Royal ceremony
Hundreds of Cambodian Buddhist monks attend a parade on June 3 to honor King Norodom Sihamoni during a ceremony outside the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. — EPA
Helicopter horror
Four officers killed in crash
Kathmandu — Nepalese troops recovered four bodies after a helicopter crashed on June 2 in a region devastated by twin earthquakes, authorities said. The helicopter had been delivering relief supplies.
The aircraft came down in a forested area north of the capital. “According to villagers, the helicopter crashed at 4:30 pm in Sindhupalchowk district after it hit electricity lines,” local police official Dipak Kharel said.
The helicopter company’s marketing director, Passang Norbu Sherpa said four people, including the pilot, were on board the aircraft and that three of the victims were Nepalese men. — AFP
Dozy judge
Judge sleeps during trial
Hanoi — A Vietnamese judge has been forced to defend himself after a video was shared on social media appearing to show him napping during a trial, a media report said on June 2.
The video shows Nguyen Van Gioi leaning back in his chair with his head tilted to the side for more than a minute. “I only shut my eyes for several seconds,” Nguyen told Tuoi Tre newspaper. The judge said he never nodded off but added that he had been out late the night before. — DPA
Sunken ship
On June 7, people burn joss paper and pray for the victims of the Eastern Star cruise ship that capsized on the Yangtze River, Hubei province, China on June 1. At least 431 were confirmed dead. — Reuters
Fatal fire
Seventy killed in blaze
Accra — More than 70 people were killed in a fire at a petrol station in Ghana’s capital, Accra, as they sought shelter from heavy rains that caused widespread flooding, emergency services said on June 4.
The fire broke out at the filling station in the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area of the city late on the night of June 3 and is thought to have spread from a nearby residence.
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama described the loss of life as catastrophic and almost unprecedented, as he toured the scene of the disaster on the morning of June 4. — AFP
Mass commemoration
Hong Kong remembers crackdown
Hong Kong — Thousands of people streamed into a park in central Hong Kong on June 4 to mark the 26th anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Hong Kong is the only location on Chinese soil to see a major commemoration, with residents gathering in Victoria Park to mark the military’s brutal crushing of pro-democracy protests in central Beijing in 1989.
Hundreds — by some estimates more than a thousand — died after the Communist Party sent tanks to crush demonstrations at the square in the heart of Beijing, where student-led protesters had staged a peaceful seven-week sit-in to demand democratic reforms. — AFP
Virus panic
Schools closed to halt outbreak
Seoul — Hundreds of schools closed on June 4 in South Korea as officials struggled to ease growing panic over an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that has infected 35 people, killed two and caused thousands to cancel travel plans.
More than 900 schools shut their gates in response to public fears over what has become the largest outbreak of the MERS virus outside Saudi Arabia. Five more cases were confirmed on June 4, bringing the total number of known infections to 35, the health ministry said. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Rail accident
Train slams into trailer
Wilmington — A train hit a long trailer. It happened in Wilmington, in the Delaware state of the USA on June 5. Nobody was injured. The train was travelling from San Antonio to Chicago. — AP
Exercises
1. What does MERS stand for?
a. It’s a school in Seoul.
b. Middle East Remembers Seoul.
c. Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.
2. Nguyen Van Gioi is a Malaysian judge. True or false?
3. How old was Assanichaipol when he died?
Vocabulary
- catastrophic (adj): related to an event that causes one person or a group of people personal suffering
unprecedented (adj): something that has never happened or been done before
crackdown (n): severe action taken to restrict the activities of criminals or of people opposed to the government
commemoration (n): an action, or a ceremony that makes people remember and show respect for an important person or event in the past
outbreak (n): the start of something unpleasant, especially violence or a disease
quarantine (n): a period of time when an animal or a person that has a disease is kept away from others
