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August 8, 2013American English edition
Issue Number 203
Newsademic.comThe informative easy to read introduction to world
news
In this issue
“Comet of the Century” disappoints?Whistleblower trialMost
expensive cities in the worldHamburger in vitroDivisions in
TunisiaIvanpah solar plant“The day the world changed”
anniversaryCambodia electionKorean War rememberedUruguay drug
voteElephants and lunar cycleAustralia’s SeaSim opensOmnicom and
PublicisInca child sacrifi ceSteamboat GeyserRoad closures in
RomeMontana Dueling DinosaursJapan’s space robotShanghai’s new
skyscraperGlossary Crossword and Wordsearch Puzzle
Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, speaking just before the
election
An election for the president and par-liament of Zimbabwe took
place on July 31. Three days later the leader of the country’s
electoral commission, the organization in charge of elections and
vote counting, offi cially announced the results. He declared that,
with 61% of the votes, Robert Mugabe had been reelected as
Zimbabwe’s president.
The electoral commission leader also confirmed the parliamentary
election re-sults. Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF political party had gotten
the most seats. Out of 210 seats in the country’s House of
Assembly, or parliament, 158 had gone to ZANU-PF.
Mr. Mugabe is 89 years old. He has led Zimbabwe since it became
an independent country in 1980. This was the seventh time he had
taken part in an election and won.
Under Zimbabwe’s election rules, if no one gets over 50% in a
presidential election there must be a second vote, or
run off. When this happens the two can-didates who received the
highest number of votes take part. As Mr. Mugabe got 61% a run off
was not necessary.
Morgan Tsvangirai (pronounced Chan-gi-rai) stood against Mr.
Mugabe. This was the third time he had done so. When the results
were announced Mr. Tsvangirai accused Mr. Mugabe and his supporters
of “rigging” or “fixing” the voting. Mr. Tsvangirai is the leader
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). This is the main
opposition group in Zimbabwe.
The electoral commission said that Mr. Tsvangirai had only
received 33% of the votes. In the election for the House of
Assembly the MDC got 49 seats. This is about half the number it won
at the last election, five years ago.
When a person or party easily wins an election by a large number
of votes or seats it is often called a “landslide”. The
election
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results in Zimbabwe surprised many people. Most predicted a
close con-test. Yet no one expected Mr. Mugabe and his party to win
by a landslide.
Zimbabwe used to be a colony of Britain. Then the country was
called Rhodesia. In 1964, Ian Smith (1919 – 2007) became Rhodesia’s
prime min-ister. White people were a minority in the country. Yet
Smith believed that only white people had the ability, or the
right, to govern Rhodesia.
Smith wanted Rhodesia to be-come an independent country.
How-ever, Britain refused to agree because of Smith’s insistence of
a whites-only government. In 1965, Smith sudden-ly announced that
Rhodesia would govern itself independently. This was done without
the agreement of Brit-ain. What Smith had done became known as UDI
or a “unilateral decla-ration of independence”.
After UDI a war between black militant groups and whites broke
out. Black fighters, some under the leadership of Mr. Mugabe,
attacked white farmers in the countryside.
In 1979, Britain arranged peace talks. The following year an
agree-ment was reached. Black people could be elected. The country
would also officially become independent from Britain. After the
first elections Mr. Mugabe became prime minister and later the
president. The country’s name was changed to Zimbabwe.
Within a few years Mr. Mugabe began to run Zimbabwe as a
dictator.
In 2000, most of the land owned by white farmers was
confiscated. These farms were divided into small areas and handed
over to local people.
Before it became an independent nation Zimbabwe was one of
Afri-ca’s wealthiest countries. Its farms exported large amounts of
food to other countries. However, this soon began to change.
By 2005 Zimbabwe’s economy was ruined. Its currency, the
Zimba-bwe dollar, had become worthless. One American dollar was
worth hundreds of thousands of Zimbabwe dollars. Over 80% of the
people were without jobs. Many did not have enough to eat.
Thousands left the country. Many went to South Africa.
In 2008, elections were held. Be-fore the vote there was a lot
of vio-lence. Followers of ZANU-PF, in-cluding police officers and
soldiers, attacked members of the MDC. Some were killed and others
imprisoned.
The results of the parliamenta-ry elections took a long time to
be declared. After weeks of waiting the electoral commission said
that ZANU-PF and the MDC had won a similar number of seats.
The presidential election result was never properly announced.
Most believed that Mr. Tsvangirai got many more votes than Mr.
Mugabe. However, Mr. Mugabe claimed that he and Mr. Tsvangirai had
gotten about the same number. Mr. Mugabe insisted on a run off
election. Mr. Tsvangirai refused to take part.
To try to stop the violence and the collapse of the country,
other African leaders arranged talks between ZA-NU-PF and the MDC.
These were held in Harare, the capital city. Thabo Mbeki led the
talks. Then, Mr. Mbeki was the president of South Africa.
Eventually, Mr. Mugabe signed an agreement saying that his
party
and the MDC would jointly govern Zimbabwe. This type of
arrangement is known as a unity government. Mr. Mugabe stayed on as
president. Mr. Tsvangirai became prime minister.
For the last five years the two men have jointly run the
country. There have been frequent disagree-ments. However,
Zimbabwe’s econ-omy has improved. It now uses the US dollar and the
South African rand as its currency. Yet there are still power cuts,
fuel shortages and uncollected rubbish in the streets.
Unlike five years ago there was no violence before the recent
elections. Yet many suspect that supporters of Mr. Mugabe managed
to change the electoral records. These are the lists, or register,
of all the people who are allowed to vote. There were reports that
tens of thousands of false names were added. ZANU-PF supporters
then used these to vote several times. The names of younger people
in the towns and cities were removed from the register. This meant
that they could not vote. These people were more likely to vote for
the MDC.
The governments of several non-African countries such as the
U.S., Britain and Australia said that the election should be
reheld. The African Union (AU), which has 54 member countries,
thought differently. It declared that the election had been fair.
The South African president, Ja-cob Zuma, congratulated Mr. Mugabe.
He said that everyone in Zimbabwe should accept the election
result.
Some people blame Mr. Tsvan-girai and the leaders of the MDC for
what happened. They said that forming a unity government with Mr.
Mugabe and ZANU-PF five years ago had been wrong. Just after the
election results were announced Mr. Tsvangirai said that “there was
mourning in the country”.
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DISAPPOINTING “COMET OF THE CENTURY”?
Last September two Russian astron-omers, or scientists that
study the stars and planets, discovered a new comet. Soon
afterwards it was pre-dicted that the comet would be easy to see in
the night sky, as it moved closer towards the Sun.
The comet is called ISON (C/2012 S1). ISON stands for
Internation-al Scientific Optical Network. The Russian scientists,
who first saw the comet, work for this organization. Some
scientists began to call ISON the “Comet of the Century”. This is
because they expected it to be bright-er than the full moon around
late October and early November. Some said that it would even be
possible to see it during the day.
Picture of the comet ISON (C/2012 S1) taken by the Hubble Space
Telescope (NASA)
An astronomer from Colombia has been studying ISON. He recent-ly
announced that it appears to be dimming and not getting brighter.
The astronomer even thinks there is a possibility that ISON will
disin-tegrate before it becomes visible in the night sky.
Comets are often described as large “dirty snowballs”. They
re-lease dust and gas. Each has a sol-id center, called the
nucleus. The nucleus is made mainly from fro-zen water, but can
contain other
chemicals such as ammonia, car-bon dioxide and methane. Around
the nucleus is a cloudy atmosphere called the coma.
Most comets can only be seen from the Earth through a telescope.
Yet it is possible to see some without a telescope if they pass
close to the Sun. Comets seem to light up as the gases and dust
that make up their co-mas absorb and release energy from the Sun.
At this time a long “tail” can be seen trailing behind them.
Like the planets in our Solar Sys-tem, comets orbit the Sun.
Those with an orbit of less than 200 years are called short-period
comets. Those whose orbits take more than 200 years are known as
long-period comets.
