Week 7 - Occupation in Hong Kong

Hong Kong authorities start to clear section of pro-democracy protest sit

By Katie Hunt and Vivian Kam

November 18, 2014

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Hong Kong authorities began clearing barricades at a section of a downtown protest camp on Tuesday, taking action against the pro-democracy demonstrators that have occupied parts of the city for almost two months.

The clearance followed a court order to remove obstructions outside CITIC Tower, a 33-story office building close to the main protest site in Hong Kong's Admiralty district.

There were no signs of resistance from protesters, some of whom helped bailiffs, police and CITIC representatives move the metal barricades away from the area covered by the court injunction.

Earlier, others packed up their tents to pre-empt the bailiffs.

The court order only covers a small part of the main protest site, which sprawls over a major eight-lane highway that connects Hong Kong island's main financial and commercial districts.

Hong Kong's High Court has also issued a separate injunction to clear sections of a smaller protest site in Mong Kok, a densely populated neighborhood that has witnessed some of the most violent clashes.

Earlier attempts by riot police to clear the demonstrators have not been successful, and negotiations between student leaders and government representatives didn't yield any progress.

In their early days, the protests brought tens of thousands of people onto the city's streets to call for full universal suffrage after Beijing said candidates for election in 2017 would have to be screened by a committee.

However, their numbers have since dwindled and polls show that public support for the protesters is dropping.

The city's government said on Monday that police "would arrest anyone obstructing the bailiffs."

Hong Kong leader C.Y. Leung said on Tuesday that the protesters were breaching the law and there was no point to resist the court order.

Structure of the Lead：
Who:Hong Kong authorities
When:Tuesday
What:clear section
Why:people that have occupied there for almost two months
Where:protest camp

Keywords：
1.barricade(s) : 障礙物
2.bailiff(s) : 區鎮的地方長官
3.injunction : (法院的)強制令
4.sprawl : 蔓延
5.clash(es) : 衝突
6.yield : 同意
7.suffrage : 投票權
8.dwindle : 使減少
9.poll(s) : 民意測驗
10.breach : 違反

Week 6 - Chinese actors drug arrest

Jackie Chan's son held in anti-drugs crackdown in China's capital

By Paul Armstrong, CNN

August 19, 2014

Hong Kong (CNN) -- The 32-year-old son of actor and kung fu star Jackie Chan has been arrested in Beijing on drugs charges, as authorities clamp down on celebrity offenders.

Police say they detained Jaycee Chan, who is originally from Hong Kong and also an actor, as well as Kai Ko, a 23-year-old Taiwanese actor, during a raid on Thursday in Dongcheng district, the city's commercial and cultural center, state media, citing Beijing police, said Tuesday.

Both men tested positive for marijuana.

Police later found more than 100 grams of the drug after searching Chan's apartment. He was also accused of "hosting others to take drugs," the state-run China Daily said. He could face three years in jail under Chinese law.

State broadcaster CCTV aired footage of Chan, his face blurred, showing police where the drugs were hidden at his home, while Ko was shown making a tearful apology.

"I very much regret about what happened. I'm very sorry to those who support me, like me or even know me personally," he said. "I just want to tell them I'm really sorry. I've set the worst example, which had the most terrible influence. And this is a huge mistake."

Celebrity targets

The two actors are being seen as the targets of the capital's latest anti-drugs campaign, which has seen more than 7,000 people detained for using drugs, a 72% year-on-year increase, according to the China Daily.

Celebrities are increasingly in the spotlight, with a number of high-profile arrests over drug-related incidents in recent months, including popular movie actor Zhang Mo and singer Li Daimo, who was actually sentenced to nine months in jail for hosting a crystal meth party at his home, according to the China Daily.

Earlier this month, dozens of management agencies representing performers in the entertainment industry signed an agreement with Beijing authorities banning drug use from the industry and pledging to sack artists who break the law.

The elder Chan, who has starred in a number of Hollywood movies including "Rush Hour" and "The Karate Kid," has actually campaigned against drug use, and was named an anti-drugs ambassador in China in 2009.

