newsademic issue 251 b

11th June 2015British English edition

Issue Number 251

In this issue

Climbing carp warningApollo green electricityThird Leonardo da Vinci portrait? Turkey’s election resultHellboy dinosaurMount Kinabalu earthquakeSawfish female-only reproductionRemembering Savitri and SatyavanOcean cleanup companyMers in South KoreaRiverboat disaster in ChinaHoles in Swiss cheeseColosseum wild animal liftIndia and Bangladesh land swapSeven new miniature frogsRobot challenge competitionShangri-La meetingSudan’s president re-electedGlossary Crossword and Wordsearch Puzzle

Group photograph of the G7 leaders at Schloss Elmau, in Germany (Bundesregierung/Gottschalk)

The leaders of the G7 countries gathered for their annual meeting, or summit, on 7th and 8th June. The summit was ar-ranged by Germany and hosted by its chancellor, or leader, Angela Merkel.

The two-day meeting was held at a hotel called Schloss Elmau. Schloss is a German word that means a château or palace. A German philosopher built the hotel in 1916. He wanted the building to be a place where people interested in his work could meet and talk. Schloss El-mau is in Bavaria. Germany has sixteen states. Bavaria is the largest. The hotel is not far from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This town is one of the most popular mountain resorts in Germany. The Zug-spitze, the country’s highest mountain, is nearby.

‘G7’ is short for ‘Group of Seven’. The first of these meetings took place in 1975. Then, there were six member

countries: the USA, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, and Italy. At that time, these countries had the world’s six larg-est economies. All elected their leaders democratically. Canada joined in 1976 and the name changed to the G7.

In more recent years, two other lead-ers have attended these summits. One is the president of the European Com-mission. This is the organisation that runs the day-to-day management of the European Union (EU). The other is the president of the European Council. This organisation represents the leaders of the EU’s 28 member countries.

Currently, Jean-Claude Juncker is the president of the European Commis-sion. He used to be Luxembourg’s prime minister. Donald Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland, is the president of the European Council. Both men took part in the summit. Four G7 nations, the UK,

G7 A N D RU S S I A

Learning English as a

foreign language?

Newsademic.com

Recommended reading

for EFL and ESL

Newsademic.comThe informative easy to read introduction to world news

™

11th June 2015 Newsademic.com™ – British English edition page 2

Germany, France, and Italy, are EU member countries.

Nowadays, the G7 countries no longer have the world’s seven larg-est economies. Over the last 20 years the economies of some devel-oping countries have been growing far more quickly than those of the G7. For instance, the economies of Brazil and India are now bigger than those of Italy and Canada. Bra-zil and India also have democratic systems of government.

After the USA, China now has the world’s biggest economy. Many expect it to overtake America within the next few years. However, China is a communist country. Its leaders are not democratically elected.

At their meeting in 2009 the G7 leaders decided to make some changes. They all agreed that de-veloping countries with the largest economies should be included when any important international finan-cial decisions are made. The G7 plus this group of developing coun-tries is known as the G20. The G20 is made up of the 19 countries with the world’s biggest economies plus the EU. It too meets every year. Tur-key is hosting the next G20 summit in November.

For about 15 years the G7 was called the G8. This happened when Russia was invited to join in 1998. Russia held its first democratic election in 1991. This was after the Russian-led Soviet Union finally broke up. Then, Russia’s economy was small. Yet the G7 countries

agreed to offer membership to Rus-sia. They did this to help the coun-try with its sudden change from communism to democracy.

Last year’s G8 summit was sup-posed to be hosted by Vladimir Pu-tin, the president of Russia. It was going to take place in the Russian city of Sochi, on the coast of the Black Sea. Three months before the Sochi summit, the other seven lead-ers said they would not go. This was because they were angry about what had recently happened in a part of Ukraine called Crimea.

Schloss Elmau

About 16 months ago there were large demonstrations in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. Ukraine used to be a part of the Soviet Union. It became an independent nation in 1991. Be-cause of the street protests, Ukraine’s president left the country. The leaders of the protests then set up a new gov-ernment. People living in the west of Ukraine agreed with what had hap-pened. However, many of those liv-ing in Crimea and eastern Ukraine were unhappy. They insisted that the new government was unlawful.

Many ethnic Russians live in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Those in Crimea organised a referendum, or vote. Most people voted to be-come a part of Russia. The Russian government then annexed, or took over, Crimea. The new Ukrain-ian government and the leaders of the USA and the EU are still angry about what happened. They say that

the vote in Crimea and the Russian takeover were illegal.

After Russia annexed Crimea, fighting broke out between Ukraine government forces and pro-Russian armed groups, or rebels, in the east of the country. Russia has been supporting the rebels. The Ukraine government claims that the rebels get their weapons from Russia. Mr Putin and other Russian leaders in-sist that this is not true. Six months ago the leaders of Russia, France and Germany helped to arrange a ceasefire between Ukrainian gov-ernment forces and the rebels. Yet some fighting still continues.

As the leaders refused to go to Russia last year, an alternative sum-mit was set up. Called the G7, it took place in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. At the meeting the leaders agreed to suspend Russia. As a pun-ishment, the G7 imposed sanctions on Russia. These are meant to dam-age the Russian economy. Sanctions mean that certain things are no long-er sold to, or bought from, Russia.

Many subjects were discussed during the two-day Schloss Elmau summit. They included the fighting in the Middle East and Libya: Rus-sia and Ukraine: diseases like Ebola: energy: the global economy: and the problems of antibiotic resistance.

Before the summit began, Mrs Merkel was asked about Russia. She said that she would continue to talk to Mr Putin. However, she thought it unlikely that Russia would be al-lowed to rejoin the G7. All the G7 countries, Mrs Merkel explained, believe in democracy and the rule of law. Yet Russia’s takeover of Crimea and what it is doing in eastern Ukraine breaks international laws.

Next year’s G7 summit will be hosted by Shinzō Abe, the prime minister of Japan.


WALKING FISH ALERT

Researchers in Australia have be-come worried about a type of fish. Currently it does not exist in their country. Yet the researchers fear that it might arrive soon. The fish’s sci-entific name is Anabas testudineus. It is more commonly known as the climbing perch.

Climbing perch are native to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and South East Asian countries. Adults are about 25 centimetres (9.8 inch-es) long. The fish are a popular type of food in India and some other countries. Over the last 30 to 40 years climbing perch have gradually spread from Malaysia and Vietnam to the islands of Indonesia and Pap-ua New Guinea (PNG).

Climbing perch (Anabas testudineus)

Climbing perch are unusual. They are a freshwater fish but can survive in very salty water. The fish can crawl, or drag themselves, out of the water. The fins that can cover their gills have sharp spines. These can be extended. Climbing perch use their spines to pull themselves across dry land.

The fish have evolved to be able to ‘walk’ from one waterhole, or pond, to another. They can survive out of water for six days. Climbing perch have two lungs. These are next to their gills. The fish uses its lungs to breathe when on dry land. Climb-ing perch are also able to hibernate in dry riverbeds for up to six months.

Climbing perch can cause prob-lems for other wildlife. If larger fish or birds feed on them, the fish’s spines catch in their throats. The perch then swell up. So any fish or bird that tries to eat a climbing perch will die.

In 2005 climbing perch were found on two Australian islands. These islands are called Boigu and Saibai. They are less than eight kilometres (five miles) from PNG. Somehow, climbing perch have managed to get from PNG to the islands. They may have been taken there accidentally. However, these islands are a long way from Australia’s coast. Cape York, the most northerly tip of Australia, is about 160 kilometres (100 miles) away.

The researchers recently visited the two islands. As it was the dry season, the wetlands near the coast were salty. The research-ers tested the water. It was even saltier than seawater. Yet climbing perch were living in the wetlands. The salt does not seem to affect them. The researchers now worry that the fish will reach Australia. They don’t think that the climb-ing perch will swim there. Being transported by a ship or fishing boat is more likely.

