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The informative easy to read introduction to world news
™

25th May 2017

British English edition
Issue Number 302
Brussels, In this issue
Belgium
4 Top ten new species
SESAME opens
Confederate statue taken
Left to right: Benjamin Netanyahu,
Mahmoud Abbas, Pope Francis down
Vatican Right: King Salman
Flamingo study
3 City
New Zealand’s Alpine fault
5
Taormina, discovery
Italy Amazon company 20th
West
Jerusalem,
Israel
Bank anniversary
2 The perfect dinosaur
Riyadh, President Rouhani wins
bia
Saudi Arabia again
1 Global seed bank worry
Ladybird wings
China’s fire ice
President Donald J Trump’s first foreign visit Manchester bombing
Fátima canonisations

TRUMP’S FIRST OVERSEAS TRIP

Donald J Trump completed his first 100
days as American president on 29th April.
During this time, many foreign leaders
visited him. Yet he did not leave the USA.
Mr Trump embarked on his first foreign
trip on 20th May. It was the beginning of
an eight-day, six-nation tour. The Presi-
dent’s first destination was Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is what’s known as an
absolute monarchy. The country’s king
leads the country. He also makes all the
important decisions. Air Force One, the
American president’s plane, landed in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital city. King
Salman was at the airport to welcome Mr
Trump. The two leaders then held talks.
Several important agreements were made.
King Salman confirmed that his country
would spend US$110 billion (£85 billion)
on American-made military equipment.
The following day, both Mr Trump
and King Salman spoke at an event called
Untitled painting sold
Palm weevils in Tunisia
the Arab Islamic American Summit. The Shooting star funerals
leaders, or representatives, of over 50 China’s belt and road forum
Arab and Muslim countries attended the Record-breaking chilli
event. In his speech, Mr Trump talked Glossary Crossword and
about Islamic terrorists and terrorism. He Wordsearch Puzzle
described the fight against them as a ‘bat-
tle between good and evil’. Mr Trump
urged all the leaders in the room ‘to drive Learning
terrorists out’ of their countries. He also English as a
pledged American help and support.
Mr Trump then travelled to Israel. The
foreign
problems in this part of the world first be- language?
gan over 60 years ago. In 1948, the USA
and the United Nations (UN) helped to
set up a new Jewish state, or country,
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called Israel. It was in an area known as
Palestine. Two thousand years ago, this Recommended
was a Jewish homeland. Many Jewish
people from Europe and other parts of reading
the world moved to the new country. for
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians,
who lived in what became Israel, were
EFL and ESL
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25th May 2017 Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
forced to leave their land and homes.
Most had to move to refugee camps
in nearby countries. After the set up
of Israel, Jewish people had their
own country. Yet many Palestinians
were left without one. The formation
of Israel led to several wars. Violent
clashes between Palestinians and Is-
raelis are not unusual.
Traditionally, the USA has always
helped Israel. Arab countries have
always supported the Palestinians.
Successive American presidents
have tried to get Palestinian and Is-
raeli leaders to sign a lasting peace
agreement. None have succeeded.
The Palestinian National Author-
ity (PNA) is made up of the Gaza
Strip and the West Bank. Officially,
the PNA is not a country. Yet its for-
mation allowed the Palestinians to
govern themselves. Ten years ago, a
conflict broke out between the two
main Palestinian political groups.
Since then, one, called Hamas, has
governed the Gaza Strip. The other,
Fatah, is based in the West Bank.
Most people agree that there
needs to be a ‘two-state solution’
peace settlement. This means that the
land would be divided between a new
state of Palestine and the state of Isra-
el. Yet there are many difficult prob-
lems to solve. These include where
the new countries’ borders would be.
The disagreement between Hamas
and Fatah would also have to end.
Few people believe that Mr
Trump will succeed in getting both
sides to agree to the two-state solu-
tion. However, he is expected to try.
