World News

Texas tornado

A tornado hit Lancaster, Texas on April 3, destroying numerous houses. — AP.

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Wild wind

Destructive storm hits Japan

Tokyo — A huge storm killed at least four people in Japan as violent wind and rain battered the nation and disrupted transport.

The storm on April 4 covered all of the north of Japan’s main island of Honshu and much of the northern island of Hokkaido, buffeting the region with strong winds caused by a severe low pressure system.

The dead included a 96-year-old man who fell from the roof of a three-storey house and a 28-year-old woman who was hit by a falling tree. — AFP

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Double death

Jumper lands on walker

Hong Kong — A pedestrian was killed on April 4 when a woman committing suicide by jumping from a building landed on top of her. She was walking along the street in the city’s Chai Wan district at 10 am when another woman threw herself from a high-rise apartment block.

The woman who jumped was certified dead at the scene, while the other woman, understood to be a foreign domestic helper, was seriously injured and later died in hospital. — DPA

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EASY NEWS FOR M1-3

Washed away

Floods hit Philippines

Manila — Heavy rains caused floods in eastern Philippines. The news was reported on April 2. The floods killed nine people. About 25,000 people had to evacuate from their homes. — DPA

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 Crash carnage

Rescuers search the site of the ATR-72 plane crash in Siberia, Russia on April 2. The accident killed 32 passengers, while the 11 survivors were seriously injured. — AP

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Dirty disaster

Ship wreckage finally sinks

Wellington — The back end of a broken-up ship that caused New Zealand’s biggest sea pollution disaster sank on April 4 after huge waves pounded the wreck. The ship had been lodged in two pieces on the reef with about 75 percent of the stern under water.

The Liberian-flagged Rena hit a rock on October 5 later year, releasing an oil slick that killed thousands of sea birds and fouled beaches in the North Island’s Bay of Plenty.

The captain and second officer of the ship pleaded guilty in February to criminal charges relating to the disaster. — AFP

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Death disco

Fire kills teens at nightclub

Belgrade — Six teenagers aged between 17 and 18 died trying to escape a fire that engulfed a nightclub in northern Serbia, police said on April 1.

The fire in the Contrast disco in the northern city of Novi Sad broke out around the stage area during a live performance at around 2 am, police official Predrag Maric said. An investigation is underway to determine what caused the fire. — AP

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Fishing accident

Anglers stranded on ice

Moscow — Russian authorities on April 1 rescued 675 fishing enthusiasts from a sheet of ice that had broken free off the far eastern Sakhalin Island, setting them adrift.

“The rescue operation lasted several hours and involved nearly 50 people, eight vessels and two helicopters,” emergency officials said. “Nobody rescued needed any medical help.”

Ice fishing is popular throughout Russia in the winter months, with legions of keen anglers taking to frozen rivers, lakes and seas to fish through holes in the ice. — AFP

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Exercises

1. What happened on Sakhalin Island in Russia on April 1?

a. A fishing boat sank.

b. A fishing festival was held.

c. A sheet of ice on which people were fishing broke.

2. How many people did the huge storm in Japan kill?

3. Where was Along Beseku arrested for smuggling drugs?