World News

Rain pain

Rescuers row a boat carrying residents along a flooded street in Yongchuan district of Chongqing, China on July 23 after torrential rain swept through 17 provincial areas. — Reuters

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Aging issue

Hong Kong women live longer

Tokyo — Japanese women are no longer the world’s longest living. A Japanese government report recently revealed that Hong Kong women now top global life expectancy rankings.

The expected lifespan for Japanese women slipped to 85.9 years in 2011 from 86.3 the year before. Life expectancy for men also declined slightly, from 79.55 to 79.44.

Officials said it was the first time since 1985 that Japan’s women had ranked second. The report says official life expectancy for women in Hong Kong was 86.7 years for 2011. — AP

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Big issue

Asylum seekers on the increase

Sydney — The number of boat people going to Australia increased past the previous annual record in the first seven months of the year, despite scores of deaths at sea, the government said on July 25.

Department of Immigration officials said 92 boats carrying 6,557 asylum-seekers had arrived in Australian waters in 2012. The previous record was 6,555, which was reached during 2010. — AFP

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Holy offerings

Cambodian villagers offer food to Buddhist monks along the road while collecting alms from devotees during the Buddhist Lent in Barach village northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on July 26. — AP

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Teens in trouble

Three arrested for stealing buses

Singapore — Three Singaporean teenagers are facing the prospect of up to seven years behind bars for allegedly stealing school buses to go on joyrides.

A police statement on July 25 said the three boys, aged 15 to 17, were arrested on July 23 after investigations showed they were the behind the theft of two school buses.

“In both cases, the doors of the buses were forced open and the keys which were left in the ignition were used to start the buses,” a police statement said. — AFP

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Danger zones

Student groups attack schools

Kathmandu — The United Nations in Nepal has condemned recent attacks on schools that it says are endangering children’s lives and jeopardising their right to an education.

Student groups attacked several high schools and junior colleges mostly in Kathmandu in July. The groups accused managers of charging high fees, running misleading advertisements and giving the institutions foreign names to lure students.

Attackers damaged property and set school buses on fire on two occasions, according to the UN statement. — AP

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Leaky reactors

Workers exposed to radiation

Jaipur, India — More than 40 workers at a nuclear power station in northern India were exposed to tritium radiation in two separate leaks in June and July, company managers said on July 24.

The first accident occurred on June 23 when 38 people were exposed during maintenance work at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station in Rawatbhata, according to officials.

In a second incident on July 19, another four workers were exposed to tritium radiation while they were repairing a faulty seal on a pipe. — AFP

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EASY NEWS FOR M1-3

Runway hazard

Bull shuts down airport

Hanoi — A bull was found walking around an airport. The airport was in the city of Hue, Vietnam. The bull was first seen on July 23. The airport was closed because the bull was near the runway. The bull was eventually caught on July 24. — AP

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Exercises

1. According to the news, where do women currently have the longest life expectancy?

a. Tokyo.
b. Hong Kong.
c. Thailand.

2. How many workers were exposed to tritium radiation in India in June and July?

3. Three Thai students fell from apartments in separate incidents on July 20. True or false?

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