The researchers are worried about many native species in Aus-tralia. If climbing perch arrive, it will take a long time for these spe-cies to understand the dangers of eating them. Climbing perch could therefore have a devastating effect on Australia’s wildlife.

Officials who live on Boigu and Saibai islands are now monitoring the climbing perch. They are also speaking with local fishermen and explaining what will happen if the fish get to Australia.

GLOBAL APOLLO PROGRAMME

A group of well-known research-ers and scientists have announced a new international project. Called the Global Apollo Programme, it was officially launched on 2nd June at the Royal Society. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is in London, the capital of the UK. It is the world’s oldest academy of science. Many of the world’s most important scien-tists are Royal Society members.

The leaders of the Global Apollo Programme want governments and the world’s best scientists to work together. The programme’s purpose is to make ‘green’ or ‘clean’ power less expensive. Its price, the lead-ers say, must be less than the cost of making electricity from burning fossil fuels, or oil, gas and coal.

The project leaders have named their programme after the Apollo space flights of the 1960s. At that time, John F Kennedy (1917 – 1963) was the president of the USA. The early 1960s were the height of what was known as the Cold War. Then, the USA (together with its allies in Western Europe) and the Russian-led Soviet Union were enemies. Both Russia and the USA wanted to prove to the rest of the world that their space technology was the best. This rivalry was nicknamed the ‘Space Race’.

In 1961 the Russian astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first per-son in space. After Gagarin’s flight, Kennedy made a famous speech. He


declared that the USA would ‘land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth within the next ten years’. After the president’s speech NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) put a new team together. It included the best scientists, technicians and engineers in the country. This was the start of the Apollo Space Program. The government provided large amounts of money. Then, in 1969, just eight years after Kennedy’s speech, NASA successfully completed the first of several Moon landings.

Nearly all scientists think that extra carbon dioxide (CO2) in the at-mosphere is acting in the same way as a greenhouse. They claim that it is causing average world tempera-tures to rise and the Earth’s climate to change. Much of this extra CO2 comes from burning fossil fuels to make electric power.

Records for world temperatures go back around 160 years. Scien-tists calculate that over this period there has been an average rise in world temperature of about 1°C. Many scientists say that the world’s climate could be severely affected if this average goes above 2°C.

Many countries now say they are trying to find ways of making elec-tricity in a ‘clean’, or sustainable, way. Examples are wind, wave, and solar power. Yet burning fossil fuels is still the least expensive and easi-est way to generate large amounts of electricity.

The project leaders believe that if countries continue to burn fossil fuels, the 2°C increase will happen by 2035. (Many others disagree. They believe it will take far longer.) The Apollo leaders plan to copy the Apollo Space Program. They want the world’s best scientists, techni-cians and engineers to work out

how to make clean electricity less expensive than fossil fuel power. International investors will help by providing large amounts of money. One immediate problem that needs to be solved is how to store large amounts of clean energy.

The Apollo leaders argue that if NASA put a man on the Moon in eight years, today’s scientists should be able to develop cheap sustainable energy within a similar period.

DA VINCI PORTRAIT?

A music professor, who works at an American university, thinks he has made an important discovery. He believes that an engraving, owned by an American museum, is a pic-ture of Leonardo da Vinci. If true, it is only the third picture of da Vinci known to have been made during his lifetime. The engraving is displayed in the Cleveland Museum of Art, in the state of Ohio.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) was a polymath. This is a person with a wide range of learning and knowledge. Da Vinci was not just an artist. He was also an expert mathematician, engineer, inventor, writer, sculptor, architect, musician, and botanist, or a scientist who studies plants.

Da Vinci painted some of the world’s best-known works of art, in-cluding the Mona Lisa. This is prob-ably the most famous painting in the world. The picture is displayed, behind bulletproof glass, in the Lou-vre, a large art museum in Paris, the capital of France.

Da Vinci is also known for draw-ing things that were far ahead of his time. For example, he sketched pictures of a helicopter, a calculator, a diving suit, an armoured chariot,

or tank, a machine gun, and a fly-ing machine. As a scientist, da Vinci was interested in anatomy, or the study of the human body. He made detailed drawings of human muscles and skeletons.

Engraving of Orpheus Charming the Animals by Marcantonio Raimondi (Cleveland Museum of Art)

Much of da Vinci’s work was done in Florence. This city is now in Italy. Da Vinci left Florence and went to live in France in 1516. He died there three years later. A drawing of an elderly man with a beard done in red chalk is believed to be a da Vinci self-portrait. Da Vinci is thought to have drawn this picture in 1510. Today, it is kept in a specially made vault in the Italian city of Turin.

Francesco Melzi (1491 – 1568) drew another picture of da Vinci. Melzi was one of da Vinci’s favour-ite pupils, or students. This picture was also done in red chalk. It is owned by Elizabeth the Second, the Queen of the United Kingdom (UK). This drawing was probably made after da Vinci’s self-portrait.

Marcantonio Raimondi (1480 – 1534) created the picture that is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. He was an engraver. Engravers cut grooves into a hard surface, such


as copper or other metal, to create pictures. Once finished paper prints can be made from the plate, or hard surface. These pictures are usually called engravings. The engraving in the museum shows a man play-ing a violin-like instrument. It is a lira da braccio.

Leonardo da Vinci by Francesco Melzi

The engraving was first dis-played in the museum in the 1930s. It is called Orpheus Charming the Animals. It was thought that the man playing the instrument was Orpheus. Orpheus is a figure from an Ancient Greek legend. He was a musician and a poet. In one well-known story his wife dies. Orpheus then goes down to the underworld to try and bring her back.

The music professor says that most pictures of Orpheus show him as a young man without a beard. Yet the man in the engraving is elderly. He has long hair and a beard. The professor says that the man playing the instrument looks very similar to the two da Vinci portraits. What’s

more, it’s known that da Vinci played the lira da braccio.

Other da Vinci experts are not so sure about the engraving. Raimondi, they say, worked in the city of Bo-logna (also in modern-day Italy). In those days people did not travel very far. There is no historical re-cord of da Vinci and Raimondi ever meeting, or knowing each other.

TURKEY’S HUNG PARLIAMENT

A parliamentary election was held in Turkey on 7th June. The out-come was a ‘hung parliament’. This is when no party has a majority, or more than half of the seats. Many believe that the election result was a defeat for Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. However, his Jus-tice and Development Party (AKP) won 258 seats. This is far more than any of the other three main parties.

Turkey’s parliament is in Ankara, the country’s capital city. Called the Grand National Assembly of Tur-key, it has 550 seats. Therefore, to win a majority a party must get at least 276 seats. This means it can out vote all other parties. Elections for Turkey’s parliament take place every four years. The leader of the party with the most seats becomes the prime minister.

Turkey also has a president. Traditionally, the president is the country’s head of state, but he has few powers. It is the prime minister who runs the country. In the past, members of parliament elected the president. This recently changed. Now, the president is elected by popular vote. This means that the Turkish people vote for their presi-dent. The first ‘popular vote’ presi-dential election was held last year. Mr Erdoğan won.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 – 1938) set up the modern-day Re-public of Turkey in the 1920s. He was the country’s first president and is a national hero. Even though most people in Turkey are Muslims, Atatürk insisted that the country should be a secular state. This means politics and religion are kept sepa-rate. In a secular state the govern-ment should not support, or oppose, any type of religion. All citizens must be treated equally whatever their religious beliefs.

Grand National Assembly of Turkey

In later years Turkey had many political problems. It was not unu-sual for powerful army commanders to seize control of the government. These military leaders also believed that Turkey should be a secular state.

When he was younger, Mr Erdoğan trained to be an Islamic preacher. In 1994 he was elected as the mayor of Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. In 2001, Mr Erdoğan set up the AKP. In the 2003 election the AKP got more seats than any other party. Mr Erdoğan then became the country’s prime minister.

