Week7: Hong Kong

Hong Kong's street occupations have ended, but many demonstrators say this is only the beginning of their fight for free elections

Hong Kong authorities on Monday began tearing down the last of the city’s pro-democracy camps, bringing a quiet end to two and a half months of street occupations that constituted the most significant political protest in China since 1989’s Tiananmen Square uprising in Beijing.

By Tuesday, all three protest sites — in the Admiralty, Mong Kok and Causeway Bay districts — will be gone. The streets will be tidied up and returned to traffic, office workers and shoppers.

The protesters are leaving the streets with few tangible results. Beijing has rejected their insistence that Hong Kongers should have the right to freely elect the head of the city’s government without a pro-establishment committee first handpicking the candidates.

The Hong Kong government has also made it clear that it sees itself as a local representative of the central government, and is unwilling to convey the democratic aspirations of many of its people to Beijing.

Yet what has appeared out of the political hothouse of the tent cities is something with much more potential to undermine the Communist Party’s control over this wayward southern city, already culturally estranged from the mainland — and that is a generation of Hong Kongers who have defied Beijing, who have vowed to defy it again, and whose actions have generated a collection of resonant images that will inspire Hong Kongers for a long time to come.

After police used tear gas against protesters on Sept. 28, tens of thousands rallied to the streets. Right by the walls of the People’s Liberation Army barracks and the Hong Kong government’s headquarters, demonstrators unfurled umbrellas to protect themselves against police pepper spray. The poignant image of ordinary Hong Kongers standing up to a foe like China with nothing but these everyday items gave birth to the movement’s name: the Umbrella Revolution. By November, the protests had contracted. The weather turned petulant, the protest leadership sparred and splintered, and demonstrators camped in the streets began to wonder how long the governments in Hong Kong and Beijing were content to let them wait. Public opinion, too, turned against the protests, with commuters complaining of epic traffic snarls caused by barricaded thoroughfares — among them Hong Kong’s major arteries — and business owners in the occupied areas feeling the pressure of reduced takings.

In one of the last rites of defiance, more than 200 protesters, including leading democratic legislators, refused to leave the largest protest site as police and demolition crews approached it last week — except, those demonstrators said, under duress and in a police van. In a process that took hours and made for a dramatic scene, police escorted — and sometimes carried — protesters off the pavement, one by one, toward a waiting police bus.

Left behind in the streets, as the final demonstrators were shown out, were countless signs, chalked on the roads, posted on walls, hung as banners and even floated into the sky on balloons. They all promised the same thing: “We will be back.”

Here, in 30 photographs, is a record of Hong Kong’s political awakening, and proof that the threat to return to the streets is not an idle one.

(Source: http://time.com/3632739/occupy-hong-kong-umbrella-revolution-photo-essay/ )

Structure:
who: people in HK
what: Hong Kong authorities on Monday began tearing down the last of the city’s pro-democracy camps.
where: Hong Kong
when:Monday
why:severely affect traffic
how: teared down those camps and tents

Key words:

1. constitute: 構成，組成

2. tangible:明確的，明白的

3. handpick:精選
4. undermine:漸漸破壞
5. wayward:任性的，不定的
6. estrange:使疏遠
7. defy: 藐視，挑釁
8. resonant: 共鳴的
9. barrack: 軍營
10. unfurl: 展開
11. poignant: 嚴厲的，劇烈的
12. stand up to: 敢於面對
13. petulant: 暴躁的，易生氣的
14. spar: 拳鬥，爭論
15. splinter: 使破裂
16. epic: 史詩般的
17. rite: 儀式
18. defiance: 挑釁
19. escort: 護送

Week6: ISIS

ISIS Wants $1 Million for Journalist James Foley’s Body

After failing to ransom several U.S. and British hostages, ISIS is trying a disgusting new money-making scheme. Three sources tell BuzzFeed that the terrorist group is trying to secure $1 million for the remains of James Foley, the American journalist itbeheaded in August. The middlemen say ISIS wants them to reach out to the U.S. government or Foley's family, and they're willing to provide a DNA sample. "They ask for $1 million, and they will send DNA to Turkey, but they want the money first," said a former Syrian rebel fighter with ties to ISIS. "They will not give the DNA without the money."

