Week 7 - Hong Kong occupy central

HK police to clear last Occupy Central site, bringing end to two-month protest
Mon, Dec 15, 2014 

Hong Kong police are scheduled to clear the last occupation site of the pro-democracy protests today, ending more than two months of road blockades in the territory that have disrupted traffic and sparked violent clashes between police and demonstrators.

Police plan to “exercise powers conferred by the law to remove the obstacles” in the popular shopping area of Causeway Bay, Police Chief Superintendent Steve Hui (許鎮德) said in a news conference yesterday. Police are scheduled to give a media briefing at about 9:30am today before proceeding, Hui said.

“I now urge the illegal road occupiers to remove the obstacles, take their personal belongings and leave the occupied area in a peaceful and orderly manner,” Hui said. “If the illegal road occupiers refuse to leave, police will take action to disperse them and may arrest those who attempt to obstruct officers in the execution of duty.”

The street protests began on Sept. 26 when student leaders stormed the premises of the government headquarters, and on Sept. 28 the protests involved as many as 100,000 people after police used tear gas in an attempt to disperse the demonstrators.

It became the biggest challenge to China’s rule over Hong Kong since it resumed sovereignty over the former British colony in 1997.

Demonstrators demanded that China reverse its decision to vet chief executive candidates in the 2017 elections through a nominating committee, a mechanism that the pro-democracy camps said would only select prospective leaders favored by Beijing.

The protest site in Causeway Bay has been the smallest since demonstrators started occupying key roads in the territory in late September.

Police removed the roadblocks in the main Admiralty district protest site near government offices with little interference on Thursday, after clearance of another site in Mong Kok resulted in some clashes in last month.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2014/12/15/2003606797

Where :Hong Kong
Why: ending more than two months of road blockades in the territory.How: disrupted traffic and sparked violent clashes between police and demonstrators.
Key words
1  pro-democracy 民運2  blockades 封鎖
3  conference 會議4  briefing 簡報5  proceeding 訴訟6  disperse 驅散7  execution 執行8  stormed 衝9  sovereignty 主權10 candidates 候選人

week 6 - ISIS-Iraq, IS(Islamic State)

Iraq crisis: what is the Islamic State?

Islamic State, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), has released a video in which it appears to execute kidnapped US journalist James Foley. The group has been making advances across Iraq and Syria since breaking away from al-Qaeda in 2013

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), also known as simply Islamic State, began life as an Iraqi franchise of al-Qaeda, a relatively minor force confined to fighting British and US troops in the areas around Baghdad.

The terrorist group, which released a video on Wednesday in which a British recruit appears to behead kidnapped US journalist James Foley, broke ties with al-Qaeda and rebranded as ISIS in April 2013.

ISIS then took advantage of the chaos caused by Syria's ongoing civil war to expand beyond Iraq's borders and recruit vast numbers of Syrian rebels.

IS, as it now calls itself, went on to a string of successful missions in March, wresting control of the Syrian city of Raqqa from Bashar al-Assad's army.

In January 2014 it took control of the Iraqi city of Fallujah, in the western province of Anbar, and made siginifcant gains in the provincial capital Ramadi. Then in June Baghdadi's fighters, by now swelled by thousands of new recruits, dealt a spectacular blow to Baghdad's Shiite-led government by taking control of Iraq's second city Mosul.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10891387/Iraq-crisis-what-is-the-Islamic-State.html

What:has released a video in which it appears to execute kidnapped US journalist James Foley
When:in 2013Who:Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Where:Iraq

Key words:
1 execute 執行
2  franchise 專營權
3 recruit 招募
4 rebrand 更名
5 chaos 混亂
6 province 省
7 dealt 處理

Week 5 -Ebola West Africa

Ebola Death Toll Rises in West Africa

VOA News

April 23, 2014 10:52 AM

A medical relief worker at an Ebola treatment center in Guinea says new patients continue to be admitted on a daily basis.

Jonas Hagensen, of Doctors Without Borders, says many of the people receiving treatment at the center in Conakry know how they were exposed.

"A lot of the people who come into our centers, they actually know how they had been infected because they had been in close contact with a person that they know had had Ebola."

In a VOA interview, Hagensen said medical relief workers are concerned about people who may be showing symptoms of the deadly virus but are not receiving treatment.

"The concern is that the people who are sick, they actually get into the treatment center and that we make sure that we have all of their contacts. That is the difficult part, to get people who believe that they are sick and they know that they had contact with someone who had Ebola, that we can get the whole picture of all those people who had been in contact with that person. It is a huge, huge work and it is very, very demanding."

At least 142 deaths from Ebola have been reported in Guinea and Liberia since the outbreak erupted in the region in February. Health officials are also investigating confirmed or suspected cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Ebola virus is spread by contact with bodily fluids. It causes symptoms that include vomiting, unstoppable bleeding and organ failure.

http://www.voanews.com/content/ebola-death-toll-rises-in-west-africa/1899430.html

Who:new patients 
Where:in West AfricaWhy:A medical relief worker at an Ebola treatment center in Guinea says new patients continue to be admitted

Key Words :
1. patient 病患
2. expose 暴露
3. symptom 症狀
4. bodily fluids 體液
5. confirmed 確認
6. vomiting 嘔吐
7. organ 器官
8.