After its success in 2003, the AKP also won the 2007 and 2011 elections. Each time the number of people who voted for the party increased. In 2011 about 50% of those who took part in the election voted for the AKP. For ten years, Mr Erdoğan was a very popular and successful leader. Dur-ing this period Turkey’s economy improved. Mr Erdoğan also reduced the power of the army.


In recent years, more and more people began to criticise Mr Erdoğan. They accuse him of trying to introduce religious laws in a sec-ular country. They believe that Mr Erdoğan has become too autocratic. Last year, he and several other AKP members were accused of corrup-tion, or dishonesty. Mr Erdoğan in-sists that this is untrue.

Ankara

BlackSea

MediterraneanSea

TURKEY

EGYPT

SYRIAIRAQ IRAN

SAUDIARABIA

AZERBAIJANCaspian

Sea

ARMENIA

In Turkey the prime minister cannot be elected for more than three four-year terms. Therefore Mr Erdoğan would have had to stand down at this election. This is why he decided to take part in the presi-dential election. It’s known that Mr Erdoğan was planning to change Turkey’s constitution. These are the rules by which a country is gov-erned. Mr Erdoğan wants the presi-dent to have greater powers and the prime minster fewer. This is a simi-lar system to Russia and France.

However, to change the constitu-tion Mr Erdoğan’s AKP party need-ed to get two-thirds of the seats, or 330. The main reason it failed was the success of a new organisation called the Peoples’ Democratic Par-ty (HDP). This party is mainly sup-ported by Turkey’s Kurds. About 15 million Kurds live in Turkey. This is roughly 20% of the population. Kurdish people also live in parts of Iran, Iraq and Syria.

For the first time Kurdish poli-ticians decided to form one group (the HDP) to contest the election. In

Turkey a party has to get over 10% of the votes to get seats in the parlia-ment. The HDP got 13%. This meant it won 50 seats. If it had got less than 10%, these seats would have gone to the AKP. So the HDP’s success has stopped Mr Erdoğan from becoming a far more powerful president. It’s thought that many people who dis-like Mr Erdoğan voted for the HDP.

After Mr Erdoğan stepped down as prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu took over. As leader of the AKP, Mr Davutoğlu will probably con-tinue to be Turkey’s prime minis-ter. However, the AKP will have to work with one of the other parties to have a majority. If the HDP and the two other main opposition par-ties agreed to work together they could form a new government. The AKP would be excluded. However, most people think that this outcome is unlikely.

HELLBOY DINOSAUR

Palaeontologists, or researchers who study fossils, in Canada have confirmed the discovery of a new dinosaur. Its skull was dug out of rocks that are around 70 million years old. The creature’s head was unusual. The research-ers say that it must have looked similar to a well-known dinosaur called Triceratops.

Ten years ago a geologist called Peter Hews noticed a bone stick-ing out from a cliff on the side of a river. Geologists are scientists who study rocks. Mr Hews told researchers who work at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology what he had found. This museum is in Alberta, a province of west-ern Canada. It is a popular visi-tor attraction. The museum is also

a centre for the study of fossils. Eventually, a large piece of rock containing the bone was cut out from the cliff. This ‘block’ was then taken back to the museum.

Artist’s impression of Regaliceratops peterhewsi (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology)

As they cut away the rock, the researchers realised that the bone was part of a skull. The bit Mr Hews found in the cliff was the end of the dinosaur’s nose, or snout. As more of the skull ‘appeared’, the research-ers knew that it was a new species. Work on removing the last pieces of rock has now been completed. Judg-ing by the size of its skull, the di-nosaur was about five metres (16.5 feet) long. It must have weighed at least 1.5 tonnes.

Many fossilised bones of Tricer-atops have been found. These were big plant-eating creatures. Tricera-tops had two large pointed horns, one above each eye. A third smaller horn was on its snout. Triceratops had a large upward-curving bony plate at the back of its head. Palaeontologists call this a ‘frill’. Triceratops lived during the Cretaceous (between 140 million and 66 million years ago). This was the same time as Tyran-nosaurus rex. Then, T. rex was the biggest carnivorous, or meat-eating, dinosaur. Scientists have found T. rex bite marks on some Triceratops horn and skull bones. These bones show signs of healing. They suggest that Triceratops was able to fight off larger dinosaurs.


The new dinosaur also had three horns and a frill. However, they were different to Triceratops. The horn on its snout was long. Those above its eyes were very small. The frill had a central spike and a row of separate five-sided bony plates. These plates were like a ‘halo’ or ‘crown’ around the edge of the di-nosaur’s frill.

The researchers have called the new dinosaur Regaliceratops peter-hewsi. They named it after the man who first saw the fossil and reported it to the museum. The word ‘regal’ is included because of the creature’s crown-like frill. People who work at the museum have nicknamed the new dinosaur ‘Hellboy’. This is be-cause the small horns above its eyes remind them of a comic book char-acter called Hellboy.

Geologist Peter Hews and the skull of dinosaur Regaliceratops peterhewsi (RTMP)

The museum researchers believe that R. peterhewsi and Triceratops may be examples of ‘evolutionary convergence’. This is when differ-ent unrelated creatures evolve simi-lar features. A more recent example of ‘convergence’ is sharks and dol-phins. A shark is a fish and a dol-phin is a mammal. However, both have evolved to be good swimmers. This explains why they look simi-lar. Another example is the eyes of vertebrates (such as mammals) and octopus. These are two very differ-ent organisms. Yet their eyes have evolved to be very similar.

KINABALU EARTHQUAKE

Mount Kinabalu is on the island of Borneo. It is the highest moun-tain in Malaysia. On 5th June an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 struck an area close to the mountain. The ground shook for 30 seconds. At the time over 130 people were either climbing up or down the mountain.

Mount Kinabalu is 4,095 metres (13,435 feet) high. Its tallest point is called Low’s Peak. Nowadays, many people hike, or climb, to the area at the top near Low’s Peak. The climb is popular with tourists. No climbing or mountaineering skills are needed. However, a person needs to be rea-sonably fit to get to the top.

There are two routes to the top. People have to climb Mount Kina-balu as part of a group. Local guides lead these groups. About 200 people are allowed to hike to the top of the mountain each day. People have to apply for a climbing permit. Some-times it is necessary to book these two or three months in advance.

It is possible to get to the top of the mountain and back in one day. However, not many people do this. Most hikers take two days. One night is spent at a rest house. This is about two-thirds of the way up. The next morning they set off in the hours of darkness. This means they can see the sun-rise from the top.

The earthquake struck just af-ter seven o’clock in the morning. By this time most climbers were at the top. Large rocks and landslides fell down the sides of the moun-tain. These destroyed or blocked the paths that lead down to the rest house. There are several unusual rock formations at the top of Mount Kinabalu. Two close to each other are known as ‘Donkey’s Ear Peak’.

One of the ‘ears’ broke off during the earthquake.

The climbers and their guides were unable to go down. They wait-ed to be rescued by helicopters. Yet bad weather meant that they were unable to land. Eventually, a team of 75 guides climbed the mountain to help those stranded at the top. The guides then managed to lead all the climbers back down safely. They arrived at the town at the foot of the mountain in the early hours of the morning.

Mount Kinabalu, in Malaysia

Eighteen people died on the mountain. Falling rocks hit them soon after the earthquake struck. Those who died were from several countries. Seven children from Sin-gapore were among the dead. They were on a school trip. Two of the children’s teachers and one of their guides also died.

The day after the earthquake officials arrested several younger foreign tourists. They had climbed Mount Kinabalu six days before the earthquake. They were in a group of ten that was made up of men and women. At the top all ten decided to remove their clothes and pose for several photographs. Their guides were very upset. On their return, the guides told local officials what had happened.

