Holy cow
A boy crawls under a cow during a religious ceremony celebrating the Tihar festival in Kathmandu on October 23. — Reuters
Plane accident
Two killed in crash
Athens — A plane crashed during a training session on October 22. Two people were killed after their small plane, which was en route to Beirut from Cyprus, crashed into the sea.
Cypriot Defence Minister Christoforos Fokaides said search-and-rescue teams from Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel discovered the single-engine Cessna plane’s debris 80 kilometres south-east of Larnaca, near the area where the aircraft disappeared from radar on the night of October 22.
The plane took off from Paphos and belonged to the Griffon Aviation pilot training school. — DPA
Cost of war
Strike casualties revealed
Beirut — Air strikes by US-led forces have killed 553 Islamist fighters and 32 civilians during a month-long campaign in Syria, a monitoring group announced on October 23.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group said that 464 of the deaths were militants from the Islamic State, an al-Qaeda offshoot that has taken large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
The attacks also killed 57 members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, the Observatory said, adding that six of the civilians killed were children and five were women. — Reuters
Presidential victory
At the National Monument in Jakarta, Indonesian President Joko Widodo greets supporters on October 20 during a celebration after his inauguration as the country’s seventh president. — AP
Holiday horror
Tourists found dead in hotel
Agra, India — A British couple was found dead in their hotel room in the city of Agra in Uttar Pradesh state, India. Police reported the news on October 22. Police said they died from a drug overdose.
The bodies of a 29-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman were found in the Maya Hotel close to the Taj Mahal.
“There were a lot of medicines including cough syrups and anti-depressants,” police superintendent Shalabh Mathur said. — AFP
Industrial accident
Miners die after explosion
Warsaw — The number of victims killed from a methane explosion at a Polish coal mine rose to five after two gravely burned miners succumbed to their injuries on October 21.
One worker died in the accident on October 6 at the Myslowice-Wesola mine in southern Poland. Twenty-eight other workers with severe burns were sent to nearby hospitals. Two of the miners later died at the burns unit of the hospital in Siemianowice Slaskie. — AFP
Royal news
Duke and Duchess to have baby
London — The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have confirmed that their second baby is due in April — the first time they’ve given a date for the royal birth.
Kensington Palace also said in a statement on October 20 that the duchess, who has been suffering from morning sickness, continues to improve.
Prince William and the former Kate Middleton were scheduled to welcome Singapore President Tony Tan when he arrived on a four-day state visit at the end of October. — AP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Bomb blast
Five killed in explosion
Abuja — A bomb exploded at a bus station. It happened in Bauchi state of Nigeria on October 22. The explosion killed five people and injured 12. Police were investigating the incident. — Reuters
Exercises
1. What caused the British couple to die in India, according to police?
a. They were murdered.
b. There committed suicide.
c. They overdosed on drugs.
2. The Myslowice-Wesola mine is located in northern Poland. True or false?
3. When were the bodies of the two South Korean tourists in Thailand found?
Vocabulary
- civilian (n): a person who is not a member of the armed forces or the police
overdose (n): too much of a drug taken at one time
methane (n): a gas without colour or smell that burns easily and is used as fuel
morning sickness (n): the nausea that some women feel, often in the morning, when they are pregnant, especially in the first months
