week 3 afl3a38

REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM

16 August 2016

by Matthew Holbrook

Making it to the Olympics is something eighteen-year-old swimmer Yusra has always dreamed of. But just last year, she was swimming for her life. She and her sister were forced to leave their home in Syria because of the war there. They were trying to get to Greece in a rubber dinghy with eighteen other refugees, when their boat broke down and began filling with water. Most of the people on board couldn't swim so she and her sister jumped in to help push it to shore.

YUSRA, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: It was really hard. Me and my sister were in the water. My sister told me if something happens, don't help anyone. Then she got in the water and helped them. And it was like quite hard just to think you're a swimmer and at the end you're going to end up dying in the water.

Three hours later, they made it to safety, and eventually to Germany as refugees. Refugees are people who have left their home country because their lives are threatened by war, bad treatment or violence - often because of their race, gender or beliefs. Around the world, more than 60 million people are in this situation. And some of them, like Yusra, are elite athletes who have trained all their lives to compete at the highest level, only to have that chance taken away.

When Yusra left Syria, she thought her Olympic dream was over. Because in the past, refugees haven't been able to compete. But then, a door opened.

THOMAS BACH, IOC PRESIDENT: Today I am happy to announce the creation of the Olympic Team of refugee Olympic athletes.

Now, a team of ten, including swimmers, runners, and judokas from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo have been given the chance to compete at the Games under the Olympic flag.

YUSRA, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: In the water there is no difference if you are a refugee, or Syrian, or German. In the water it is just you and your competing mate.

They've also been given their own coaches, officials, uniforms, and a chef, all paid for by the IOC. And in the past few months they've been training hard. The IOC says it wants the team to inspire and give hope to other refugees, and draw attention to the issues millions of others around the world are facing. And these guys say they're up to the task, whether they win gold or not.

YUSRA, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: We heard a lot of stories from refugees. And all of them saying “No I can’t, no I will not” and after they saw what we did I tell them “Yeah I’m a refugee too” and they're like "Oh my god I should've been like you, I should have tried" And I tell them "You can! You just want to try from all your heart!"

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4517894.htm

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-refugee Olympic team

WHEN-not given

WHAT-the creation of the Olympic Team of refugee Olympic athletes

WHY-inspire and give hope to other refugees, and draw attention to the issues millions of others around the world are facing

WHERE-not given

HOW-not given

Keywords:

1. force:強迫

2. announce:宣布

3. refugee:難民

4. compete:競爭

5. flag:旗幟

6. athlete: 運動員

7. inspire: 激勵

8. draw attention: 吸引注意力

9. task: 任務

10. issue: 議題

week 2 afl3a38

US Supreme Court rules gay marriage is legal nationwide

by  US & Canada

27 June 2015

The US Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex marriage is a legal right across the United States.

It means the 14 states with bans on same-sex marriage will no longer be able to enforce them.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the plaintiffs asked "for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

The ruling brings to an end more than a decade of bitter legal battles.

Same-sex couples in several affected states including Georgia, Michigan, Ohio and Texas rushed to wed on Friday.

However officials in other states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, said marriages had to wait until procedural issues were addressed.

President Barack Obama said the ruling was a "victory for America".

"When all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free " he said.

However, Christian conservatives condemned the decision.

Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee called it "an out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny".

And Kellie Fiedorek, a lawyer for an anti-gay marriage advocacy group, said the decision "ignored the voices of thousands of Americans".

Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, a state where marriages licences will now be issued to same-sex couples, said the justices "have imposed on the entire country their personal views on an issue that the Constitution and the Court's previous decisions reserve to the people of the states".

Loud cheers erupted outside the court after the ruling was announced, and there were tears, hugs, and cheers of "USA USA USA!".

A sea of rainbow flags overwhelmed the few anti-gay marriage activists who reacted in disbelief, and the demonstration seemed to turn into a street party.

A tour bus drove past honking as hundreds cheered the decision.

One of the demonstrators, Jordan Monaghan, called his mother from his mobile phone amid the celebrations.

"Hey mom, I'm at the Supreme Court. Your son can have a husband now," Mr Monaghan said.