Short-period comets are thought to originate in a part of our
Solar System called the Kuiper belt. This is beyond the orbit of
the dwarf planet Pluto. Long-period comets are believed to come
from a region about 1,000 times farther away from the Sun known as
the Oort cloud. ISON, which is traveling at a speed of 16 miles (26
kilometers) a sec-ond, is an Oort cloud comet. The comet is
estimated to be about three miles (five kilometers) across.
The Colombian astronomer says that ISON has not become any
bright-er since the middle of January. This is a period of over 130
days. He says that this could be because the comet is running out
of ice particles. If this is true it will not be so easy to
see.
Something similar happened to another comet called C/2002 O4
Honig. This comet was discovered 11 years ago. For 52 days it too
did not get any brighter. Soon afterwards the comet disappeared.
It’s thought that it broke up into tiny pieces.
Currently ISON cannot be tracked. This is because of the Sun’s
glare. Yet it should be possible to
see it again, with a telescope, around October 7. On November
28, ISON will reach its closest point to the Sun, a distance of
about 724,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers). If it manages to go
around the Sun with-out breaking up the comet will be-gin to travel
back to outer space. As it is a long period comet ISON may not
return to the inner Solar System for thousands, or possibly,
millions of years.
BRADLEY MANNING TRIAL
On July 30, a military court in the U.S. declared that Bradley
Manning had broken several laws. Bradley Manning is a 25 year old
Private, or junior soldier, in the American army. The laws, the
judge said he broke, are to do with espionage, or
NEWSCASTANTHEM COMPETITION — Offi cials in Switzerland have
announced the start of an unusual competition. They want people to
write new words for the country’s national anthem. A panel of
judges will chose the winner who will receive a prize of Swiss
francs 10,000 ($10,860). Many people complain that the words of the
current an-them are out of date. Some joke it is a mixture of a
prayer and a weather report. The words come from an old hymn. They
include descriptions of clouds and sun-shine. One reason for the
change is that Switzerland is now home to many people who do not
believe in God. Those entering the com-petition can also compose
new music. However, any new tune will have to be similar to the
cur-rent anthem.
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spying. However, the court decided that Private Manning was not
guilty of the more serious crime of “aiding (or helping) the
enemy”.
Bradley Manning
Three years ago an organization called WikiLeaks began to
display confidential American government and military documents on
its web-site. WikiLeaks had also passed these documents to five
well-known newspapers in the U.S., Britain, Spain, France and
Germany.
Those who set up WikiLeaks say that they did so for a special
reason. People who have access to docu-ments that governments or
large companies want to hide can post them on the internet. These
documents could be secret or confidential. If a person thought that
the government or company they worked for was doing something
unlawful they may want to tell others. However, people can get into
trouble for this. So the WikiLeaks website was meant to be a way
that they could “leak” these documents without being found out.
When secret, or confidential, in-formation appears in newspapers
or on a website, it is called a leak. Peo-ple who take the risk of
making secret documents public are often described as “leakers” or
“whistleblowers”.
Soon after the American docu-ments began to appear in
newspa-pers and on the WikiLeaks website
Private Manning was arrested. This was after officials
discovered that he was the person who had passed them to WikiLeaks.
At the time Pri-vate Manning was working in Iraq. As part of his
job he was able to ac-cess computers on which the docu-ments were
stored. This meant that he was able to make copies of them.
One of the first things that Private Manning passed to Wikileaks
was a copy of a video. This had been taken from an American
military helicopter in Iraq, in 2007. It showed at least 12 people
on the ground being shot and killed by guns on the helicopter.
Lat-er, it was discovered that two of those killed were newspaper
reporters.
Later, Private Manning sent WikiLeaks around 250,000
con-fidential messages, or cables, and 470,000 battlefield reports.
The cables were messages between the government of the U.S. and its
em-bassies all around the world. Amer-ican military commanders in
Iraq and Afghanistan had sent the battle-field reports.
The cables contained conversa-tions held in places such as
China, South Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the Middle East, South
America, Eu-rope, and Africa. Even though most of the information
in the leaked cables was not really secret, many were embarrassing
for the U.S. This was because they often criticized these country’s
leaders.
After Private Manning was ar-rested some said that he was right
to leak all these documents. Others disagreed. Most do not
criticize him for leaking the video of the airstrike in Iraq. This
is because they be-lieve that it may record a war crime. What’s
more it seems that the Amer-ican military wanted the film kept
secret. However, they are puzzled why Private Manning leaked all
the
other documents. He had no time to read all of them. He could
therefore not have known if they showed that something unlawful was
being done.
Private Manning’s military trial lasted for eight weeks. His
punish-ment is yet to be decided. However, most expect him to be
given a long prison sentence.
WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES
Every year Mercer, an international company, produces a survey
to fi nd out which are the world’s most ex-pensive cities to live
in. This year Angola’s capital, Luanda, came top. Another African
city, N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, came fourth.
Luanda, capital of Angola
Mercer provides information to governments and large
international companies. It also gives them advice. Its “cost of
living” survey is mainly used by organizations that send their
workers, or employees, to work in offices in other countries.
Mercer says that its survey shows these orga-nizations what their
employees can expect if they move to new cities. It also helps them
to work out what these workers should be paid.
The cost of living survey covers 214 cities all around the
world. It compares the cost of 200 items, or different things, in
each of these cit-ies. They include the cost of renting a two
bedroomed apartment near the city center, transport,
entertainment,
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food, clothing, household goods, and even the prices in coffee
shops. Transport covers gasoline, taxi fares and bus and train
tickets.
Rent is the most expensive item. For example, Moscow, the
capital of Russia, is second on the list. It costs about $4,600 per
month to rent an apartment in the Russian capital. This is 14 times
more expensive than in Karachi, a city in Pakistan, which is near
the bottom of the list. Moscow is expensive in other ways. For
instance, the price of a cup of coffee is $8.29. In Managua, in
Nic-aragua, it is $1.54.
In the survey the price compari-sons are all in US dollars. The
cost of living in different cities can there-fore depend on the
exchange rate be-tween the American dollar and other currencies.
For example, recently, the Swiss franc has become very strong when
compared to the dollar. This is one reason why three of the cities
in the top ten, Geneva, Zurich and Bern, are all in Switzerland. In
previous years Tokyo, the capital of Japan, was always at the top.
Yet in the last 12 months the value of the Japanese yen, when
compared to the dollar, has been falling. This is why Tokyo has
moved down to number three.
1 Luanda, Angola2 Moscow, Russia3 Tokyo, Japan4 N’Djamena, Chad5
Singapore
6 Hong Kong, China7 Geneva, Switzerland8 Zurich, Switzerland9=
Bern, Switzerland9= Sydney, Australia
(Source: Mercer)
Top ten most expensive cities
Oil explains why Luanda and N’Djamena are number one and number
four in the list. Both Ango-la and Chad are now oil producers. More
foreign oil workers are mov-ing to these places. Both countries are
home to many poor people.
There are not many apartments in the two cities in which foreign
workers would want to live. This is why they are expensive. What’s
more many of the food items includ-ed in the survey have to be
imported from other countries. This adds to their cost. The price
of a green salad in a restaurant in Luanda is $52. The survey says
that N’Djamena now has the world’s most expensive fast food meal.
It costs $25.51.
IN VITRO HAMBURGER
A special news conference took place in London, the capital of
Brit-ain, on August 5. During the con-ference the world’s fi rst
laboratory made, or in vitro, hamburger was cooked. Two people, who
are food writers and tasters, then ate it.
In vitro meat (in vitro is Latin that means “in glass”), or
cultured meat, is a meat product that has nev-er been part of a
living animal. Pro-fessor Mark Post, a scientist from the
Netherlands, made the cultured hamburger. To do this he used stem
cells that were taken from a cow.
Every living organism is made from tiny building blocks called
cells. Some organisms are made from just one cell. Others, such as
humans and cows, are made from many mil-lions of different types.
Most cells are specialized. This means that they carry out specific
jobs. However, ev-ery specialized cell comes originally from a type
of stem cell, or master cell. Stem cells are important, as they can
develop into any other type of cell in the body.
