Week 2- Malaysia Airlines MH370, missing

Malaysian Official Denies Report That Missing Jet Flew for Hours

Charlie Campbell  March 13, 2014

Malaysia’s defense minister denied reports  Thursday that the Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have stayed airborne for as much as four hours after it was lost from radar screens, the Associated Press reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Thursday that U.S. investigators and national-security officials believe that data automatically downloaded and sent to a maintenance-and-monitoring program from the aircraft’s two Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines indicated that the plane may have remained in the air for much longer than previously believed.

That would mean the plane may have traveled more than 2,000 additional nautical miles, reaching points as far as the Pakistani border or even the Arabian Sea, said the Journal.

Acting Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that Rolls-Royce and Boeing, the maker of the Boeing 777, had denied the report, according to the AP.

Erin Atan, Rolls-Royce head of Asia-Pacific and Middle East communications, was unable to confirm or deny the Wall Street Journal reporter earlier when contacted by TIME, citing the terms of sharing information relating to an official accident investigation.

“We are monitoring the situation, and we have offered Malaysia Airlines and related parties all cooperation from the outset,” she said, naturally raising questions as to why this information, if accurate, was not shared with passengers’ families earlier. On Wednesday, U.S. officials told AFP that American spy satellites detected no sign of a mid-air explosion when the jet vanished. Heat signatures from exploding aircraft have been used as a clue in previous incidents but none was spotted in this case, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Wall Street Journal report appeared to widen rather than shrink the search for Flight 370, which has entered its sixth day. Debris spotted in the South China Sea by Chinese satellites on Sunday — but only released overnight — has since been dismissed by Vietnamese officials who claim the area had already been “searched thoroughly.”

India has also now agreed to help out with efforts. “Malaysia and India are in contact on this since yesterday and contact points are being discussed. These contact points will ascertain what assistance is required and what India can offer,” a spokesman at New Delhi’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

India boasts a large military command in its territory in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and operates navy patrols in the busy shipping routes of the Malacca Strait.

Flight 370 took off from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. on Saturday, heading for Beijing, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board. Contact with Malaysian air-traffic control was lost after some 40 minutes over the Gulf of Thailand, at a height of around 10,700 m.

Vietnamese air-traffic control says the plane never entered its airspace, and conflicting reports have emerged that it may have turned back and been spotted by military radar on the northeastern side of the Malay Peninsula by Pulau Perak. No distress call was received. A dozen countries are taking part in the search, with 42 ships and 39 aircraft involved. But efforts have been plagued with confusion and contradictory reports, and complaints increasingly hurled at the Malaysian authorities.

At his end of Congress press conference on Thursday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang revealed that the superpower had eight boats and 10 satellites trying to locate the plane. “As long as there is a glimmer of hope, we will not stop searching for the plane,” he told reporters gathered at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Of the 239 people on board, 153 were Chinese.

Structure of the Lead :

Who---Charlie Campbell

When---March 13, 2014

What---Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have stayed airborne for as much as four hours after it was lost from radar screens

Why---Malaysian air-traffic control was lost

Where---Malaysia

Keywords :

1.      radar---雷達

2.      maintenance-and-monitoring---維護和監控

3.      nautical---航海天文

4.      spy---間諜

5.      signatures---簽名

6.      shrink---縮小

7.      ascertain---查明

8.      plagued---困擾

9.      contradictory---矛盾

10.  glimmer---微光

http://time.com/22814/missing-jet-may-have-flown-for-extra-four-hours/

Week1 -Cross-strait service trade pact

Cross-strait service trade pact signed

By Mo Yan-chih  /  Staff reporter

The Straits Exchange Foundation and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) yesterday signed a cross-strait service trade agreement in Shanghai during the ninth round of cross-strait talks, opening the service sectors on both sides to further cross-strait exchanges.

Under the pact, which includes four chapters and 24 articles, 64 Taiwanese industries will be opened to Chinese investment, while China will open up 80 industries to Taiwan.

The Taiwanese industries include transportation, tourism and traditional Chinese medicine, while China will open up its finance, retail, electronics, publishing and travel sectors.

Under the agreement, Chinese investors will be allowed to open hotels in Taiwan.

Taiwan will also allow Chinese travel agencies to establish a maximum of three branches in the country and provide services to Taiwanese. However, they will not be allowed to accommodate any foreign tourists, including Chinese.

Taiwanese investors will be allowed to set up travel agencies in China, as well as open restaurants or hotels.

Chinese companies will be allowed to open beauty parlors or hair salons in Taiwan, but would only be allowed to employ Taiwanese.

While China will open its publishing industry to Taiwanese investment, Taiwan will allow Chinese companies to invest in Taiwanese businesses in the printing service industry, with a maximum of 50 percent stock ownership.

On financial services, Taiwanese companies will be allowed to invest security companies in Shanghai, in Shenzhen and Chinese-controlled Fujian Province.

In signing the pact, foundation Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) and ARATS Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) both lauded the agreement for deepening cross-strait exchanges in the service sector.

Lin said 80 percent of the deal opens the two sides’ service sectors to the same or greater degree as the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) that was signed between Hong Kong and China in 2003, with 90 percent of financial services covered in the cross-strait agreement opened, just like in the CEPA.

The cross-strait service trade agreement is a major follow-up to the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services under the WTO.

“The service trade agreement is a pact that benefits related sectors across the Taiwan Strait and promotes the interests of the public on both sides. It will result in a win-win situation for both sides,” Lin said.

After signing the pact, Taiwan and China cannot revise or cancel the agreement within the next three years.

The two sides will hold an annual meeting to review the implementation of the pact.

The agreement also includes an emergency negotiation mechanism, which gives related industries from each side the right to demand negotiations and seek solutions if the agreement negatively affects their businesses sectors.

This story has been viewed 5289 times.

Structure of the Lead：

Who---The Straits Exchange Foundation and the the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits

What---signed a cross-strait service trade agreement during the ninth round of cross-strait talks, opening the service sectors on both sides to further cross-strait exchanges.

When---yesterday

Why---The service trade agreement is a pact that benefits related sectors across the Taiwan Strait and promotes the interests of the public on both sides. It will result in a win-win situation for both sides.

Where--- Shanghai

Keywords：

1.The Straits Exchange Foundation---財團法人海峽交流基金會
2.Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits---海峽兩岸關係協會
3.cross-strait service trade agreement---海峽兩岸服貿協議
4.sector---行業
5.laud---讚美
6.Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement---海峽兩岸經濟合作架構協議
7.revise---修改
8.implementation---履行
9.negotiation---談判
10.mechanism---機制

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2013/06/22/2003565371