Ransoming hostages can be a huge source of revenue for ISIS. Al Qaeda and its affiliates have raised $125 million in ransom payments in the last five years, according to the New York Times. Fifteen European hostages were released after their governments reportedly paid off ISIS, but the U.S. and Britain refuse to pay ransoms. Since Foley's death, ISIS has released videotape executions of American journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker Alan Henning, and American aid worker Peter Kassig.

A senior official in the Free Syrian Army who would be involved in negotiations worried that the effort would fall apart if it was made public, while simultaneously articulating why it makes no sense. "It will be like a shame for the U.S. government," he said. "People will ask why you brought the body but you didn’t bring him when he was alive."

( Source: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/isis-wants-1-million-for-james-foleys-body.html)

Structure:

Who: ISIS

What: ISIS is trying to secure $1 million for the remains of James Foley.

Why: to increase their revenue

When: not given

Where: not given

How: They asked middlemen to reach out to the U.S. government or Foley's family for the ransom

Key words

1.          ransom:勒索贖金，贖金

2.          scheme:計畫，詭計，陰謀

3.          secure:獲得

4.          behead:斬首

5.          revenue:收益

6.          affiliate:分會，附屬機構

7.          simultaneously:同時

8.          articulating:明白的說

Week5: Ebola

Taiwanese man faces fine over false Ebola report

TAIPEI: A Taiwanese man faces a fine after telling doctors he had traveled to Africa and had symptoms of Ebola, sparking emergency quarantine measures at a hospital, officials said today.

The 19-year-old, who was not identified, could face a fine of up to TW$150,000 (US$4,800).

The man was hospitalized Friday at the Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital in the south. He told doctors he was suffering from fever and diarrhea and had eaten bats during a recent trip to Nigeria.

The hospital immediately quarantined the man, meaning that other emergency cases had to be turned away, even though he did not have a fever at the time.

The event attracted widespread local media attention. The island’s Centres for Disease Control even released a statement calling on the public not to travel to West Africa unless essential, and not to eat wild animals if they did so.

But tests for Ebola were found Saturday to be negative and authorities also discovered that the man had never travelled abroad.

Doctors at the hospital said they feared he was mentally ill.

Asia has so far remained free from the Ebola virus ravaging parts of West Africa that has caused more than 6,100 deaths in less than a year.

(http://www.nst.com.my/node/60078)

Structure:

Who: a 19-year-old man

When: Friday

What: a man told doctors he had traveled to Africa and had symptoms of Ebola and asked for emergency quarantine measures

Where: Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital

How: The hospital immediately quarantined the man

Key words:

1.          fine:罰金

2.          symptom:症狀

3.          quarantine:隔離，檢疫

4.          hospitalize:住院治療

5.          Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital:高雄榮總醫院

6.          diarrhea:腹瀉

7.          turn away:拒絕

8.          Centres for Disease Control: 疾病管制署

9.          ravage:破壞，蹂躪

Week3: Elliot Rodger

Taiwanese among six killed in California

SANTA BARBARA:Hong Cheng-yuan was the roommate of suspected killer Elliot Rodger. The foreign ministry is still checking whether another victim is Taiwanese

By Jake Chung  /  Staff writer, with CNA and AP

US authorities have confirmed that at least one of the victims in a killing spree last week in California was a Taiwanese student, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said yesterday.

Representatives from the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Exchange Office (TECRO) branch in Los Angeles has “established direct contact with local authorities” and the University of California at Santa Barbara to offer its assistance, Kao added.

On Friday night, Elliot Rodger, 22, allegedly stabbed to death his two roommates — Hong Cheng-yuan (洪晟元), also known as James, 20, and George Chen, 19 — and a visitor, Wang Weihan, 20, from Fremont, California, in their apartment near the university campus.