The cow’s stem cells were placed in glass dishes. Special
chemicals were then added. These encouraged the cells to grow and
divide. The cells were grown into 20,000 tiny
strips of muscle. These were then added together to create
enough beef to make one hamburger. The process took about three
months. The in vi-tro hamburger is said to have cost €250,000
($334,000) to make.
Professor Post says that more work needs to be done to improve
the taste of the meat. He believes that many people will be eating
this type of cultured, or artificial, meat in the future. He
predicts that within 20 years shoppers will have a choice of two
different types of the same meat. One will come from a real animal
and the other will have been made artificially.
Not everyone agrees with the professor. Yet those that do, say
that raising livestock on farms for meat causes a number of
problems. One cow needs a big area of land, a lot of feed and large
amounts of water to create the meat for hamburgers. As the world’s
population grows more people will want to eat meat. However, any
extra farmland will be needed to grow crops.
Another problem is that some farm animals, such as cows and
sheep, produce a large amount of methane gas. After eating grass
their digestive system produces methane. This gas then comes out of
their bodies by “burping” or flatulence. Together with carbon
dioxide, meth-ane is one of two main greenhouse gases. Most
scientists agree that an increase of these gases in the Earth’s
atmosphere is likely to affect the world’s climate.
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Some people therefore believe in vitro meat is a solution to
both the land use and methane problems.
For the food tasting the meat was mixed with breadcrumbs, egg
pow-der and salt. It was also colored with beetroot juice. The food
writers de-clared that the taste of the hamburg-er was different,
as it did not contain any fat.
TUNISIA DIVIDED?
On July 27, thousands of people at-tended a funeral in Tunis,
the capital of Tunisia. The funeral was for Mo-hamed Brahmi. He was
the leader of one of the country’s smaller politi-cal parties. Two
days before, while on his way to work in Tunis, Brahmi was shot and
killed by two gunmen.
Brahmi is the second leader of a political party in Tunisia who
has been killed in this way. Last Feb-ruary a similar thing
happened to Chokri Belaid. He was also a leader of a small
opposition party. Both men were buried in the same cemetery.
Large antigovernment protests were held after both funerals.
Many of the demonstrators blamed the government, which is led by
the En-nahda (Renaissance) Party, for the deaths of the two
men.
After the demonstrations last February the country’s prime
min-ister, Hamadi Jebali, decided to re-sign. However, Mr. Jebali
insisted that his government had nothing to do with Belaid’s
murder. Members of the Ennahda Party then chose Ali Laarayedh to be
the new prime minister. After Brahmi’s death Mr. Laarayedh said
that he would not stand down.
Two years ago a revolution took pace in Tunisia. The country’s
pres-ident, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was
forced to leave the country after there were huge street
protests. Mr. Ben Ali had run Tunisia for over 20 years. The
demonstrators were an-gry about government corruption, the power of
the police and the lack of proper elections. They wanted to be able
to elect their own leaders.
Antigovernment protest in Tunis, Tunisia
Similar protests then began in several other Arab countries such
as Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and Syria. In these countries the
demon-strators had similar complaints. All these protests are now
often called the “Arab Spring”. Tunisia was where the Arab Spring
first began.
Elections for a new Assembly, or parliament, were held in
Tunisia in 2011. Ennahda got 89 out of the 217 seats. This was more
than any other party. Ennahda then agreed to work with several
other smaller parties to form a new government.
One of the new Assembly’s most important jobs is to write a new
constitution for the country. These are the rules by which Tunisia
will be governed in the future. Once the new constitution has been
approved new elections will take place. Mr. Laarayedh has recently
declared that these elections will be held on December 17.
Both Ennahda and some of the smaller parties, which agreed to
work with it, are described as Isla-mist. Their supporters believe
that certain religious laws should be in-cluded in the new
constitution.
However, other political parties, such as the ones led by Belaid
and Brahmi, disagree. They believe that Tunisia should be a secular
state. This means that religion and the way in which a country is
governed have to be kept separate.
Those who want Tunisia to be a secular nation blame a group
called the Salafists for the murder of the two politicians. Members
of this group believe that everyone should live according to very
strict Islamic laws. Some complain that Ennahda government
ministers are not doing enough to control the Salafists.
In recent days there have been large demonstrations by people
who support the Ennahda government. Many now think that the country
is becoming dangerously divided. On one side are those who support
the Ennahda government. On the other are people who want Tunisia to
be a secular country.
DESERT SOLAR ENERGY PLANT
Building work on the world’s largest solar thermal energy plant
has just been completed in the U.S. It will be “switched on” within
the next few months. The plant, which is in the state of
California, will make, or generate, enough electricity for 140,000
homes.
The building of the solar thermal energy plant first began six
years ago. It is in the Ivanpah Valley, which is part of the Mojave
Desert. This desert is known for its yuc-ca trees. The Mojave is
one of the few places in the world where these spiky trees grow in
the wild. They are also known as Joshua trees.
The solar energy plant covers a large area. It has about 170,000
mir-rors. Each is roughly the size of a
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garage door. The mirrors surround three tall towers, which are
about 500 feet (150 meters) tall. Through-out the day the mirrors
track the Sun, as it appears to move across the sky. They reflect
the sunlight onto three giant tanks of water, or boilers, on top of
the towers.
The heat from the Sun boils the water inside the tanks. The
steam from this boiling water is used to power, or turn, several
large tur-bines. It is the turning of these tur-bines that
generates the electricity.
Ivanpah Valley solar thermal energy plant
An American company called BrightSource Energy designed the new
solar plant. It will produce what many call “clean” energy. Unlike
power stations that burn fossil fuels, oil natural gas and coal,
the new so-lar plant creates no carbon dioxide. As the power the
plant generates is produced by heat from the Sun its electricity is
also sustainable.
Before work began on the plant some people were unhappy about
the affect it would have on local wildlife. One of the creatures
they were worried about was the desert tortoise. These tortoises
are an en-dangered species. They are found only in the south
western part of the U.S.
Adult desert tortoises grow to a length of about 12 inches (30
cen-timeters). The tortoises can survive in very hot places. They
dig burrows in which they can get away from the heat. Many of them
spend as much
as 95% of their lives underground. They eat desert plants and
can live for 80 years.
Scientists were called in to find the desert tortoises that were
living where the solar plant was being built. They expected there
to be around 20 of them. To their surprise the scientists found
about 150. All were taken to another part of the desert where they
were released.
If the Ivanpah Valley project is a success it’s likely that
other similar plants will be built in desert areas of the U.S.
“THE DAY THE WORLD CHANGED”
Tens of thousands of people gath-ered at the Peace Memorial
Park, in the city of Hiroshima, in Japan, on August 6. There, they
took part in a ceremony that is held on this day ev-ery year. It
begins with the ringing of a bell. The bell marks the exact time at
which an atomic bomb ex-ploded just above the city on August 6,
1945.
The dropping of two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of
Hi-roshima and Nagasaki brought the Second World War (1939 – 1945)
to an end. Earlier in 1945, Nazi Ger-many had surrendered to the
Allies, the U.S., Britain and Russia, in Eu-rope. Yet the fighting
between Japan and the U.S. and Britain continued in parts of Asia
and the Pacific.
The Hiroshima bomb is thought to have killed about 140,000
people. Many others suffered from radia-tion poisoning and burns.
Around 70,000 people are believed to have died when the second bomb
was dropped on Nagasaki.
Many people think that the U.S. was wrong to use atomic bombs on
Japan. They say that it should have
warned the Japanese government in 1945 that if it didn’t
surrender, a terrible weapon would be used on several of its
cities.
The atomic bomb was developed in secret. Others therefore argue
that nobody, including the Japanese leaders, would have believed
what damage it could cause unless it was actually used. They claim
that warn-ing or threatening Japan would not have worked.
