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8/8/2019 EnglishReading(Cac Bai Doc Hieu Bang Tieng Anh)

1/31

Earthquake hits western India

Almost 1800 people were killed whenan earthquake struck western Indiaearly Friday morning. Thousands

more were injured and hundreds ofbuildings were demolished . Over 200people are still missing.

The 7.9 quake was felt acrossPakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.Aftershocks may continue for weeks,causing already damaged buildings tocollapse.

The government warned citizens toleave their homes. Meanwhile, rescueworkers tried to dig through therubble to locate trapped survivors.The Prime Minister of India called forthe country to pull together after thiscatastrophe .

catastrophe:disaster

Congolese swear in new presidentJoseph Kabila was sworn in as thefourth president of the Congo Friday.He took the oath of office in hiscountry's national language, French.

Laurent Kabila, Joseph's father, wasassassinated ten days earlier by oneof his bodyguards. The war-torn

central African nation has pleaded forpeace and now looks to Joseph Kabilato bring waring tribes together.

Kabila was due to address the nationin a publicly broadcast speech Fridaynight. For most Congolese, this will be

oath ofoffice:promise orcommitment to serve


2/31

the first time they hear their newpresident's voice.

Rescue teams combine efforts after India quake

Relief workers from around the worldhurried to retrieve dead bodies fromthe rubble on Wednesday to preventthe spread of disease after Friday'searthquake in Gujarat, India. Withmany people homeless and sleepingin the streets, the threat of illness isthought to be very high.

An estimated 24,000 people lost theirlives in the quake, which registered

7.9 on the Richter scale. Tens ofthousands more were injured andhundreds of thousands lost theirhomes.

Relief teams arrived in droves fromBritain, France, Russia, Switzerland,the United States and Turkey. 20,000Indian soldiers met them at the

scene.

rubble:brokenpieces ofbuildingsetc.

Mixed verdict in Lockerbie trial


3/31

A three-judge Scottish court made aunanimous decision to sentene one oftwo Libyan defendants in theLockerbie trial to life in prison. The

January 31st ruling was announced ina 982-page decision.

Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, 48, was found guilty for theterrorist bombing of Pan Am flight103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Thebombing killed 270 people. The otherdefendant, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah,was allowed to walk free.

There were many emotionalresponses to the verdict . One mancollapsed and was taken to anambulance. The $63 million trialcame to an end 12 years and onemonth after the plane came down in1988.

unanimous:when alljudges

agree

US federal court starts embassy bombing trial

The Manhattan federal District Courtbegan an embassy bombing trialFebruary 5. Despite controversy,government lawyers have requestedthat one of the four defendantsreceive capital punishment for hisinvolvement in the bombings of two

American embassies in East Africa in1998.

Over 224 people were killed andthousands wounded in Kenya andTanzania when the bombs exploded.Federal prosecutors argue that these

capitalpunishment:deathpenalty


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bombings were part of a globalterrorist conspiracy planned by Mr.bin Ladin and were linked to thebombing in Somalia five years earlier.

Ladin is still on the run, but the fourdefendants in this trial are chargedwith involvement in the conspiracy.The trial is expected to last nine orten months.

Did Einstein and Freud have Swiss bank accounts?

On February 5th, Swiss bankspublished a list of 21,000 dormantaccounts attributed to Holocaustvictims. The names Albert Einsteinand Sigmund Freud were on the list.

Officials were not sure if Einstein andFreud were actually account holdersor if the names were just coincidence.

Einstein was a German-born Jewishphysicist who worked as a Swisspatent clerk . Freud, who never livedin Switzerland, knew members of thepsychiatric community there. Bothmen escaped to English-speakingcountries before the Holocaust.

Many Jews escaping Europe before

World War II tried to keep theirmoney safe in Swiss bank accounts.Monday's 600-page list was publishedon the Internet websitewww.dormantaccounts.ch

patent:documentthat sayswhoinventedsomething


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A Valentine's Day poem

by Frans Bruynooghe from Belgium

Sweetheart,

When I saw you first,the sky was deep and blue,the wind a gentle caress ,the sun a warm kiss.

When you looked at me,your eyes were deep blue lakespromise of tender happiness.

When you touched my hands,your skin was soft and pure,a touch of paradise.

When you talked to me,your words danced in the air,

your voice, the whisper of a brook ,was music for my heart.

When you walked with me,we talked and said nothing,and all was so important,and nothing mattered yetbut you and me.

