Oil spill
On December 9, a Bangladeshi oil-tanker lies half-submerged after it was hit by a cargo vessel on the Shela River in Mongla, Bangladesh. A dolphin was found dead following the oil spill which spread over several hundred square kilometres. — AFP
Crash landing
Four killed in air accident
Colombo — A Sri Lankan military transport aircraft crashed near the capital Colombo on December 12, killing four people on board and injuring another crew member, police said.
The Antonov AN-32 aircraft slammed into a rubber plantation in the suburb of Athurugiriya in bad weather and caught fire, police spokesman Ajith Rohana said.
“Four people onboard were killed and the fifth crew member survived with severe burns,” Ajith said.
Air force sources said the plane took off from the main airport outside Colombo and headed to a nearby domestic air base when the pilots reported poor visibility. — AFP
Animals out
Mexico passes circus law
Mexico City — Mexico’s congress has passed legislation banning animals in circuses nationwide.
The lower chamber’s vote on December 11 followed one earlier in the week by the Senate and came six months after Mexico City passed a similar ban that will go into effect next year. Six states also adopted bans.
The House of Deputies said in a statement that the chamber voted 267 to 66 to approve the bill aimed at combating mistreatment of animals. It calls for fines for violations and requires circuses to submit lists of their wildlife, which would then be given to zoos interested in the animals. — AP
Cow caught
Indonesian rescuers lift a cow trapped in the mud after a landslide hit the village of Sampang in Banjarnegara, Indonesia on December 13. — Reuters
Clear Canadians
Babies’ comprehension studied
Sydney — Australian babies are more likely to understand a Canadian than an Australian with a thick accent, according to a university study released on December 12.
The research by the University of Western Sydney found 15-month-old babies born in Australia struggled to comprehend words spoken with distinctive Australian vowel sounds and the typical rising inflection. One group of babies were exposed to English words spoken with Australian accents and another group to Canadian accents.
“Some Australian English vowels, such as the ones in ‘sheep,’ ‘ship’ and ‘shoot’ are very close to one another, as opposed to the same Canadian English vowels which are more distinct,” associate professor Paola Escudero said. — DPA
Suicide law
New bill announced in India
New Delhi — Attempted suicide would no longer be illegal in India, under a bill announced by the government on December 10, yet to be passed by Parliament.
The bill would abolish section 309 of the Penal Code, under which failed suicide attempts are punishable by up to one year in prison, the Home Ministry spokesman said. After consultation, 22 of India’s 36 states and territories backed the proposed reform, Junior Home Minister Haribhai Chaudhary told parliament on December 10.
However, some states complained that the move would limit their ability to move against would-be suicide bombers. India has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, with 21 per 100,000 people taking their own lives in 2012, according to the World Health Organisation. — DPA
Peace prize
Fidel Castro gets award from China
Beijing — Fidel Castro has been awarded China’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize, local media reported on December 11, with a paper close to the ruling Communist Party hailing the former Cuban leader’s important contributions to world peace.
Fidel bested more than 20 nominees including South Korean president Park Geun-hye, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional group led by Moscow and Beijing, to win this year’s Confucius Peace Prize, the state-run Global Times reported.
Fidel Castro was the prime minister of Cuba from 1956 to 1976 and the country’s president from 1976 to 2008. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Lost at sea
Many missing after accident
Managua, Nicaragua — A boat sank on December 11. It happened in the Caribbean, northeast of Nicaragua. Fifteen people were rescued. Twenty-six others were still missing. Soldiers were searching for them. — AFP
Exercises
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the story about this year’s Confucius Peace Prize?
a. Park Geun-hye is South Korea’s president.
b. Fidel Castro was a Chinese president.
c. Global Times reported the news.
2. Mexico’s congress failed to pass legislation banning animals in circuses nationwide. True or false?
3. Who found the baby kangaroo?
Vocabulary
- severe (adj): very bad or serious
circus (n): a group of entertainers, sometimes with trained animals, who perform amusing acts in a show that travels around to different places
mistreatment (n): the act of treating a person or an animal in a cruel, unkind or unfair way
inflection (n): a change in how high or low your voice is as you are speaking
best (v): to defeat or be more successful than somebody
