Korean drama
On November 14, police use water cannons to block protesters rallying against the government in Seoul, South Korea over labour reform and state-issued history textbooks. — AFP
Forest fire
Ranger shot in Cambodia
Phnom Penh —Ten people, including a soldier, were arrested over the murders of a forest ranger and a policeman who were investigating illegal logging in Cambodia, officials said on November 13.
Probes into the lucrative trade are risky as several high-profile activists have been killed trying to expose rampant logging. Forest ranger Sieng Darong and police officer Sab Yoh were shot dead while patrolling the Preah Vihear forest.
The men were killed hours after confiscating chainsaws from an illegal logging site. — AFP
Super heroes
Public save mother and child
Sydney — A crowd of bystanders lifted a car off a mother and her baby trapped underneath after a vehicle crashed into them in Newcastle on November 13.
Witnesses said the car reversed out of a parking space, hitting a parked vehicle and running down the woman and child. Pub owner Mark Chegwidden helped pull the woman out.
“Fifteen people in the community lifted up the vehicle,” he said. “One brave man hopped underneath and pulled her out.” The pair were taken to hospital. — AFP
Turkish talks
US President Barack Obama arrives at Antalya International Airport on November 15 to take part in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Antalya, Turkey. — AFP
Animal island
Agency chief shops for crocs
Jakarta — After sparking ridicule with a proposal to build a prison island for drug convicts surrounded by crocodiles, Indonesia’s head of the national anti-drugs agency said on November 13 that he also wants tigers and piranhas.
National Narcotics Agency chief Budi Waseso, who said crocodiles can’t be bribed, toured the country to find the most ferocious type of crocodile.
“It is also possible we may use piranhas, and because the number of personnel at the prison might not be enough, we can also use tigers,” he said. — AFP
Bad dad
Chinese father murders officials
Beijing — China has executed a man for murdering two birth control officials, the China News Service said, in a case that highlighted tensions caused by the recently abolished one-child policy.
He Shenguo — who stabbed two officials to death in Guangxi in 2013 — was executed on November 12. The one-child regulations were enforced by authorities through permits and fines.
He illegally fathered a fourth child and did not pay the fines, so his children were refused citizenship. — AFP
Strike three
Carrier cancels flights
Berlin — Lufthansa cancelled 933 flights at three hubs in Germany after efforts failed to halt a strike by flight attendants.
The cancellations on November 12 affected 107,000 travellers going to or from Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf — more passengers than on any day since the strike began at the beginning of November.
Altogether Lufthansa has cancelled some 3,700 flights, and about 443,000 travellers have been affected. Europe’s flagship carriers are struggling to compete with Gulf airlines on long-haul flights, an official said. — AP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Big cat bust
Man caught with leopard
Kuala Lumpur — A court fined a man 50,000 ringgit (about 408,535 baht). It happened in Malaysia on November 14. The man was fined for possessing an endangered leopard. — DPA
Exercises
1. Who is Budi Waseso?
a. Jakarta’s governor.
b. Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency chief.
c. Indonesia’s government spokesman.
2. He Shenguo was stabbed to death by two officials in Guangxi in 2013. True or false?
3. Who designed the six-week intensive training programme?
Vocabulary
- logging (n): the work of cutting down trees for their wood
lucrative (adj): producing a large amount of money
bystander (n): a person who sees something that is happening but is not involved
ferocious (adj): very aggressive or violent