You gave me you,I gave you meand you and me were givenand one in two and two in onefor all eternity.

Move themouse overthe

highlightedwords, youwill get anexplanationhere.


6/31

France may allow newborns mother's surname

The French national assembly mayapprove a bill that would allownewborns to carry the surname oftheir mother. France, Belgium andItaly still require newborns to take thefather's last name.

Although children born in Francesince 1985 have been allowed tocarry a double surname includingboth the mother's and the father's, achild carrying the mother's last name

may not pass this on to the nextgeneration.

The European court of human rightssaid in 1994 that this wasdiscriminatory .

discriminatory:unjust;unfair

Sharon Ariel opens government posts to Labor Party


7/31

Ariel Sharon, who will soon be thenew prime minister of Israel, invitedPrime Minister Ehud Barak on Fridayto fill the post of defense minister.

Barak announced his retirement frompolitics three days ago, but isconsidering the appointment.

Meanwhile, Sharon has invitedShimon Peres to be foreign minister.Perez has a history as a former primeminister and peacemaker. Sharon isattempting to stabalize hisgovernment by allowing the Labor

Party to participate.

Violence continued in the West Bankon Friday, as Israeli and Palestiniantroops exchanged gunfire. OnePalestinian teenager was reportedlykilled in the Gaza Strip.

stabalize:make moresecure;balance power

in

France kills cattle to support beef prices

Falling beef prices have prompted theFrench government to plan theslaughter of up to 10,000 cattle aweek. The ministry of agriculture

plans to freeze and store the beefuntil it can be sold.

Fear is responsible for the 80% dropin beef prices. Restaurants,institutions and individuals havestopped buying beef because of mad

slaughter:killing


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cow disease. Small ranchers , whoare the hardest hit by the crisis, arepressuring the government tosubsidize them for the loss.

Agriculture Minister Jean Glavanysays that European Union rulesprevent him from giving cash to theranchers. But he plans to bring thecase to Brussels later this month. Theranchers want money for each cowkilled.

Russia plans to boost population growth

The Russian government announcedThursday a program to improve healthand encourage women to have morechildren. Russia has had a very lowbirth rate since the collapse of theSoviet Union.

The prime minister said that thecountry experienced its biggest

population drop in 1999. 768,000 fewerpeople were born in that year than inthe year before. One study predictedthat at its current rate of decline, thepopulation could fall by 2.8 million by2005.

Environmental pollution, poor nutritionand a lack of medical care contribute to

low birth rates and low life expectancy .The potential labor shortage couldseverely damage the country'seconomy.

U.S. and U.K. warn Iraq


9/31

As chief of the Armed Forces,President Bush made his first militaryattack order on Friday. Twenty-fourAmerican and British warplanes

bombed military targets in "no-fly"zones in Iraq.

Bush called it a routine self-defensemission. He said he was trying tomake Saddam Hussein understandthat the United States expected himto respect the no-fly agreementreached after the Gulf War in 1991.Shi'ite rebels and minority Kurds live

in these nonmilitary zones.

Some politicians on Capitol Hillwondered whether this actionsignaled a change in policy towardsIraq.

policy:procedure; plan ofaction

World leaders have healthier hearts

A CIA study reported that world

leaders have a much lower risk ofcoronary heart disease than they didone or two decades ago. Leaders withheart problems are also less likely toretire due to their ailments .

According to doctors from the CIA,world leaders are 42 percent lesslikely to develop heart disease than

they were 30 years ago and are asheart-healthy as the average U.S.man. This may be due to an increasein preventive treatments and theability of world leaders to seek topmedical care.

ailments

:medicalproblems


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Only one or two world leaders areexpected to suffer from heart diseaseeach year. The press suggested thatthis change could result in greater

political stability in many countries.

Coke to promote Harry Potter movie

The cast of kids has been chosen, thedirector picked and now, theadvertising monster. Warner Bros.has chosen the Coca-Cola Co. as itsonly promotional partner for the newmovie "Harry Potter and theSorcerer's Stone."

Global marketing giant Coke willspend $150 million on advertising thefilm, which is scheduled to release in

the United States on Nov. 16th.Images of Harry Potter will appear onCoca-Cola, Minute Maid and HiCpackaging.