Structure of the Lead：
Who:Jaycee Chen and Kai Ko
When:Tuesday
What:arrested
Why:using drugs
Where:Chan's house

Keywords：
1.detain : 扣留
2.air : 發表
3.footage : (影片的)連續鏡頭
4.blur : 使模糊
5.pledge : 發誓
6.sack : 解僱
7.ambassador : 大使 

Week 5 - Nigeria's kidnap

Nigeria, Boko Haram reach ceasefire deal, kidnapped girls to go free, official says

By Ray Sanchez and Aminu Abubakar, CNN

October 17, 2014

(CNN) -- Nigeria has reached a ceasefire agreement with the Islamist terror group Boko Haram that includes the release of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls, Nigerian officials said Friday.

The deal came Thursday night after a month of negotiations with representatives of the group, said Hassan Tukur, principal secretary to President Goodluck Jonathan.

"We have agreed on the release of the Chibok schoolgirls, and we expect to conclude on that at our next meeting with the group's representative next week in Chad," Tukur said.

Officials provided few details about the release.

Doyin Okupe, a government spokesman, did not specify when the girls would be freed. He said not all would be let go at once, but a "significant number" would be released soon.

"A batch of them will be released shortly, and this will be followed by further actions from Boko Haram," he said. "It is a process. ... It is not a question of hours and days."

The Nigerian government consented to some demands by Boko Haram, but Okupe declined to provide details.

The government, he said, "is looking beyond the girls. We want to end the insurgency in this country."

"On the war front," he added, "we can say there is peace now."

The agreement was first reported by Agence France-Presse.

What is Boko Haram?

The terrorist group abducted an estimated 276 girls in April from a boarding school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria. Dozens escaped, but more than 200 are still missing.

Nigerian officials met with Boko Haram in Chad twice during talks mediated by Chadian President Idriss Deby, according to Tukur.

"The group has shown willingness to abide by the agreement which ‎it demonstrated with the release of the Chinese and Cameroonian hostages few days ago," Tukur said.

In cross-border attacks by Boko Haram this week, eight Cameroonian soldiers and 107 group members were killed in heavy fighting that lasted two days in northern Cameroon, the country's defense ministry said Friday, according to state broadcaster CRTV.

The militants led an incursion near Limani, close to the border with Nigeria, on Wednesday, equipped with heavy weapons, including at least one tank, CRTV said, citing information from the defense ministry.

The fighting lasted two hours and resumed on Thursday, when Cameroonian soldiers forced the militants back across the border into Nigeria. Seven Cameroonian soldiers were injured. A Boko Haram tank and other vehicles were destroyed and weapons and ammunition were seized by Cameroonian forces, according to CRTV.

A source involved in talks with the militants told CNN last month that Nigerian government officials and the International Committee of the Red Cross had discussions with Boko Haram about swapping imprisoned members of the group for the more than 200 schoolgirls. It is unclear, however, whether the deal includes a prisoner swap.

Where are the missing girls?

The name "Boko Haram" translates to "Western education is sin" in the local Hausa language. The militant group is trying to impose strict Sharia law across Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.

In recent years, its attacks have intensified in an apparent show of defiance amid the nation's military onslaught. Its ambitions appear to have expanded to the destruction of the Nigerian government.

The militant group has bombed schools, churches and mosques; kidnapped women and children; and assassinated politicians and religious leaders alike.

The group has said its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Nigeria, which is split between a majority Muslim north and a mostly Christian south.

Boko Haram was founded 12 years ago by Mohammed Yusuf, a charismatic cleric who called for a pure Islamic state in Nigeria. Police killed him in 2009 in an incident captured on video and posted to the Internet.

