Cathay Dragon flight makes safe emergency landing in Taiwan

In this file photo taken on March 13, 2019, the Cathay Pacific logo is seen on the tail of a passenger plane as it prepares to take off from Hong Kong's international airport. (AFP)
Updated 08 April 2019
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Cathay Dragon flight makes safe emergency landing in Taiwan

  • Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration told AFP the emergency was caused by a “technical failure on one of the engines” and denied Taiwanese media reports that the plane had hit a bird

TAIPEI: A Cathay Dragon flight from Taiwan to Hong Kong made an emergency landing on Monday at the city it departed from after experiencing a “technical issue” shortly after take-off, the carrier said.
Cathay Pacific, the parent company of Cathay Dragon, said flight KA451 from Kaohsiung to Hong Kong made an “air return” and landed safely back at the southern Taiwanese city.
An official with Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) told AFP the emergency was caused by a “technical failure on one of the engines” and denied Taiwanese media reports that the plane had hit a bird.
The official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak with media, added an investigation was now under way.
The Apple Daily newspaper cited local aviation officials as saying the plane’s right engine emitted smoke during take-off and that local residents nearby said they had heard an explosive sound.
Cathay said the aircraft was an Airbus A330 and said arrangements were being made to get passengers on new flights.


French police raid home of culture minister in graft probe

Updated 54 min 5 sec ago
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French police raid home of culture minister in graft probe

  • Raid comes as Rachida Dati, who heads the town hall in the seventh district of Paris, is campaigning to be elected mayor of the French capital next year
  • Dati held a seat in the European parliament from 2009 to 2019 on behalf of France’s main right-wing party, and has been repeatedly accused of influence peddling

PARIS: French police on Thursday searched the homes of Culture Minister Rachida Dati, as well as the ministry and the Paris town hall she presides over, as part of a corruption probe, prosecutors said.
The police raid comes as Dati, who heads the town hall in the seventh district of Paris, is campaigning to be elected mayor of the French capital next year.
Dati, 60, has been accused of accepting nearly 300,000 euros ($343,000) in undeclared payments from major energy group GDF Suez while a member of the European parliament between 2010 and 2011. She has denied any wrongdoing.
The national financial prosecutor’s office on Thursday said the raids came after it had opened an investigation on October 14 into Dati over possible corruption, influence peddling and embezzlement of public funds.
Dati held a seat in the European parliament from 2009 to 2019 on behalf of France’s main right-wing party, and has been repeatedly accused of influence peddling.
Accusations that she was lobbying on behalf of GDF Suez first emerged in French media reports in 2013 and the European parliament’s ethics committee questioned her.
French investigative television show “Complement d’Enquete” and the Nouvel Observateur magazine renewed the allegations in June.
Dati wants to become the French capital’s second woman mayor in a row in the March 2026 municipal vote.
She hopes to replace Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, 66, who is to step down after two terms in the post.