Apparently, the advertising campaignwill not work through gimmicks , butthrough one-on-one relationships withchildren. Part of the plan is to

promote literacy. One Coca-Colarepresentative said this signals a bigchange in the company's marketingtactics.

gimmicks:games;tricks

EU bans British animal exports


11/31

The European Union has banned allBritish animal meat and milk exportsin response to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a

slaughterhouse east of London. Theairborne disease is highly infectious,and its source has not yet beenidentified.

Britain has not had problems withfoot-and-mouth disease for 20 years.The disease affects animals withcloven feet. This includes sheep,goats, cows and pigs. Symptoms

include weight loss and reduced dairyproduction in cattle.

Two farms that delivered pigs to theslaughterhouse may be the source ofthe problem. But it could take a weekbefore veterinary officials are certain.The Food Standards Agency said thatthe human food chain would not be

affected.

cloven:in twoparts

Mozambique requests flood relief

Heavy flooding in Mozambiqueprompted the foreign ministry toappeal for $30 million in aid onWednesday. The disaster has killed41 people and left thousands

homeless since January.

Mozambique only has seven aircraftavailable for rescue missions.Therefore, Foreign Minister LeonardoSimao asked for more air support inaddition to basic supplies like tents,

prompted:pushed;caused


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blankets and other donations.

The source of the flooding is in theZambezi Valley, where several rivers

overflowed after heavy rains. Theserains have also destroyed roads andbridges. The principal regionsaffected are Zambezia, Manica andSofala.

Accident at sea tests Japan-US relations

Relations between United States andJapan have been strained by thesinking of the Japanese fishing vesselEhime Maru. The Japanesegovernment has cited negligence onthe part of the US, whose Navy shipGreenville detected the vessel anhour before crashing into it on Feb. 9.

Politicians had anticipated that

security ties would grow strongerbetween the US and Japan with theBush administration, but theaccidental sinking may distance thetwo nations. Many Japanese, whowere already resentful of theAmerican military presence inOkinawa, are questioning the abilityof the United States to protect Japan's

security.

If the American presence is no longerseen as acceptable, Japan may takesteps to strengthen its armed forcesand support its own militaryintelligence and peacekeeping

resentfulof:angryabout


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operations.

Hard times ahead for Turkey

An argument between two Turkishpoliticians about corruption in thegovernment led to a financial crisis thatis making life difficult for Turkish citizens.Although the government has tried toease the crisis by floating the Turkishcurrency, Turks are in for hard times.

Salaries and savings are apt to lose 25percent or more of their value, prices willrise and debts will become hard to payoff. Many people will be laid off so thatcompanies can cut costs. The lira hasbeen devalued by 36 percent in two

days.

Many Turks are pointing fingers at thegovernment, but it is not likely that thepolitical structure will collapse. TheInternational Monetary Fund is stillfunding the country's anti-inflation planwith $11 billion in loans.

Carnival parades send peace message in Rio


14/31

The annual parades of Rio deJaneiro's enormous Carnivalcelebration came to an end afterdawn on Tuesday. Many of Brazil's

samba schools, jiggling their fantasticcostumes as they danced on giantfloats , delivered more than justentertainment to the crowds ofspectators.

This year's festivities were called theCarnival of Peace. Carnival groupscelebrated a theme of antiviolence,which they conveyed by chanting for

peace and wearing politicallyprovocative dress. They Carnivalparades began only one week afterprison riots led to the death of 19prisoners.

The parades attracted a record336,000 tourists this year. There wasplenty of action to entertain them.

One man flew over the heads of theaudience in the Sambadrome with ajet-pac, a young model got arrestedfor dancing naked and wildprocessions continued on Tuesday.

riots:protests;revolts

Riots over mad cow crisis in Brussels


15/31

Farmers rioted outside the EuropeanUnion headquarters in Brussels onMonday to demand more money torecover from the mad cow crisis. With

beef sales down 27 percent acrossEurope, farmers are at a lossfinancially.

The EU says it does not have moneyto help the farmers cover their lossesfrom thousands of slaughtered ,unsold cows. AgricultureCommissioner Franz Fischlerproposed that farmers reduce

production, increase prices and moveaway from industrial farming for forthe sake of the environment.

Mad cow disease causes causes thedeterioration of the brain in humans.Since the middle of the 1990s, about80 Europeans-- most of them inBritain-- have died from the disease,

which has no cure .

slaughtered:killed

Ireland cancels St. Patrick's Day parade

The spread of foot-and-mouth diseaseprompted Ireland to cancel its biggest St.Patrick's Day parade. Scotland meanwhilequarantined Dolly the cloned sheep as aprecautionary measure.

