Madonna embroiled in Taiwan-China row over flag

TAIPEI - Pop diva Madonna has waded into the war of words over Taiwanese identity after draping herself in the island's flag, sparking ire in China, where any suggestion of independence is scorned.

Taiwan's Apple Daily and Liberty Times newspapers ran photos of Madonna with the flag over her shoulders as she sang an encore Thursday on the Taipei leg of her global Rebel Heart Tour.

The move was greeted enthusiastically by many on Taiwanese Internet forums, who saw it as a boost to their quest to protect the island's sovereignty in the face of increased influence from Beijing.

"Madonna supports Taiwan with her acts. Taiwan loves Madonna too," read one message on Apple Daily's website.

But posts on China's Twitter-like Weibo responded angrily.

"Is Taiwan a country? I am laughing to death... you are just a region," said one.

"Madonna draped the flag and you think you are going to be recognised by the UN? So funny," said another, referring to Taiwan's lack of international status.

Taiwan has been self-ruling since splitting from China in 1949 following a civil war, but Beijing still views it as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

As Beijing's influence has grown globally, Taiwan has haemorrhaged allies, losing its place at the UN to Beijing and is now only recognized by 22 countries.

INSTAGRAM BACKLASH

China supporters also voiced their anger on Madonna's Instagram account, responding to a picture which showed her face superimposed on a blue sun motif similar to the white sun on Taiwan's flag, attracting 2,000 messages.

"Shut up, people of Taiwan province of China," one message read.

"Madonna was just creating a talking point and some Taiwanese people thought she was speaking up for Taiwan independence? So funny," said another.

Others hit back at the critical Instagram posts.

"Someone holds the flag and you are barking like a dog. So low class. If you like China so much, go back to use your weibo," one comment read.

The Asian leg of the Rebel Heart Tour includes dates in Hong Kong and Macau, but not mainland China.

There was no immediate comment from local promoters or Madonna's representatives following Thursday's concert.

Last year, US singer-songwriter Katy Perry caused a stir in both Taiwan and China when she appeared on stage in Taipei draped in a Taiwan flag, while donning a gold dress adorned with sunflowers -- a symbol of anti-China student protests in Taiwan in 2014.

Several Taiwanese entertainers have also got into trouble for waving the Taiwan flag abroad.

Last month, K-pop singer Chou Tzu-yu, 16, was forced to apologise for waving the flag in an Internet broadcast, which stoked online anger in China and accusations that she was a pro-independence advocate.

Her video apology went viral on the day of Taiwan's presidential and legislative elections in January and some analysts believed may have cost the ruling Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT) party hundreds of thousands of votes.

The traditionally pro-independence main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won by a landslide, with the KMT's rapprochement with Beijing a major factor in its defeat.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Eleven dead after powerful Taiwan quake fells buildings

TAINAN, Taiwan - A powerful earthquake in Taiwan felled a 16-storey apartment complex full of families who had gathered for Lunar New Year celebrations Saturday, with at least eleven dead and more than 30 feared trapped.

The death toll was rising in the historic city of Tainan, which bore the brunt of the 6.4-magnitude quake, as rescuers scoured rubble for survivors.

An entire residential complex of four buildings containing almost 100 homes toppled, left on its side with twisted metal girders exposed and clouds of dust rising from the jumbled concrete.

Among the nine people killed when the apartment complex collapsed were a 10-day old baby girl and two other children, the National Fire Agency said.

The other two victims were killed in different parts of the city by falling debris, the agency said.

Officials say they are unsure how many residents may still be inside, but media reports estimated at least 30 could be trapped.

Around 800 troops have been mobilised to help the rescue effort, with sniffer dogs also searching through the rubble.

Residents at the felled 16-storey Wei-kuan Building told of their terror as the quake hit, with survivors pulled bleeding and crying from the ruins, some just in their underwear.

"I saw buildings shake up and down and left and right," said one resident.

"The first and second floor just collapsed," he told local channel SET TV.

Another man tied his clothes together to create a rope and lowered himself from his home on the ninth floor to the sixth floor below, Apple Daily reported.

One woman told how she had fought her way out of her home.

"I used a hammer to break the door of my home which was twisted and locked, and managed to climb out," she told SET TV, weeping as she spoke.

Rescuers have freed more than 250 people from the apartment complex, with over 40 of them hospitalised.

Interior minister Chen Wei-jen said he feared there may be more people in the building than usual as family members would have returned to celebrate the Lunar New Year holidays next week.

"We are concerned that most members of those families may have returned for the coming new year holiday," he said.