Mr Trump met with Benjamin Net-
anyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in
Jerusalem. He also visited the Yad
Vashem Holocaust Memorial. This
is Israel’s official memorial to the six
million Jews murdered by the Nazis
during the Second World War (1939
– 1945). Mr Trump was taken by car
Leaders of NATO’s 28 member countries at the Brussels summit
to the city of Bethlehem, in the West
Bank. There, he held talks with the
PNA’s president, Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr Trump arrived at Vatican
City on 24th May. The Vatican is the
headquarters of the Roman Catholic
Church. Even though it’s in Rome,
the Italian capital, the Vatican is a
separate city-state. Mr Trump had a
formal meeting, with Pope Francis,
the Roman Catholic Church’s leader.
Mr Trump was shown around St Pe-
ter’s Basilica. This is the main church
that dominates Vatican City. Before
leaving Rome, Mr Trump briefly met
with Italy’s president and its prime
minister. That afternoon, Air Force
One flew to Brussels, Belgium’s
capital city.
NATO’s headquarters is in Brus-
sels. Its name is an acronym for
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
NATO is a military and political
alliance. A secretary-general leads
the organisation. Jens Stoltenberg
is NATO’s current secretary-gener-
al. He is a former prime minister
of Norway.
NATO was set up by the USA in
1949. It began with seven nations.
Now, 29 countries are NATO mem-
bers.Apart from the USA, Canada and
Turkey, all are European nations. Mr
Trump went to Brussels to take part in
a NATO summit. Before he won the
presidential election, Mr Trump criti-
cised many NATO members.
Under a NATO agreement, each
member country must spend a certain
page 2
amount of money on its military forc-
es. The amount depends on the size
of the country’s economy. For many
years, only a few NATO members
have spent the correct amount. Mr
Trump says it’s wrong that the USA
pays a disproportional amount. At the
summit, Mr Trump repeated his com-
ments. He also listed the countries
that don’t spend enough on defence.
Brussels is also home to the Eu-
ropean Union (EU). While in the
city, Mr Trump found time to meet
the EU’s two most important peo-
ple: Donald Tusk, president of the
European Council, and Jean-Claude
Juncker, president of the European
Commission. The American presi-
dent also had lunch with Emmanuel
Macron. Mr Macron is France’s
new president. He took over as the
French leader only two weeks ago.
The final part of Mr Trump’s tour
was to the small city of Taormina,
on the island of Scilly. This large
Mediterranean island is a part of
Italy. Taormina was the venue for
the G7 leaders’ annual summit. G7
is short for ‘Group of Seven’. These
seven countries are: the USA, Japan,
Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and
Canada. This group’s first meeting
was over 40 years ago. Then, these
countries were the world’s seven
largest economies with democrati-
cally elected leaders. The G7 coun-
tries take turns to host G7 meetings.
Next year’s is in Canada. Mr Trump
will host the 2020 summit. ‡
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NEW SPECIES: TOP 10
The International Institute for Spe-
cies Exploration (IISE) is an Amer-
ican scientific research organisa-
tion. Taxonomy is the science of
defining, naming and cataloguing
living and extinct organisms. The
IISE works to improve taxonomy,
or how new species of flora (plants)
and fauna (animals) are catalogued,
or classified.
In 2008, the IISE produced a
list. It was of ten new organisms
that had been ‘discovered’ during
the previous 12 months. The ‘top
ten’ list has now become an annual
event. The IISE announced its 2017
‘Top 10 New Species’ on 19th May.
The newly discovered dead-leaf like spider from
India (Eriovixia gryffindori) (Sumukha J N)
Scientifically, a new species is
not ‘discovered’ when it is first seen
or photographed. It is discovered
only after it has been ‘identified’
or ‘classified’. Taxonomists do this
work. These scientists study all new
species. They decide if it is related
to other species. Taxonomists also
record the organism’s physical char-
acteristics and its behaviour. This
includes how and what it eats, its
habitat, or places where it lives, and
how it reproduces. Once this has
been done, the species is given its
scientific name.
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So far, fewer than two mil-
lion species have been officially
classified, or registered. Nowa-
days, about 18,000 new ones are
given scientific names each year.
Some taxonomists think there are
at least eight million species yet
to be classified. If this figure is
correct, more than four-fifths of
all the living things on the Earth
have yet to be discovered. Many
new species, such as types of bac-
teria, are very small. They can be
seen only with microscopes.