Mount Kinabalu is a sacred place to those who live in the surround-ing area. They believe that people’s spirits live on the mountain after


they die. Before hikers climb Mount Kinabalu, the guides explain that they must respect the mountain. They are told to be quiet and not shout or scream. Each year a lo-cal tribe performs a special ritual, or ceremony. This is to honour the spirits and allow people to continue to climb the mountain.

Earthquakes are very unusual in this part of Malaysia. Local people believe that the tourists who un-dressed on the mountain angered the spirits. This, they say, was the reason for the earthquake. Local people are now planning another ceremony. This, they say, needs to be performed to appease, or pacify, the mountain spirits.

The foreign tourists will probably be given a fine. They may also be kept in a prison for three months.

SAWFISH SURPRISE

Scientists in the USA have been studying a small population of smalltooth sawfish near the Florida coast. They were checking the saw-fish’s genes. The scientists wanted to find out if the sawfish were in-breeding, or breeding with close relatives. They suspected that the sawfish might be doing this because their numbers are decreasing.

The scientists managed to get samples from 190 sawfish. While checking their genes, the scien-tists made a surprising discovery. Seven of the 190 were genetically identical to three adult females. These sawfish must therefore have been created by female-only re-production. All seven are females. Their genes show that they did not have fathers and are ‘identical’ to their mothers. This is known as parthenogenesis.

Parthenogenesis is the ability of animals, which usually repro-duce sexually, to produce young without mating. Therefore the fe-male sawfish is able to reproduce asexually. Some people describe this as a ‘virgin birth’.

Smalltooth sawfish

Parthenogenesis has been re-corded in other creatures before. Animals that are known to do this include sharks, komodo dragons, chickens, turkeys, and snakes. How-ever, this asexual reproduction has happened in captivity. The offspring of the smalltooth sawfish are the first example of asexual reproduc-tion ever found in the wild.

Sawfish are a type of ray with a shark-like body. There are five species. All have a long flat nose, or snout. This is called a rostrum. Their rostrum is edged with saw-like teeth. Sawfish feed on smaller fish and some shrimps and crabs. They use their rostrum, or ‘saws’, to attack or stun their prey. Smalltooth sawfish can grow to a length of 5.5 metres (18 feet).

Smalltooth sawfish are usually found in shallow waters. In the USA they are an endangered species. Now only about 500 live near the Florida coast. Their numbers have been decreasing because of fishing (they are easily caught in nets) and loss of habitat.

The scientists wonder if the saw-fish’s asexual reproduction is con-nected to their decreasing numbers.

The females may not have been able to find a male to mate with. It’s pos-sible that endangered species have ‘virgin births’ to try to survive.

Normally a creature created asex-ually has a poor selection of genes. This means it is not very healthy. However, the seven young saw-fish seem very normal. It is not yet known if they will be able to breed. The scientists will have to wait until the sawfish become adults in a few years’ time to find out.

SAVITRI AND SATYAVAN

In India, on a day in May or the beginning of June, many married women take part in a special cel-ebration. On this day, each year, they fast, or do not eat. The women wear bridal clothes and their best jewellery. They also tie long threads around the trunks of banyan trees. While doing this, the women pray that their husbands will be prosper-ous and have a long life.

Women tie threads around a banyan tree

In northern India the celebra-tion is called Vat Savitri Vrat. ‘Vat’ is the word for a banyan tree. Savitri is a legendary figure and ‘vrat’ means a fast. In western India, the celebration is known as Vat Purnima Vrat. Purnima means ‘full Moon’. This year the celebra-tions were on 17th May and 2nd June. Vat Savitri Vrat happens at the New Moon. This is when the


Moon cannot be seen, so it is dark at night. Vat Purnima Vrat is held at the Full Moon. Then, sunlight, reflecting off one side of the Moon, lights up the night sky.

Both celebrations are based on a legend about Savitri and her hus-band, Satyavan. In the story a king has a beautiful and intelligent daugh-ter. He names her Savitri. The king’s daughter is so beautiful that no man dares to ask her to marry him. Even-tually, the king gives Savitri permis-sion to choose her husband. One day, when walking in a forest, she meets a young man called Satyavan. She decides to marry him.

A wise man tells Savitri’s father that his daughter has made a bad choice. Satyavan, the wise man says, is the son of a king who has lost his lands and been exiled. There is anoth-er problem. The wise man explains that Satyavan is destined to die in one year’s time. Her father is unhappy, but Savitri insists that she will marry Satyavan. After their wedding, the couple go to live in the forest.

One year passes quickly. Three days before Satyavan is supposed to die, Savitri starts to fast. When the day arrives, she follows her hus-band. He faints while cutting wood from a banyan tree. Savitri knows that Satyavan is dying. Then, Yama, the god of death, appears. Savitri watches as Yama carries Satyavan’s soul away. She decides to follow. At first Yama ignores her. He thinks that she will give up and return to the body of her dead husband.

Eventually, to make Savitri turn back, Yama grants her three wishes. Her first is that her husband’s father gets his kingdom back. The sec-ond is for her father to have a son. For her third wish, Savitri says she wants to have children. Yama im-mediately agrees to all three wishes.

Savitri then asks for her husband back. She tells Yama that she can only have children with him.

Yama realises that he has been tricked. Then, he admits that he admires Savitri. This, he says, is because she married Satyavan even though she knew he had only one year to live. Yama tells Savitri to go back to Satyavan and he will soon wake up. She returns to her husband’s body and begins to walk around the banyan tree. Satyavan then awakes and they are reunited.

1890 picture: Savitri, wife of Satyavan, begging Yama, the God of Death, for her husband’s life

During Vat Savitri and Vat Purnima the women tie long threads around a banyan tree. These trees live for hundreds of years. They grow in many warmer countries but are native to India and Paki-stan. Banyan trees are very distinc-tive. This is because some of their roots hang from larger branches. When these roots reach the ground they can grow into thick trunks.

Therefore, as the tree gets older, its trunks gradually cover a bigger and bigger area. Banyan trees are sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists.

OCEAN CLEANUP

Scientists have been complaining about floating plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans for a long time. In recent years this problem has been getting worse. Scientists now believe that eight million tonnes of plastic rubbish is dumped in the oceans each year.

A company in the Netherlands is planning to solve this problem. Called Ocean Cleanup, it is led by Boyan Slat. He is only 20 years old. In the past people have thought about using ships to collect the floating plastic. The ships would pull or drag large nets across the surface of the sea. Yet cleaning the oceans this way would be expen-sive. It would also take a very long time. One ship could only cover a small area of ocean.

Mr Slat’s idea does not involve ships. He wants to use the natural movement of the oceans to collect the rubbish. If large amounts of the float-ing plastic can be collected in one place, it should be easy to remove it.

The Earth’s oceans contain strong currents. These are natural steady flows of water that move in different directions. In some places currents act together and flow in a wide circular path. Large areas of ocean within these circular, or rotat-ing, currents are called gyres.

There are five large gyres in the world. They are many hundreds of kilometres across. The biggest gyre is in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean. Another is in the south-ern Pacific. There are two in the


Atlantic Ocean, north and south, and one in the Indian Ocean. Over time ocean currents take floating plas-tic and other debris towards these gyres. Once the rubbish arrives it becomes ‘trapped’ in the gyre. From then on the plastic floats around in a huge circular path.

The floating rubbish that has accumulated, or collected, in the northern Pacific is nicknamed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In more recent years, a similar ‘Gar-bage Patch’ has collected within the northern Atlantic gyre. It is difficult to work out how big these floating areas of rubbish are. Not all the plas-tic floats on the surface. Much of it is suspended just below sea level. This underwater plastic cannot be seen, or detected, by aircraft or satellites. Some people believe that the Pacific Garbage Patch covers an ocean area of ten million square kilometres (3.9 million square miles).

