weekly3 - Himalaya avalanche

Nepal snowstorms kill at least 20 people in Himalayas

Eight foreign hikers among the dead as authorities warn dozens more holidaymakers and locals are missing

The search for trekkers missing after blizzards swept through Nepal resumed on Thursday as the death toll from the extreme weather reached at least 20 people, including eight foreign hikers. 

Rescuers said the death toll could rise as dozens of other foreigners and locals who had been trekking were out of contact due to poor communication links and could have been caught in blizzards.

An avalanche buried one Indian and four Canadian trekkers in Phu on Wednesday, said the chief administrator of Manang district. The snow buried the trekkers’ bodies and digging them out would take days, he said.

Three yak herders(犛牛牧民) were killed in the same district, about 100 miles north-west of the capital,Kathmandu, and their bodies were recovered on Wednesday.

In neighbouring Mustang(野馬) district, four trekkers caught in a blizzard died on Tuesday. Rescuers recovered the bodies of the two Poles, one Israeli and one Nepali from the Thorong La pass area. The pass is on a route that circles Mount Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest peak.

It was initially thought the group had been caught in an avalanche, but Baburam Bhandari, governor of Mustang, said the group perished in a blizzard.

He added that emergency workers had rescued five German, five Polish and four Israeli trekkers who were trapped in the snowfall early on Wednesday. One German tourist fractured his leg, he said. They were taken to Jomson town by helicopter.

Police said eight Nepalis had also been killed in Mustang, which is about 150 km (93 miles) northwest of the capital, Kathmandu.

A government official said more bodies were likely to be found and that it was unclear how many people were on the snow-covered route, but dozens were believed to be stranded.

An avalanche on Mount Dhaulagiri – near the Annapurna area – hit climbers at the base camp who were preparing to scale the 8,167m (26,800ft) peak, the world’s seventh tallest. Two of the missing climbers were from Slovakia and three were Nepalese guides.

Weather forecasters said the blizzard was caused by cyclone Hudhud, which hit neighbouring India several days ago.

October is the most popular trekking season in Nepal, with thousands of foreigners hiking in the Himalayan mountains.

An avalanche in April just above the base camp on Mount Everest killed 16 Nepalese guides, the deadliest single disaster ever on the mountain. Climate experts say rising global temperatures have contributed to avalanches in the Himalayas.

key words:
trekker 登山者
blizzard 暴風雪
avalanche 雪崩
administrator 管理員
perished 滅亡
helicopter 直昇機
cyclone 氣旋

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/himalayan-snowstorm-nepal-mustang-district

Weekly2 - Ontake volcano

Japan Mount Ontake(御嶽山) volcano: Death toll reaches 47

Rescue workers in Japan have recovered more bodies from Mount Ontake, bringing to 47 the number of those killed by Saturday's volcanic eruption.

The search resumed despite fears of toxic gases and another eruption.

The number of those unaccounted for is unknown but estimates say hundreds were at the summit at the time. Dozens were injured by falling debris.

Since then, volcanic tremors have been continuously detected with smoke still coming out of the volcano.

Police had earlier put the latest death toll at 48 but then revised it down by one.

The majority of bodies found near the summit on Wednesday were hikers, according to local police.

Helicopters have been used to bring the dead down from Mount Ontake.

Around 1,000 troops, police and fire fighters are involved in rescue operations.

The relatives of the dead and missing are waiting for news in a town hall in the nearby area of Kiso.

Danger continues

Experts have warned that the eruption is ongoing.

Seismologists had noticed increased seismic activity on Mount Ontake ahead of the eruption, but were still unprepared for what ensued.

The mountain, which is about 200km (125 miles) west of Tokyo, is one of Japan's 110 active volcanoes.

Its eruption on Saturday is the worst volcanic disaster in Japan for 90 years.

Key words:

Volcano 火山

Unaccounted 下落不明

Estimate 估計

Debris 廢墟

Majority 多數

Helicopters 直昇機

Seismologists 地震學家

Ensued 接踵而來

WHO- hikers in Japan

 WHEN- Saturday

 WHAT- Mount Ontake killed 47 life

WHY –Mount Ontake was volcanic eruptions

WHERE- Mount Ontake

HOW- not given

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29440982

Weekly1 - Kaohsiung gas explosion

Kaohsiung rocked by underground blasts

A series of suspected gas explosions that shook Greater Kaohsiung from late Thursday night to early yesterday morning claimed at least 26 lives and injured 269 people.

The blasts tore through the city’s roads and dug a 100m trench up to 1.8m deep. At least 1.5km of roadways were damaged.

Cars and fire trucks were trapped and overturned in the rubble. Vehicles were hurled through the air, landing on the roofs of houses. Flames erupted from manholes after their covers were blasted off, with gouts of fire reaching 15 stories high.