For its annual Top 10, the IISE
usually selects species that are unu-
sual. The new species on the latest
list include: a spider from India; a
leaf-like insect found in Malaysia;
an Indonesian rat; a tiny, thread-
like millipede (with over 400 legs)
discovered in the USA; an ant from
Papua New Guinea; a Brazilian
stingray fish; a centipede from Laos,
which lives on land and in water; an
Australian woody plant; an orchid
from Colombia (the central part of
its flower looks like the devil); and
a ten-centimetre (four-inch) long
marine flatworm that lives off Mex-
ico’s coast.
The newly discovered leaf-like insect from
Malaysia (Eulophophyllum kirki) (Peter Kirk)
The spider found in India is less
than two millimetres (0.1 inches)
long. Shaped like a wizard’s hat, it
looks like a dead, brown leaf. The
Indonesian rat eats the roots of some
plants as well as animal matter. Its
page 3
closest relatives are all meat-eaters.
The stingray fish is found only in
Brazil’s Tocantins River. This river
joins the Amazon close to where
it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
These fish, which weigh up to 20
kilograms (44 pounds), have orange
spots. The Australian plant has been
nicknamed the ‘bleeding tomato’.
The juice inside its young fruit is a
blood-red colour.
A group of leading taxonomists,
from several countries, decide
which organisms are included in
each year’s Top 10 list. It’s usually
published around 23rd May. This
was the birthday of Carl Linnaeus
(1707 – 1778). He was a scientist
from Sweden. Linnaeus is often
called the ‘father of taxonomy’. He
devised the formal (scientific) nam-
ing, or classification, system. This,
with some modifications, is still
used to record all living and extinct
organisms. ‡
OPEN SESAME
An inauguration ceremony took
place in a large, new building in
Jordan on 16th May. The building
is about 35 kilometres (22 miles)
from Amman, the country’s capital
city. During the ceremony, Abdul-
lah the Second, Jordan’s king, of-
ficially announced the start of a
long delayed science project. It’s
called SESAME.
The building is a scientific re-
search centre. Plans to construct it
were first drawn up 20 years ago.
Conflicts, political arguments, dis-
putes and money problems caused
the delays. Nowadays, many of the
best scientists from Middle Eastern
countries move to America and Eu-
rope. This is because they want to
use modern research centres. It’s
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25th May 2017
hoped that SESAME will encour-
age these people to stay and work in
their home countries.
SESAME stands for Synchro-
tron-light for Experimental Sci-
ence and Applications in the Mid-
dle East. The word ‘sesame’ comes
from a famous old collection of
Middle Eastern and South Asian
stories. Together, these folk tales
are called One Thousand and One
Nights or the Arabian Nights. Ali
Baba and the Forty Thieves is one
of the better-known tales. In the
story, there is a secret cave. Large
amounts of treasure are hidden in-
side. The cave’s door only opens if
someone says ‘Open sesame!’
Abdullah the Second, King of Jordan (centre), at
the opening of the SESAME building
The new building contains a syn-
chrotron. This is a type of particle
accelerator. These large, circular,
tube-shaped devices use electro-
magnetic fields to make tiny par-
ticles go faster and faster. Eventu-
ally, the particles travel at almost
the speed of light. A synchrotron
creates intense light beams. These
can act like a powerful microscope.
These devices can be used to study
both small and large objects in great
detail. They can also ‘look’ beneath
their surfaces.
At present there are about 60
synchrotrons in the world. The most
famous is known as CERN (the Eu-
ropean Organization for Nuclear Re-
search). It’s on the border between
Switzerland and France. CERN has
several underground particle ac-
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celerators. The biggest is called the
Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Its
circumference is 27 kilometres (17
miles). The LHC is used to ‘smash’
particles into each other at very high
speed. CERN is often described as
the world’s biggest physics labora-
tory. Twelve European countries
worked together to create CERN.
Now, 22 countries are members.
Apart from Israel, all are in Europe.
SESAME building in Jordan
SESAME is the only synchro-
tron in the Middle East. A physi-
cist from the UK organised the
project. So far, it has cost US$90
million (£70 million). Much of
this money has come from Jordan,
Israel, Turkey, Iran, and the Euro-
pean Union (EU). Several other
countries and organisations, such
as Italy and UNESCO (the United
Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization), have
made contributions. CERN pro-
vided most of the equipment.