Minutes after the ruling, couples in one of the states that had a ban, Georgia, lined up in hope of being wed.

In Texas, Yasmin Menchaca and her partner Catherine Andrews told the BBC that they are "trying to round up our parents" in order to get married on Friday.

The two have been together for six years, and had attempted to marry in Washington state - but decided to wait because of the financial burden of flying their parents across the country.

On social media, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton merely tweeted the word "proud" and the White House changed its Twitter avatar into the rainbow colours.

The case considered by the court concerned Jim Obergefell, an Ohio resident who was not recognised as the legal widower of his late husband, John Arthur.

"It's my hope that gay marriage will soon be a thing of the past, and from this day forward it will simply be 'marriage,'" an emotional Mr Obergefell said outside the court.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33290341

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-The US Supreme Court

WHEN-not given

WHAT-rules gay marriage is legal nationwide

WHY-not given

WHERE-the United States

HOW-not given

Keywords:

1. legal: 合法的

2. enforce: 強迫

3. dignity: 尊嚴

4. conservative: 保守者

5. condemn: 譴責

6. unconstitutional: 違反憲法的

7. tyranny: 暴政

8. erupt: 爆發

9. Supreme Court: 最高法院

10. round up: 聚集

week 1 afl3a38

Nobel laureates warn Aung San Suu Kyi over 'ethnic cleansing' of Rohingya

by Oliver Holmes

30, December, 2016

More than a dozen fellow Nobel laureates have criticised Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, for a bloody military crackdown on minority Rohingya people, warning of a tragedy “amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”.

The open letter to the UN security council from a group of 23 activists, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai, warned that the army offensive had killed of hundreds of people, including children, and left women raped, houses burned and many civilians arbitrarily arrested.

It was delivered as Bangladesh announced around 50,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the violence across its border.

“Access for humanitarian aid organisations has been almost completely denied, creating an appalling humanitarian crisis in an area already extremely poor,” reads the letter, whose signatories include current and former political and business leaders and campaigners such as Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel peace prize.

“Some international experts have warned of the potential for genocide. It has all the hallmarks of recent past tragedies – Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, Kosovo,” the letter reads.

“If we fail to take action, people may starve to death if they are not killed with bullets.”

The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar says it is responding to several attacks carried out by Rohingya militants that killed nine police officers on 9 October.

But the signatories to the letter said the army’s response had been “grossly disproportionate”.

“It would be one thing to round up suspects, interrogate them and put them on trial,” the letter said. “It is quite another to unleash helicopter gunships on thousands of ordinary civilians and to rape women and throw babies into a fire.”

The Rohingya are a minority of about a million people who, despite living in the country for generations, are treated as illegal immigrants and denied citizenship. They have been persecuted for years by the government and nationalist Buddhists.

The recent bloodshed is the most deadly since hundreds were killed in clashes in 2012 and more than 100,000 were forced into squalid camps.

An Amnesty International report this month, based on extensive interviews with Rohingya as well as analysis of satellite imagery, claimed that actions by Myanmar’s military may constitute crimes against humanity.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent much of the past two decades under house arrest and was awarded the 1991 Nobel peace prize, won elections last November, ending decades of junta rule.

But the Myanmar armed forces, or Tatmadaw, retain significant power in Myanmar. Under the army-drafted constitution, the military controls the three most powerful government ministries: home, defence and border affairs.

Aung San Suu Kyi is foreign minister and state counsellor, as the law bars her from the presidency, which is held by her close aide Htin Kyaw. However, she is widely considered the country’s de facto leader.

The open letter said that “despite repeated appeals to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi we are frustrated that she has not taken any initiative to ensure full and equal citizenship rights of the Rohingyas. Daw Suu Kyi is the leader and is the one with the primary responsibility to lead, and lead with courage, humanity and compassion.”

Nobel peace laureates who signed the letter include Jose Ramos-Horta, former president of East Timor, and Yemeni opposition activist Tawakul Karman. It was also signed by former prime minister of Italy Romano Prodi and British business leader Sir Richard Branson.

Bangladesh has stepped up patrols to try to stop refugees crossing the border during the last three months, and its foreign ministry had summoned Myanmar’s ambassador to express “deep concern at the continued influx”.