Structure of the Lead：
WHO:Nigeria's girls
WHEN:April
WHAT:Kidnap
WHY:Girls accepting education are sin 
WHERE:Northeastern Nigeria

Keywords：
1.specify : 指定
2.consent : 同意
3.insurgency : 暴動
4.abduct : 綁架
5.incursion : 侵入
6.intensify : 變激烈
7.onslaught : 猛攻

Week 4 - Ice Bucket Challenge (ALS)

Celebs embrace the Ice Bucket Challenge

By Lisa Respers France

September 15, 2014

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/18/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/ice-bucket-challenge-celebs/index.html?iref=allsearch

Week 2 - World Cup

World Cup: Neymar named on FIFA Golden Ball shortlist

July 12, 2014 

His World Cup was brutally cut short by injury, but Brazilian star Neymar could yet end up a winner after the Barcelona forward was named on FIFA's Golden Ball shortlist to decide the tournament's best player.

Neymar fractured his vertebra in his team's World Cup quarterfinal win over Colombia, ruling him out of Brazil's 7-1 semifinal defeat by Germany, who had four players -- Thomas Mueller, Philipp Lahm, Mats Hummels and Toni Kroos -- nominated.

Germany's World Cup final opponents Argentina had three players -- forwards Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria as well as midfielder Javier Mascherano -- selected.

Together with Neymar, who scored four goals in the tournament, Colombia's James Rodriguez and Arjen Robben of the Netherlands complete the shortlist, with the winner to be announced after Sunday's final at the Maracana Stadium.

Italian Nicola Rizzoli, a 42-year-old architect from Bologna, has been selected by FIFA as the World Cup final referee, with the world governing body announcing the winners of Sunday's match will receive $35 million in prize money.

The best goalkeeper of the tournament -- the Golden Glove award -- is between Keylor Navas of Costa Rica, Germany's Manuel Neuer and Sergio Romero of Argentina.

The best young player of the 2014 World Cup will be contested between Memphis Depay of the Netherlands and Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane of France.

Uruguay's Diego Forlan won the 2010 Golden Ball award.

Structure of the Lead：
WHO:Many soccer players
WHEN:during FIFA World Cup
WHAT:Golden Ball Award
WHY:Honor them
WHERE: X

Keywords： 
1.fractured：使骨折
2.vertebra：脊椎骨
3.referee：裁判員

Week 3 - Elliot Rodger

California killer's misogynist rants inspire #YesAllWomen

By Steve Almasy and Haimy Assefa

May 28, 2014

Elliot Rodger's journal is filled with lengthy diatribes against women.

While his crimes have reignited a debate over gun control and mental health care, his misogynistic language has sparked discussion about the continuing sexism women face each day.

Thousands of women have used Twitter to express their solidarity in response to Rodger's hate-filled rants that led to him killing four men and two women Friday night.

The hashtag #YesAllWomen was used more than 1 million times since Saturday when people got a closer look into the killer's thoughts in the journal and a YouTube video he posted the day before his attacks.

Since it started, there are tweets about rape, feminism, harassment and women's rights with the same hashtag.

"There was a familiarity in that language that really hit home for a lot of women who live with this implicit threat of danger all the time," the founder of THEli.st, Rachel Sklar, told CNN. "There is just an extra layer of danger implicit in being a woman that this really taps into."

Not everyone was supportive, however, and some people wrote that you can't blame all men for misogyny.

The Daily Beast's Olivia Nuzzi told CNN: "I think a lot men are failing to understand how we can look at this senseless violence and take from it a broader social issue. I think a lot of men feel like it is wrong to paint with a broad brush, and they don't want to be associated with this lunatic who did this mass killing.

"But this is a big issue. This boy was a product of this culture. And I think to talk about the culture is not misandry (the hatred of males), it's not wrong and we do need to talk about it. If we want to know how to end this kind of violence we need to address the culture that created this kind of violence.

Structure of the Lead：

WHO:Elliot Rodger
WHEN:Friday Night
WHAT:Kill 4 Men & 2 Women
WHY:misogynistic
WHERE:X

Key Words：
1.diatribes：譴責
2.reignited：重新點燃
3.misogynistic：厭惡女人的
4.sexism：性別偏見
5.solidarity：團結
6.rant：誇誇其談
7.rape：強姦
8.feminism：爭取女權運動/男女平等主義
9.implicit：固有的
10.misandry：男性貶抑

Week 1 - Malala

The anti-ISIS message Malala couldn't say in Canada

By Frida Ghitis

October 24, 2014

(CNN) -- Apparently it was a coincidence, but the deadly shooting in Ottawa came on the same day that the 17-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai was scheduled to speak with high school students and receive honorary Canadian citizenship.