Artist’s impression of an Ocean Cleanup boom

When thrown away, plastic items do not rot. They slowly break down into smaller and smaller pieces. In the seas and oceans, tiny bits of plastic can harm fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Thinking that it is food, fish and seabirds eat tiny bits of plastic. They cannot digest it. If too much gets into their stomachs, the plastic will kill them.

Small pieces of floating plastic attract toxins. These are poisonous chemicals that have leaked into the

sea. Plastic in the sea takes in toxins like a sponge absorbs water. If fish eat these bits of plastic, the poisons get inside them. In future, some fish may become highly toxic. If this happens, the fish could poison peo-ple who eat them.

The Ocean Cleanup Company plans to make huge ‘V’ shaped bar-riers, or booms. These barriers are designed to float on the sea. They are anchored at each end. The booms extend below the surface for a few metres. Ocean currents, fish and other marine life can pass underneath. These barriers are to be placed within the gyres. Their cir-cular motion will then bring all the plastic to the middle of the boom.

The company has tested several small booms. These seem to work. It now plans to place a much larger barrier near an island off the coast of Japan. This boom will be about two kilometres (1.2 miles) long. Within the next five years the company plans to start using far bigger rub-bish collecting booms in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

MERS IN SOUTH KOREA

Park Geun-hye is the president of South Korea. On 10th June she announced that she had postponed her forthcoming visit to the USA. Ms Park said that it was important for her not to leave the country. This is so she can help to try to control the outbreak of Mers in South Korea.

Mers stands for Middle East res-piratory syndrome. It is a disease that is caused by a virus. People with Mers have flu-like symptoms, such as a fever and cough. They may also have breathing difficul-ties. So far, South Korean officials

say that just over 100 people have been infected with the virus. Nine have died. The people who died all had other health problems before catching the disease.

All the Mers infections in South Korea have been traced back to one man. He returned to the country in early May after visiting Saudi Ara-bia. Before it was discovered that he had the disease, the man visited a hospital. Later, several people in the hospital were found to have the virus.

South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye

The Mers virus was first de-tected in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Over the last three years people in a number of countries have been found with the virus. As well as Saudi Arabia, these countries in-clude Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Tunisia, Italy, Germany, the UK, the USA, and most recently South Korea. After Saudi Arabia, South Korea now has the most infections.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is part of the United Na-tions (UN). It advises governments about health care. The WHO says that the total number of people who have had the Mers virus is just be-low 1,240. About 450 of them have died. Therefore, the death rate is around 36%. Currently, there is no cure or vaccination for Mers.

Experts in the Middle East are now sure that the Mers virus ex-ists in some camels. They do not


know where it originally came from. It could have been a harm-less virus that changed, or mu-tated. Another possibility is that Mers has been passed between animals, such as camels, for a long time. So it has only recently managed to pass, or ‘jump’, from an animal to a human.

Medical experts suspect that Mers can be passed to humans in camel saliva, or when the animals sneeze or cough. Another possibil-ity is that the virus is in camels’ milk. In the Middle East the dis-ease does not seem to be very con-tagious. Yet there are cases where the virus has spread from one person to another. This probably happens when an infected person coughs or sneezes. In the Middle East, the virus seems to affect older men more than others.

Illustration of magnified Mers virus

In South Korea the spread of the virus has been from person-to-person. All the infections have hap-pened within hospitals. If people have a sick relative in South Korea, they make frequent hospital visits. It is not unusual for family and friends to spend the whole day and night at a hospital. This may explain why there have been so many human-to-human infections. Government offi-cials say the virus has affected over 20 hospitals.

Everyone who may have been near someone with Mers has been traced. These people are being kept

in quarantine, or isolation. They are checked to see if they develop the disease. About 3,400 people are now being held in isolation. To lower the possibility of the vi-rus spreading, the government has closed 22 universities and 2,400 schools in Seoul, South Korea’s capital city, and nearby areas.

CHINA RIVERBOAT DISASTER

On 1st June a riverboat was travelling up the River Yangtze, in China. It had set off from the city of Nanjing. There were 456 people on board. The boat was going to Chongqing, a city in central China. In the evening the weather became stormy. Yet the riverboat continued on its journey. Then, very strong winds caused it to suddenly over-turn, or capsize.

The riverboat was called Dong Fang Zhi Xing (Eastern Star). The company that owns it operates sev-eral boats on the river. These boats have four storeys, or levels of cabins. Their keels, or bottoms, are shallow. This is because the river is not very deep. Boats travelling on the Yang-tze between Nanjing and Chongqing go through the Three Gorges. This part of China is famous for its spec-tacular scenery.

In recent years, a huge dam has been built on the River Yangtze. Called the Three Gorges Dam, it is the world’s largest hydroelectric project. The dam’s giant turbines generate large amounts of electrici-ty. River cruises on the Yangtze are very popular. People taking these cruises can see the dam and pass through the Three Gorges. Here, there are steep river cliffs and high mountains on either side of the river. The distance from Nanjing to

Chongqing is about 1,500 kilome-tres (930 miles). The river cruises take several days. The Eastern Star capsized about half way between the two cities. Reports say that it was hit by a tornado. This is a fast-spinning column of air that connects the clouds to the ground. Tornadoes are very unusual in this part of the world. Ones that form over water are often called waterspouts. The tornado that hit the riverboat is thought to have had wind speeds of 177 kilometres (100 miles) per hour.

The Eastern Star capsized very quickly. No distress calls were made. The rescue began soon af-ter the accident. However, it took 12 hours for hundreds of soldiers, teams of divers and inflatable boats to arrive. Xi Jinping, China’s presi-dent, urged the rescuers to keep searching for survivors. Li Keqiang travelled to the site of the disaster. Mr Li is the country’s premier. After the president, he is the second most important leader in China.

Yangtze riverboat, similar to the one that capsized

The river is about 15 metres (50 feet) deep where the Eastern Star capsized. The roof of the boat’s top deck rested on the riverbed. Its upturned keel was above the water. Rescuers stood on the keel and lis-tened for noises. They suspected that air had been trapped in the cabins on the lowest deck. Most of the people travelling on the boat were elderly. One 65-year-old woman trapped in


a lower cabin used a stick to hit the bottom of the ship. She was heard. Divers were then able to rescue her. Rescuers cut holes in the keel to look for more survivors.

Of the 456 people on the boat, only 14 were saved. They included the ship’s captain and engineer. Most of those who survived were thrown into the water when the riv-erboat turned over. The captain said that this had happened within one or two minutes. On 5th June five floating cranes pulled the wrecked boat upright. Teams were then able to remove the many bodies. Two days later a special memorial cer-emony was held at the wreck site. During this there was a three-min-ute silence.

One of the Three Gorges (Chen Hualin)

The relatives of many of those who died are angry. They say that the captain should have stopped the riverboat when the weather became stormy. Other nearby boats on the river seemed to have done this. Mr Li said that there would be an in-vestigation to find out exactly what had happened.

SWISS CHEESE EXPLAINED?

Over 400 different types of cheese are produced in Switzerland. Near-ly all are made from cow’s milk. Many Swiss cheeses, such as Em-mental and Appenzell, have holes in them. Emmental is probably the

best known. In many countries it is called ‘Swiss cheese’.

Some parents joke about holes in cheese. They tell their children that mice have eaten the missing cheese. For many years no one knew what made the holes in Swiss cheese. Cheese makers thought they were flaws, or imperfections. They tried to make cheese with as few holes as possible. In Switzerland the holes are known as ‘eyes’. A cheese with-out any holes is said to be ‘blind’.

Emmental (or Swiss cheese)

About 100 years ago an Ameri-can scientist decided to investigate the holes. He concluded that they were made by carbon dioxide. Bac-teria, the scientist said, release the gas. These bacteria are an important part of the cheese making process.

Most people believe that the car-bon dioxide theory is correct. How-ever, researchers at a government-owned farm organisation have just completed some tests. Their results suggest that something else might be making the holes.

