W 7--Himalayan snowstorm kills 17, over 100 remain missing

Himalayan snowstorm kills 17, over 100 remain missing

AFP
October 16, 2014, 12:01 am TWN

KATMANDU -- A snowstorm in the Himalayan region of central Nepal has killed 17 foreign trekkers and a Nepali, while more than 100 other people remain out of contact, officials said on Wednesday.

In a separate incident, rescuers are searching for a 67-year-old French man who fell into a river on Tuesday while following the Manaslu trekking route, police said.

A total of 168 tourists had registered to trek in remote Mustang district near the highly popular Annapurna circuit this week, before the snowstorm hit on Tuesday, police official Ganesh Rai told AFP.

“There has been heavy snowfall in the area, up to three feet (91 centimeters),” said Rai, who is in charge of the rescue effort.

“Among the dead are two Polish trekkers and one Israeli. A Nepali was also buried by the snow,” he said, without giving further details.

Authorities rescued 13 trekkers stranded in the storm after the weather cleared on Wednesday, but the remaining 152 foreign tourists remain out of contact.

“The phone network is not very good so we have not been able to get in touch with the missing, but we hope to find them later today,” Mustang district official Baburam Bhandari said.

Thousands of trekkers visit the Annapurna region every October, when weather conditions are usually favorable for hiking trips.

However, Mustang has seen unusually heavy snowfall this week as a result of Cyclone Hudhud, which struck neighboring India's eastern coast at the weekend, killing 22 people and causing widespread devastation there.

The cyclone also sparked heavy downpours in other parts of central and western Nepal, including hilly Gorkha district, where the French trekker slipped and fell into the Budhi Gandaki river.

“The accident happened around 9 a.m. on Tuesday ... we think it was because the track was slippery due to recent heavy rains. Rescue operations are ongoing,” Gorkha police chief Ramesh Thapa told AFP.

The hiker was part of a team of 10 tourists heading up the scenic Manaslu route, named after Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth highest peak, and developed as an alternative to the crowded Annapurna circuit.

The incidents come after the deadliest avalanche to hit Mount Everest left 16 people dead in April and forced an unprecedented shutdown of the world's highest peak.

The avalanche that tore through a group of sherpas — who were hauling gear up the mountain for their foreign clients before dawn — saw scores of expeditions cancelled.

The effective closure of the mountain for the season dealt a huge blow to the poor country which is highly reliant on tourism revenues from climbing and trekking.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/other/2014/10/16/419517/Himalayan-snowstorm.htm

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-foreign trekkers, officials

   WHEN-on Wednesday

   WHAT- killed 17 foreign trekkers and more than 100 other people remain out of contact

   WHERE- in the Himalayan region of central Nepal 

   HOW-A snowstorm

Keywords：

   1. trekker：登山者

   2. register：登記

   3.  circuit ：路線

   4. devastation：毀壞

   5. cyclone ：氣旋

   6. downpour：大雨

   7.  avalanche：雪崩

   8.  unprecedented：史無前例

   9. haul：運輸

 10. expedition：遠征

W 6--Scottish referendum a model for Taiwan

Scottish referendum a model for Taiwan

Wed, Sep 24, 2014 - Page 8

By Hsu Yung-ming 徐永明

After the Scottish independence referendum ends, a new UK will surely emerge. Rather than having London as the core, there is now a call for a fairer balance of power throughout the union.

The flag of Scotland will now stand for more than just the blue backdrop to the Union Jack, as the Scottish people’s decision to remain in the union, through self-determination, has instigated the need for renewed negotiations on the UK’s constitutional arrangements. This referendum has precipitated a new understanding of what plebiscitary democracy means. Britain, an island state, set the standard for both plebiscitary democracy and nationalism in the 21st century.

What can Taiwan learn from the referendum process?

While the pro-unification and pro-independence camps might be more concerned about the outcomes from the perspective of their respective positions, this is perhaps a good time to examine Taiwan’s “birdcage” Referendum Act (鳥籠公投). The nation’s referendum process is pseudo-democratic, falling short of the more civilized standards seen in the Scottish referendum.

When Holyrood pushed for a referendum, the British Parliament at the Palace of Westminster — an instigator of modern representative democracy — did not pass a law to restrict the content of the referendum due to its fear of direct democracy. Nor did the British prime minister establish a referendum review committee to check whether a proposal was appropriate. The Scottish people did not have to collect 1 million signatures first in order to have the right to hold a referendum. Nor was a threshold imposed, so the ruling Conservative Party did not have to call on its supporters to boycott the referendum in order to nullify the results by ensuring that the threshold was not reached. As a result, there has been little controversy over the outcome, which was immediately accepted by the unification and independence camps, allowing the UK to concentrate on the future.

Of particular interest to Taiwanese was the nature of the question asked in the Scottish referendum: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

There were only two simple choices — yes or no — while the referendum was implemented by a simple majority method. This is a civilized referendum system, a model that could point the way for furthering Taiwan’s democratization.

