Dressed for success
People wearing traditional costumes cast their vote at a polling station vote in Strazovice, southern Czech Republic on October 25, during a two-day national election. — AFP
Shark attack
Surfer loses leg
Saint-Denis de la Reunion — A 24-year-old surfer was fighting for his life in hospital after a shark bit off his leg near the coast of the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion. The incident occurred on October 26, authorities said.
The incident took place just 20 metres from the beach. Authorities said the victim, a local man, was outside a protected perimeter established after two other men were killed by sharks earlier this year. — AFP
Spider scare
British school invaded
London — An invasion of venomous spiders forced British authorities on October 23 to close a school in southern England, amid warnings that climate change has boosted numbers of the arachnids.
Officials temporarily shut the infested Dean Academy secondary school in Gloucestershire, western England, so that pest control experts could exterminate the false widow spiders. Britain has this year seen a huge increase in numbers of the false widow, whose bite can cause severe swelling and chest pains.
No deaths have been recorded in Britain so far from the spiders. — AFP
Privacy protest
Demonstrators march in Washington, USA on October 26 during a rally to demand that Congress investigate the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programmes. — AP
Prison problems
UN official calls for change
United Nations — UN official Juan Mendez said on October 23 that prison overcrowding creates conditions that amount to ill treatment and torture.
Juan highlighted overcrowding in particular as he made a push before the UN General Assembly to revise rules on the treatment of prisoners.
He said that growing incarceration rates were placing an enormous financial burden on states, with more than 10 million prisoners estimated worldwide. He added that the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted more than 50 years ago, have lagged behind recent developments in international human rights law. — AFP
Less law
Majority wants marijuana legalised
Washington — A public opinion poll has indicated that a majority of Americans favour the legalisation of marijuana.
Fifty-eight percent replied yes when asked if they thought the use of marijuana should be made legal, the Gallup polling institute announced on October 22. Thirty-nine percent said no, while 3 percent held no opinion.
Support for legalisation was stronger among Americans aged 18 to 49, as well as among Democrats and independents on the political spectrum, the Gallup statement said. — AFP
Danger zone
Death toll rises in Iraq
Baghdad — Nine car bombs killed at least 30 people on October 27 Shia-majority areas of Baghdad, while another targeting soldiers in Mosul left 12 dead, officials said.
At least five other people were killed in other attacks, the latest in a wave of bloodshed that has pushed the October death toll from violence across Iraq past 630.
The Baghdad blasts, which hit eight different areas in and around the Iraqi capital, also wounded more than 90 people, security and medical officials said.
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Fatal fall
School wall crushes kids
Beijing — A wall at a school collapsed. It happened in Yunnan, China on October 24. Two 12-year-old students were killed. Four other children were injured. — AFP
Exercises
1. Where is Dean Academy located?
a. Scotland.
b. Ireland.
c. England.
2. Which organisation conducted the poll on legalising the use of marijuana in the US?
3. How many drug traffickers were caught in Bung Kan on October 27?
Vocabulary
- venomous (n): producing a poisonous liquid that is used in a bite or sting
arachnid (n): any small creature of the class that includes spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks
incarceration (n): the act of putting somebody in a prison or somewhere from which they cannot escape
legalisation (n): the act of making something legal
bloodshed (n): the killing or wounding of people, usually during fighting or a war
