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Informative digital news for upper primary and lower secondary students
WORLDNews
November23,
12,2012
2013
October
ISSUE 55
www.learnthenews.com
This terrible experience
ended when a shark bumped his
boat and swam away.
Photo: AFP
FACEBOOK BRINGS FAMILY BACK TOGETHER
A country in Central America, called Guatemala,
has been through troubled times for many
years.
During this time, people lost their loved ones in
the violence.
Recently two sisters and a brother came
together. One of them was even living in
another country in Central America, called
Honduras.
QUICK QUIZ...
Often, people did not know where their family
members were.
1.In which country is the town of San Pedro
Sula?
2.What career did the sister, Elsira, take up?
Now, they are using Facebook to find one
another.
Page 1
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Facebook helps Guatemalan family separated by war reunite decades
Support Group helped reunite another of the family’s
children, Criserio, with brother Avilio.
GUATEMALA CITY, November 6, 2013 (AFP) Guatemalan siblings who lost contact during the
country’s turbulent 1960-1996 civil strife have
been reunited 31 years later, with some help from
Facebook.
When their picture was posted on Facebook, their
missing sister Elsira spotted her brothers, and
promptly contacted the Mutual Support Group for
help.
Ofelia, Avilio and Elsira Funez Velasquez had their
tearful reunion at the headquarters of the Mutual
Support Group, an activist with the social group,
Enrique Barrera, said.
Sister and brother Ofelia and Avilio grew up in
the family’s home town of La Democracia, in
Huehuetenango, orphaned when their parents were
killed in the years of violence.
“I felt so happy because I have found my sisters and
brother,” said the woman, now 35, who was four when
she lost track of her siblings.
Of the family’s seven children, four have been brought
together while three are still missing: Victor, Estela
and Roberta.
Their sister Elsira, however, was adopted more than
20 years ago by a family in neighbouring Honduras. In
San Pedro Sula, she studied to be a nurse and started
a family, all without knowing where her siblings were.
The reunion was made possible when the Mutual
GLOSSARY
Guatemalan siblings who lost contact during
the country’s turbulent 1960-1996 civil strife
have been reunited 31 years later, with some help
from Facebook.Turbulent means not calm and
stable.
and cause some or other change.
Civil strife means troubles between people in a
country.
Sister and brother Ofelia and Avilio grew up in
the family’s home town of La Democracia, in
Huehuetenango, orphaned when their parents
were killed in the years of violence.
When people are reunited they come together
again after having been apart.
Ofelia, Avilio and Elsira Funez Velasquez had their
tearful reunion at the headquarters of the Mutual
Support Group, an activist with the social group,
Enrique Barrera, said.
A social group, in this case, is an organisation
that tries to make things better for people who
are suffering.
When parents both die, their children become
orphaned.
A reunion happens when people come together
again after having been apart.
Their sister Elsira, however, was adopted more
than 20 years ago by a family in neighbouring
Honduras. In San Pedro Sula, she studied to be a
nurse and started a family, all without knowing
where her siblings were.
An activist is someone who does things to try
A sibling is a brother or a sister.
Page 2
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WORKSHEET
1.
Mexico
a.
Belmopan
2.
Honduras
b.
San Salvador
3.
Belize
c.
Mexico City
4.
El Salvador
d.
Tegucigalpa
Page 3
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ANSWERS: Quick quiz … Honduras; nursing. WORKSHEET: 1-c; 2-d; 3-a; 4-b.
The country of Guatemala has four other
countries that are its neighbours. See if
you can match the name of each of these
countries with the name of its capital city:
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ASIANews
Photo: AFP
POPE FEELS FOR FILIPINOS
The head of the Roman Catholic Church is
very sad about the typhoon that has hit the
Philippines.
QUICK QUIZ...
He is asking everybody in his church to try to help
the people of the Philippines.
1.Can you name an outdoor venue where
church services are held in the Vatican
City?
2.Who is the pope’s right-hand man?
Many people from the Philippines – called
Filipinos – are members of the Roman Catholic
Church.
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‘Deeply saddened’ pope urges Catholics to help Philippines
VATICAN CITY, November 10, 2013 (AFP) - Pope
Francis on Sunday asked Catholics to provide
“concrete help” to the hundreds of thousands of
people made homeless in the typhoon-ravaged
Philippines, and to include them in their prayers.
