Terror attack
Municipal workers on November 9 remove debris from the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad’s Karrada district. At least 33 people were killed in the explosion. — EPA
Grounded flight
Plane hits buffalo on runway
New Delhi — Indian budget airline Spicejet announced on November 7 that it had suspended flights from the western Indian town of Surat after one of its aircraft hit a buffalo on the runway during take-off.
“The aircraft’s engine was damaged. We have suspended the service at Surat indefinitely until investigations are complete and corrective measures are put in place,” a spokeswoman for Spicejet said.
The buffalo was killed in the incident on November 6, NDTV news channel reported. The Boeing aircraft was carrying 140 passengers and six crew members. Nobody was injured. — DPA
Village unrest
Man shot by police
Tel Aviv, Israel — Israeli police on November 8 shot dead a young Arab man who allegedly tried to attack an officer with a knife in Kfar Kanna, a village outside Nazareth in the north of the country.
The situation then broke out with youths throwing stones at police and burning tyres, Israel Radio reported. Security camera footage posted online by the Ynet news website appears to show a young man approaching a police vehicle and banging on the doors and windows with an object in his hand. An officer then exits the van and shoots the man as he starts to run away. The 22-year-old later died in hospital. — DPA
Transparent science
The picture released on November 6 by Japan’s Riken laboratory shows an almost completely transparent mouse created by scientifically removing colour from its tissue. — AFP
Balloon blunder
Tourists land in jail
New Delhi — Two foreign tourists on holiday in India unwittingly landed in jail after strong winds blew their hot-air balloon off course. The two sisters from the West Indies were enjoying a ride over the desert in the western state of Rajasthan on November 4 when the balloon’s pilot lost control, forcing him to make an emergency landing.
Indian media said the balloon landed in the prison yard, to the consternation of officers. Authorities responded by cancelling balloon rides over the area. All the prisoners were in their barracks at that time. — AFP
Prison protest
Jailed woman begins hunger strike
London — A British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran after trying to watch a volleyball match is on a hunger strike for the second time, the BBC reported on November 4. Ghoncheh Ghavami, a 25-year-old law graduate from London, is protesting against her illegal detention, her mother told the BBC.
Ghoncheh was sentenced to a year in jail after attempting to attend a men’s volleyball match between Iran and Italy in Tehran last June, her lawyer told Iranian media. Woman are banned from attending volleyball and football matches in Iran, which officials say protects them from lewd behaviour. — AFP
Suicide attack
Kabul police office blasted
Kabul — A suicide bomber walked into the offices of Kabul’s police chief on November 9 and detonated explosives, killing a senior aide in an attack that highlighted the poor security in the Afghan capital.
City police chief Mohammad Zahir, who was at work when the blast occurred, said the attacker evaded checkpoints at the force’s heavily-guarded HQ. He said CCTV showed that the attacker did not use the building’s main gate. The Taliban admitted responsibility for the attack. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Fatal accident
Bus crash kills 14
Madrid — A bus crashed into an embankment on November 8. It happened near the town of Cieza in southern Spain. Fourteen people were killed and 38 were injured. — AP
Exercises
1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the story about Spicejet?
a. Spicejet suspended flights from the town of Surat.
b. A Spicejet plane hit a buffalo on the runway while it was landing.
c. The buffalo was killed in the incident.
2. Mohammad Zahir was killed in a suicide bomb attack. True or false?
3. In which Thai province was the body of a man with a gunshot wound found?
Vocabulary
- take-off (n): the moment at which an aircraft leaves the ground and starts to fly
embankment (n): a slope made of earth or stone that rises up from either side of a road or railway over low ground
unwittingly (adv): without being aware of what you are doing or the situation that you are involved in
consternation (n): a feeling of great surprise, shock or anxiety
detention (n): the state of being kept in a place, especially a prison, and prevented from leaving
lewd (adj): referring to sex in a rude and offensive way