Emmental is a region in Swit-zerland. Dairy farming is the main industry. The cheese made in this region is known as Emmentaler or Emmental. Traditionally, the cow’s milk was collected in wooden buck-ets. This was then poured into a much larger container where the cheese was made. Three types of bacteria are used in the cheese mak-ing process.

The researchers at the farm or-ganisation were curious. It seemed there were far more holes in Swiss cheese 15 years ago. Since then the numbers of holes have be getting fewer and fewer. The researchers thought that the reason must have something to do with the modern production process. Nowadays, wooden buckets are rarely used to collect milk. Cows are connected to fully automated milking machines.

The researchers discovered that milk in wooden buckets included very tiny flecks, or particles, of hay. This hay dust could easily get into the milk before it was made into cheese. Today, with the new milking machines, this is far less likely to happen. The researchers did a number of tests. They discov-ered that the more hay particles in the milk the greater the number of holes in the cheese.

What the tiny flecks of hay do to create the holes in the cheese is still a mystery. The researchers say that more work will need to be done to find out how and why the hay particles create the holes.

COLOSSEUM LIFT

A team of engineers has rebuilt a Roman lift, or elevator. Made from wood, these lifts were used in Rome’s Colosseum. They took cages containing wild animals from the building’s basement to the fa-mous arena above. Then, in front of cheering crowds, the animals would be killed in staged hunts. Sometimes prisoners would be put in the arena to be killed by lions and tigers.

The Colosseum is a large amphi-theatre, or open-air arena. To many


This map shows countries to which news stories refer in this issue. Visit www.newsademic.com for more detailed world maps.

USA

UK

TURKEY

SWITZERLAND

SUDAN

SOUTHKOREA

RUSSIA

PAPUANEW GUINEA

THE

NET

HER

LAN

DS

MALAYSIA

ITALYITALY

INDONESIA

INDIA

GERMANY

CHINA

CANADA

BRAZIL

BANGLADESH

AUSTRALIA

SINGAPORE

CHAD

UKRAINE

people it is the symbol of Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire. Em-peror Vespasian ordered building work to start on the amphitheatre in 72 CE. The huge arena took about ten years to complete. By this time Vespasian had died and his son, Ti-tus, had become emperor.

The Colosseum is an ellipti-cal, or oval-shaped, building. The arena was the large open space in the middle. Around the arena there were seats for 50,000 people. The Colosseum is best known for the bloody and violent battles that once took place within it.

The battles, or games, were a part of large shows organised to entertain the citizens of Ancient Rome. The games were a way for Roman emperors to display their power and popularity. They in-cluded hunting demonstrations, executions, funny performances,

exhibitions of animals, and battles between gladiators.

Some gladiators who fought in the Colosseum were slaves. They were forced to fight each other, or against wild animals. Others were professional fighters. Successful gladiators won prize money. Slaves could be given their freedom if they won several fights.

The basement, known as the hypogeum, was underneath the oval-shaped arena in the centre of the Colosseum. The floor of the arena was made of wooden boards. These were covered in sand. (Are-na is a Latin word for ‘sand’. Hy-pogeum means ‘underground’ in Ancient Greek.)

The Colosseum survived two earthquakes and a serious fire. In 404 CE, Emperor Honorius banned fights between gladiators. After this the arena was rarely

used. Later, people living in Rome dumped rubbish in the Colosseum. Over time, many of its stones were taken and used to construct other buildings in the city. By the early 1800s, the hypogeum was com-pletely buried. What it had been used for was forgotten. However, in the 1930s, all the earth and rub-bish were cleared away.

Aerial picture of the Colosseum, in Rome

Heinz-Jürgen Beste is an archae-ologist from Germany. He began studying the hypogeum about 20 years ago. Mr Beste noticed that


there are many grooves, slots and holes in the walls. Later, he worked out that these were where wooden lifts operated. Mr Beste and his team now believe that there were at least 28 lifts in the hypogeum. Most raised wooden cages contain-ing wild animals up to the arena. Other smaller lifts were used to change scenery.

The Colosseum, showing the hypogeum that was under the arena (Jean-Pol Grandmont)

Each lift had a capstan that was turned by four men. The capstans were connected to ropes, pulleys and lead weights. Turning the cap-stan raised the cage up to the floor of the arena. The cage and a trap door in the arena floor opened at the same time. The wild animal would then suddenly appear in the arena. Animals used in the Colosseum included rhinoceroses, hippopota-muses, giraffes, elephants, bears, wolves, wild boar, leopards, lions, and tigers. During the time that the Colosseum was used, around one million animals and 400,000 people were killed in the arena.

A crane was used to lower the recreated wooden lift into the hy-pogeum. To demonstrate how it worked, Mr Beste arranged for a wolf to be put inside the cage. To-day, the Colosseum is a popular tourist attraction. Around five mil-lion people visit the ancient build-ing each year. Now, visitors will be able to see the reconstructed lift. There will also be demonstra-

tions of how these elevators used to operate.

Other work has recently started on different parts of the Colosseum. The arena’s wooden floor is be-ing rebuilt. The ruins of a gladiator training school are a few hundred metres away. A tunnel connects these buildings to the hypogeum. The gladiator school is to be re-stored. When finished, visitors will be able to walk through the tunnel used by gladiators when going to fight in the arena.

LAND SWAP AGREEMENT

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, visited Bangladesh on 6th and 7th June. There, he held talks with Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. The two leaders made several important announce-ments. One is an historic agreement that will simplify the border be-tween the two countries.

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were once all part of a large British colony known as ‘India’. The Brit-ish ruled this part of the world for over 300 years. After the end of the Second World War (1939 – 1945) the government of the UK decided that it could not control India any longer. There had been an increas-ing number of demonstrations in

the colony. Those who took part in the protests said the British should leave. They wanted India to be an independent nation.

In 1947 the UK government agreed that the colony would be split into two separate countries. India was the largest, where most people were Hindu. The other, Pakistan, had a Muslim majority. At that time Pakistan also includ-ed an area called East Pakistan. In 1971 a civil war broke out in East Pakistan. It was between a revolutionary, or guerrilla, group that wanted East Pakistan to be a separate country and Pakistan’s military government.

The war lasted nine months. There were many atrocities. Mil-lions of people from East Pakistan crossed the border into India to get away from the fighting. With help from India, the revolutionary group succeeded. It declared that East Pakistan would be an independent country called Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is almost complete-ly encircled by India. The border, drawn up by the British, created a narrow strip of land that connects North East India with the rest of In-dia. It’s known as the Siliguri Cor-ridor or the ‘Chicken’s Neck’. In some places the corridor is only 23 kilometres (14 miles) wide. It has not been possible for Indians to go across Bangladesh. Therefore travel and other communications between North East India and the other parts of the country are difficult.

There are many small enclaves along the Bangladeshi-Indian bor-der. About 50,000 people live in these areas that are not connected to either country. So there are In-dians living in enclaves in Bang-ladesh and Bangladeshis living in enclaves in India. Before the


British left, this part of the border was never finalised.

One story says that the enclaves were created over three hundred years ago. Then, two regional kings ruled these lands. The rulers liked to play chess and cards against each other. They wrote the names of villages on pieces of paper. These pieces of paper were then used as wagers, or bets. When the British divided India, the lands of one kingdom became a part of In-dia and the other joined East Paki-stan (later Bangladesh). Locally the enclaves are called ‘chit mahals’. This means ‘paper palaces’

Mr Modi and Ms Hasina agreed to solve the enclave problem with a ‘land swap’. The 111 Indian en-claves will become part of Bangla-desh. The 51 Bangladeshi enclaves are to be transferred to India. Peo-ple living in the enclaves will be able to choose which country they want to live in.