More than 60,000 people joined the pope in his own
prayer for the victims during his traditional Sunday
mass in St Peter’s Square, a day after he had tweeted
his solidarity with the Catholic Asian nation.
The death toll from the super typhoon that wiped out
entire towns in the Philippines could soar well over
10,000, authorities warned on Sunday, making it the
country’s worst recorded natural disaster.
“Sadly, there are many, many victims and the
damage is huge,” the head of the Roman Catholic
Church said, speaking from a third-floor window of
the papal palace. “Let’s try to provide concrete help.”
Aquino that
Francis was
“deeply saddened
by the destruction
and loss of life
caused by the
super typhoon
(and) expresses
his heartfelt
solidarity with all
those affected by
this storm and its
aftermath.”
“He is especially mindful of those who mourn the loss
of their loved ones and of those who have lost their
homes,” the message said.
“In praying for all the people of the
Philippines, the Holy Father likewise offers
encouragement to the civil authorities and
emergency personnel as they assist the victims of
this storm.”
Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the pope’s righthand man, said in a message to President Benigno
GLOSSARY
Pope Francis on Sunday asked Catholics to provide
“concrete help” to the hundreds of thousands of
people made homeless in the typhoon-ravaged
Philippines, and to include them in their prayers.
Concrete, in this case, means real and solid.
Typhoon-ravaged means badly damaged by a
typhoon.
More than 60,000 people joined the pope in his
own prayer for the victims during his traditional
Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square, a day after he
had tweeted his solidarity with the Catholic Asian
nation.
Mass, in this case, means a type of Roman
Catholic church service.
To feel solidarity with others means to feel the
same things they feel.
The death toll from the super typhoon that wiped
out entire towns in the Philippines could soar
well over 10,000, authorities warned on Sunday,
making it the country’s worst recorded natural
disaster.
If the death toll soars, it means that the number
of people dying will suddenly rise.
A natural disaster is a disaster caused by nature,
not by humans. Examples of natural disasters
are floods, earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons.
An example of a human-made disaster would
be a bomb blast.
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WORKSHEET
True or False?
State whether the following are true, or false:
The Philippines is a Catholic Asian nation.
________________________________________
2. Benigno Aquino, the pope’s right-hand man, sent a message to Philippines
President Pietro Parolin.
________________________________________
3.
The wind that hit the Philippines was a super typhoon.
________________________________________
4.
Entire towns in the Philippines have been wiped out.
________________________________________
5. Nobody lost their homes in the typhoon.
________________________________________
Page 6
ANSWERS: Quick quiz … St Peter’s Square; Pietro Parolin. WORKSHEET: 1. True; 2. False; 3.True; 4. True; 5. False.
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ENVIRONMENTNews
Photo: AFP
EUROPEANS START TO EAT INSECTS
Most people in Europe are not used to the idea
of eating insects.
people will become used to them and enjoy
eating them.
However, some people are beginning to think
it would be a good idea.
This is because insects have far less effect on
the environment than the animals that farmers
raise for their meat.
Some people in the Netherlands have started
to cook insect dishes. They hope that more
Page 7
QUICK QUIZ...
1.What are most of the insects produced
at Meertens insect production business
used for?
2. What kind of nuts do insects taste like?
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Insects making eco-friendly buzz in Dutch kitchens
SITTARD, November 8, 2013 (AFP) - Cecile’s latest
batch of students watched attentively as she
launched into the last step of the dish -- swirling
grasshoppers around in a frying pan before setting
them on the couscous.
In their bid to find an environmentally-friendly
alternative to meat, Richard, 41, Mariet, 53, and
Seppo, 43, are looking to insects.
And they are counting on Cecile to show them how to
cook a menu of couscous, hamburger and baklava
pastries with mealworms, grasshoppers or other
insect larvae as key ingredients.
“The point is to find an alternative to meat. Not
necessarily to replace it, but to reduce it,” said Mariet,
who has paid 50 euros ($68)for tonight’s course.
“It’s easier if someone teaches you,” she said, at
Cecile’s kitchen in the southeastern Netherlands town
of Sittard.