At the time the Japanese army was refusing to give up. To end
the war in another way, military histo-rians say, the U.S. would
probably have had to invade Japan. Many American troops, Japanese
sol-diers and civilians would have been killed. Most historians
agree that the use of the two atomic bombs meant the war ended much
sooner. If an invasion had been ordered the war may have lasted for
another two or three years.
A-Bomb Dome in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in Japan
Some historians describe Au-gust 6, 1945 as “the day the world
changed”. This is because it marked the beginning of the “age of
nuclear weapons”.
Nowadays, atomic, or nuclear, power causes frequent arguments in
Japan. The country has built many nuclear power stations. In the
past these generated much of the elec-tricity Japan needs. Yet, in
2011, the northeast part of the country was struck by a powerful
earthquake and
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tsunami, or giant wave. These bad-ly damaged the Fukushima
nuclear power station. Two years later of-ficials and nuclear
workers are still trying to stop radiation leaking from the damaged
power plant.
After the problems at Fukushima nearly all the other nuclear
power stations were shut down for safety checks. Shinzo Abe,
Japan’s prime minister, now wants to reopen them. Yet many people
disagree. They be-lieve that all the nuclear power sta-tions should
be shut down and differ-ent ways found to generate electricity.
The bomb dropped on Hiroshi-ma destroyed all the buildings in
the city. Yet the walls of one gov-ernment building, in the center
of the city, remained standing. Later, a decision was made to leave
the ru-ins of this building as a reminder of what had happened.
Often called the A-Bomb Dome, the ruins of this building are in
the center of the Hiroshima Peace Me-morial Park. The A-Bomb Dome
has now become a symbol of the dangers of using nuclear weapons and
the terrible destruction they can cause.
Mr. Abe attended the ceremo-ny in Hiroshima. During it he placed
a wreath near the A-Bomb Dome.
ELECTION IN CAMBODIA
In Cambodia elections for the coun-try’s National Assembly, or
par-liament, are held every fi ve years. The latest election took
place on July 28.
Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy. This means that the king
is the country’s head of state. Yet the monarch has few powers. An
elected prime minister runs Cambodia. This person is the leader of
the political party that has the most seats in the National
Assembly, or parliament.
In the election the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won 68 of the
123 seats in the assembly. The CCP’s leader is Hun Sen. The
elec-tion result means that he will be the country’s prime minister
for another five years. Hun Sen has run Cam-bodia since 1985. He is
one of the longest serving prime ministers in the world.
Cambodia has had a troubled past. Between 1975 and 1979 the
country was run by a communist organization called the Khmer Rouge.
Its leader was Pol Pot. He and senior members of the Khmer Rouge
believed that they needed to “restart” civilization. They forced
many people who lived in cities and towns to move to the
countryside. There, they were made to work on
farms and building projects run by the Khmer Rouge.
The Khmer Rouge was very bru-tal. Its officials killed people
who refused to do what they were told. Hundreds of thousands died
from overwork, disease and torture. It’s estimated that, during the
four years the Khmer Rouge was in charge, around 1.7 million people
either died or were killed. This was rough-ly 20% of Cambodia’s
population.
Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia
Hun Sen was a junior command-er in the Khmer Rouge. However, he
disagreed with his leaders and fled to Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge
began losing power in Cambodia after Vietnam invaded the country in
1979. The Khmer Rouge’s lead-ers and supporters retreated to areas
close to the border with Thailand. They were not finally defeated
until 1998, when Pol Pot died.
Vietnam set up a government in Cambodia. In 1985, Hun Sen was
appointed as its leader. Eventually, in 1993, the United Nations
(U.N.) managed to persuade Hun Sen and other groups in Cambodia to
agree to take part in an election. The result was a draw between
Hun Sen’s par-ty and another that had been set up by the king’s
son. For a time the two men jointly ran the country.
Today the main opposition party in Cambodia is the Cambodian
Na-tional Rescue Party (CNRP). Sam Rainsy is the CNRP leader. In
2005, he went to live in France. He did this
NEWSCASTZEBRA CROSSING — Police offi cers in the city of
Bitburg, in Germany received a message that a zebra had escaped
from a local circus. Several people reported seeing the animal but
then it seemed to dis-appear. The police drove around the city
looking for the missing zebra. It was eventually found standing in
the middle of a wide road, but it was diffi cult to see. This was
because the zebra was standing on a part of the road on which black
and white stripes had been painted. The animal waited in the same
place until a circus worker came to collect it. The po-lice said
that while the zebra was
“hiding” in the middle of the road it did not seem to be afraid
of the cars driving past on either side.
“hiding
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because he was worried about his safety or being arrested. Mr.
Rainsy went back to Cambodia a few weeks before the election. This
was after he received permission to return from the king. However,
Mr. Rainsy was not allowed to take part in the elec-tion, as he was
not registered to vote.
The CNRP won 55 of the Nation-al Assembly seats. At the last
elec-tion, five years ago, it got 22. After the result was
announced Mr. Rainsy said that his party should have gotten more
seats. He claimed that many of the votes had been miscounted.
KOREAN WAR ANNIVERSARY
Fighting in the Korean War ended on July 27, 1953. Therefore,
this year, July 27, marked the 60th an-niversary of this date. The
fi ghting lasted for three years. It fi nally came to an end after
both sides agreed to an armistice, or truce.
In the past what is now North Ko-rea and South Korea was one
nation. The country was taken over by Japan in 1910. In 1945, the
Second World War ended when Japan surrendered. Soon afterwards the
U.S. occupied the southern part of Korea and the Russian-led Soviet
Union took over the north. During the war in Europe the U.S. and
Russia had fought on the same side against Germany.
The U.S. and Russia set up dif-ferent types of governments in
the northern and southern parts of Ko-rea. The U.S. introduced
democratic elections. Russia arranged for Kim Il-sung to become the
communist leader of the north.
In 1950, Kim Il-sung decided to invade the southern part of
Korea. Russia helped by supplying his army with military equipment.
The United Nations (U.N.) then voted to send a
military force to help the south. The U.N. force was mostly made
up of American troops. However, 15 oth-er U.N. member countries
also sent troops to Korea. These included Britain, Australia. New
Zealand, Canada, and the Philippines.
Military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea
At first, Kim Il-sung’s army did well. Yet later his forces were
pushed back to the Yalu River. This river marks the border between
Chi-na and North Korea. China’s leaders then decided to enter the
war. They sent tens of thousands of Chinese troops across the Yalu
River to help Kim Il-sung.
After three years of fighting both sides agreed to a truce.
Today’s bor-der between North and South Ko-rea is where the
opposing armies faced each other when the fighting stopped. This
border region is now the world’s most heavily fortified place. It
is called the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ). Thousands of North and
South Korean soldiers still face each other over a narrow strip of
land covered in mines and barbed wire.
For a short time after the fighting ended North Korea was the
more successful country. Yet this soon be-gan to change.
South Korea now holds demo-cratic elections for its politicians
and president. It has one of the world’s most successful economies.
Several of its larger companies are world leaders in shipbuilding,
computer
technology, and industrial design. It also has more internet
connections than any other country.
North Korea is very different. It is still run as a communist
state. Its leader, Kim Jong-un, is Kim Il-sung’s grandson. North
Korea is a very secretive country and there are no democratic
elections. Many think that North Koreans have been “brainwashed”,
or persuaded to be-lieve that their leaders are god-like and never
do anything wrong.
Nowadays, thousands of people in North Korea do not have enough
to eat. There is limited electricity. Yet the country has one of
the world’s biggest armies. Only those who hold senior positions in
the government or army have enough food. If anyone in North Korea
is caught criticizing their leaders they are sent to one of the
country’s many prison camps.
Satellite view of North and South Korea at night, showing the
difference in electric lights
In North Korea July 27, is known as “Victory Day”. Each year, on
this day, there is a huge military parade in Pyongyang, the North
Korean capital city. This year, because it was the 60th
anniversary, the parade was even bigger. Tens of thousands of
soldiers took part.
In South Korea a “day of remem-brance” marked the anniversary.
