Deep waters
Floods on December 7 hit Carlisle in the north west of England. Numerous houses and buildings were destroyed. — Reuters
Sunken treasure
Colombia finds old ship
Bogota — The wreck of a Spanish galleon with gold and jewels reportedly worth hundreds of millions of US dollars has been found off the coast of Colombia, local media reported on December 4. The ship was sunk by the British more than 300 years ago.
“Great news — we found the galleon San Jose,” President Juan Manuel Santos wrote on Twitter. The ship is said to be near the Rosario Islands, in Colombian waters, about 100 kilometres from Cartagena. — DPA
Fatal fire
Storm damages platform
Baku — Thirty-two workers were killed and 42 rescued from an offshore oil platform that caught fire on December 5 in Azerbaijan-controlled waters in the Caspian Sea.
“According to our information, 32 workers died, while 42 workers were rescued last night. The fire on the platform was finally extinguished,” Mirvari Gakhramanly, head of Azerbaijan’s Oil Workers’ Rights Protection Committee, said.
The fire started after a gas pipeline on the platform was damaged by heavy wind. A severe storm then hampered rescue attempts. — Reuters
Old soldier
Pearl Harbor survivor and D-Day veteran Frank Levingston Jr. on December 7 takes part in a ceremony to mark the anniversary of Pearl Harbor at the World War II Memorial located in Washington, US. — AP
Extreme extremist
Military arrest kidnapper
Manila — A suspected Islamist extremist linked to the kidnapping of several Malaysians in the Philippines, including one that was beheaded in October, was arrested on December 4, according to the military.
Kadaffy Muktadil is a member of Abu Sayyaf, which security analysts say is behind dozens of kidnappings in the past two years and has proven increasingly brazen after beheading Malaysian national Bernard Then in November.
The suspect was arrested when he sought hospital treatment in Jolo after a motorbike crash. — AFP
Bad dad
Cult leader goes to jail
London — A Maoist cult leader has been found guilty of sexually assaulting his female followers and imprisoning his own daughter in a London commune for 30 years, officials said on December 4.
A jury found 75-year-old Aravindan Balakrishnan guilty of four counts of rape and six counts of indecent assault. He was also convicted of causing bodily harm, cruelty to a child and false imprisonment.
Prosecutors said Balakrishnan sexually abused and brainwashed his followers into believing he had God-like powers. — AP
Cleared for take-off
Chennai reopens airport
Chennai — India’s main airport in flood-devastated Tamil Nadu state reopened on December 6 as emergency workers strove to help thousands of residents forced to flee their homes.
The international airport in the state capital Chennai closed on December 2, leaving thousands of passengers stranded, after rains worsened flooding that has claimed nearly 300 lives since November 9.
“There was no damage to the runway. It remained under water for a few days but has been cleared,” Aviation Minister Mahesh Sharma said. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Egypt attack
Bomb kills clubbers
Cairo — A firebomb attack destroyed a nightclub in Cairo, Egypt. Officials reported the news on December 4. Sixteen people were killed. Police said two unidentified young men were behind the attack. — AP
Exercises
1. Who is Mahesh Sharma?
a. A member of Abu Sayyaf.
b. India’s Aviation Minister.
c. A Maoist cult leader.
2. How old is Aravindan Balakrishnan?
3. What does NSTDA stand for?
Vocabulary
- galleon (n): a large Spanish sailing ship, used between the 15th and the 17th centuries
brainwash (v): to force somebody to accept your ideas or beliefs, for example by repeating the same thing many times
strand (v): to leave somebody in a place from which they have no way of leaving
