Wikinews:Briefs/February 5, 2015

February 5, 2015

Taiwan TransAsia plane cashes, killing 30 passengers


Taiwan TransAsia Airways plane crashes into the.

The TransAsia ATR-72 turboprop aircraft, carrying 58 passengers, 5 crew members and 53 Chinese tourists went crashing down, just minutes after take off. The plane was suspected to be due to insufficient propelling force, according to United Daily News (UDN) website reported by The Straight Times. The plane was departing from. in mainland China, and flying to Taipei to the offshore island of Kinmen. The plane hit the Nanyang Bridge, an elevated highway, in New Taipei City, before crashing into the Keelung River.

Video footage from a car with a dashboard mounted camera shows the plane clipping a taxi then clipping the bridge after clearing the city. The plane is seen coming down at a steep angel before hitting the taxi.The crash killed 31 passengers, injuring 14 and 12 are still missing in the wreckage.

The final communication from the pilots to air traffic control was "Mayday, mayday, engine flame out", according to a recording played on local media. The recording was not immediately verified by aviation officials, the BBC Asia News reported.

Oil dispute in Russia
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, may be considering changing his alliance with Syrian oil distributors to ease economic woes. Saudi Arabia has offered Putin a deal if he stops supporting Bashar Assad, the president of Syria. If Putin creates an alliance with Saudi Arabia, the production of oil will slow to increase prices, helping the economic state of Russia.

However, the Russian president has stated many times that he will not give in to pressure form exterior sources, even during financial hardship. Putin is still showing signs of support towards Assad and there may be no change in alliances. Only time will show where Russia's loyalties lie.

Target Canada starts liquidation sales; will be closing their doors
Target Canada will be closing its 133 stores soon, but first they are starting their liquidation today. The prices will be anywhere from 5 to eventually eighty percent off of their normal rate. Target customers will also be able to buy Target's work articles and shelves. This is a big loss in the aspect of employment in Canada because around 17,000 Target employees will now be unemployed because of the shut down of its stores. The sale is expected to run around 2 months. However, the merchandise offered will differ because some stores have not been taking in anymore product.

Another concern for Target Canada is the pharmacies set up within the stores that are not affliated with Target that will now have virtually no time to find new workspaces and no time to come up with a plan for their customers. Target Canada opened its doors in March 2013 and within the first year were already $7 billion in the hole and, according to their calculations, were not going to see a signigicant profit for many years. Landlords that own the spaces where the stores are located will be faced with the difficult challenge of finding new tenants while malls will be challenged with the loss of a huge store within their businesses.