Heartfelt appeals for the missing were posted on social media.

"My friend in Wei-kuan is currently missing. His brother is waiting at the scene and other relatives are at the hospital looking among those injured. If anyone has related news, please get in touch," one user called applexgreen posted on Taiwan's popular PTT forum.

Another named Ahan asked for information on a family of three with a two-year-old son who lived on the seventh floor of the building.

"My mother is the child's nanny. We haven't been able to get in contact," the post said.

DAZED AND EXHAUSTED

Officials said there were 256 people registered as living in the complex, which contained 96 apartments.

Dazed and exhausted residents stood outside the toppled buildings, watching rescue workers free survivors -- from infants to the elderly, some strapped to stretchers -- and carefully hand them down ladders.

Cranes towered over the disaster zone with diggers trying to move slabs of concrete.

Eight shelters have been set up around the city, with over 100 people taking refuge there, while restaurants and hotels offered free food and rooms to residents.

"The buildings collapsed, but Tainan will stand again! Please treat here like your temporary home, rest well and freshen up. You aren't alone," said one Tainan hotel called Adagio Travel on its Facebook page.

Separately, at least 30 people were earlier freed from another residential seven-storey tower.

Officials said several blocks had collapsed or half collapsed in other parts of the city, with some buildings left leaning at alarming angles.

Across Tainan, more than 400 people were injured, with over 60 hospitalised.

Around 400,000 had been left without water, authorities said, and more than 2,000 homes are still without electricity.

China has offered rescue assistance if needed, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) at around 4:00 am (2000 GMT Friday), 39 kilometres northeast of Kaohsiung, Taiwan's second-largest city.

Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

The island's worst quake in recent decades was 7.6 magnitude in September 1999, killing around 2,400 people.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

More than 200 injured in explosion at Taiwan water park

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- More than 200 people were injured, over 90 of them seriously, in an explosion at a water park outside Taiwan's capital Taipei Saturday after colored powder being sprayed onto a crowd ignited, officials said.

Footage on the Apple Daily newspaper website showed crowds dancing as music played and clouds of powder being sprayed out which suddenly turned into a ball of fire that tore through the spectators.

Terrified partygoers were then shown running for their lives, screaming, as they were overtaken by flames.

As ambulance crews struggled to reach the site, victims were carried away on rubber rings and inflatable dinghies as friends desperately tried to get them out.

Bystanders poured bottles of water on the scorched skin of the victims still at the scene.

Around 1,000 spectators had been at the Color Play Asia event at the Formosa Fun Coast waterpark, just outside the capital Taipei, according to officials.

One male witness told local news channel CTI: "It started on the left side of the stage. At the beginning I thought it was part of the special effects of the party but then I realised there was something wrong and people started screaming and running."

Authorities said 229 had been hospitalised with 97 seriously hurt.

Media reports said some victims had suffered burns to more than 40 percent of their bodies.

A doctor treating 41 victims at one hospital in Taipei said 17 of them were "seriously burned".

"They all had respiratory system damage," he said.

"Our initial understanding is this explosion and fire... was caused by the powder spray. It could have been due to the heat of the lights on the stage," said a spokesman for the New Taipei City fire department.

A man responsible for the event had been detained by police for investigation, the spokesman said.

Prosecutors were also looking into the incident, local media reported.

Television images showed the stage on fire and crowds running away, some of them only dressed in swimwear and covered in coloured powder.

Trails of bloody footprints leading away from the stage remained in the aftermath of the inferno, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

The fire was quickly extinguished, according to authorities.

Officials said that ambulances had found it difficult to get near to the site and had to send in emergency workers with stretchers.

"We feel sad and regretful about the accident," said New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu who was reported as saying it was the municipality's worst ever incident of mass injury.

He said that extra doctors had been called in to help treat the victims.

"I've ordered the park to shut down immediately and be placed under a rigorous investigation," Chu added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Animated Re-enactment of Philippines Hostage Crisis August 23, 2010

Animated Re-enactment of Philippines Hostage Crisis Apple Daily released an animated simulation of what was happening inside of the bus during the hostage taking happened in Quirino Grandstand, Manila. It shows the summary of the hostage drama in almost 2 minutes. It shows a hostage hit by the forced entry of the police into the bus but police protected and defend themselves and said that the video is not true and confirmed unless it was based from a statement from a victim of the hostage crisis that occurred last Monday August 23, 2010.

According to reports, the creator of the animated video said that the video is not 100 percent accurate and does not intend to mislead people.