TransAsia crash: Death toll rises to 23

Taipei: A TransAsia Airways plane with 58 passengers and crew on board careered into a river shortly after taking off from a downtown Taipei airport on Wednesday, killing 23 people and leaving 20 missing, officials said. Fifteen people somehow survived the crash after the plane lurched between buildings, clipped a taxi and an overpass with its port-side wing and crashed upside down in the shallow water.

Dramatic pictures taken by a motorist and posted on Twitter showed the plane careening over the motorway soon after the turboprop ATR 72-600 aircraft took off in apparently clear weather on a domestic flight for the island of Kinmen.

"I've never seen anything like this," a volunteer rescuer surnamed Chen said of the most recent in a series of disasters to hit Asian carriers in the past 12 months.

Television footage showed survivors wearing life jackets wading and swimming clear of wreckage. Others, including a young child, were taken to shore in inflatable boats. Emergency rescue officials crowded around the partially submerged fuselage of flight GE235, lying on its side in the river, trying to help those on board.

The plane missed apartment buildings by metres, though it was not clear if that was luck or whether the pilot was aiming for the river. Footage showed a van skidding to a halt on the damaged overpass after barely missing the plane's wing, with small pieces of the aircraft scattered along the road.

The chief executive of TransAsia, Peter Chen, bowed deeply at a televised news conference as he apologised to passengers and crew. TransAsia's shares closed down 6.9% in heavy trade, its biggest percentage decline since late 2011.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said his government had offered Taiwan any help necessary following the crash.

The last communication from one of the aircraft's pilots was "Mayday Mayday engine flameout", according to an air traffic control recording on liveatc.net.

A flameout occurs when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion, resulting in an engine failure. Twin-engined aircraft, however, are usually able to keep flying even when one engine has failed.

The plane was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW127M engines. Pratt & Whitney is part of United Technologies.

The head of Taiwan's civil aviation authority, Lin Tyh-ming, said the aircraft last underwent maintenance on January 26. The pilot had 4,916 hours of flying hours under his belt and the co-pilot had 6,922 hours, he said. Taipei's downtown Songshan airport, the smaller of the city's two airports, provides mostly domestic flights but also connections to Japan, China and South Korea.

A statement from China's Taiwan Affairs Office said 31 of those on board were tourists from the southeastern city of Xiamen, which lies close to Taiwan's Kinmen island.

The crash is the latest in a string of mishaps to hit Asian carriers in the past 12 months. An AirAsia jet bound for Singapore crashed soon after taking off from the Indonesian city of Surabaya on December 28, killing all 162 people on board.

Related read: Indonesia will not make public full preliminary AirAsia crash report

Also last year, a Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared and one of its sister planes was downed over Ukraine with a combined loss of 537 lives.

TransAsia is Taiwan's third-largest carrier. One of its ATR 72-500 planes crashed while trying to land at Penghu Island last July, killing 48 of the 58 passengers and crew on board. Taiwan has had a poor aviation safety record in recent years, including the disintegration of a China Airlines 747 on a flight from Taipei to Hong Kong in 2002, killing 225.

In 2000, a Singapore Airlines jetliner taking off for Los Angeles during a storm hit construction equipment on the runway, killing dozens.

The plane involved in Wednesday's mishap was among the first of the ATR 72-600s, the latest variant of the turboprop aircraft, that TransAsia received in 2014 as part of an order of eight aircraft two years earlier. The 72-seat aircraft are mainly used to connect the capital, Taipei, with smaller cities and islands.

ATR is a joint venture between Airbus and Alenia Aermacchi, a subsidiary of Italy's Finmeccanica.

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'India, China taking solid steps for new momentum in ties'

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj here and said China and India have taken "solid steps" to make new progress in bilateral ties besides implementing the agreements reached between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I have full confidence in India-China relations and I believe that new progress will be achieved in growing this bilateral relationship in this new year," Xi told Swaraj, who called on him at the cavernous Great Hall of the People here on her maiden visit to the communist nation after she assumed charge last year.

Xi said that since his visit to India in September last year, relations between the two countries have entered into a new stage of growth.

"The positive side of India-China relations has been growing and momentum of our cooperation has been strengthening and solid steps are being taken to implement agreements reached between Prime Minister Modi and I," he said as he welcomed the 62-year-old senior BJP leader.

One such solid step taken was yesterday's exchange of notes on modalities for opening the second route for the Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra in Tibet via Sikkim by June, that will allow more Indians to undertake the pilgrimage.

Xi had promised opening the new route to Modi during the former's maiden visit to New Delhi last year.

Recalling fond memories of his India visit, Xi told Swaraj: "Last September I visited India and cherish fresh memories about the gracious hospitality extended to me by government and people of India.

"In particular, I cherish the memories of Prime Minister Modi's home province Gujarat and Prime Minister himself accompanied me on that trip."

The 61-year-old Chinese President, who is also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party, conveyed his best wishes to the Indian leadership.

