Water worries
A boy rows a raft in flood-affected Assam state, India on August 16. Thousands of people were evacuated from the area due to the flooding. — AP
Kidnap case
Many victims rescued
Kano, Nigeria — Chadian troops rescued around 85 Nigerians kidnapped by Boko Haram Islamists from fishing communities in Nigeria’s northeast, human rights sources said on August 16.
Nearly 100 men and several women had been snatched in a raid by insurgents and ferried across the border into Chad, witnesses said. The raid on Doron Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, left 28 people dead and scores of homes burnt, according to residents.
An official of the National Human Rights Commission in Maiduguri said 65 men and 22 women had been rescued in the operation, but said more than 30 were still held. — AFP
Wild weather
Landslides and flooding hit Napal
Kathmandu — At least 11 people were killed in landslides and flooding in Nepal, with five more missing, news reports said on August 16.
Two people were killed when a landslide hit a house in Rolpa district in western Nepal on August 15, Avenues Television reported. Two others died in a landslide in Jajarkot district in western Nepal on August 14, while two were killed in another landslide in nearby Rukum district. Also on August 14, five people were killed after being swept away by the swollen Koshi River in Morang, Sindhuli and Udaypur districts.
The landslides and floods were caused by heavy rain that began on August 13. — DPA
Pope on tour
Pope Francis blesses a crying child in Haemi, South Korea during a visit on August 17. — Reuters
Fatal flood
Miners trapped in China
Beijing — On August 14, rescuers rescued nine of 25 workers trapped in a flooded coal mine in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province, state media reported.
Sixteen miners remained trapped. A total of 33 workers had been lifted to the ground after flooding occurred on the afternoon of August 14 at the privately owned Anzhishun Coal Mine in Jixi City, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The report said that the mine’s owner had been arrested. — AP
Traffickers sentenced
Six to get death penalty
Hanoi — A court in northern Vietnam sentenced six people to death for trafficking heroin from Laos to be sold to China.
At the end of the three-day trial on August 14 in Dien Bien province, Judge Pham Van Nam said the six were convicted of trafficking 110 kilogrammes of heroin from mid-2012 until the gang was busted in May last year.
The judge said that two other gang members were given life sentences, while two others received jail sentences of 17 and 20 years on the same charges. — AP
Missing money
Couple accused of stealing
Kuala Lumpur — Malaysian police have arrested a bank officer and her husband over allegations that they stole from the accounts of four passengers aboard missing flight MH370, an official said on August 15.
The couple was held in police custody on August 14 for withdrawing 110,643 ringgit (1.1 million baht) from the accounts of two Malaysian and two Chinese MH370 victims, a district police chief in Kuala Lumpur said.
Police were also searching for a Pakistani man who is believed to have received part of the money in his account through an online transfer. — AFP
EASY NEWS FOR M1-3
Lost at sea
Indonesian tourist boat sinks
Jakarta — A tourist boat sank on August 16. The boat was travelling from Lombok Island to Komodo Island in central Indonesia. Twenty five people were on board. Fifteen people were missing. — AFP
Exercises
1. Which of the following is TRUE, according to the news about the financial fraud in Kuala Lumpur?
a. A bank officer was accused of stealing 1.1 billion baht.
b. Police were looking for a Pakistani man that was onboard flight MH370.
c. A couple was held by police for stealing from the bank accounts of MH370 victims.
2. Two people died in a landslide caused by rain in Jajarkot district in western Nepal on August 14. True or false.
3. When was the regulation on cars parked illegally in Bangkok due to be strictly enforced?
Vocabulary
- insurgent (n): a person fighting against the government or armed forces of their own country
landslide (n): a mass of earth, rock, etc. that falls down the slope of a mountain or cliff
allegation (n): a public statement that is made without giving proof, accusing somebody of doing something that is wrong or illegal