“Around 50,000 Myanmar citizens took shelter into Bangladesh since 9 October 2016,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

A spokesman for the United Nations high commissioner for refugees told AFP that at least 43,000 Rohingya have taken shelter in Bangladesh since October.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/30/nobel-laureates-aung-san-suu-kyi-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-Aung San Suu Kyi

WHEN-not given

WHAT-a dozen fellow Nobel laureates have criticised Aung San Suu Kyi

WHY-warning of a tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity

WHERE-Myanmar

HOW-bloody military crackdown on minority Rohingya people

Keywords:

1. laureate: 得獎者

2. ethnic cleansing: 種族淨化

3. crackdown: 鎮壓

4. humanity: 人道

5. arbitrarily: 武斷地

6. take action: 採取行動

7. starve: 挨餓

8. bullet: 子彈

9. signatory: 簽署國

10. minority: 少數民族

Week Eight AFL3A38

UK at risk of Brexit ‘catastrophe’ warns Canadian trade expert

By Toby Helm

7, January 2017

Britain risks a “catastrophic” Brexit because the government is so dismissive of the concerns of trade experts, according to one of the figures behind the EU-Canada trade deal which took a decade to negotiate.

Writing in the Observer, Jason Langrish – one of Canada’s authorities in the field – says the UK’s former ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, who resigned last week and quit the civil service, was absolutely right to say that a British deal could also take a decade to strike.

Langrish, who was closely involved in the prolonged Canadian talks, argues that Rogers’ analysis of the time-scale “seems realistic”, and says discussions he has had with UK government officials about Brexit suggest that there is little chance of minimising serious potential damage from the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Although he has no formal role in advising the UK, Langrish has been sounded out behind the scenes by those involved with handling Brexit in Whitehall. The impression he has been left with is that unless the British government shows more flexibility it will probably have to revert to World Trade Organisation rules and common tariffs, which could lop 4% off UK GDP.

Referring to his talks with UK officials, he writes: “While they have always been pleasant (and notably friendly towards Canada), my view is that they remain in campaign mode.

“Were they willing to realistically discuss options for Brexit, as opposed to telling you what they intend to do in a general sense while dismissing the obvious concerns, they may have a chance to minimise the damage from the potentially catastrophic decision to leave. This seems increasingly unlikely. Let’s hope that the courts, parliament and, ultimately, the electorate do it for them.”

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement has been cited by UK politicians and senior figures in other member states as a potential model for the UK to follow. In March, before the Brexit referendum, Boris Johnson, now the foreign secretary, said: “I think we can strike a deal as the Canadians have done, based on trade and getting rid of tariffs. It’s a very, very bright future I see.”

Rogers was subject to a barrage of criticism from hardline Brexiters when it emerged that he had warned ministers that the view in Brussels was that a trade deal with the EU could be a decade at least in the making, and that even then there was no guarantee of success.

Rogers quit his post last week and in a memo to staff talked of “muddled thinking” about strategy at the top of government.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said that Rogers had also resigned from the civil service and would be paid three months’ salary in lieu of his notice period. He will not receive a payoff and did not ask for one.

“We are grateful for Sir Ivan’s work in Brussels and across a number of other senior positions in the civil service,” the spokesman said.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/07/uk-at-risk-of-brexit-trade-catastrophe

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-Britain, Jason Langrish 
WHEN-not givenWHAT-the UK’s former ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, who resigned last week and quit the             civil service, was absolutely right to say that a British deal could also take a decade to strike
WHY-not givenWHERE-not givenHOW-not given

Keywords:
1. catastrophe: 大災難
2. dismissive: 輕視的
3. resign: 辭職
4. flexibility; 彈性
5. revert: 回復
6. remain: 維持
7. parliament: 議會
8. referendum: 公投
9. tariff: 關稅
10. muddled: 混亂的

Week Seven AFL3A38

IS kills 24 with car bomb in Baghdad; attack police in Iraq

Wed, Jan 04, 2017

By Reuters, BAGHDAD and TIKRIT, Iraq

An Islamic State car bomb killed 24 people in Baghdad’s Sadr City District on Monday and the militants also attacked two police stations in the city of Samarra, as Iraqi forces fought to oust the group from Mosul, its last major stronghold in Iraq.