According to the Greater Kaohsiung Government, at 8:46pm on Thursday it received reports of manholes spewing white smoke and the suspected smell of gas near Kaisyuan 3rd Road and Ersheng 1st Road in Cianjhen District (前鎮). A few hours after the first report, a series of explosions took place on Yisin Road, Ersheng Road, Sanduo Road and Guanghua Road in the same district, and in neighboring Lingya District (苓雅).

At press time, city government information showed that the incident had claimed 26 lives and injured 269. Among the 26 confirmed dead were three firefighters and one volunteer who rushed to the scene after residents smelled gas. Rescuers were also searching for two others who went missing.

At 8:30pm yesterday, two people were reportedly discovered alive under debris, and rescue workers were trying to free them using excavators, shovels and their bare hands. It has not been confirmed whether the two men are the two firefighters who were reported missing.

Some of the fatalities were homeowners checking out their properties after being informed about the first blasts.

Two injured people rescued from a fourth-floor balcony said that they had been propelled to the rooftop by the blasts.

The Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper’s reporter Wei Bin (魏斌) was injured by the explosions, receiving second and third-degree burns over about 50 percent of his body, the paper reported.

Schools and work were called off in Cianjhen and Lingya districts yesterday.

Hundreds of troops and firefighters from neighboring Greater Tainan, Chiayi City, Taitung County and Pingtung County were deployed to support the rescue effort.

Yesterday morning, fires still burned on the streets, but the local government said that they were left burning to avoid further explosions, adding that the firefighting crew was on the scene to keep the fire from consuming nearby buildings.

The cause of the explosions had not been determined, with authorities now focusing on the volatile chemical propene — which is carried in pipelines that run alongside the city’s underground sewage system in the area — as the suspected cause.

Chemical companies such as CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油), China Petrochemical Development Corp (中石化), China General Terminal and Distribution Corp (CGTD, 華運), LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化學) and Hsin Kao Gas Co Ltd (欣高), which have pipelines in the area, were called in by the city government’s emergency response center amid the inquiry into the cause of the fatal blasts.

Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) said yesterday morning that natural gas has been excluded from the list of possible causes, adding that gas check valves in the area have been closed.

The Greater Kaohsiung Government said a 4-inch pipeline carrying propene was found to have encountered a pressure anomaly between 8:40pm and 9pm on Thursday night.

Key words:
suspected 嫌疑
blast 爆破
trench 溝
rubble 瓦礫
spewing 噴;湧出
district 區

confirmed 確認
debris 廢墟

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2014/08/02/2003596471/1

Weekly4 - Israel

Bloody Day in Gaza as Calls for Cease-Fire Intensify

Israel (以色列) and Hamas (哈瑪斯) point the finger at each other for an attack on a Gaza (加薩) hospital that left at least 10 dead Updated at 6:45 p.m. ET

The U.N. Security Council’s call for an immediate cease-fire between Israeli forces and Hamas failed to cease violence in Gaza on Monday, as two large attacks left over a dozen dead and scores wounded

Israel and Hamas traded blame for explosions at al-Shifa Hospital and a nearby refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Monday, which killed at least 10 children and left at least 30 people dead or wound, NBC reports.

Hamas said the explosions were a “direct” strike by Israeli drones, while Israel said they were caused by failed militant rockets. “A short while ago Al-Shifa hospital was struck by a failed rocket attack launched by Gaza terror organizations,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that “there was no Israeli military activity in the area surrounding the hospital whatsoever. “

At least four people were also killed by a mortar shell in Eshkol, in Israel’s southern district close to the border with the Gaza Strip, the Jerusalem (耶路撒冷) Post reports. At least six others were seriously injured.

The attacks came just hours after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon echoed calls from the U.N. Security Council (評議會) for an immediate cease-fire. “In the name of humanity, the violence must stop,” he said, according to the BBC.

Over 1,030 Palestinians (巴基斯坦人) have been killed, according to Palestinian health organization, many of them children. A daily report for July 28 by the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that in just the past 24-hour period, 74 Palestinians had been killed. Israel says it has lost 43 soldiers and two civilians.

Ban called for an end to the violence out of respect for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday commemorating the end of Ramadan. “It’s a matter of their political will,” he said. “They have to show their humanity as leaders, both Israeli and Palestinian.”

His statements follow the Security Council’s call for a “durable” truce that would stop the violence and lead to substantial talks. The Palestinian representative to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, said that didn’t go far enough, and he demanded a formal resolution calling for Israel to remove troops from Gaza.

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said the Security Council’s statement was slated toward the Palestinians by failing to mention Hamas and the recent rocket attacks, the BBC reports.