NewDelhi

Bayof

Bengal

INDIANOCEAN

CHINAChicken’s

Neck

BHUT

AN

Dhaka

Islamabad

NorthEastIndia

Other agreements were made about trade, electricity and transport. Indian power companies will supply extra electricity to Bangladesh. Two new electric power stations are to be built in Bangladesh by Indian engi-neers. A new bus route across Bang-ladesh is to be set up. This will make it much easier for people in North East India to travel to other parts of the country.

NEW MINIATURE FROGS

Researchers from a university in Brazil have discovered seven new frog species. Most have brightly coloured skin. All the frogs are miniature, or very tiny. The largest is only 13 millimetres (0.5 inches) long. This means the frogs are some of the world’s smallest vertebrates, or animals with backbones.

There are nearly 4,800 species of frogs in the world. They live on every continent except Antarctica. Most frogs are found in places with warmer tropical climates. Some live in water, others on land and several species are found in trees. Frogs are carnivores, or meat-eat-ers. They mainly feed on insects. Some frogs also eat tiny fish and some small animals, such as spiders and earthworms.

Frogs and toads are part of the same animal group. Yet they have many differences. Frogs usually have longer back legs. Their skin is smooth and moist. Most toads have shorter legs and rough, dry bumpy skin. Frogs take long high jumps. Toads will run or take small hops. Many other animals prey on frogs. However, not many feed on toads. Their skin produces a type of poison or bitter tasting substance. This de-ters any predators from trying to eat them. Most frogs are found near wa-ter whereas toads live farther away.

Many frog species lay their eggs in water. Large numbers of their eggs are called frogspawn. Tad-poles hatch from their eggs. These then gradually change into frogs. Not all frogs start life as tadpoles. Some are born as frogs. These types of frogs are known as ‘direct developers’. They usually live on mountains or in other places far away from water. Recently, scientists

discovered an unusual frog in Indo-nesia. The female gives birth to live tadpoles. So far, this is the only frog known to do this.

Orange and green miniature frog from Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest (Luiz Fernando Ribeiro)

The researchers spent five years exploring parts of Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest. Five hundred years ago, this forest covered Brazil’s eastern seaboard, or Atlantic coast. In the north it was about 64 kilometres (40 miles) wide. In the south it stretched 322 kilometres (200 miles) inland. Europeans started to move to Brazil in the early 1500s. Today, the coun-try’s population is over 200 mil-lion. Around 70% of Brazilians live close to the Atlantic coast. Today, around 85% of the Atlantic rainfor-est has been cleared, or cut down. Only small areas remain. These are fragmented, or not connected to each other.

One of the species of miniature frog found in Brazil’s Atlantic rainforest (Luiz Fernando Ribeiro)

The researchers found each of the frogs near mountaintops. All live amongst the fallen leaves, or leaf litter, on the forest floor. Each of the seven species was found on a


different mountain. So, to the frogs their mountaintops are like islands. Each species lives on its own ‘is-land’. This means the species have evolved differently. The most no-ticeable difference is their colour. They all have fewer fingers and toes than other frogs. This is probably because of their miniature size.

Unlike most frogs these ‘moun-taintop ones’ live far from water. They absorb moisture from the damp ground through their skin. The frogs hatch from eggs fully formed. Newly hatched ones are like very tiny adults. They therefore do not go through a tadpole stage. The re-searchers say the frogs have prob-ably evolved in this way because there are no ponds on the mountains.

The researchers suspect that more similar new frog species may exist in other areas of the forest. This, they say, is one rea-son why remaining parts of Bra-zil’s Atlantic rainforest need to be protected.

ROBOT CHALLENGE

An unusual event was held in California, in the USA, on 5th and 6th June. Twenty-four teams from around the world took part. The event was called the DARPA Robotics Challenge. The 24 con-testants were humanoid, or human-like, robots.

DARPA is an acronym for the Defense Advanced Research Pro-jects Agency. This organisation was set up over 50 years ago. Its job is to develop new technology for America’s military forces and other uses.

Half the teams came from the USA. Other countries that took part were Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong

(a city in China), Italy, and Germany. Some teams had been working on their robots for over four years. Most cost at least US$2 million (£1.3 mil-lion) to design and build. Each robot had to complete a number of tasks, one after another. DARPA scientists designed the course. They based it on an incident that happened in Japan four years ago.

KAIST’s HUBO robot opening a door

In 2011 there was a powerful un-dersea earthquake off Japan’s north west coast. It created a tsunami, or giant wave. The tsunami struck a nu-clear power plant. It had been built next to the sea. The powerful wave damaged some equipment. It was used to pump the water that cooled the nuclear reactors. Several reac-tors overheated. Engineers were not able to enter the power station be-cause of dangerous radiation leaks. If a similar disaster happened in fu-ture, remotely-controlled machines could enter a nuclear power plant. From a safe distance, these robots could be instructed to do repairs, or shut down the reactors.

The DARPA challenge started with driving a car for 90 metres (300 feet). The robot then had to get out of the vehicle. The next task was turning a door handle and walk-ing through the opening. Shutting a valve on a pipeline followed. Then, the robot had to drill a hole in a wall and step into the next room. After this, a plug needed to be taken out of an electric socket and put in another

one. Next, the robot had to climb over some debris (a pile of stone blocks and wood). The final task was walking up a flight of stairs.

All the tasks had to be com-pleted in less than one hour. Each robot had two attempts. The teams controlling them were in a separate area. DARPA scientists deliberately created some radio interference. Therefore, every so often, the teams lost communi-cations with their robots. Four courses were set up. This meant four teams could compete at the same time. All the courses were exactly the same. Any robot that fell over had to pick itself up. If the robot was unable to do this, its controllers could go and put it upright. If this happened, the team was given a ten-minute penalty.

IHMC robot shutting a valve

Many of the robots could not complete the course. One was un-able to get out of the car. Several fell over. The winning robot completed all the tasks in 44 minutes and 28 seconds. Called HUBO, it was built by students from KAIST. This is a well-known science and engi-neering university in South Korea.


HUBO is bi-pedal (it has two legs). The robot is 1.75 metres (5.75 feet) tall and weighs 80 kilograms (176 pounds). It can kneel down and roll around on wheels.

The winners received US$2 mil-lion (£1.3 million) in prize money. An organisation from the USA called IHMC Robotics came second. It won US$1 million (£660,000). A team from an American univer-sity was in third place. Its prize was US$500,000 (£330,500).

SHANGRI-LA DIALOGUE

The Shangri-La Dialogue took place in Singapore between the 29th and 31st May. This is an annual meeting or conference. Defence ministers, military commanders and security experts from 28 countries attend. Most member countries are in the Asia-Pacific region. Defence minis-ters are politicians who are in charge of their country’s armed forces, or army, navy and air force.

The meeting in Singapore is also known as the IISS Asia Security Summit. IISS stands for the Inter-national Institute for Strategic Stud-ies. This is a research organisation. These types of organisation are of-ten called ‘think tanks’. They study and give advice on certain subjects, or topics. These are usually to do with politics or economics. The IISS is based in London, the capi-tal of the UK. Its expertise is on the ability of countries’ armed forces and security.

The Munich Security Conference (MSC) takes place each year. It is held in Germany. Usually about 350 people from at least 70 countries at-tend the MSC. The MSC is a con-ference where government officials and military people can meet and

speak freely with each other. Most discussions are about security. This is making sure that people are free from dangers such as war, violence, terrorism, and criminal acts.

Shangri-La Dialogue panel discussion

About 15 years ago the IISS thought that countries in the Asia-Pacific should have ‘their own MSC’. It decided to set up a similar annual meeting in Singapore. The first conference was held in 2002. Now it takes place every year at Sin-gapore’s Shangri-La Hotel. (This is why it is called the Shangri-La Dia-logue.) During the conference there are a number of speeches. However, like the MSC, there are many panel discussions. Three or four people sit on the stage and discuss different subjects. They also answer ques-tions from the audience.