At least four other attacks across Baghdad, some also claimed by the Islamic State group, killed nine more people earlier in the day, bringing the total death toll from bombings in the capital over the past three days to more than 60.

In the attacks in Samarra, about 100km north of Baghdad, security sources said multiple gunmen wearing suicide vests took over two police stations, killing at least seven police officers.

Samarra Mayor Mahmoud Khalaf said security forces had regained control, killing at least six assailants, but declined to comment on the number of casualties on the government side.

The pro-Islamic State news agency Amaq said the militants had executed some police officers.

The upsurge in violence comes as US-backed Iraqi forces try to drive the Islamic State group from Mosul where the militants are putting up fierce resistance.

The Islamic State group has lost most of the territory it seized in a blitz across northern and western Iraq in 2014 and ceding Mosul would probably spell the end of its self-styled caliphate. However, it would still be capable of waging a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq and plotting or inspiring attacks on the West.

“The terrorists will attempt to attack civilians in order to make up for their losses, but we assure the Iraqi people and the world that we are able to end terrorism and shorten its life,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said after talks with visiting French President Francois Hollande.

The Islamic State group said Monday’s attacks in Baghdad were revenge for “the repeated targeting of health institutions in Nineveh Province” by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces.

That was an apparent reference to two airstrikes last month on hospitals in eastern Mosul, one where Iraqi forces were under attack and another which the US military said had targeted militants sitting in a van. At least one of the strikes might have caused civilian casualties.

After Monday’s attacks US Department of State spokesman John Kirkby reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to support Iraq.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/01/04/2003662476

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-Islamic State
WHEN-Monday
WHAT-car bomb killed 24 people, attacked two police stations
WHY-not givenWHERE-Baghdad’s Sadr City District, the city of Samarra
HOW-bombing

Keywords:
1. militants: 激進分子
2. oust: 驅逐
3. stronghold: 大本營
4. casualty: 傷亡人數
5. execute: 將...處死
6. upsurge: 高漲
7. fierce: 強烈的
8. resistance: 反抗
9. guerrilla: 游擊隊
10. airstrike: 空襲

Week Six AFL3A38

SpaceX rocket successfully lands on ocean drone platform for first time

Friday 8 April 2016

By Alan Yuhas

SpaceX landed a reusable rocket on a robotic drone on Friday, its fifth attempt and a historic achievement in a budding space race between billionaires to revolutionize spaceflight.

The Falcon 9 rocket took off with a Dragon cargo capsule at 4.43pm ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida, under clear conditions.

SpaceX employees gathered around the company’s Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, cheered wildly and chanted “USA” after the booster touched down on the barge off the coast of Cape Canaveral. Previous barge attempts had failed.

The private spaceflight company, which has shuttled cargo to the International Space Station and satellites into orbit since 2012, set off to deliver 7,000lb of supplies and a habitat experiment to the station – an inflatable room for astronauts.

The Dragon and inflatable room should reach the space station on Sunday.

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who owns SpaceX, has said he hopes to pioneer reusable rockets that will make spaceflight vastly less expensive – and thus open new frontiers of exploration and opportunity in space.

The company has attempted several landings before, none successful save one on a landing pad on solid earth. Musk hopes to land the rocket on a “drone ship” because the robotic vessel can meet the rocket on its descent, reducing fuel expenses, and because a landing at sea is safer than one near people.

A few of the attempted marine landings were almost successful. One landing was on point but “too hard for survival”, Musk said. Earlier this year, another rocket suffered a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, as Musk put it, meaning that one of its legs broke and the rocket blew up. Last month, another attempt failed, though in windy conditions that even Musk’s optimism couldn’t quite surmount.

SpaceX’s last resupply mission to the space station also failed last year – the rocket exploded minutes after takeoff – though it has accomplished six others without incident.

Musk has a rival in Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and the owner of Blue Origin, a spaceflight company that has successfully landed a smaller vehicle on solid ground three times. Unlike Musk, Bezos does not allow live broadcast of launches and landings, and his rockets do not carry cargo to the ISS.

