The news triggered a 2 percent drop in Taiwan's share market due to fears higher electricity prices could dent the economy.
The fourth plant is located in northern New Taipei City.
Taiwan's three current nuclear power facilities would have to serve longer if the fourth one does not start operating as planned, the economics ministry has said.
Taiwan's first nuclear plant is set to be decommissioned from 2018-19, while the second is set to close between 2021 and 2023.
Some 40 percent of the island's electricity is generated by burning coal, 30 percent using natural gas and 18.4 percent by nuclear power plants, according to the economics ministry.
Taiwan sits near the so-called ring of fire region of seismic activity around the Pacific Ocean. (Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Dale Hudson)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/27/taiwan-nuclear-idUKL3N0NJ08C20140427

Structure of the Lead：

  

WHO- The Taiwan government

WHEN-Sunday

WHAT- halt construction at the island's fourth nuclear power plant

WHY- local opposition to atomic energy continues to mount.
WHERE- not given

HOW-not given

Keywords：

1. halt(v.)暫停；停止
2. atomic (adj.)原子的
3. mount (v.)登上；爬上
4. seal off封閉, 封鎖
5. lawmaker(n.)立法者
6. reactor(n.)核子反應爐
7. spokesman (n.)發言人
8. opposition parties (n.)反對黨
9. activists (n.)激進主義者
10. earthquake-prone(adj.)地震頻繁的
11. Fukushima (n.)福島
12. downtown (adj.)市中心的
13. abandon(v.)放棄
14. referendum (n.)公投
15. contentious (adj.)有爭議的
16. reiterate (v.)重申
17. trigger (v.)引起；觸發
18. share market (n.)股市
19. dent (v.) 塌陷；下跌
20. ministry (adj.)(政府的)部
21. decommission (v.)退役
22. generate(v.)產生
23. seismic (adj.)地震的

WEEK 2--Flight MH370

New underwater discoveries in hunt for MH370, though no sign of plane

AFP
September 28, 2014, 12:18 am TWN

SYDNEY -- Remnants of volcanoes, towering ridges and deep trenches have been discovered on the seabed of the southern Indian Ocean by experts mapping the underwater terrain as part of the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
Australian authorities released the three-dimensional images on Friday, revealing for the first time details about the seafloor where efforts are being concentrated to find the jet, which is presumed to have crashed into the sea on March 8.
The area in which the plane is thought to have gone down is remote and largely unexplored, and officials are conducting an intensive survey of the seabed before the underwater probe for the plane can begin.
“The recently acquired high-resolution bathymetry (underwater survey) data has revealed many of these seabed features for the first time,” the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the agency leading the search, said in a statement.
“It is also revealing finer-scale seabed features that were not visible in the previous low-resolution, satellite-derived bathymetry data.”
The MH370 search area far off Western Australia includes the seabed on and around an extensive, mountainous ridge that once formed the margin between two geological plates.
The expanse has many of the features typically found in such areas, with the tectonic movements having created now-extinct volcanoes, rugged ridges up to 300 meters high and trenches some 1,400 meters deep compared to the surrounding sea floor, the ATSB said.
The bureau said the identification of these features would assist in navigation during the underwater search phase for the Boeing 777, which is due to begin next month.
Australia has vowed to do all it can to find the last resting place of MH370, which was carrying 239 people, many of them Chinese passengers, when it went missing during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The plane is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean far off the west coast of Australia after mysteriously diverting off-course, but a massive air, sea and underwater search has failed to find any wreckage.
Experts have used technical data to finalize its most likely resting place ahead of next month's underwater search.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/australia/2014/09/28/418184/New-underwater.htm

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-experts

   WHEN-not given

   WHAT- search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370

   WHY- because remnants of volcanoes, towering ridges and deep trenches have been discovered

   WHERE- the seabed of the southern Indian Ocean

HOW- by experts mapping the underwater terrain

Keywords：

1.      Remnant(n.)殘餘；殘骸

2.      towering(adj.)高聳的；高大的

3.      ridges(n.)山脊；山脈

4.      trenches(n.)溝渠；溝

5.      seabed(n.)海床

6.      map(v.)勘測

7.      terrain (n.)地域；地帶

8.      seafloor (n.)海底

9.      presume(v.)假定；認為

10.  probe (n.)徹底調查

11.  bathymetry(n.)海深測量術

12.  Bureau(n.)局；處

13.  Margin(n.)邊緣

14.  expanse (n.)廣闊的區域

15.  tectonic(adj.)地殼構造上的

16.  navigation(n.)航行；航運

17.  Kuala Lumpur吉隆坡(馬來西亞的首都)

18.  divert(v.)轉移

19.  wreckage (失事船或飛機等的)殘骸

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-she wanted to “save” the Pakistan

WHERE- in New York

HOW-not given

Keywords：

1.      rights activist (n)人權維護主義者

2.      prime minister (n)總理；首相

3.      premier (n)總理；首相

4.      affair (n)事情；事件

5.      specialist (n)專家

6.      ambassador (n)大使；使節

7.      prestigious (adj.)有名望的

8.      parliament (n)國會；議會

9.      laureates (n) 得獎者

10.  assassinate (v)暗殺，對…行刺

11.  coincide with與…一致

12.  UNICEF (abbr.) 聯合國兒童基金會(= Nations International Children's Emergence Fund)

13.  stunt (v)阻止；妨礙

14.  malnutrition (n)營養失調