Rodger then drove to the Alpha Phi sorority house on campus and shot three women on the lawn.

Katherine Cooper, 22, and Veronika Weiss, 19 — both students at the university — were killed. The third women, as yet unidentified, is being treated for multiple gunshot wounds.

Rodger drove on to a local deli, went inside and shot and killed Christopher Ross Michaels-Martinez, 20.

He injured 13 more either with gunshots or a car that he used as a battering ram against bicyclists and skateboarders.

The killing spree claimed seven lives, including Rodger’s.

The Santa Barbara County Sherriff’s Office said Rodger took his own life after the rampage.

US media reports said Rodger had uploaded multiple YouTube videos, including one, which has since been removed, titled Day of Retribution, promising to have “his revenge against humanity” — particularly the women whom he claims rejected him.

Hong, who identified himself on Facebook as having grown up in Taipei, had graduated from Lynbrook High School in San Jose, California, the TECRO office in Los Angeles said.

The office is still seeking confirmation with the university whether Chen was also Taiwanese.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2014/05/27/2003591349

Structure

WHO : Hong Cheng-yuan, Elliot Rodger

WHEN : yesterday

WHAT : US authorities have confirmed that at least one of the victims in a killing spree last week in California was a Taiwanese student.

WHERE : the University of California at Santa Barbara

WHY : Elliot Rodger promised to have “his revenge against humanity” — particularly the women whom he claims rejected him

HOW : Elliot Rodger killed people with gunshots

Key Words

1.          killing spree:大殺特殺

2.          Ministry of Foreign Affairs :外交部

3.          allegedly:據稱

4.          stab:刺

5.          sorority:女學生聯誼會

6.          deli:熟食店

7.          battering ram :破城(牆)槌，攻城木

8.          rampage:橫衝直撞，亂衝

Week 2: World Cup

WORLD CUP: Suarez sorry Chiellini suffered ‘result’ of bite

AFP, MONTEVIDEO

Disgraced Uruguay striker Luis Suarez on Monday apologized to Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini for the bite that saw him banned for four months and expelled from the FIFA World Cup.

It is the first time Suarez has acknowledged that the Italian was bitten.

“The truth is that my colleague Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me. I deeply regret what occurred,” the 27-year-old Liverpool striker said on Twitter. “I apologize to Giorgio Chiellini and the entire football family. I vow to the public there will never again be another incident like.”

Chiellini, who said the ban was excessive, reacted quickly to the apology, tweeting back: “It’s all forgotten. I hope FIFA will reduce your suspension.”

Suarez bit Chiellini in Uruguay’s 1-0 win over Italy on June 24 that took La Celeste into the World Cup last 16, before they were beaten by Colombia on Saturday.

The polemic striker initially denied the charges against him, telling a FIFA disciplinary commission that he lost his balance and there was no bite. Still, within 48 hours of the incident, he was handed a four-month ban from all soccer activities, suspended from nine internationals and fined US$112,000 for what was his third biting offense.

Suarez on Friday returned to Uruguay where the sanction has caused national outrage, with Uruguayan President Jose Mujica slamming FIFA leaders as “sons of bitches.”

FIFA’s disciplinary commission gave a damning assessment of Suarez’s actions in its final report on the incident, which was leaked to various media outlets, and said “the offense was carried out directly against an opposing player, while the ball was not being disputed, and it was done deliberately, intentionally and without provocation.”

Several soccer figures inside and outside FIFA have said Suarez — one of the best, but also most temperamental, strikers in the world — should seek counseling.

FIFA General-Secretary Jerome Valcke said at the World Cup that Suarez had to “find a way to stop doing it. He should go through a treatment. It is definitely wrong.”