A smiling Richard confesses that, for him, insects offer
a perfect middle-path between being a carnivore
and a herbivore.
“I want to live in a healthy way, but being vegetarian
is a bit too hard for me,” said Richard, who acquired
a taste for creepy crawlies while travelling in
southeast Asia.
With the meat industry stricken with problems, from
horsemeat labelled as beef to the environmental
impact of growing animal feed, protein-rich and
fat-poor insects are increasingly seen as a viable
alternative.
Ten times more feed is required to grow the
comparable weight in cows than in insects, according
to the Netherlands’ Wageningen University, which
has a special insect department and was a pioneer
at promoting their consumption.
Insect eating has not yet won mainstream
acceptance in Europe, although around two billion
people elsewhere in the world consume them
regularly.
Most Europeans remain reluctant to bite into a
grasshopper, grub or other insect even if they are dry,
clean and disease free.
“Seriously, I don’t understand why people are so
disgusted by insects,” said Seppo, sprinkling a handful
of grasshoppers over his steaming couscous dish.
“Frankly, I know what I’d prefer if I had to choose
between an insect or seafood such as an oyster or
mussel,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mariet is mixing mealworms with minced
beef to make burgers while Richard browns some
Continued on Page 9
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From on Page 8
grasshoppers marinated in soya sauce in the frying
pan.
The freeze-dried insects can be stored for up to a
year, said Arno Snellens, who founded the Insectable
wholesale bug business, which helps organises these
pedagogical evenings with Cecile Lormans.
“It’s inevitable, insects are the future, we can’t go on
producing meat on such a scale,” said Snellens, who
claims his company’s turnover doubles every six
months.
“Of course it takes time for mentalities to chance, but
they can change, and I think the fact that
people want to learn to cook is representative of
this trend.”
The Meertens insect production business, also in the
southeastern Netherlands, sells just 2-3 percent of its
production for human consumption, the rest is for
animal feed.
Nevertheless, the amount of production for humans
has been steadily rising since production began in
2008.
“It takes time for mentalities to change.”
Insect sales are still paltry in the Netherlands
compared to meat, but Marcel Dicke, entomologist
at Wageningen University, insists that change is
afoot.
Insects are slowly acquiring a culinary niche, from
cooking books to increased supply and demand, he
says.
“Fifteen years ago, people said ‘what, insects, really?’
but today people say ‘oh yes, where can I get some?”
said Dicke.
The major problem is cost: the market, and therefore
production, is still far too small to make it as
profitable as selling meat.
Arno sells 30 grammes (around an ounce) of
freeze-dried grasshoppers for 12.50 euros (around
$17), while 50 grammes of mealworms costs
8.50 euros.
“There are several ways to convince people, it
depends on the individual: some prefer not to see
they’re eating insects, for them to be powdered in a
quiche for instance, while others prefer the insect still
to be whole when eaten,” said Dicke.
Meanwhile, three newly qualified insect chefs are
licking their lips as they sampled what they have just
prepared.
“It tastes slightly nutty, like hazelnuts,” said Seppo,
biting into his burger.
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever tasted, but it’s tasty, and
crunchy,” said Richard.
“You shouldn’t try to
compare it to anything
else, I’d just say it tastes of
insects.”
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GLOSSARY
attentively To watch something attentively
means to pay lots of attention while doing so.
Couscous is a type of food that is a bit like
porridge, made from wheat. It provides the
starch in many meals in many Arab households,
just as rice provides the starch in Asia and maize
or cassava may provide it in Africa.
bid A bid, in this case, means an effort.
that the human body needs for many functions,
from growing and repairing body cells to
strengthening bones.
viable Something that is viable is able to work
successfully.
pioneer Someone who is a pioneer is involved
in starting something.
mainstream The mainstream part of our society
is made up of the majority of people who do
things the way most people do them.
environmentally-friendly Something that
is environmentally-friendly does as little
harm as possible, or no harm at all, to the
environment.
reluctant To be reluctant means to not want to
do something.
alternative An alternative means “something
else”.
grub A grub is the larva form of an insect.
Baklava is a sweet pastry dish containing nuts
and honey. It is a traditional food in Turkey.