As a former member of the Cabinet’s referendum review committee, I used to support all the proposals during my term, irrespective of whether they were proposed by the blue or the green camp. Eventually, I chose to withdraw from the committee to show my protest against the unfair mechanism.

Today, many of my former colleagues serve as Examination Yuan and Control Yuan members or chair conglomerates. This highlights the barriers of interest to the civilization of Taiwan’s referendum system.

Thanks to the efforts of their ancestors, the Scottish people have been able to avoid the bloody wars that tore Ireland in two, and now they have had the chance to decide their own future through a referendum. The option was always there and has become an example for Taiwan’s democracy to follow.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2014/09/24/2003600432

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-a new UK

   WHEN-not give

   WHAT-the Scottish independence referendum ends 

   WHERE- UK, London 

   HOW- referendum

Keywords：

         1. referendum：公投

   2. self-determination：自決

   3.  negotiation：談判

   4. plebiscitary：國民投票的

   5. pro-unification：支持統一派

   6. instigator：煽動者

   7.  threshold：門檻

   8.  colleagues：同事

   9. conglomerate ：集團

 10. ancestor：祖先

W5 -- Boko Haram denies truce, says kidnapped girls married

Boko Haram denies truce, says kidnapped girls married

7:22 p.m. EDT November 1, 2014

Ameen Auwalii, Special for USA TODAY

ABUJA, Nigeria — The leader of Nigeria's Islamist extremist group dashed hopes for the release of 200 kidnapped girls Saturday, denying reports of a truce with the government.

In a new video message, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau says the schoolgirls have converted to Islam and married off. "The issue of the girls is long forgotten because I have long ago married them off," he says, laughing.

The news goes counter to what the Nigerian government said nearly two weeks ago when it announced a cease-fire deal with the terrorist organization, raising hopes among the families of the kidnapped girls — who were taken from the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok in April — that their daughters would soon be released.

But as the weeks dragged on with no sign of the kidnapped girls, hopes began to fade.

"I was very excited when I heard the news — I will finally reunite with my daughter," said Hamidah Amira, 36, whose 17-year-old daughter was kidnapped. But then desperation set in, especially as Boko Haram abducted dozens of young women and teenagers in northeast Nigeria and continued to launch attacks that forced hundreds to flee.

Despite those incidents, the government insisted negotiations with the Islamists were ongoing in Chad, as some began to raise doubts a cease-fire was even agreed upon by the group.

Martin Ewi, senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies' office in Pretoria, said he didn't think Boko Haram had agreed to a truce, citing the lack of public statements on the issue in the past two weeks.

"The government might be talking to one faction … and then you have the other factions which might not have bought into the idea of dialogue," he said.

Human Rights Watch estimates Boko Haram, whose name loosely translates as "Western education is forbidden," has abducted around 500 young women over the past five years.

Although some girls managed to escape from the Islamists, the whereabouts and the fate of the rest of the young women are uncertain.

A recent Human Rights Watch report, based on interviews with victims and witnesses of Boko Haram abductions, offers rare insight into a series of physical and sexual abuses the girls suffer in captivity, including rape, forced labor and beating.

"We found that the Nigerian government has never interviewed these girls, never really found out or learned what they've gone through, never attempted to do any kind of investigations," said Rona Peligal, Human Rights Watch deputy director for the Africa Division. "They were kind of left on their own."

Chibok resident Solomon Ali is deeply critical of the government's handling of the situation since the beginning.

"We were disappointed that the government has done nothing to ensure these girls are released," he said, adding officials have failed to keep the community informed.

Outraged by the kidnappings and the atrocities committed by Boko Haram, the international community has urged the Nigerian government to step up its efforts to free the girls. Since April, a campaign under the motto "Bring Back Our Girls" went viral on social media.

Peligal says Nigerian authorities should do a better job responding to the Boko Haram threat and ensuring protection around schools.

"The government needs to better anticipate and plan for those kinds of abductions because they're continuing," she said. "And the government should respond capably."

Ewi worries the girls would not be freed unless the government yields to Boko Haram's demands to release some of their militants.

"You can't pursue military operations and still be hoping to release the girls alive," he said.

Analysts warn the situation is likely to get worse in the months ahead of the 2015 election. Earlier this week, President Goodluck Jonathan, who is under increasing scrutiny for his failure to locate the girls, confirmed he would be running for re-election.

"The Boko Haram issue has been indeed politicized, and I expect it would be further politicized as we get closer to the election," said Peligal.

In the meantime, Amira — like other moms — waits, while making a personal appeal to Boko Haram to release her daughter and the other girls.

"They should sympathize with us, not with the government," Amira said.

 http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/11/01/boko-haram-kidnapped-girls/18311175/

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-ABUJA, Nigeria

   WHEN-Saturday

   WHAT- dashed hopes for the release of 200 kidnapped girls

   WHERE- not give

   HOW- denying reports

Keywords：

         1. release：釋放

   2. convert：轉變

   3. marry off：嫁出去

   4. kidnap：綁架

   5. desperation：絕望

   6. abduct：拐走

   7. whereabouts ：下落

   8. witnesses ：證人

   9. scrutiny：審查

 10. politicize：政治化