Other members of the SESAME
project are: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt,
Pakistan, and the Palestinian Au-
thority. These countries will help
to pay for SESAME’s day-to-day
operation costs. Jordan plans to
build, and pay for, a new, nearby so-
lar power plant. This will generate
the electricity needed to operate the
synchrotron. When the solar plant
is completed, SESAME will be the
only particle accelerator powered by
‘renewable’ energy.
page 4
Scientists from SESAME’s
member countries will be able to
use the new synchrotron. Examples
of the work that it could be used for
are: researching cancers and other
human diseases, studying tiny or-
ganisms and the cells of much larger
ones, and examining ancient texts
and other writings.
Representatives from UNESCO
and all SESAME’s member coun-
tries attended the opening ceremo-
ny. Hopefully, SESAME will act
like CERN. There, researchers from
many countries have worked to-
gether to make important scientific
discoveries. Now that SESAME has
finally opened, similar synchrotrons
may be built in one African and one
Central American country. ‡
LEE STATUE REMOVED
New Orleans is the largest city in
the American state of Louisiana. An
intersection, or place where several
roads meet, in the city is called Lee
Circle. There is a tall stone column
in the centre of the circle. On 19th
May, a large crane was used to re-
move the bronze statue on top of
the column.
The statue is of Robert E Lee
(1807 – 1870). He is standing, with
arms folded, looking to the north.
The bronze figure is five metres
(16.5 feet) tall. The column on
which it stood for about 130 years
is 18 metres (60 feet) high. Many
people in New Orleans, but not all,
approved of the statue’s removal.
Lee was an American general.
He was the commander of the larg-
est Confederate army during the
American Civil War (1861 – 1865).
This conflict began after 11 southern
states withdrew, or seceded, from the
‘United States’. They then formed
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25th May 2017 Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
the Confederate States of America.
These states became known as the
‘Confederacy’ or the ‘South’. The
other American states were called
the ‘Union’ or the ‘North’. At that
time, the USA was made up of 34
states. (Today, there are 50.) Loui-
siana was one of the states that se-
ceded. The others were: Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South
Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, North
Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
One of the main arguments be-
tween the North and South was
about slavery. President Abraham
Lincoln (1809 – 1865), and his
supporters in the Union, wanted
to make slavery unlawful. Yet big
landowners in the Confederacy in-
sisted that they needed black slaves
to work on their plantations, or
large farms. Crops such as sugar,
cotton and tobacco were grown on
these plantations.
Lee Circle, in New Orleans, before the removal
of the bronze statue
There were many battles during
the American Civil War. The big-
gest was the Battle of Gettysburg
(1863), in Pennsylvania. It lasted
for three days. The Union army
won. After Gettysburg, the Confed-
erate forces retreated. Lee and other
Confederate leaders surrendered
two years later.
One of the southern armies’ bat-
tle flags became known as the Con-
federate flag. Nowadays, this flag is
also called the rebel, or Dixie, flag.
Dixie is a historical nickname for the
southern part of the USA. The Con-
federate flag is a blue X-shaped cross
on a red background. White stars are
evenly spaced along the lines of the
cross. Until recently, the Confeder-
ate flag was flown on government
buildings in several southern Ameri-
can states. Today, many Americans
believe that this flag is a racist sym-
bol. This, they argue, is because of
its association with slavery.
The Robert E Lee staute in New Orleans being
removed (Abdul Aziz)
In 2015, a 21-year-old man en-
tered a church in Charleston. This
city is in the state of South Caro-
lina. The man pulled out a gun and
started shooting. Nine people were
killed. All were African, or black,
Americans. The murders shocked
most people. After he was arrested,
the man said that he wanted to start
a ‘race war’. He had set up several
websites. One displayed a picture of
him with a handgun and a Confed-
erate flag. His car had a Confeder-
ate badge, or decoration, fixed to
the bumper.
After the shooting, most states
stopped flying Confederate flags on
or near government buildings. Some
now believe that this flag should be
banned. Not everyone agrees. Many
claim that the flag is part of the
culture and heritage of America’s
southern states.
Two years ago, the New Orleans
city council held a vote. It was or-
ganised by the city’s mayor. The
vote was not about flags, but three
page 5
statues and one memorial. All are
Confederate monuments. The other
two statues are of another Confeder-
ate general and Jefferson Davis, the
Confederacy’s only president. The
council voted to remove them. Its
decision caused many arguments.