International professional players’ union FIFPro said that soccer’s world governing body should have made mandatory treatment part of its sanction.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/sport/archives/2014/07/02/2003594154

Structure:

When: Monday

Where: Uruguay

Who: Luis Suarez, Giorgio Chiellini

What: disgraced Uruguay striker Luis Suarez on Monday apologized to Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini for the bite

How: he was handed a four-month ban from all soccer activities, suspended from nine internationals and fined US$112,000

Key words:

disgrace : 恥辱，丟臉

acknowledge: 承認

suspension : 中止，暫停

polemic : 爭論的，辯論的

disciplinary : 訓誡的

commission : 委員會

outrage : 憤怒

deliberately : 故意的

provocation : 激怒，挑撥

temperamental : 個性倔強的，喜怒無常的

mandatory : 命令的，強制的

Week 1: Ukraine crisis

Russia, Ukraine leaders meet, but no breakthrough

Reuters, MILAN, Italy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met an array of EU leaders yesterday, but there was little sign of progress in patching up a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and resolving a dispute over natural gas supplies.

Putin held more than 2.5 hours of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel overnight. The Kremlin said afterwards the pair were still at odds over how to resolve a crisis that has revived the specter of old Cold War rivalries.

“The two leaders continued to express serious differences in views on the source of Ukraine’s domestic conflict, as well as root causes for what is happening there today,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

The West has imposed sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea earlier this year and its support of pro-Russian separatists fighting in the east of Ukraine.

European leaders, in Milan for a EU-Asia summit, urged Russia to do more to end constant, deadly violations of a ceasefire that was agreed by Putin and Poroshenko last month in Minsk.

“It is obviously above all Russia’s task to make clear that the Minsk plan is adhered to,” Merkel said on Thursday.

Europe fears Russia’s decision to cut gas supplies to Ukraine because of unpaid bills could threaten disruptions in the gas flow to the rest of the continent this winter and is working hard to broker a deal.

Russia is Europe’s biggest gas supplier, meeting about a third of demand, and the EU gets about half of the Russian gas it uses via Ukraine.

Kiev and its Western backers accuse Moscow of aiding a pro-Russian separatist revolt in eastern Ukraine by providing troops and arms. Russia denies the charges, but says it has a right to defend the interests of the region’s Russian-speaking majority.

Taking the lead in the Milan diplomacy, Merkel saw Poroshenko on Thursday evening.

“The meeting went very well and we have seen a great demonstration of support for Ukraine,” Poroshenko said afterwards.

The German leader then met Putin until well after midnight. Speaking off the record, a German official said the pair had discussed implementation of the Minsk accord, with Merkel telling Putin that Russia had to meet its commitments to enable a de-escalation.

Italian radio said that afterwards, Putin attended a party thrown by his friend former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. He did not leave until after 3am, but looked sprightly as he arrived for yesterday’s talks at 8am.

Putin warned on Thursday that Russia would reduce gas supplies to Europe if Ukraine steals from the transit pipeline to cover its own needs, although he added that he was “hopeful” it would not come to that.

“I can reassure you that there will be no crisis that could be blamed on Russian participants in energy cooperation,” Putin told reporters during a visit to Serbia.

However, he said, “there are big transit risks.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2014/10/18/2003602368

Structure of the Lead:

WHO- Russia and Ukraine leaders

WHEN- yesterday

WHAT- there was little sign of progress in patching up a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and

resolving a dispute over natural gas supplies.

WHY- The two leaders continued to express serious differences in views on the source of

Ukraine’s domestic conflict, as well as root causes for what is happening there today.

WHERE- Italy

HOW- European leaders, in Milan for a EU-Asia summit, urged Russia to do more to end

constant, deadly violations of a ceasefire.

Key words:

1. array: 陣容

2. patching up: 修補

3. at odds: 不和，有衝突

4. specter: 恐怖的根源

5. sanction: 制裁

6. annexation: 吞併

7. summit: 高峰會

8. adhered to: 執著於，堅持

9. revolt: 叛亂，反感

10. implementation: 實施

11. accord: 一致，符合，協調

12. de-escalation: 戰爭或危機激烈程度的減少

13. sprightly: 活潑，愉快