Not forgotten
In Hong Kong on June 4, more than 200,000 people hold candles to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the bloody crackdown in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. — AFP
Death debate
Quebec adopts euthanasia bill
Quebec City — Quebec has adopted a right-to-die bill in what is the first legislation of its kind in Canada. The federal Canadian government, however, has said it could challenge its legality.
The legislation stipulates that patients would have to repeatedly ask a doctor to end their lives on the basis of unbearable physical or psychological suffering. They would have to be deemed mentally sound at the time of the requests.
Assisted suicide and euthanasia are currently illegal under Canada’s Criminal Code. — AP
Going ape
Zoo keeper tranquillised
Madrid — A Spanish zoo vet shot a keeper with a tranquilliser dart when a gorilla escape drill went awry, knocking out the unfortunate victim who spent the next three days in hospital.
“One of the animal keepers of the terrestrial mammals was accidentally hit by a tranquilliser dart which the vets have to have ready for such cases,” a Loro Park Zoo official said on June 6.
A Spanish newspaper reported that the keeper had been dressed in a gorilla suit, confusing the vet who then shot him with the dart. — AFP
New president
Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko sings the national anthem his inauguration ceremony in Kiev on June 7. — AFP
Tragic accident
Refugees die in boat accident
Geneva — Sixty North African migrants and refugees, as well as two Yemeni crew members, died when their boat sank near the coast of Yemen, the UN refugee agency said on June 6 in Geneva.
“The tragedy is the largest single loss of life this year of migrants and refugees attempting to reach Yemen via the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Adrian Edwards said.
This year, 16,500 migrants, mainly from Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, have made the crossing so far and 121 have died in the attempt, according to the UN agency. — DPA
Death threat
Presidential hopeful targeted
Kabul — Afghan presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah escaped an assassination attempt on June 5 when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in Kabul.
The first attack was a suicide car bomb on a convoy of Abdullah Abdullah and the second was a mine attack, according to Kabul police officials. Abdullah was unhurt, but at least six people were killed and 22 others wounded, according to the interior ministry.
The assassination attempt came ahead of the second-round presidential election on June 14, which Taliban insurgents have threatened to disrupt. — AFP
Cop killer
Suspected murderer arrested
Montreal — A gunman suspected of killing three Canadian police officers and wounding two others surrendered on June 6.
The search for Justin Bourque, who is alleged to have carried out the attack in the country’s eastern province of New Brunswick on June 4, had put the city of Moncton on lockdown for more than a day as police hunted the man described as armed and dangerous.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported that Justin Bourque was arrested in Moncton. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Stolen statues
Artifacts sent home
Phnom Penh — Three statues were returned to Cambodia. It happened on June 3. The statues were stolen during the Cambodian civil war in the 1970s. The statues were returned by the Norton Simon Museum, as well as by auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s. — AP
Exercises
1. Which of the following is TRUE about the arrest of a gunman suspected of killing three policemen in Canada?
a. Justin Bourque was arrested in Melbourne.
b. The search for Justin Bourque took more than a day to complete.
c. Reuters reported the news.
2. Sixty North African migrants and refugees, as well as two Yemeni crew members, died near the coast of Yemen. True or false?
3. Where was the June 12 full moon party set to be held?
Vocabulary
- bill (n): a written suggestion for a new law that is presented to a country’s parliament so that its members can discuss it
stipulate (v): to state firmly and clearly that something must be done, or how it must be done
sound (adj): in good condition; that you can rely on
euthanasia (n): the practice of killing without pain a person who is suffering from a disease that cannot be cured
drill (n): a practice of what to do in an emergency
awry (adj): if something goes awry, it does not happen in the way that was planned
terrestrial (adj): living on the land or on the ground, rather than in water, in trees or in the air
insurgent (n): a person fighting against the government or armed forces of their own country