The Robert E Lee statue was the
most prominent. It was also the last
to be taken down.
The statues have not been de-
stroyed. They are now being kept in
storage. The tall column in Lee Cir-
cle is to remain. The circle is to be
renamed and used to display public
works of art. ‡
FLAMINGO STUDY
Flamingos are large pink wad-
ing birds. They have long thin legs.
These birds often stand on one leg
for long periods. Flamingos will
even sleep in this pose, or position.
How and why flamingos stand on
one leg is not fully understood. Re-
cently, two American researchers
decided to try to find out.
There are six flamingo species.
Each is found in a different part
of the world. The largest and most
widespread is the greater flamingo.
These birds live in parts of southern
Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and
Asia. Adult male greater flamingos
can be 1.87 metres (six feet) tall.
These pink birds are normally
found where there is shallow, salty
water. This can be around mudflats,
lagoons or lakes. Many live in large
groups called colonies. A single col-
ony may have 10,000 birds. Flamin-
gos fly in large flocks. They have to
run to build up speed before taking
off. The birds make their nests in
the mud. Females lay one large egg.
Both the male and female look after
their chick once it hatches.
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Flamingos have unusual beaks.
To feed, they put their heads under
the water. The birds then scrape the
bottom with the top part of their
beaks. This means that they use
their beaks upside down. Flamingos
eat small shrimps and algae. Their
beaks filter out any mud, or silt, that
is picked up with them.
The researchers spent some time
watching flamingos at a nearby zoo.
They noticed that the birds seemed
to be more stable standing on one
leg rather than two. None of the
zookeepers could ever remember
seeing a flamingo standing on one
leg fall over.
A flamingo standing on one leg
The researchers suspected that
the birds were able to lock the
joints in their legs. One zoo gave
them two dead flamingos. These
had been kept in a freezer. The re-
searchers took the dead birds back
to their laboratory. There, they dis-
sected, or cut open, one of the legs.
Surprisingly, the joints had no lock-
ing mechanism. With the bird flat
on a table the researchers moved its
legs into different positions. They
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
could not get the legs to become
rigid. Then, the researchers had an
idea. They picked the dead bird up
by one of its legs. When the leg was
held upright, it snapped, or clicked,
into place. The researchers could
hold the dead bird up in the air like
an umbrella.
Flamingo colony in Kenya
Further study showed that a fla-
mingo’s leg is angled inwards when
it stands on one foot. The foot is
under the centre of the bird’s body,
not to the side of it. It looks like a
flamingo has a knee joint half way
down its leg. This joint is the bird’s
ankle, not its knee. The lower part
of the bird’s (visible) leg is really an
extended foot. The bird’s feathers
hide its upper leg, or thighbone and
knee. The thighbone is held in a bent
position. It is almost parallel to the
ground. So, even though the birds
look as if they stand up straight,
they crouch.
When standing on a single leg,
the bird’s centre of mass moves to
just in front of its (hidden) knee.
This pulls the knee and hips slightly
forward. When this happens, the
leg becomes very stable. If humans
stand on one leg, they use their
muscles to keep their balance. Fla-
mingos are different. When they
stand on one leg, they don’t move
any muscles. The researchers could
demonstrate this. With one leg in the
correct position, even the dead fla-
mingos stayed upright.
page 6
The researchers believe that they
now know how flamingos stand on
one leg. Yet, they are not sure why.
Saving energy might be the answer.
When on one leg, a flamingo’s mus-
cles don’t move. However, the birds
are more likely to use a single leg
when standing in water, or on cooler
days. This suggests that they do it to
reduce the amount of body heat lost
via their long legs. ‡
ALPINE FAULT DISCOVERY
Earthquakes are common in New
Zealand. Researchers have been
drilling into a fault line in the coun-
try. It runs almost the whole length
of one of New Zealand’s main is-
lands. The researchers hope that
their project will help scientists fore-
cast when future earthquakes might
strike. When their drill reached a
depth of 800 meters (2,600 feet),
the researchers made a surprising
discovery: water that’s hot enough
to be boiling.