The British government said that efforts tostop the spread of the disease had beensuccessful. After a week of restrictions,agriculture officials planned to allow healthyanimals to be used for meat. All the 36cases of the virus were traced to the same


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farm in Northumberland.

Anything that moves can spread thedisease, which only affects animals with

cloven feet. Ireland's biggest annual event--the St. Patrick's Day parade through thestreets of Dublin--was canceled lateThursday after an emergency meeting ofthe parade organizers.

Napster fans in a frenzy

Napster fans frantically downloaded theirfavorite songs on Friday morning when theonline music swapping company announced

a plan to block users from usingcopyrighted music on its web site.

Napster's attorney David Boies said the planaimed to keep the site alive by continuingto offer users the ability to exchange music.Thanks to the giants of the recordingindustry, however, users will probably nowhave to pay for the service. Napster did not

clearly explain how its new subscription-based service would affect the millions ofpeople who currently use their site for free.

Napster did offer to settle the lawsuit for $1billion, but the recording industry rejectedthis offer. Fearing the end of Napster, musicfans downloaded 2.7 billion files in Januaryalone.

frantically:acting

out ofdistress

Sharon prepares to lead Israel


17/31

Ariel Sharon is preparing for hisinauguration as Israel's new prime minister.In a speech to the Israeli parliament, Sharonmade no commitment to reaching a final

peace agreement with the Palestinians, butproposed a series of interim agreementsthat he indicated would involve some kindof compromise.

Sharon supporters believe former Israelipresident Ehud Barak was too ambitious inthe short-term and suffered the collapse ofhis administration as a result. Although thenew leader will not have much support in

parliament with only 19 seats out of 120, heis counting on support from a coalition.

Sharon has never shaken hands withPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who heholds responsible for the escalation of theconflict. A strong supporter of tough policiesagainst the Palestinians, Sharon has oftensaid that a final peace deal may not happen

until the next generation.

interim:transitional; in

between

UNICEF speaks out against child marriage

On the eve of the International Women'sDay, UNICEF called for an end to childmarriages, which they say violate aseries of human rights and too oftencause irreparable physical and emotionalharm.

UNICEF reported that pregnancy-relatedproblems are the leading cause of deathfor girls between the ages of 15 and 19worldwide. The organization also pointedout that pulling girls out of school at ayoung age to get married violates their

startling:shocking


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right to education.

The UNICEF report revealed somestartling United Nations statistics. In

Afghanistan and Bangladesh, 54 percentand 51 percent of girls respectively aremarried by age 18. In Nepal, 40 percentof girls are married by age 15.

Albanians attack Macedonians

NATO finds itself in a complicatedsituation after ethnic Albanian rebelsattacked Macedonian forces on Thursdayand Serb police on Friday. The alliedpeacekeepers may now have to turnagainst the group they previouslyprotected from the forces of YugoslavPresident Slobodan Milosevic in 1999.

The ethnic Albanian guerrillas ambusheda convoy of senior government officials

and killed a driver late on Thursday. InSerbia, the rebels may have kidnapped 5civilians.

U.S. peacekeepers occupied the areawhen the insurgents left. Meanwhile,NATO allowed Yugoslav troops to blockthe southern part of Kosovo to preventsmuggling .

Strengthening security forces in this areacould potentially ignite a conflict withthe Albanian majority.

ambushed:took bysuprise;attacked


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Taliban continue to destroy statues

The Taliban resumed destruction of twolarge Buddha statues that are carved intoa mountain in Bamiyan. The troops

stopped blowing up the statues last weekduring the three-day Muslim festival ofEid al-Adha, but started again on Friday.

The 120 and 170 foot-high statues werecreated in the 3rd and 5th centuries. Oneof them is believed to be the talleststanding Buddha in the world. Theinternational community and Islamicnations continued to oppose the

destruction.

Taliban Supreme Leader MullahMohammed Omar ordered that theBuddhas and all other statues inAfghanistan be destroyed. He said theywere images of false gods.

carved:cut

US Stock Market nosedives

The US stock market took a big hit onMonday. Even the most cautiousinvestors saw their portfolios plunge .The damage was done across industry

sectors, leaving the NASDAQ down morethan 6 percent and the Dow Jones downmore than 4 percent.

The NASDAQ landed below the 2,000mark for the first time in 27 months,leaving these technology-heavy stocks

portfolios:collection of

investments


20/31

62 percent down from their high lastMarch. The Standard & Poor meanwhilewas down over 4 percent.