Park
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Geun-hye, the president of South Korea, made a speech. She
thanked the 16 U.N. member nations that helped her country during
the war. In countries such as the U.S. and Britain small ceremonies
were held. Soldiers who fought in the war, and their fami-lies,
gathered to remember those who were killed in the fighting.
No peace treaty has ever been signed by North and South Korea.
This means that the two countries are, technically, still at war
with each other.
DRUG VOTE IN URUGUAY
In the early hours of the morning on August 1, Uruguay’s lower
cham-ber of Congress, or parliament, held a vote. It took place
after a 14 hour-debate about marijuana. The politicians voted by 50
to 46 to make the production and sale of the drug in the country
legal.
José Mujica, president of Uruguay
Marijuana is what is known as a “soft” drug. It is also called
canna-bis, as this is the name of the plant from which the drug
comes. In most countries buying, selling and smok-ing marijuana is
unlawful. Howev-er, nowadays, police forces in many countries do
not enforce these laws very strictly.
Some people argue that there is no reason why smoking marijuana
should be a criminal act. They claim that the effect of smoking the
drug is similar
to alcohol. In most countries drinking alcohol is not against
the law.
However, others disagree. These people believe that smoking
large amounts of marijuana can affect people’s brains. This, they
say, is especially true of younger people. They also argue that
people who smoke marijuana are more likely to start using more
dangerous, or “harder”, drugs. Examples of these are cocaine and
heroin. These types of drugs are very addictive. They can also have
a bad effect on a per-son’s health.
Uruguay, like many other coun-tries in South America, has a
prob-lem with criminal drug gangs. These gangs make a lot of money
by buying and selling illegal drugs, including marijuana. Often,
after becoming ad-dicted, drug users do not have enough money to
buy more drugs from these gangs. Many start to steal and com-mit
robberies. So where there is a lot of drug use the number of crimes
of-ten increases. Drug gangs also fight against each other.
Arresting the leaders and mem-bers of drug gangs can be
difficult. Some people argue that the best way to get rid of these
gangs is to make the drugs they sell lawful. However, most agree
that if this happens the buying and selling of drugs needs to be
strictly controlled. Trying to stop large criminal drug gangs, many
of which are in South Amer-ica, is sometimes called the “war on
drugs”. Many people now believe that this “war” has failed. They
say that something else needs to be done to stop drug gangs and the
problems they cause.
José Mujica is the president of Uruguay. He is a former doctor
who became the country’s president two years ago. The president is
a member of a political group called
the Broad Front Party. He believes that using marijuana should
not be unlawful. All the 50 members of the Broad Front in the lower
chamber of Congress voted in favor of the drug becoming legal.
Members of the upper chamber will now discuss the ruling on
mar-ijuana. They are expected to vote in favor. This is because the
Broad Front Party has a majority in this part of Congress.
If the ruling on cannabis be-comes law, Uruguay will be the
first country in the world to legalize the production, sale and use
of marijua-na. Yet there will be strict rules and regulations.
Cannabis plants will be grown on land that is used by the army.
People who want to use mar-ijuana will have to register. Then, they
will be able to buy 40 grams of the drug each month from chemist
shops. Alternatively, registered us-ers will be allowed to grow six
can-nabis plants at home.
Other countries will be interested to see what happens in
Uruguay. If its new drug law is a success many expect several of
them to do some-thing similar.
ELEPHANT RAID STUDY
A new scientifi c study seems to show that elephants are aware
of the lunar cycle. It also suggests that the animals deliberately
wait un-til nighttime before raiding nearby farms. The elephants do
this to eat the crops grown by the farmers.
Elephants are the world’s largest land animals. They are often
associ-ated with wisdom and intelligence. The saying “an elephant
never for-gets” shows the popular belief that they have a long
memory. Elephants have been observed doing things
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that more intelligent types of ani-mal, such as certain primates
(apes) and dolphins, are known to do. These include showing grief
when a member of the herd dies, using tools, and helping to look
after the babies of other elephants.
African elephants (Charles Sharp)
Elephant herds are made up al-most entirely of female elephants.
The only males are youngsters. When male elephants grow into adults
they live on their own. The lead elephant of the herd is known as
the matriarch. The other females in the herd act on the
“instructions” she gives, for ex-ample, moving to a new place to
feed or find water. Adult elephants have no natural predators
(apart from hu-man hunters).
Researchers from Britain carried out the study close to a
national park in Tanzania. Many herds of wild el-ephants live in
the park. First the re-searchers chose five villages near the
national park. Then, with help from some of the villagers, they
recorded all the times that elephants raided the crops grown by
local farmers.
Elephants are cathemeral. This means that they will look for
food both during the day and night. Adult African elephants can eat
as much as 992 pounds (450 kilograms) of vegetation in one day.
They will use their tusks to break branches and their trunks to
pull the leaves from them. A herd of elephants feeding in this way
can therefore cause a lot of damage.
The study showed that the ele-phants did not raid the crops
during the day. Instead all their raids hap-pened at night. This
suggests that the elephants know they have less chance of being
seen, or detected, by humans when it is dark. What’s more the
elephant’s nighttime raids changed during the lunar cycle.
The Moon goes through different phases as it orbits the Earth.
This is known as the lunar cycle. When viewed from the Earth the
amount of the Moon lit up by the Sun gradually changes. It goes
from a full moon, to a crescent moon, to a quarter moon and
eventually back to a full moon. Each lunar cycle lasts for 28 days.
If there are no clouds around the time of the full moon it can be
quite light during the nighttime.
The researchers discovered that there were far fewer elephant
crop raids during the full moon. This, the researchers say, is
probably because the elephants know that there is a greater risk of
them being seen on these bright moonlit nights.
The researchers suspect that wild elephants in other parts of
Africa act in the same way. Their study could be helpful to the
farmers. This is because it could be used to predict when elephants
are likely to raid the crops they grow.
SMART AQUARIUM OPENS
On August 1, a new sea research cen-ter or aquarium opened in
Towns-ville, in Australia. It is called the Na-tional Sea Simulator
(SeaSim).
The research center has been de-signed to copy, or replicate,
different types of sea areas. For example, this could be the
seawater around coral reefs, the open ocean or where large rivers
flow into the sea. The center
has 33 large tanks. These are filled with around 792,500 gallons
(three million liters) of seawater.
It will be possible to make ad-justments to each of SeaSim’s
tanks. Therefore, conditions within them can be different. For
instance, seawa-ter in separate tanks can be slightly warmer or
cooler. In others the water may contain a large amount of
sedi-ment, more carbon dioxide or even a greater or lesser amount
of salt.
Sea creatures such as corals, sponges and other small marine
organisms will be kept inside the tanks. It will therefore be
possible to study how different sea condi-tions affect them. Corals
are living organisms that produce hard out-er skeletons. Coral
reefs are made up of millions of these skeletons joined
together.
New SeaSim building (AIMS)
One of the first SeaSim experi-ments will be to study the
crown-of-thorns starfish. These starfish seem to be destroying
large areas of coral that make up Australia’s Great Bar-rier Reef.
Another experiment will be to try to find out the causes of coral
bleaching.
The Great Barrier Reef, off the northeast coast of Australia, is
the largest coral reef in the world. It is over 1,250 miles (2,000
kilome-ters) long. The reef is an important ecological site. It is
a specially pro-tected area and home to thousands of marine
species. Many of these are endangered.
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Adult crown-of-thorns starfish can grow up to 18 inches (46
centi-meters) in diameter. Their arms are covered in long sharp
spines from which the starfish get their name. Adult starfish can
eat around 65 square feet (six square meters) of living coral every
year. The starfish have lived on the Great Barrier Reef for
thousands of years. However, over the last 20 years their numbers
have greatly increased.
Crown-of-thorns starfi sh
Female crown-of-thorns starfish release millions of eggs. These
then became larvae. The starfish larvae feed on microscopic
organisms called phytoplankton. Most phyto-plankton have only one
cell. Some are bacteria but many, such as algae, are types of
plants.
Normally, most starfish larvae would never become adults. They
would die, because they could not find enough to eat, or be eaten
by other marine creatures.