Mealworms are a type of worm that later
develop into a beetle. People often use them to
feed domestic animals.
Larvae is the plural of larva. Insects exist in
different forms during their life cycles. They are
larvae when they look like worms.
carnivore A carnivore is a creature that eats
meat only.
Frankly If you say something frankly, you say it
honestly, especially when it is something that is
difficult to say directly.
pedagogical Pedagogical evenings are
teaching evenings.
turnover A company’s turnover is all the money
it brings in during a certain period.
Mentalities are ways of thinking.
Paltry means very, very small.
herbivore A herbivore is a creature that eats
plants only. (Creatures that eat both plants and
meat are called omnivores.)
vegetarian A vegetarian is someone who does
not eat meat.
Creepy crawlies is a fun way of describing small
animals, such as insects, which crawl around in
all sorts of places and may be difficult to see.
Protein is a very important part of many foods
entomologist An entomologist is a scientist
who studies and knows a lot about insects.
afoot If something is afoot it is beginning to
happen.
culinary niche A niche is a small, special place.
A culinary niche is a small, special place in the
world of eating.
quiche A quiche is a type of pastry dish, filled
with something savoury.
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WORKSHEET
An entomologist is a scientist who studies and
knows a lot about insects.
1.
Botanist
a.
Birds
2.
Zoologist
b.
Plants
3.
Geologist
c.
Reptiles
4.
Ornithologist
d.
Rocks
5.
Herpetologist
e.
Animals
Page 11
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ANSWERS: Quick quiz … Animal feed; hazelnuts. WORKSHEET: 1-b; 2-e; 3-d; 4-a; 5-c.
See if you can match the following scientists
with the things they specialise in:
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BusinessNews
Photo: AFP
LAST KFC IN SYRIA CLOSES DOWN
Syria has been at war and is in rather a mess.
It is not an easy place to run a business.
Also, the war had made people poorer and few
can now afford a KFC meal.
The last Kentucky Fried Chicken store has just
closed down.
It had become too difficult for the owners to
find the chicken meat and other things needed
to make up a KFC meal.
Page 12
QUICK QUIZ...
1.In which country would you find the
headquarters of Kentucky Fried Chicken?
2.How many years ago did the uprising begin
in Syria?
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Kentucky Fried Chicken shuts its doors in Syria
DAMASCUS, November 6, 2013 (AFP) - US fast-food
chain Kentucky Fried Chicken has closed the doors
of its last remaining branch in Syria due to economic
and supply problems, shopkeepers in Damascus told
AFP.
The branch in the upscale Abu Rummaneh
neighbourhood of Damascus is the last of seven KFCs
in Syria to have shuttered.
“Closed. Please leave your number if you are
interested in buying this establishment,” a sign posted
on the branch’s window now reads.
“The business was facing multiple problems”
including in procuring supplies, a local businessman
told AFP.
The conflict that began with an uprising against
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has ravaged
Syria’s agricultural sector while fighting has made
delivery of products to market increasingly difficult.
The violence has also caused the value of the Syrian
pound to plunge and produced increasing poverty
among Syrians, making the cost of a KFC meal
beyond the reach of most.
KFC was the first US fast-food restaurant to set up
shop in Syria in 2006, with Kuwaiti businessman
Nasser Khurafi bringing the chain to the country.
It remained open despite the sanctions imposed
against Syria by the United States in response to the
regime’s crackdown on an uprising that began in
March 2011.
GLOSSARY
chain Businesses that have many shops that all
look the same and sell exactly the same things
are chains.
branch A branch is one of those shops.
one that is strict and heavy-handed.
procuring To procure something means to get
it, often after going to great lengths.
Upscale means smart.
ravaged If something is ravaged, it is badly
damaged.
Kuwaiti Kuwaiti people come from
Kuwait, which is a small country in the Middle
East.
agricultural sector A country’s agricultural
sector is its network of farms and businesses
that keep the farms going.
Sanctions against a country are punishments
by the governments of other countries, or
organisations. Often, when a country faces
sanctions, other countries are not allowed to do
business with it.
The violence has also caused the value of the
Syrian pound to plunge and produced increasing
poverty among Syrians, making the cost of a KFC
meal beyond the reach of most.
regime A regime is a government, especially
If a currency plunges its value drops very
quickly.