Economists predicted that the NASDAQwould continue to dive as technologyinvestors lost confidence in the market.Technology investors may be movinginto more traditional sectors that canshow immediate revenue .

China angry over Dalai Lamas visit to Taiwan

China has warned Taiwanthat there will be seriousconsequences because ofthe Dalai Lamas currentvisit to Taiwan. He is aguest of the TaiwaneseBuddhist Association andwill be there for ten days.

Before he arrived inTaiwan, the Dalai Lamasharply criticised Chinasrefusal to re-open talkswith the Tibetangovernment in exile.

China is angry thatTaiwanese President Chen

Shui-bian will meet withthe Dalai Lama. Accordingto an official of BeijingsTaiwan Affairs Office, thevisit will be extremelyharmful to cross-Straitrelations.

exile.:notallowed tolive inyour owncountry


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Protestors crash Japanese government websites

North Koreans, SouthKoreans, Chinese and other

Asian neighbours areprotesting about a historytext which is about to bepublished in Japan. Thebook is being consideredfor use in junior high schoolhistory classes.

Protesters say the book,written by right wing

academics, whitewashesthe Japanese role andactions during World WarII. They feel it omitsatrocities committedduring the war.

Protesters organised acyber attack on Japanese

government websites andthe publishers website. Ina five minute period from 9P.M. on Saturday, millionsof people made hits on thewebsites causing some ofthem to crash. Protestersare now planning anothercyber attack.

atrocities:

terriblethings

North Korea cancels talks with South


22/31

South Korea has expressedconcern that itsrelationship with NorthKorea is deteriorating. The

North has cancelled talkswith South Korea. Itcancelled both civilianinter-Korea talks and RedCross talks.

This is disturbing for SouthKorean President Kim Dae-jung, and is causingdomestic problems. He is

keen to engage the Northin an improvedrelationship.

The North gave no officialreason for thecancellations. North Koreamay be adopting a waitand see attitude towards

Americas government. TheBush administrationappears to be less friendlythan the former Clintongovernment. North Koreasrelationship with Americawill help to determine itsrelationship with SouthKorea.

expressedconcern:said it is

worried

China asks the U.S. for an apology


23/31

The U.S. is calling on Chinato return its spy plane andthe twenty-four crewmenaboard. China is calling on

the U.S. to accept blamefor the mid-air collision ofthe U.S. spy plane and aChinese F-8 fighter jet. TheChinese Foreign Ministersaid, It was the U.S. sidethat caused this incident,and China is the victim.

Both countries blame each

other for the accident; bothdisagree on whether theplane landed legally andwhether China shouldinvestigate the plane. TheU.S. says China may notboard the plane. Chinaasked, what wouldhappen if a Chinese spy

plane landed on Americansoil after an accident?

may not:does nothavepermission

to

Israel and Palestine tired of violence

Israeli and Palestinianministers met last night totalk about the escalatingviolence between the two

countries. The violence hascontinued for six monthsclaiming 460 lives. TheIsraeli foreign minister saidhe could see light at theend of the tunnel. Allsides are quite tired of the

escalating:growing/increasing


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current situation. I thinkthat the violence and terrorhave reached a peak. Itsan impossible situation for

all of us.

More than sixtyPalestinians were injured inrecent Israeli attacks.Israeli Prime Minister ArielSharon said Israel had toprotect its citizens. He saidthat Palestinian leaderYassir Arafat, was not

doing enough to stopPalestinian attacks onIsraelies.

Hingis stalker found guilty

An Australian manDubravko Rajcevic wassentenced to jail in

America yesterday. He wasfound guilty of stalking andtrespassing. Rajcevic, 46, isin love with tennischampion Martina Hingisand wants to marry her.

Hingis, 20, does not knowRajcevic. In a campaign of

harrassment, he faxed loveletters to her, telephonedher, followed her to tennismatches and followed herhome. Hingis was afraid ofhim. She was scared hislove would turn to anger

harrassment,:annoying

someonecontinually


25/31

and violence.

Japanese prime minister resigns

Japanese Prime MinisterYoshiro Mori announced hisresignation today. Mori has

made a series of gaffesand is one of the mostunpopular prime ministerssince World War Two. Hewas attacked recently forcontinuing to play golfafter he heard about anaccident which killed nineJapanese at sea. His

resignation comes as nosurprise.

Mori became primeminister in April 2000 afterPrime Minister Obuchi diedof a stroke.