Some scientists suspect that cer-tain chemicals, used as
fertilizers on the land, may explain the huge increase in starfish.
Rain falling on the land washes the fertilizers into streams and
rivers. These then flow out to sea. The scientists say that as
phytoplankton algae feed on the
fertilizer chemicals their numbers have greatly increased. More
phy-toplankton algae, around the Great Barrier Reef, means more
food for starfish larvae. Therefore, many more survive to become
adult starfish.
Corals get their bright colors from tiny algae that live inside
them. These algae provide the food that corals need. Yet, it seems
that corals expel these algae if the surrounding seawater changes.
It’s not known what causes them to do this. One idea is that the
seawater has become warmer or cooler. Another possibil-ity is a
greater amount of carbon di-oxide in the seawater. This makes it
more acidic. Corals turn white when they expel the algae. This is
why it is called coral bleaching. If the algae do not return the
corals will die.
Researchers working at SeaSim hope to work out if fertilizers
are the reason for the increase in the numbers of crown-of-thorns
star-fish. They also want to discover what causes coral to expel
the algae. If they succeed SeaSim could then be used to test
possible solutions to these problems.
ADVERTISING MERGER
On July 28, the bosses of two large advertising agencies,
Omnicom and Publicis, announced a merger. This means that the two
companies had agreed to join together to form one much bigger
company. The merger will create the world’s biggest ad-vertising
agency.
Both companies work in many different countries. Omnicom is
based in New York City, in the U.S. Publicis’ headquarters is in
Paris, the capital of France.
Advertising agencies do many different things for their
clients.
These include creating their adverts that are broadcast on
television and radio as well as those printed in magazines and
newspapers. The agencies will recommend, design and operate
marketing campaigns. They will also negotiate the price their
clients pay to have their adverts displayed, with television and
radio stations. Nowadays, planning dig-ital advertising on mobile
devices and the internet is another job usual-ly done by
advertising agencies.
Agencies that do all these things are known as “full service”
agencies. Before the merger was announced there were four main
international full service advertising agencies. WPP, which has its
main office in London, the capital of Britain, was the biggest.
Second and third were Omnicom and Publicis. The fourth, Interpublic
Group (known as IPG), is another American com-pany with its
headquarters in New York City.
These four full service agencies own many different advertising
companies. These have expertise in different types of advertising.
One might be known for its design and creative work and another for
arrang-ing digital advertising. Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo
Burnett Worldwide, which are both well-known advertis-ing agencies,
are part of Publicis.
It is not unusual for one company to buy another. This is often
called a takeover. A merger is different. When a merger happens it
often means that the two companies are of equal size and
importance.
The new company will be called Publicis Omnicom Group. The
two
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This map shows countries to which news stories refer in this
issue. Visit www.newsademic.com for more detailed world maps.
ZIMBABWE
URUGUAY
USA
UK
TUNISIA
TANZANIA
SWITZERLAND
THE
NET
HER
LAN
DS
JAPAN
ITALYITALYFRANCE
CHINA
CHADCAMBODIA
AUSTRALIA
ARGENTINA
ANGOLA
WyomingMontana NORTH
KOREA
SOUTHKOREA
bosses believe that by merging their companies they will be able
to save a large amount of money. It will also mean that they have
more pow-er when negotiating with television and radio stations
about the price of showing adverts. At first, both men will run the
new company jointly. However, after a few years, John Wren, the
head of Omnicom, will become the new company’s boss.
The big international firms that use these large advertising
agencies are often known as “Blue Chip” compa-nies. Sometimes these
“Blue Chips” do not like to work with the same ad-vertising agency
that their rivals use.
Some people suspect that a num-ber of Omnicom and Publicis’
larger Blue Chip clients will be unhappy about their merger. For
example, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Apple, and BMW use one of the
agencies while their rivals; Pepsi-Cola, Google,
Samsung and Mercedes work with the other. It’s therefore
possible that some of Omnicom and Publicis’ bigger clients may now
decide to change agencies and start to work with either WPP or
IPG.
INCA MAIDEN STUDY
Scientists from Britain have recent-ly completed a study on the
body of a preserved, or mummifi ed, young Inca girl. Her body was
found in 1999 near the top of a volcano. Nearby were the bodies of
two oth-er mummifi ed Inca children. The volcano, called
Llullaillaco, is on the border between Argentina and Chile, in the
Andes Mountains.
The Inca civilization was cen-tered around modern-day Peru. At
its most powerful, the Inca Empire included parts of what we now
call
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
By the early 1500s European ex-plorers and soldiers had crossed
the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in North and South America. Spanish
sol-diers, called Conquistadors, heard rumors of Inca cities in the
Andes Mountains built of gold. They want-ed to find the cities and
take the gold back to Spain. Eventually they de-stroyed the Inca
civilization.
The young girl is believed to have been between 13 and 15 years
old. She is known as the “Llullaillaco Maiden”. The two other
mummified children found near the top of the volcano were a boy,
who was aged about seven, and a six-year-old girl. Of the three the
boy was the only one to have been tied up. It’s believed that they
were taken to the top of the volcano and left there about 500 years
ago.
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Llullaillaco is the seventh highest mountain in the Andes. The
freezing cold dry air at the top of the volcano had preserved the
children’s bodies and the clothes they were wearing.
Scientists study the “Llullaillaco Maiden”
Historians think that the Incas left young children at the top
of moun-tains as a sacrifice. The Incas are thought to have done
this to please their gods and control their empire. When the
Spanish arrived they were shocked to discover that Inca cul-ture
included child sacrifice. One Spanish priest described how par-ents
were made to hand over their children for these sacrifices. The
parents were supposed to be glad that their children had been
selected to please the gods.
The team of scientists studied some of the girl’s hair. From
this they were able to discover that, a few months before the girl
died, she drank a lot of alcohol. The girl also seems to have been
chewing the leaves from coca plants. The drug cocaine is made from
this plant. Chewing its leaves creates a drug-like effect.
Research shows that the girl came from a poor family. This was
known because she had been mainly eating potatoes and other
vegetables. Yet about one year before she died her diet changed.
She began eating meat
and maize, a type of corn. Then, these were foods that only
important or wealthy Inca people ate.
It therefore seems that the girl was being specially “prepared”
for the sacrifice for 12 months before she died. As the time got
nearer, she was given more and more alcohol and coca leaves. The
scientists suspect that she was probably unconscious when she was
left on the mountain-top. They say that she would then have quickly
died because of the cold and lack of oxygen.
The Llullaillaco Maiden and the bodies of the two other children
can be seen at the High Moun-tain Archaeological Museum, in
Argentina.
STEAMBOAT GEYSER ERUPTS
The Steamboat Geyser erupted on July 31. The last time this
geyser, which is the tallest in the world, erupted was eight years
ago. Its most recent eruption sent hot water and steam 300 feet (90
meters) into the air. It lasted for nine minutes.
Steamboat Geyser is one of many in the Yellowstone National
Park, in the U.S. Yellowstone was set up in 1872. It is believed to
be the world’s first national park. Yellowstone cov-ers a large
area. Most of the park is in the state of Wyoming. It also extends
into Idaho and Montana. There are large herds of bison and elk
living in Yellowstone. It is also home to many grizzly bears and
wolves.
Much of the park is on what scientists call the Yellowstone
Pla-teau. This is believed to be above a geological “hotspot”. This
means that the area often has volcanic or earthquake activity.
Large areas of Yellowstone can even move up and down by several
inches each year.
This movement depends on the pressure of the magma, or hot
liquid rock, deep below.
Some people have named the Yel-lowstone hotspot a
“supervolcano”. There are frequent small earthquakes, or tremors,
in the park. In some plac-es hot water and steam are forced out of
the ground. These eruptions are known as geysers. There are around
1,000 geysers in the world. About half of them are in
Yellowstone.
Geysers occur in volcanic areas where magma is not far below the
sur-face of the ground. Water that sinks to a depth of around 6,600
feet (2,000 meters) comes into contact with hot rocks. The water,
which is under pres-sure, then boils. The hot water and steam is
then forced out of a hole, or vent, that leads to the surface.