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WORKSHEET
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The figures in the table below show the different values of the Syrian pound to one
United States dollar on the 10th day of different months this year.
Date
Value of the Syrian pound
Value of the US dollar
_______________________________________________________________________
10/1/2013711
_______________________________________________________________________
10/2/201370.971
_______________________________________________________________________
10/3/201370.631
_______________________________________________________________________
10/4/201370.451
_______________________________________________________________________
10/5/201370.031
10/6/201399.431
_______________________________________________________________________
10/7/2013104.51
_______________________________________________________________________
10/8/2013105.651
_______________________________________________________________________
10/9/2013128.951
_______________________________________________________________________
10/10/2013137.251
_______________________________________________________________________
10/11/2013138.831
Draw a graph with the dates along one line and the values of the Syrian pound against one
US dollar on the other.
Between which two months did the Syrian dollar lose the most value against the dollar?
Page 14
© Duncan Guy 2013
ANSWERS: Quick quiz … USA; two years. … WORKSHEET: August to September.
_______________________________________________________________________
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SPORTSNews
Photo: AFP/SOCHI 2014 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
OLYMPIC TORCH GOES INTO SPACE
Early next year, the Winter Olympics are going
to be held at Sochi, in Russia.
Before an Olympics Games, the special
Olympic torch always travels across long
distances to the games.
Russia has included some unusual places for
the torch to travel to on its way to Sochi.
It has just been taken into Space by Russian
cosmonauts.
Photo: AFP
Cosmonauts are astronauts from Russia, or the
old Soviet Union, which was a larger country
that no longer exists, and included Russia.
QUICK QUIZ...
1.Which other place was first on the
Olympic torch’s list of places to visit: the
North Pole or Lake Baikal?
2. Where were the Summer Olympics in the
year that marked the most recent turn of
a century?
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Russians take Olympic torch on historic spacewalk
MOSCOW, November 9, 2013 (AFP) - Two cosmonauts
took the Olympic torch -- unlit -- for a spacewalk
Saturday in a historic showcasing of Russia’s Sochi
Winter Olympic Games in three months’ time.
its first Olympic event since the 1980 Summer Games
in Moscow were boycotted by a bloc of Western
nations because of the Soviet Union’s invasion at the
time of Afghanistan.
Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kotov ventured outside
the International Space Station (ISS) with the torch
held ceremonially in his gloved hand and his every
move beamed live across the nation by Russian state
TV.
Moscow has already sent the torch to the North
Pole aboard a nuclear-powered icebreaker. It will
soon visit the bottom of Baikal -- the world’s deepest
freshwater lake.
The feather-shaped red-and-grey symbol of peace
and friendship was tethered safely to his bulky
spacesuit to make sure it did not spin away in orbit
420 kilometres above the Earth.
All are extravagant reminders from President
Vladimir Putin’s government about the breadth of
both Russia’s ambitions and its natural wealth.
But little compares to the pride Russia has taken
in shooting the torch up to the ISS aboard the
same type of rocket the Soviets used for launching
pioneering spaceman Yuri Gagarin in 1961.
The moment was captured on high-tech video and
photo equipment operated by fellow cosmonaut
Sergei Ryazansky -- out on his very first spacewalk.
“Beautiful,” Ryazansky exclaimed as Kotov proudly
waved the torch in front of the camera while floating
almost directly above Australia.
“It is hard to believe that this is happening,” a state
television commentator exclaimed. “Something this
beautiful has never happened before.”
The pair then spent about an hour taking turns
holding the torch and posing for dramatic shots with
the Earth serving as the backdrop.
“Taking the Olympic torch to space -- only we
are capable of that,” a state television presenter
boasted on Thursday during a news show about the
upcoming February 7-23 Sochi Games.
The bold claim is not actually true. Torches also left
the planet aboard US space shuttle voyages ahead
of the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta and the 2000
event in Sydney.
But never has a torch been taken out for a spacewalk
until Saturday.
But their conversation mainly consisted of
complicated space jargon and detailed exchanges
with the Russian commander on board the ISS.