Instead of listening to Malala, instead of seeing Prime Minister Stephen Harper honor the idealistic teenager who defied radicals to advocate peace, reconciliation, and education, Canadians watched in horror as their normally placid capital became the scene of mayhem in what Harper later described as a terrorist attack.

It was the second attack this week, the second in which a Canadian soldier was killed. In both cases the alleged perpetrators were men whose passports authorities had confiscated fearing they had become radicalized and would travel to the Middle East to join Islamist extremists.

The Ottawa attack kept Malala from delivering her message in person. And yet, there is something profoundly powerful in this intersection -- in this scheduling conflict of competing ideologies.

The killings in Canada and the canceled events delineate a sharp contrast between the alternative worldviews faced by young people today -- particularly by young Muslims.

They also highlight the need to develop a clear path of active involvement for those who want to join in making a reality of Malala's vision, just as those who support extremists receive clear direction on how to join their cause.

On one side there is the future outlined with such remarkable clarity by Malala, one in which we provide educational opportunities for all, strive for peace, and respect our differences. She has the heavy burden of having become the torch-bearer for advocates of moderation, coexistence and equality.

Then there is the other end of the spectrum, inhabited by the hyper-extremist group known as ISIS, which also manages to communicate its vision for the future, broadcasting its ideology, its military exploits and its excesses across social media platforms.

Malala had arrived in Toronto this week, as scheduled but, sadly, she left town without speaking, after her events were canceled as a result of the crisis in Ottawa. Shetweeted, "I extend my thoughts and prayers to the Canadian people during this difficult time."

It was not the first time that her plans were abruptly changed by a shooter. Her life took a most unexpected turn in 2012 after an extremist tried to kill her.

Now, with the rise of ISIS and a jihadist appeal that has brought young Muslims from around the world to fight in Syria and Iraq, Malala's symbolic place in the battle of ideas extends beyond Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Now it is vital that her message be heard everywhere. But she cannot do it alone. There is a great need to build on her ideas with practical action.

Those who accept the ISIS creed know what to do. They travel to the Middle East to join their jihad, or they follow ISIS's deadly guidance at home. For those who embrace Malala's enlightened view there is no clear path ahead. How does a young person join the cause of freedom and equality?

One of the admirable aspects of young adulthood is an awakening to the larger world; a wish to become involved in something larger than ourselves, a drive to make the world a better place.

Consider Malala's words at the U.N. last year: "We call upon all communities to be tolerant -- to reject prejudice based on cast, creed, sect, religion or gender. To ensure freedom and equality for women so that they can flourish. We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back. We call upon our sisters around the world to be brave -- to embrace the strength within themselves and realize their full potential."

Compare it to the ISIS appeal, which a few days ago proclaimed the rightness of its revival of slavery and slave markets for selling Yazidi women, or its more recent call to followers, "If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him."

The jihadi appeal is quickly rejected by the vast majority of Muslims, but the tiny percentage who accept it can cause terrible damage. And their help contributes to ISIS victories in the Middle East that are destroying the lives of men and women, including those who might have grown into future Malalas.

Malala's canceled events in Canada will likely be rescheduled. When she returns, she will have a message that will resonate even louder after what occurred in Ottawa. Until then, let her supporters come up with a plan so that those who would follow her can help build the world she envisions, with organizations and active movements in which people can enlist to promote equality, coexistence, and acceptance of other points of view.

Structure of the Lead：
WHO:Malala
WHEN:October,2014
WHAT:Speech has been canceled
WHY:terrorist attack.
WHERE:Ottawa

Keywords： 

1.defied：受蔑視的

2.reconciliation：和解

3.placid：溫和的

4.mayhem：有意的破壞（或暴行）
5.perpetrators：犯罪者
6.extremists：極端主義者
7.coexistence：共存
8.ideology：思想體系
9.jihad：聖戰
10.hold back：阻礙