Taiwan Plane Crash

A TransAsia Airways plane with 58 passengers and crew on board cartwheeled into a river shortly after taking off from a downtown Taipei airport in Taiwan on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and leaving two dozen missing. Miraculously, 15 people survived the crash after the plane lurched between buildings, clipped an overpass with its port-side wing and crashed upside down in the shallow water. The last communication from one of the aircraft's pilots was "Mayday Mayday engine flameout", according to an air traffic control recording. 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.

In Other News Seven people were killed after a crowded commuter train slammed into an SUV on the tracks north of New York City Tuesday. The crash caused the SUV to explode in a fireball that set the front of the train ablaze. Six of the dead were on the northbound train, Cuomo said. The driver of the Jeep was also killed. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the Jeep was stopped on the tracks when a railroad crossing gate came down on top of it. The driver got out, checked the rear of the vehicle, and then she got back in and drove forward and was struck by the train. Jordan executed two al-Qaida prisoners before dawn Wednesday, just hours after an online video purported to show Islamic State group militants burning a captured Jordanian pilot to death in a cage. The gruesome death of 26-year-old Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, captured while participating in airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition targeting the militants, sparked outrage across the Middle East and anti-Islamic State protests in Jordan. Former cycling champ Lance Armstrong struck two parked vehicles as he drove home from a night of partying but wasn't charged until his longtime girlfriend admitted she wasn't behind the wheel. Armstrong, 43, was cited for two misdemeanors: Duty to report accidents and exceeding the safe speed for conditions, police said. Police served a summons on Armstrong through his lawyer so Armstrong was not questioned by police or quoted in the police report. The same charges had been filed against his girlfriend, Anna Hansen, 33, but were dropped after she admitted lying, the police report said. No other charges were filed. When asked if Armstrong persuaded her to take the blame, Hansen said, according to the police report: "No, that was a joint decision and um, you know we've had our family name smeared over every paper in the world in the last couple of years and... I thought, 'Gosh, Anna Hansen hit some cars, it's not going to show up in the papers, but Lance Armstrong hit some cars, it's going to be a national story.' “ Most Americans are immune to measles because they received a vaccine known as MMR during infancy and again in early childhood. People who have had measles also are immune. Pennsylvania law requires public school children to be vaccinated against diseases including measles, polio, chickenpox and tetanus. But exemptions are available to families who object in writing on religious grounds or "on the basis of a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief.” Families can also obtain a medical exemption after providing a written statement from a doctor stating immunization may be harmful to the child's health. About 6,000 public school students had exemptions in