Novice players
Young novices on April 2 play soccer as part of traditional celebrations for Buddha’s upcoming birthday on May 6 at a temple on Jeju Island in South Korea. — AP
Court ruling
Japan halts whaling operations
Tokyo — Japan will not conduct whaling operations in the Antarctic Ocean this year in the wake of a UN court ruling, the government said on April 2.
Japan decided not to send a whaling fleet to the Southern Ocean later this year after the International Court of Justice in The Hague announced on March 31 that Japan must end its research whaling programme.
Australia brought the case to the ICJ in 2010, alleging that Japan was breaching international law by killing hundreds of whales every year for commercial purposes under the guise of scientific research. — DPA
Findings released
Airline admits pilot error
Seoul — South Korea’s Asiana Airlines on April 1 admitted for the first time that pilot error might be the cause of last year’s San Francisco crash.
As it came in to land after an otherwise routine flight from Seoul to San Francisco on July 6, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 clipped a sea wall with its landing gear, skidded off the runway and burst into flames.
“The probable cause of this accident was the flight crew’s failure to monitor and maintain a minimum safe airspeed during a final approach,” the airline said in a statement. Three people were killed and nearly 200 injured in the crash. — AFP
Fired up
Residents ride past a burning public security kiosk during a protest against a chemical plant project in China’s Guangdong province on April 1. — Reuters
Lost at sea
Search for boat called off
Sydney — The search for a fishing boat missing near Antarctica was called off on April 1 after officials said there was no chance anybody aboard had survived in the harsh polar environment.
The 75 metre-long vessel issued a distress signal on March 30 which showed it was in the southern Indian Ocean about 650 kilometres north of the Antarctic mainland. An Australian air force P3 Orion plane and a civil aircraft were sent to find the boat, which was suspected of being involved in illegal fishing, but they spotted only debris in the area. — AFP
Help needed
Displaced people in peril
Yangon — Thousands of vulnerable people in strife-torn western Myanmar were close to running out of food and clean water, according to aid groups forced to flee the region after a wave of mob violence.
Many displaced people — mostly stateless Rohingya Muslims — living in bleak camps in Rakhine State were completely reliant on humanitarian deliveries, which recently stopped as a result of the attacks on relief organizations, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman Pierre Peron said on April 1. — AFP
Disease deaths
Ebola outbreak unprecedented
Conakry — The Ebola outbreak in Guinea, where the death toll climbed to 80, has been unprecedented. In neighbouring Liberia, one of two confirmed cases has died, while a second person who died with a suspected Ebola infection tested negative for the virus, the World Health Organisation said in a statement.
Both confirmed cases in Liberia were exposed to Ebola in Guinea, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
“The outbreak is the worst in seven years, and the first in Guinea,” Gregory said on April 1. — Bloomberg
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Big bang
Six killed in explosion
Nairobi — There was an explosion in the city of Nairobi, Kenya. It happened on March 31. Six people were killed and 21 were injured. Officials reported the news on April 1. Police were investigating the incident. — Bloomberg
Exercises
1. Which of the following statements is NOT true, according to the story about the search for a missing boat near Antarctica?
a. The search was cancelled on April 1.
b. Three dead bodies were found during the search.
c. The vessel issued a distress signal on March 30.
2. Asiana Airlines said a massive storm might have caused last year’s San Francisco crash. True or false?
3. Who does Rapeesak Malairungsakul work for?
Vocabulary
- kiosk (n): a small shop, open at the front, where newspapers, drinks, etc. are sold
fleet (n): a group of ships fishing together
sea wall (n): a large strong wall built to stop the sea from flowing onto the land
debris (n): pieces of wood, metal, brick, etc. that are left after something has been destroyed
peril (n): serious danger
stateless (adj): not officially a citizen of any
humanitarian (adj): connected with reducing suffering and improving the conditions that people live in
unprecedented (adj): that has never happened, been done or been known before