At this year’s meeting many of the discussions were about the South China Sea. This sea has many small, uninhabited islands. They include reefs, islets, shoals, and atolls. Most of these small islands are just above sea level. Nearly all are disputed. This means that several countries claim to own them. Ownership of the islands has become important. This is because large amounts of oil and gas are believed to be under the seabed. Whoever owns the islands, has the right to drill for oil and gas in the surrounding area. The islands’ own-ers also have the right to fish in the waters around them.

China insists that it owns most of the islands in the South China Sea. Even though many are closer to other countries, China says its fishermen have visited these islands for hundreds of years. One disputed group is called the Spratly Islands. They are spread over a wide area. Six countries, Brunei, China, Ma-laysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam, claim to own all, or some of the Spratly Islands.

Over the last 18 months, China has been enlarging several Sprat-ly Islands. Dredging ships have picked up sand and rocks from the seabed. This is then dumped on the islands to make them bigger. Workers then surround the new land area with a concrete bar-rier. This stops the sea eroding, or wearing away, the island. Some people suspect that China is plan-ning to build military runways on these islands.

Island reclaimed by China in South China Sea

This ‘island building’ has an-gered the other countries. Officials from the USA say that all island reclamation in the South China Sea should stop. Admiral Sun Jianguo spoke at the Shangri-La Dialogue. He is one of China’s most senior military commanders. Admiral Sun said that the islands belonged to China. He insisted that his country is always willing to cooperate with other nations.


SUDAN’S PRESIDENT

A special ceremony took place in Omdurman, the largest city in Su-dan, on 2nd June. During the cer-emony, Omar al-Bashir was sworn in as the country’s president for another five years. Omdurman is on one side, or bank, of the Nile River. Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city, is on the other side of the river.

Sudan’s president, Omar Al-Bashir (UN)

Mr al-Bashir took the oath at the country’s National Assembly, or parliament building. Military com-manders, members of parliament and a few leaders from other coun-tries attended the ceremony. As part of his swearing-in, Mr al-Bashir placed his hand on the Koran, the holy book of the Islamic faith.

Sudan is a large country. It has a population of about 40 million. Vot-ing in the election took place over four days in the middle of April. Mr al-Bashir, now aged 71, has been the country’s president for 26 years.

Mr al-Bashir came to power in 1989. Then, he was an army com-mander. He led a group of army of-ficers that overthrew the country’s elected leaders. When military com-manders take power in this way it is known as a coup (pronounced ‘coo’). Since then, Mr al-Bashir has been elected as Sudan’s leader three times. However, many people have claimed that these elections were rigged, or fixed. They say ‘extra’ votes were add-ed, or others deliberately miscounted.

Opposition groups boycotted, or refused to take part in, the recent election. Government offi-cials announced that the turnout was 46%. This is the percentage of people who voted who were eligible to do so. The officials declared that of those who took part, 94% voted for Mr al-Bashir. Senior government ministers in-sist that all elections in Sudan are both ‘free’ and ‘fair’.

Mr al-Bashir is the only elected leader in the world who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). It accuses him of genocide. This is the deliberate killing of large numbers of people from one ethnic group or nation.

The ICC is in The Hague, a city in the Netherlands. It was set up, or established, in 2002. Around 120 United Nations (UN) member coun-tries agreed to its formation. The purpose of the ICC is to try people who it suspects are guilty of cer-tain crimes. These include: crimes against humanity, war crimes, gen-ocide, and the crime of aggression.

In Sudan there are two main eth-nic groups. Most people are of Arab descent. Others are black Africans. For a long time people from the Arab ethnic group, such as Mr al-Bashir, have run Sudan. Many people living in an area of the country called Darfur are black Africans. In the past mili-tant groups accused the Sudanese government of treating non-Arabs in Darfur unfairly. In 2003 a civil war broke out. Several black African mil-itant groups began fighting against Sudanese government forces.

The fighting in Darfur lasted for three years. Around two million peo-ple were forced to leave their homes. Many moved to camps near larger cities. Others set up camps across the border in Chad. Most people in

these camps still do not believe it is safe to return to their homes.The UN estimates 300,000 people died during the fighting in Darfur. It says that most died from a lack of food and water or from diseases. The UN has described Darfur as one of the world’s worst humanitarian dis-asters. The Sudanese government disagrees with the UN’s figure. It claims that around 12,000 people have died in Darfur since 2003.

Red Sea

EGYPTLIBYA

CHAD

SUDAN

ETHIOPIA

Darfur

KhartoumOmdurman

Blue Nile

Nile Rive

r

White N

ile

SOUTHSUDAN

After the swearing-in ceremony, Mr al-Bashir spoke. He said that he would work to end all conflicts in his country. Mr al-Bashir also de-clared that a new constitution would be drafted, or written, for Sudan. This is the set of rules by which a country is governed.

Newsademic.comEditor: Rebecca Watson

Acknowledgements:

News story photographs by gettyimages

For further details about Newsademic

and subscription prices visit

www.newsademic.com

© Newsademic 2015


ISSUE 251 GLOSSARY PUZZLE

INSTRUCTIONS: Complete the crossword. The answers are highlighted in orange in the news stories. There are 25 words highlighted and you need 20 of them to complete the crossword. Once you have solved the crossword go to the word search on the next page

ACROSS

1 Noun Electrical activity that can disrupt radio communication

5 Adjective Describes something that is impressive, grand, or dramatic

7 Noun A long passageway or hallway 10 Adjective Causing a lot of harm or damage 12 Verb Sent away from a country as a punishment 13 Noun A word formed from the initial letters of other words,

often used as a shortened way of referring to something 15 Adjective Easily spread from one to another 16 Noun A promise, especially that you will tell the truth in a

law court 17 Adjective Designed to be filled with air or gas 18 Adjective Financially successful 19 Noun An action or words performed or spoken frequently as

part of a ceremony

DOWN

2 Noun The putting of earth and rocks into the sea or a river to create land that can be used for building or farming

3 Noun Something that needs a lot of skill, energy, and determination to complete or deal with

4 Verb Dragging a frame or net along the seabed to catch shellfish or remove unwanted material

6 Adjective Doing a certain type of job for money 8 Noun A member of a small, unofficial army who fights by

making surprise attacks 9 Adjective Describes someone who runs a country or

company by taking all the decisions without consulting others 11 Noun A cylinder that turns used for winding in ropes or

cables, powered by a motor or humans 12 Noun Plural Parts of a country surrounded by another country 14 Noun Formal discussion among political groups, religions or

countries


ISSUE 251GLOSSARY PUZZLE CONTINUED

INSTRUCTIONS: Find 19 of the 20 crossword answers in the word search. Words can go vertically, horizontally, diagonally and back to front. After finding the 19 words write down the 20th (or missing) word under the puzzle.

MISSING WORD ANSWER =

ISSUE 250 A

NSW

ERS

If you wish to earn additional Demics please email the missing word answer to: [email protected] entries need to be submitted by 10 pm on 24th June 2015 (GMT/UTC).*

C R E D I B L E

* Only applies to those who have purchased a Newsademic Individual or Family Subscription

Demics are tokens that Individual and Family Subscribers can earn. They are awarded for answering this Glossary Puzzle and/or the Daily News question – accessible by logged in users – correctly. Demics earned can be used by Family and Individual Subscribers in the Newsademic online store.

GET EXTRA DEMICS*

F1 E A S I2 B I3 L I T YN N M4 E5

E C6 O N T R O V E R S I A L C C7

F U L O HF M I S AI B G8 T Y MC9 R E D I B L E I S B

C10 I N N A11 P12 P E T I T ED13 O M E S T I C A T E D C14 E E R

M N R R R M SB T I15 A I SA M T T D16 E A L I N G ST C17 O M M O D I T I E S C

U O R UN I18 N T R I C A T E L YI A ET19 I S S U E D

C20 A N O P Y

newsademic issue 251 b

Documents

g7 countries

g7 leaders

g7 nations

eu member countries

european council

schloss elmau

developing countries

european union eu