The experimental inflatable module SpaceX carried up on Friday represents “the future”, the ISS program manager, Kirk Shireman, told reporters on Thursday. “Humans will be using these kinds of modules as we move further and further off the planet and, actually, as we inhabit low Earth orbit.”

The habitat is called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (Beam) and it will be tested over two years to learn how it withstands the extremities of space.

Many of the other experiments being ferried to the station pertain to life sciences, and will help provide “an amazing bonanza for the biological sciences”, Nasa’s Kirt Costello told reporters at the briefing.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/08/spacex-rocket-test-elon-musk-international-space-station

Structure of the Lead：
WHO-SpaceX
WHEN-Friday
WHAT-landed a reusable rocket on a robotic drone
WHY-not given
WHERE-not given
HOW-not given

Keywords:

1. reusable: 可再度利用的

2. rocket: 火箭

3. budding: 嶄露頭角的

4. revolutionize: 徹底變革

5. capsule: 太空艙

6. pioneer: 當先驅

7. disassemenbly: 解體

8. inflatable: 可充氣的

9. withstand: 承受

10. bonanza: 致富之源

Week Five AFL3A38

Switzerland becomes first country to submit Paris climate deal pledge

Friday 27 February 2015
By Ed King

Switzerland has become the first country to formally communicate its contribution to a UN climate change deal: 50% greenhouse gas cuts on 1990 levels by 2030.

Released on Friday, the Swiss government says 30% of those cuts will be achieved within the country, with the remaining 20% through carbon markets or other forms of offsets.

“This objective of a 50% reduction in emissions reflects Switzerland’s responsibility for climate warming and the potential cost of emissions reduction measures in Switzerland and abroad over the 2020-2030 period,” says the Swiss communication.

“Switzerland, which is responsible for 0.1% of today’s global greenhouse gas emissions and, based on the structure of its economy, has a low level of emissions (6.4 tonnes per capita per year), will use emissions reduction measures abroad to reduce the cost of emissions reduction measures during the period 2020-2030.”

Documents sent to the media say the target is “compatible” with efforts to limit warming to below 2C above pre-industrial levels. The government is also discussing a long term target to reduce emissions 70-85% by 2050 on 1990 levels.

In an email to RTCC, Switzerland’s chief climate negotiator Franz Perrez described the submission as “ambitious and forward-looking”.

“Given the reality of Switzerland with very low per capita emissions (with approximately 6 tonne per capita less than world average) and thus limited availability of cost-effective short term domestic emission reduction potential, the use of international credits meeting high environmental standards will allows Switzerland to contribute to quick emission reductions, while at the same time to continue its ambitious pathway towards further reduction of domestic emissions,” he said.

Jürg Staudenmann, a climate advisor to the Alliance Sud NGO, said the Swiss effort was “disappointing” and called for more clarity on how the 30% domestic emissions cuts would be achieved.

“There is no word about climate finance and support for developing countries,” Staudenmann said, “Switzerland has a responsibility and capacity to support developing countries.”

Switzerland’s announcement comes two days after the European Commission issued its own plans for a contribution to a UN climate deal, set to be signed in Paris this December.

It proposed Europe should aim for 40% carbon cuts on 1990 levels by 2030, although in a letter seen by RTCC, the UK’s climate secretary Ed Davey accused the Commission of watering down its ambition.

All major economies have been asked to submit their ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contributions’ before 1 October this year, after which the UN will assess whether the world is on course to avoid dangerous levels of warming.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/27/switzerland-becomes-first-country-to-submit-paris-climate-deal-pledge

Structure of the Lead：
WHO-Switzerland
WHEN-Friday
WHAT-become the first country to submit Paris climate deal pledge
WHY-not given 
WHERE-not given
HOW-not given

Keywords:

1. greenhouse gas: 溫室氣體

2. emission: 排放

3. reduction: 減少

4. responsibilty: 責任

5. measure: 措施

6. domestic: 國內的

7. compatible: 兼容的

8. ambitious: 有野心的

9. forward-looking: 有遠見的

10. assess: 評估