Steamboat Geyser eruption
Some geysers erupt at regular in-tervals. Perhaps the most
famous is called Old Faithful. This one is also in the Yellowstone
National Park. Old Faithful erupts almost every 91 min-utes. Each
eruption reaches a height of about 130 feet (40 meters) and lasts
for roughly one and a half minutes.
The Steamboat Geyser eruptions last for between three and 40
min-utes. This geyser’s first eruption was recorded in 1878.
Normally power-ful eruptions or jets of steam follow the hot water.
Unlike Old Faithful, Steamboat’s eruptions do not hap-pen at
regular intervals. It had no eruptions between 1911 and 1961, a
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period of 50 years. Yet in 1964 the geyser erupted a record 29
times.
Several visitors to Yellowstone, who happened to be close to the
Steamboat Geyser, were lucky to see the latest eruption. They said
that just before it began there was a loud noise, which came from
deep under-ground. They described it as sound-ing like an
approaching train.
ROADS CLOSED IN ROME
On August 3, several busy roads were closed in the center of
Rome, the capital of Italy. From now on only buses, taxis and
bicycles will be able to use these streets. The clo-sures are part
of a plan that has been drawn up by Ignazio Marino, the city’s
mayor. In the future the mayor wants these roads to be closed to
all traffi c and only used by pedestrians.
Via dei Fori Imperiali, in Rome
The largest road that has been closed is the Via dei Fori
Imperiali. It has four lanes and is about 0.7 miles (1.1
kilometers) long. This straight road runs from a square called the
Piazza Venezia to the city’s famous Roman Colosseum.
The Colosseum is a large amphi-theater, or open-air arena. To
many people it is the symbol of Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire.
Em-peror Vespasian ordered building work to start on the
amphitheater in CE 72, so it is almost 2,000 years old. The huge
arena took about ten
years to complete. By then Vespa-sian had died and his son Titus
had become emperor.
The Colosseum was an ellipti-cal, or oval-shaped, building with
a large open space in the middle. Around this open space there were
seats for as many as 50,000 people. The Colosseum is best known for
the gladiator fights and violent bat-tles that once took place
within it. These were part of large shows that were put on to
entertain the citizens of Ancient Rome.
Rome’s Colosseum
The Via dei Fori Imperiali was built on the orders of the
Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini (1883 – 1945). To make way for
the road many old churches and hundreds of other buildings were
knocked down. It was completed in 1932. When the road was finished
it meant that Mussolini was able to see the Col-osseum from his
office in the Piazza Venezia. During this time the wide road was
frequently used for large military parades.
On either side of the Via dei Fori Imperiali are the Forum and
the Pal-atine Hill. The Forum was a meet-ing place in the center of
the ancient city and the Palatine Hill was where some Roman
Emperors lived.
The roads that surround the Col-osseum have also been closed to
cars and trucks. The mayor said that it was strange that one of the
world’s most famous buildings was in the
middle of a busy roundabout. Anoth-er problem was the tens of
thousands of people who visit the Colosseum every year. There was
not enough room for them on the sidewalks around the ancient
amphitheater.
Mr. Marino wants to create an “archaeological park” in the
center of the city. Under the Via dei Fori Imperiali are the
remains of build-ings that were used by famous em-perors such as
Julius Caesar and Augustus. The mayor plans to have part of this
road dug up so visitors to the city can see these ancient
ruins.
Not everyone is happy about the road closures. Local shopkeepers
and people who live in the center of the city have complained. They
claim that the mayor’s plan will cause large traffic jams on roads
in other parts of the city.
DUELING DINOSAURS FOR SALE
The Bonhams Company has an-nounced that two unusual dinosaur
fossils will be put up for sale in November. Bonhams is a
well-known international auction house. It is based in London, the
capital of Britain. The auction, or sale, of the large piece of
rock that contains the fossils will take place in New York City, in
the U.S.
The fossils were found at a place called Hells Creek, in the
state of Montana, in the U.S., in 2006. This area is famous for its
dinosaur fossils.
The rock includes the fossilized skeletons of two dinosaurs.
They seemed to have both died when they were fighting each other.
For this reason they have become known as the “Montana Dueling
Dinosaurs”. Some call them the “Dueling Dinos”. The people on whose
land they were found own the rock and the fossils.
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16
The two dinosaurs are believed to be a Nanotyrannus lancensis
and a type of Chasmosaurus ceratop-sian. The first is a carnivore,
or meat eater, and the other is a plant eating dinosaur, or
herbivore. Both dino-saurs would have been about eight feet (2.4
meters) tall and around 30 feet (9.1 meters) long.
Artist’s model of the Montana Dueling Dinosaurs based on the
positions of the fossils (Bonhams)
Only two Nanotyrannus have ever been found. Of the two the one
that is part of “Dueling Dinos” has the most complete skeleton.
Some palaeontologists, or scientists who study fossils and
prehistoric life, are not sure that Nanotyrannus was a separate
species. Its name means “dwarf tyrant”. Although they are much
smaller its bones look very similar to those of a Tyrannosaurus rex
(T. rex). Some scientists there-fore think that Nanotyrannus is
really a young, or juvenile, T. rex. Others believe that it is a
different dinosaur but one that is closely re-lated to T. rex.
The Chasmosaurus is a type of Triceratops. These dinosaurs are
best known for their horns and distinctive bony frill. The frill is
a part of their skull, which protected their neck.
Scientists are sure that the two dinosaurs must have been
fighting against each other. Some of the Nanotyrannus’ teeth are
stuck in the skull of the Chasmosaurus. What’s more the
Nanotyrannus’ skull and chest have been crushed. The
Chasmosaurus kicking its attacker is the likely cause of these
injuries.
The skeletons are very well pre-served. This is probably because
the bodies of the two dinosaurs were buried soon after their deadly
fight. On both skeletons there is some pre-served skin. It is very
rare to find this on fossils of creatures that died many millions
of years ago.
Bonhams predict that the “Mon-tana Dueling Dinosaurs” may be
sold for as much as $9 million. It is unlikely that a museum will
be able to afford to pay this amount of mon-ey. Many therefore
expect the fossil to be bought by a wealthy private collector.
ROBOT IN SPACE
The fi rst talking android, or robot, has been sent into space.
It was on board a Japanese unmanned spacecraft that lifted off from
the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan on August 3. The
spacecraft, or cargo ship, then traveled to the International Space
Station (ISS).
The ISS is an international proj-ect. The U.S. and Russia and a
num-ber of other countries built it. The first part of the space
station was launched into space in 1998. Many other rocket launches
were needed to complete it. The ISS has been manned since 2000.
The space station orbits, or trav-els around, the Earth at a
height of roughly 248 miles (400 kilometers). Each day it completes
15.7 orbits of the planet.
Nowadays, astronauts spend around six months living in the space
station before being replaced by others. So far astronauts from at
least 15 countries have stayed on the
ISS. Yet most astronauts who travel to the space station are
either from America or Russia.
Most of the astronauts who spend time on the ISS carry out
experiments or maintain and repair parts of the space station. In
No-vember Kochi Wakata, an astronaut from Japan, will arrive at the
ISS. The talking robot, which is called Kirobo, is part of an
experiment. It has been designed to talk to Mr. Wakata in Japanese
and keep him company during his time on the space station.
The name Kirobo comes from two Japanese words that mean “hope”
and “robot”. Kirobo is not the type of robot that does difficult
physical tasks. All it does is communicate or talk. This means that
it is very small. Kirobo weighs only about 2.2 pounds (one
kilogram) and is just 13 inches (34 centimeters) tall.
Woman speaking with Kirobo
The robot has been designed to work in zero gravity. It has been
programed to recognize Mr. Waka-ta’s face. Kirobo will record all
their conversations. It will also pass mes-sages back from Mr.
Wakata to the space control room in Japan. A sim-ilar, or twin
android, called Mirata, will be in the control room.