Kotov had warned before the spacewalk that he did
not intend to make any “grand pronouncement”
similar to the one Neil Armstrong delivered when he
took his first step on the Moon in 1969.
Saturday’s mission marked the very first time the
Olympic symbol entered open space -- a no-expensespared triumph for Russia as it showed off its
prowess in both science and sport.
Russia has gone to unparalleled lengths to promote
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GLOSSARY
triumph A triumph is a hard-won victory.
Veteran A veteran is someone with lots of
experience.
International Space Station The International
Space Station is an artificial satellite, in Space,
on which people are able to stay. Different
people, from different spacecraft and from
different countries on Earth, have in fact been
there since 2000.
ceremonially To do something ceremonially
means to do it for the sake of being part of a
ceremony, rather than for any more practical
purpose.
Tethered means tied.
Space jargon is made up of words used by
people who deal with things to do with
Space, which many other people may not
understand.
Prowess can mean one of two things: skill, or
bravery in battle. Either would apply here.
boycotted To boycott something is to refuse to
have anything to do with it, in order to show
your disapproval.
bloc A bloc is a group of countries that are
united for one reason or another.
Western nations are those of Europe, North
America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
icebreaker An icebreaker is a type of ship that
is able to sail through ice when the ocean is
frozen.
Ambitions are things people, or in this case a
country, aims to achieve.
Imagine that you are Russian President Vladimir Putin,
who will be a very proud man when the Olympic torch
arrives in Sochi in time for the Winter Olympics.
Whatever you say when that time comes will be reported in the
news, and probably be remembered, at least for a while.
Think about a catchy line that would be appropriate to say, if
you were in his shoes. When the real event happens, see if your
words were at all close to his!
Page 17
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ANSWERS: Quick quiz … Lake Baikal; Sydney.
WORKSHEET
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TODAYINHISTORY
23 October12, 2013
November
DOCTOR DISCOVERS ANAESTHETIC
(1847)
One-hundred and
sixty-six years ago,
on this day in 1847,
a Scottish doctor, Sir
James Young Simpson, was the first to
use the compound,
chloroform to make
people sleep during
operations. Simpson
was playing around with friends and discovered
that the compound could put a person to sleep.
He used chloroform to put pregnant women to
sleep when they were about to give birth, to help
them cope with the pain. Chloroform is not used
today, as scientists believe it can cause cancer.
FROZEN BODIES DISCOVERED (1912)
On this day 101 years ago, in 1912, the frozen
bodies of the British explorer Robert Scott and
his men were found on an ice shelf in Antarctica.
Scott was in a race against another explorer to
discover the South Pole. When Scott and his men
finally reached the South Pole, they discovered
the other explorer, Roald Amundsen, from Norway, had reached there first, leaving a tent and a
letter. Scott and his men started the journey back
to base camp and died from tiredness, hunger
and extreme cold.
INTERNET IS
CREATED (1990)
On this day 23
years ago, in
1990, the British computer
scientist Sir Tim
Berners-Lee released a plan that
described a new
system called
the World Wide
Web (WWW).
Berners-Lee wanted a system that would allow
researchers to share and update a common pool
of information. He achieved this by creating a
communication system where people could
upload pages and give them addresses. Today,
the internet is very much part of modern life.
Programmers still work on improving this system,
by increasing security and access to new information.
If it’s your
birthday
today, you
share it with
South African
soccer
striker Benni
McCarthy. He is his country’s
top international goal scorer. He
turns 36 today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO BENNI
McCARTHY AND
TO YOU!
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1
How old would Benni McCarthy have turned the day Sir Tim
Berners-Lee released his plan for the World Wide Web?
2.
How long after James Young Simpson discovered the anaesthetic
chloroform was the body of the explorer Robert Scott found in
the Antarctic?
3.
How long after James Young Simpson discovered the anaesthetic,
did Sir Tim Berners-Lee release his plan for the World Wide Web?
4.
In which year would Benni McCarthy have celebrated his
21st birthday?
5.
How many years after the turn of the century was the
body of explorer Robert Scott found in the Antarctic?
Page 19
ANSWERS: 1. 13; 2. 65; 3. 143; 4. 1998’ 5. 12.
WORKSHEET
© Duncan Guy 2013