Royal performance
Traditional Huli Wigmen dancers perform for Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on November 4. — AP
Rising waters
Venice hit by floods
Rome — Over half of Venice was under water on November 1, as the historic lagoon town was hit by exceptionally high tides. Water levels rose above 140 centimetres on October 31, local authorities said.
It was the highest tide level since December 2010. Venice starts flooding when waters rise about 110 centimetres. When the 140 centimetre mark is reached, 58 percent of the city is under water.
Tides were expected to return to normal levels by November 2. — DPA
Storm damage
Flood waters caused by super storm Sandy surround South Bethany in Delaware in USA, on October 30. Sandy caused numerous deaths, halted public transportation and cut power to more than 6 million businesses in the US. — AP
Cops caught
Russian police fired for drug use
Saint Petersburg — Police chiefs in Russia’s second largest city of Saint Petersburg fired almost 100 police after they failed mandatory drugs tests, officials said on October 31.
“Many police were using drugs, according to the results of tests that were launched almost a year ago,” city police chief Sergei Umnov said.
Russia’s vast police force has been dogged by cases of violent crimes committed by officers under the influence of alcohol and is widely feared by the public. — AFP
Family issue
New father claims discrimination
Tokyo — A person who had a sex-change operation to become a man has complained of discrimination after a Japanese court refused to register him as the father of his wife’s child, reports said on November 3.
The 30-year-old, who was born female, had sought to be registered as the father after his wife delivered a boy in 2009 by way of artificial insemination using donated sperm.
However, the Tokyo Family Court ruled the child must be registered as if he was born out of wedlock, as the man is physically not capable of reproduction. — AFP
Illegal ivory
Police seize elephant tusks
Arusha, Tanzania — Tanzanian police seized more than 200 elephant tusk pieces worth around $1 million (30.6 million baht) from 91 different animals, officials said on October 31.
Four people were arrested when the 214 tusk pieces were seized on October 21 from the house of a Kenyan living in Tanzania’s economic capital Dar es Salaam.
Police said they believed the ivory came from elephants in Tanzania, and that smugglers intended to take the tusks by road into Kenya. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Off track
Passenger train hits truck
Sydney — A passenger train hit a truck and derailed. It happened in Victoria, Australia on November 3. One man was killed in the accident. — AFP
Exercises
1. What happened in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania?
a. Police arrested 200 elephant owners.
b. Elephants killed a policeman.
c. Hundreds of elephant tusk pieces were seized.
2. Over half of Venice was flooded on November 1. True or false?
3. If the Internet shop owners in Bangkok are found guilty of allowing children aged under 15 to use their services after 8 pm, how much could they be fined?
Vocabulary
- fire (v): to force somebody to leave their job
mandatory (adj): required by law
dog (v): to cause you trouble for a long time
electrocution (n): the fact of somebody being injured or killed by passing electricity through their body
artificial insemination (n): the process of making a woman or female animal pregnant by an artificial method of putting male sperm inside her
wedlock (n): the state of being married
tusk (n): either of the long curved teeth that stick out of the mouth of elephants and some other animals
ivory (n): a hard yellowish-white substance like bone that forms the tusks of elephants and some other animals