WHO- Israel and Hamas
WHEN- not givenWHAT- There are large attacks left over a dozen dead and scores wounded
WHY- Israel and Hamas fight with each other for an attack on a GazaWHERE- GazaHOW- Use some violence weapons 

 Key words:

Violence 暴力

Wounded 負傷

Refugee 難民

Drones 無人機

Mortar 沙漿

Commemorating 紀念

Coordination 協調

Troops 部隊

Slate 預定

 http://time.com/3047518/gaza-israel-hamas-cease-fire-shati-shifa-hospital/

Weekly 3 - Robin Williams

Robin Williams' Death: Suicide Due to Hanging

Robin Williams committed suicide by hanging himself with a belt, Marin County police said at a Tuesday press conference.The preliminary cause of death is suicide due to asphyxia, Lt. Keith Boyd told the media.

According to Boyd, Williams' assistant found him hanging in a bedroom, slightly suspended in a seated position, with superficial cut marks on the inside of his left wrist; rigor mortise had already set in. He was pronounced dead at 12:02 p.m. on Monday.

Williams was last seen alive by his wife at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, Boyd added, before she went to bed.

Around 10:30 a.m. the next morning, Williams' wife left the house, believing Williams to still be asleep, but his assistant grew concerned around 11:45 a.m. when Williams did not respond to repeated knocks on his bedroom door, Boyd relayed. Upon gaining entrance to the bedroom, the assistant found Williams clothed, hanging against a closed closet door, with a belt secured around his neck, and the other end of the belt wedged between the door and the door frame, Boyd explained.

With respect to the cut marks on his wrist, Boyd noted that a pocket knife with dried red material that appeared consistent with dried blood on it was found near Williams' body. It's unknown if the substance is blood or if that blood belonged to Williams, Boyd pointed out.

An autopsy was conducted on Tuesday morning in Napa County. Boyd declined to reveal whether a note had been left at the scene.

Boyd did note, in recounting the 911 call received after Williams was found, that the caller sounded distraught.

Boyd also said that there's still an ongoing, active investigation into the cause and manner of Williams' death and that toxicology tests will be conducted, which could take approximately two to six weeks. A press conference will be scheduled when the investigation is completed, Boyd said.

Williams' publicist, Mara Buxbaum, told The Hollywood Reporter Monday that the actor "has been battling severe depression of late. This is a tragic and sudden loss. The family respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time."

Boyd said Tuesday that Williams had been seeking treatment for depression.

Williams was a four-time Oscar nominee who won the best supporting actor trophy for his role in Good Will Hunting. He most recently starred in CBS' one-season comedy The Crazy Ones alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar.

WHO- Robin WilliamWHEN- 12:02 p.m.WHAT- Robin William suicide by hangingWHY- He had Depression.WHERE- in bedroom
HOW-suicide

Key words:

Preliminary 會議

Asphyxia 窒息

Wrist 手腕

Pronounce 宣判

Secured 固定

Autopsy 屍檢

Distraught 發狂的

Ongoing 不斷的

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robin-williams-death-due-hanging-724959

Weekly 2 - Sewol

Prosecutors seek death penalty for S. Korean ferry captain

Gwangju (光州), South Korea (CNN) 

South Korean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the captain of the capsized Sewol (世越號) ferry and life in prison for three other crew members involved in the deadly disaster earlier this year.

The death penalty is unusual in South Korea, which has not carried out executions in 17 years. It hasn't been used in decades, as a backlash to how it was used in the past for political purposes.Prosecutors charged the captain, Lee Joon-seok, and the three crew members with murder, because prosecutors allege the ferry's crew members didn't use the ship's facilities such as life rafts, life vests and announcements to evacuate passengers.

The captain was filmed being rescued in his underwear on April 16, as the ferry capsized off the South Korean coast. Lee said he was changing clothes and smoking at the time of the incident. He was rescued while hundred remained inside the boat, listening to announcements to stay put. He has apologized to the victims saying his actions were not intentional.

At least 294 people died -- including hundreds of high school students on a field trip -- when the ferry sank. Ten bodies are still missing.

Prosecutors are also seeking 30 years in prison for a female crew member, who was at the helm of the ship at the time of its sinking.

The closing statement was held Monday, and the three judges are expected to issue a verdict and sentencing on November 11.

The death penalty cannot be carried out in South Korea without a signed order from the country's president.

"The death penalty is essentially a mere life sentence," said Jasper Kim, a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Ewha University(梨花大學), who has a background in law.

He also added that South Korea does not usually sentence convicted criminals to life without parole -- so life sentences usually represent about 20 years or less of imprisonment.