"Please convey my best regards and greetings to President (Pranab) Mukherjee and Prime Minister Modi when you go back," Xi said in a rare meeting with a visiting Foreign Minister.

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US sees increased role for India in battle against ISIS

Washington: India could play a role in battling Islamic State, the White House said on Monday during a visit to New Delhi by President Barack Obama, underlining Washington's confidence that India is increasingly prepared to engage on global security issues.

US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said India's involvement could focus on intelligence on the flow of money and militants to the radical Islamist group active in Syria and Iraq rather than deploying troops on the ground. "When you look at our broader counter-terrorism cooperation and how we're tracking the flow of fighters and terrorist financing, there I do think we want to find space for cooperation," he told reporters.

The comments came hours after Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi together watched a dazzling parade of India's military might and cultural diversity, capturing the two countries' determination to put decades of brittle relations behind them and forge a robust strategic partnership. It rained on the Republic Day parade through the heart of New Delhi, but excitement nevertheless ran high over Obama's visit, which began on Sunday with a clutch of deals to unlock billions of dollars in nuclear trade and deepen defence ties.

Most significant was an agreement on issues that, despite a groundbreaking 2006 pact, had stopped U.S. companies from setting up nuclear reactors in India and had become one of the major irritants in bilateral relations. "Mobama breaks N-deadlock," ran the front-page headline of the Mail Today newspaper, which carried a photograph of Modi and Obama hugging each other warmly.

The bonhomie was a remarkable spectacle given that, until a year ago, Modi had been banned from visiting the United States after deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 in a state he governed. Obama was the first U.S. president to attend India's Republic Day parade, a show of military prowess that was long associated with the anti-Americanism of the Cold War.

He and Modi sat behind a rain-spotted screen as the parade unfolded along Rajpath, an elegant lawn-bordered boulevard dating from the British colonial era that connects the presidential palace to India Gate. Helicopters showered petals on the crowds, and then tanks, missiles, stiffly saluting soldiers, brass bands and dancers filed past the guests.

Security was tight across the city, where tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed on street corners and rooftops. Obama's presence at the parade - at Modi's personal invitation - marks the latest upturn in a roller-coaster relationship that a year ago was scarred by protectionism and a fiery diplomatic spat.

The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight in Asia to a more assertive China, but has frequently been frustrated with the slow pace of New Delhi's economic reforms and unwillingness to side with Washington in international affairs.

Elected last May, Modi has injected a new vitality into the economy and foreign relations and, to Washington's delight, has begun pushing back against China across Asia. "The larger goal that the United States should be pursuing here is to convince India to join a coalition of democracies to balance China's rise," former U.S. ambassador to Beijing Jon Huntsman and the South Asia Center's acting director, Bharath Gopalaswamy, wrote in a joint opinion piece for Reuters.

India, with the world's third-largest population of Muslims, has not openly engaged so far in international efforts to combat the spread of Islamic State. Indian Muslims have largely shunned radical causes, and police say only four Indians are known to have joined the group.

Analysts say that, under Modi, India appears more willing to engage on issues beyond its borders, including security in the South China Sea and Islamist militancy. Modi and Obama on Sunday committed to close consultation on global crises, including in Iraq and Syria. "The leaders agreed to exchange information on individuals returning from these conflict zones and to continue to cooperate in protecting and responding to the needs of civilians caught up in these conflicts," they said in a joint statement.

They also agreed to a 10-year framework for defence ties and struck deals on cooperation that included joint production of drone aircraft and equipment for Lockheed Martin Corp's C-130 military transport plane. Other deals ranged from an Obama-Modi hotline - India's first at a leadership level - to financing initiatives aimed at helping India use renewable energy to lower carbon intensity.

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Xiaomi says wants to invest in Indian start-ups

Beijing: China`s Xiaomi Inc, the world`s third-biggest smartphone maker, will invest in Indian start-ups and overseas media content, Hugo Barra, vice president of the company`s global division, said in an interview on Friday.

Xiaomi, now the world`s most valuable tech start-up, would like to be a significant player in media content, Barra said.

"Where we really want to make significant investments is in content, particularly in the Chinese market to start with but beyond that in other markets as well," Barra said.

"We are already making some investments for now focused on China, but in the future we will do that in other markets too."

"One area that we are also looking to make some investments in is start-ups in India. India is already the largest market for us outside of mainland China," Barra said.

Just three years after selling its first smartphone, a $1.1 billion round of fund-raising announced in December valued Xiaomi at $45 billion. The privately held company has risen to become the No. 3 handset maker and is now challenging Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as well as domestic rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

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Unlike China, Ind does not arm-twist countries seeking aid: VK Singh

New Delhi: Any country that seeks aid would prefer to engage with India rather than China because

they know New Delhi will not engage in any "arm-twisting", Union Minister Gen. (retd) V K Singh said today.

Singh, a former chief of the Indian Army, said that the countries seeking aid from China are aware that some amount of arm-twisting will take place.

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