Japan is more advanced in build-ing robots than any other
country. The Japanese population is now ag-ing quickly. This means
that in years to come there will a greater number of elderly
people. Many may have
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August 8, 2013 Newsademic.com™ – American English edition page
17
to live alone. Kirobo is part of an experiment to see how people
react to talking robots when they are with them for a long time.
It’s possible that similar robots will be used in Japan to keep
older people company in the future.
The cargo spacecraft that took Kirobo to the ISS was made in
Ja-pan. It also carried supplies of food and extra equipment for
scientific experiments. These cargo ships are called “Kounotori”.
This is the Jap-anese name for a white stork, which is a type of
bird.
Once all the supplies have been unloaded at the ISS the
astronauts fill the Kounotori with rubbish. The cargo ships are
then sent back to-wards the Earth. As the spacecraft enter the
Earth’s atmosphere both they and the rubbish inside them burn
up.
The robot was asked a few ques-tions by news reporters before it
was sent into space. Kirobo answered one by using similar words to
those spoken by the American astronaut, Neil Armstrong (1930 –
2012). In 1969, when Armstrong stood on the Moon for the first time
he said “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind”. Kirobo said that its space trip would be “one small step
for me, a giant leap for robots.”
TOPPING OUT CEREMONY
A special ceremony was held in the city of Shanghai, in China,
on August 3. The last steel beam was fi tted to the top of a new
skyscraper called the Shanghai Tower. When this happens those
working on a tall building often celebrate by orga-nizing what’s
known as a “topping out” ceremony.
Shanghai is one of the largest cities in China. Its new
skyscraper has 121 storys. Work still needs to be done inside the
building. When completed the tower will be 2,073 feet (632 me-ters)
tall. This means that it will be the second highest building in the
world. The tallest, at 2,722 feet (830 meters), is the Burj
Khalifa, in Dubai.
Shanghai Tower
Building work on the new sky-scraper started in 2008. It is in
an area of the city called Pudong. Two other very tall buildings
have already been built in this part of Shanghai. Pudong is China’s
main financial center. Many Chinese and international banks and
finance companies have their offices in these new buildings.
An international architecture company called Gensler designed
the Shanghai Tower. This company has its headquarters in San
Francisco, in the U.S. The design includes a num-ber of special
features. For example, the tower was built with about 25% less
steel than other buildings of a similar height. Wind turbines, near
the top, will make some of the elec-tricity used in the building.
Special glass has been used to help keep the tower cool in the
summer. Heat inside the building will come from geother-mal energy,
or warmth, which comes from deep underground.
The “twisting” shape of the skyscraper is to help the building
withstand powerful winds. At cer-tain times of the year this part
of China can be struck by typhoons. These are huge powerful
tropical storms that form in the southern Pa-cific Ocean. They
bring high-speed winds and large amounts of rain. Typhoons can
damage or destroy buildings and cause very serious flooding.
However, once they move across land, they get weaker and gradually
disappear.
The Shanghai Tower will con-tain offices, a luxury hotel, shops,
cafes, and restaurants. The own-ers of the building expect it to be
used by about 16,000 people every day. Visitors will be able to see
the views from an observation deck at the top. Inside the building
will be the world’s longest-traveling single elevator, or lift. It
will go up about 1,900 feet (580 meters). This is a longer distance
than any of the ele-vators in the Burj Khalifa.
Art Gensler, the boss of the Gensler Company spoke at the
top-ping out ceremony. Several senior Chinese government ministers
also attended the celebration.
Newsademic.comEditor: Rebecca Watson
American Editor: Chris Tarn
Acknowledgements:News story photographs by gettyimages
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ISSUE 203 GLOSSARY PUZZLE
INSTRUCTIONS: Complete the crossword. The answers are
highlighted in orange in the news stories. There are 25 words
highlighted and you need 20 of them to complete the crossword. Once
you have solved the crossword go to the word search on the next
page
1 2
3
4 5
6
7 8
9 10
11 12 13
14
15
16
17 18
19
20
ACROSS 1 Noun (Plural) People traveling on foot 4 Verb To praise
or advise what is best, or the best thing to do 8 Adjective
Describes something that is easy to recognize
because it is different from other things 9 Noun The act of
killing an animal or person as an offering
to a god or gods 12 Noun A person who rules in a cruel or unjust
manner 14 Noun Particular style of building 17 Adjective Describes
the relationships among the air, land,
water, and the living things that rely on them 18 Noun Equipment
that reproduces real conditions 19 Adjective Describes private
information meant to be
shared only with certain people 20 Adverb Describes something
that is true or correct, but
people may not think of it in that way, or it may not be
important
DOWN 2 Verb To discuss with others in order to reach an
agreement 3 Verb To have a discussion or argument about
something 5 Adjective Describes something made by people, often
as
a copy of something natural 6 Verb To break up into small parts
7 Noun Gas in the stomach and bowels 10 Noun The act of continuing
to be fi rm about a demand
even after a refusal 11 Adjective Able to continue successfully
over a long
period of time 13 Adjective Causing a person to become dependent
on
something, often a chemical or drug 15 Noun (Plural) Machines
with blades through which a
liquid, gas or wind fl ows to produce power 16 Noun An area of
high ground with a fairly level surface
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August 8, 2013 Newsademic.com™ – American English edition page
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ISSUE 203GLOSSARY PUZZLE CONTINUED
INSTRUCTIONS: Find 19 of the 20 crossword answers in the word
search. Words can go vertically, horizontally, diagonally and back
to front. After fi nding the 19 words write down the 20th (or
missing) word under the puzzle.
A R C H I T E C T U R E T A B E D L
A D G Z R E C O M M E N D N P Y H A
P B D C Q S E N I B R U T E P B U I
R K N I M L G K O U Y W D G N E A T
O Z J N C K I I L L S E W O Z M E N
T T R W Y T D K L S S X X T N X T E
A H Z Z L A I A I T O N R I F F A D
L S I G P D C V R N E L U A J L L I
U Y A F D I T I E V S B C T Y A P F
M C O C N Y A A I M W I E E C T U N
I W D H R N J T Z Z G N S I D U Y O
S Z C A S I C L F F R K G T L L M C
Q E N P A N F R F S O O B R E E U C
T T Q B I V E I H U L I T R B N I N
J D W T M Q S X C O E Q F I D C C W
C D S B Z R R H C E Q D I X R E N E
A I S Q R C A E L B A N I A T S U S
D I S I N T E G R A T E Z T H L J H
MISSING WORD ANSWER =
ISSUE 202 A
NSW
ERS
S I L H O U E T T E D L L X D M S C
R E C E V F P F X K S A C L D M B A
E Q T I P W D B I N G S U M L L J M
N B X T B R E A O L A Z Y E I T E O
I F U M L V O I L C Y R W K F F M U
A H F L Z E T P C E O X X J G V M F
T R T C L C M L E T P Z Q A N O U L
N M K M U E R E I R T W U M C J N A
O F I D P D T R N N T Y R Q Q J I G
C A B T N H R I E T G I D S I O C E
B A V B I E O M N O S N E D F S I S
H S B O T G E F L H O I T S L M P L
L Y R W S C A O W D L E N N U F A I
T L L Q R H H T Z I S W H S J N L B
B U J O U T V L I Y C A M O L P I D
S M F K Y L M A L O B B Y W V E A Z
D N G M I L P R K I N G O T S E W M
E X P L O R A T I O N N D B G D R Z
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the missing word. Puzzle entries must be submitted by 10 pm on
August 21, 2013 (GMT/UTC).*
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C1
C2
A3
A P4
T5
E R R I T O R Y
D6
I P L O M A C Y R N
L O H7
O V E8
R T
I U P X S9
A
B10
A F E P M11
I T I G A T I O N
F12
U N N E L M13
R L L N
L C A14
B D U C T I O N S H E
L E G N I R O R
E E I E A U S
T C S15
E T T L E M E N T S
I I I T
N P O L16
T I17
A E18
N F O R C E M E N T
A19
S Y L U M B D G
B O
M20
Y T H O L O G Y T
S