The Sewol disaster caused widespread outrage in South Korea over lax safety standards and the failure to rescue more people as the ship foundered.

WHO- prosecutor , Lee Joon-seok , the three crew members high school students

WHEN- April 16

WHAT- Sewol ferry and linking

WHY- because prosecutors allege the ferry's crew members didn't use the ship's facilities such as life rafts

WHERE- Gwangju, South Korea

HOW-not given

Key words:

prosecutor檢察官

captain隊長

capsized翻船

execution處決

backlash反彈

Allege斷言

stay put留在原地

verdict判決書

imprisonment徒刑

standard標準

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/27/world/asia/south-korea-sewol-ferry-disaster/

Weekly 1 - Boston Marathon bombing

Three people killed, hundreds injured in Boston Marathon bombing

On this day in 2013, two bombs go off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three spectators and wounding more than 260 other people in attendance. Four days later, after an intense manhunt that shut down the Boston area, police captured one of the bombing suspects, 19-year-old Dzhohkar Tsarnaev; his older brother and fellow suspect, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died following a shootout with law enforcement earlier that same day.

The 117th Boston Marathon began in the morning from Hopkinton(霍普金頓), Massachusetts(馬薩諸塞州), with some 23,000 participants. At around 2:49 that afternoon, with more than 5,700 runners still in the race, two pressure cooker bombs hidden in backpacks exploded within seconds of each other near the finish line along Boylston Street. Three people died: a 23-year-old woman, a 29-year-old woman and an 8-year-old boy. Among the scores of others who were injured, more than a dozen people required amputations.

On the evening of April 18, the FBI released photos of two male suspects sought in connection with the bombings. That night at around 10:30, Sean Collier(肖恩•科利爾), a 26-year-old police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was shot dead in his patrol car on the school's Cambridge(劍橋) campus. Authorities would eventually link the murder to the Tsarnaev brothers, who spent parts of their childhoods in the former Soviet(蘇聯) republic of Kyrgyzstan(吉爾吉斯斯坦) but had lived in the United States for about a decade prior to the bombings. 

Soon after Officer Collier was killed, Tamerlan Tsarnaev carjacked an SUV, taking the driver hostage and telling him he was one of the Boston Marathon bombers. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev followed behind in a smaller car before joining his older brother and the hostage in the SUV. The brothers drove around the Boston area with their hostage, forcing him to withdraw money from an ATM and discussing driving to New York City. When they stopped at a Cambridge gas station, the hostage escaped and called police, informing them the SUV could be tracked by his cell phone, which was still in the vehicle. Shortly after midnight, a gun battle broke out between the Tsarnaevs and police on a street in the Boston suburb of Watertown(水城). One officer was seriously injured by gunfire but survived. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, also seriously wounded, was taken to a hospital, where doctors tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev managed to drive away from the shootout in the stolen SUV before abandoning it nearby and fleeing on foot.

That day, April 19, the Boston area was on lockdown, with schools closed, public transportation service suspended and people advised to stay inside their homes, as police conducted door-to-door searches in Watertown and military-style vehicles patrolled the streets. That evening, after police called off their search of the area, a Watertown man went outside to check on a boat he was storing in his backyard. When he looked inside the 24-foot vessel, he was startled to see blood and a person, who turned out to be Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, hiding there. Police soon arrived and took the suspect, who was wounded from the earlier gun battle, into custody.

At the time of the bombings, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a sophomore at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, while Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a community college dropout and former amateur boxer with a wife and child. Investigators believe the Tsarnaevs were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs but planned and carried out the bombings on their own and were not connected to any terrorist organizations. The brothers allegedly used the Internet to learn how to build explosives.

In July 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty to the 30 federal charges against him, including the use of a weapon of mass destruction. He is scheduled to stand trial in November 2014, and federal prosecutors have announced they will seek the death penalty against him if he is convicted.

In October 2013, court documents filed by federal prosecutors linked Tamerlan Tsarnaev to a triple murder in Waltham, Massachusetts, in September 2011. However, to date, the case remains unsolved. 

 WHO- Dzhohkar Tsarnaev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev
 WHEN-Apr15, 2013
 WHAT- two pressure cooker bombs hidden in backpacks exploded within seconds of each other near the finish line along Boston Street.
WHY - not given
WHERE- Boston
HOW- two pressure cooker bombing

Key words:
spectators 觀眾
manhunt 搜捕
enforcement 強制
pressure cooker bombs壓力鍋
amputations截肢
Institute學院
Patrol巡邏
carjacked 劫持
gunfire 炮火
shootout槍戰
custody保管
amateur業餘
allegedly據稱
prosecutors檢察官

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/three-people-killed-hundreds-injured-in-boston-marathon-bombing