Popular candidates forsuccessor are RyutaroHashimoto who was primeminister from 1996 to 1998and former Health MinisterJunichiro Koisumi.

gaffes:mistakes -usually

sociallyincorrectwords orbehaviour

China U.S. impasse continues


26/31

The Chinese-U.S. impasseover the mid-air collision oftwo airplanes continues.U.S. President George Bush

said yesterday, I regretthat a Chinese pilot ismissing. I regret one oftheir airplanes is lost.China welcomed theexpression of regret, butstill insists on a fullapology. Bush is not willingto make a full apology.

Both countries are trying tofind a diplomatic solutionto the problem. TheAmerican crew of the U.S.spy plane remains undersecurity in China. Chinahas allowed U.S. diplomatsto visit them for a secondtime.

impasse:difficultsituationfor which

there is nosolution

Boy dies after email romance

A sixteen year old Jewishboy was trapped and killedby a Palestinian temptress.The boy Offir Rahum spenthis evenings in Internetchatrooms. There he metand fell in love with Sally, a

Jewish girl from Morocco.After a three monthInternet romance, Sallyinvited Offir to meet her forsex. Offir agreed.

When they met, they

died atthehands of:been killedby


27/31

hugged briefly before Offirwas shot. Sallys real nameis Amana Mona. She is notJewish but Palestinian. She

hates Jews and trappedOffir because she wantedrevenge for the youngPalestinians who had diedat the hands of Israelisoldiers. The gunman wasan accomplice.

Is there life on Mars?

A $US400 million spaceprobe, the 2001 MarsOdyssey, left KennedySpace Centre in Florida ona 460 kilometre journey toMars. The probe will beginorbiting the red planet inOctober.

Odyssey will spend threeyears taking photos ofMars. It will transmitinformation about thepresence of water and thegeological composition ofthe surface. The launch of2001 Mars Odysseyrepresents a milestone in

our exploration of Mars,said a Kennedy SpaceCentre representative.Another probe will follow in2003.

milestone:importantstep

Kuwaiti women play soccer


28/31

A womens soccertournament in Kuwait hasbeen forced indoors.Fundamentalist Muslim

groups have called for thecompetition--betweentwenty-one Universityteams--to be cancelled.They say that womenplaying games like this isforbidden and adisobedience to God andcan subject the wholesociety to the Almighty 's

wrath.

Liberal groups havecompromised andapproved of thetournament if it is playedindoors with no menpermitted in the audience.An outdoor tournament

would allow men to watchwomens bodies, clearlyforbidden by Islam, theysay. The competitionbegan yesterday. Allgames are scheduled to beindoors with men banned.Referees are all women.Photography is notpermitted.

wrath.:anger

Spy plane crisis continues


29/31

Anger is growing in boththe U.S. and China over thespy plane incident.

Ordinary Chinese peopleare angry and wantPresident Bush toapologise. In Beijing thereis extra security around theU.S. embassy amidgrowing Chinese anger.

U.S. officials warned thatthe public and Congress

are becoming concernedand outraged at thecontinued detention oftwenty-four crewmen. Theysay that the U.S. will soonbe forced into a toughresponse.

The U.S. is still refusing to

apologise. It wants thereturn of the crewmen.China is still demanding anapology.

amid:in themiddle of

Japanese nuclear workers plead guilty


30/31

Six workers from a nuclearprocessing plant 140kilometres north of Tokyopleaded guilty yesterday to

negligence.

Their actions caused anuclear accident at theplant in September 1999.Two people died and 600others were exposed toradiation.

The six workers, all

members of the plant'ssafety committee,instructed staff to usebuckets to move uranium.However safety regulationsrequire the use of a pump.Use of buckets causedworkers to miscalculate theamount of uranium. This

lead to the accident.

The six safety committeemembers may besentenced to twelvemonths jail or receive aone million yen fine ($US8200).

pleadedguilty:said theywere

responsible

Should Montenegro be part of Yugoslavia?


31/31

Montenegrins went to thepolls last weekend.President Milo Djukanovic'spro-independence coalition

won with 42 per cent of thevotes. The opposition,which is pro-Yugoslavia,received 41 per cent of thevotes.

Although Djukanovic wonon a pro-independenceplatform, his narrow windidn't provide him with a a

mandate to proceed withthe independence process.

Coalition parties, however,want him to continueworking for independence.The United States andEuropean governments areworried that this may lead

to violence in the region

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