New Zealand is home to about
4.7 million people. The country
has two main islands. Usually, they
are called the North Island and the
South Island. The Maori people
lived in this part of the world long
before Europeans arrived. The is-
lands are also known by their Maori
names. These are Te Ika-a-Maui
(North Island) and Te Waipounamu
(South Island).
The North and South Islands are
separated by the Cook Strait. At its
narrowest part, this sea channel is
22 kilometres (14 miles) across.
The strait is named after Captain
James Cook (1728 – 1779). He was
a British explorer. Cook was a very
good cartographer, or mapmaker.
Cook mapped distant parts of the
world that were new to Europeans.
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25th May 2017
Whataroa
Drilling site, on New Zealand’s South Island
(Westland Deep Fault Drilling Project)
During a voyage between 1767 and
1771, Cook was the first European
to sail all the way around New Zea-
land. He made accurate maps of the
two main islands.
A range of mountains divides the
South Island. Cook called the range
the Southern Alps. The explorer
named the mountains after the Alps.
This is the highest mountain range
within European nations. Parts
of the Alps are in eight countries:
Austria, France, Germany, Italy,
Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia,
and Switzerland.
Tectonic plates (or plates) are
large parts of the Earth’s crust. They
fit together like a giant jigsaw with
huge pieces. These plates move, but
very slowly. Some slowly slide over,
under, or past one another. Others
push into neighbouring plates or
move apart. The places where they
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
Australian
plate
Tasman Sea
North
Island
NEW
ZEALAND
Cook Strait
Whataroa
Alpine lp s
fault
r nA Pacific
he South
ut plate
So Island
PACIFIC OCEAN
meet are known as plate bounda-
ries, or faults. Most volcanoes are
near plate boundaries. Earthquakes
often happen either side of them.
Plates pushing into one another
formed most of the world’s highest
mountains, including the Himala-
yas. This ‘mountain building’ takes
many millions of years
New Zealand is on what is of-
ten called the ‘Ring of Fire’. This
is a horseshoe-shaped line of plate
boundaries. It runs around the edge
of the Pacific Ocean. New Zealand
extends across, or straddles, two
plates. The North Island and the
western part of the South Island are
part of the Australian plate (also
known as the Indo-Australian plate).
The eastern part of the South Island
is part of the Pacific plate. Move-
ments of these two plates created
the Southern Alps. The plate bound-
ary that divides the South Island is
known as the Alpine fault.
Over hundreds of years, pressures
can build up along faults. Then, a
sudden movement, or major rupture,
can result in a powerful earthquake.
On average, there has been a major
rupture along the Alpine fault every
330 years. The last was in 1717, or
300 years ago.
page 7
The researchers’ drilling site is
near a town called Whataroa. Heat
deep underground is known as geo-
thermal heat. The researchers ex-
pected a geothermal temperature of
40ºC (104ºF) at a depth of 800 me-
tres (2,625 feet). Yet, at the drilling
site it is 120ºC (248ºF). On the sur-
face, water boils at 100ºC (212ºF).
Due to high pressures, water does
not boil deep below the ground at
this temperature.
Geothermal temperatures of
120ºC (248ºF) are normally found at
depths greater than three kilometres
(1.86 miles). The only places where
temperatures are higher at lower
depths are near areas of volcanic
activity. Yet there is no volcanic ac-
tivity close to the drilling site. The
researchers suspect that a different
process is creating the extra geo-
thermal heat near the Alpine fault.
The researchers’ discovery
could be used commercially. High
geothermal temperatures near the
surface can be used for heating or
generating electricity. Unlike burn-
ing fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal),
energy made from geothermal heat
is sustainable. What’s more it does
not create extra carbon dioxide. ‡
AMAZON ANNIVERSARY
Amazon is an online retailer, or
store. It became a ‘public company’
on 15th May 1997. Then, Amazon’s
shares were sold to the public for the
first time. They were also listed on
a stock exchange. Therefore, 15th
May this year was the company’s
20th anniversary. In only two dec-
ades, Amazon has become one of
the world’s best-known and most
valuable companies.
Jeff Bezos is Amazon’s boss
and founder. Before starting the
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company, Mr Bezos worked for a
large finance company in New York
City. He became interested in the in-
ternet and, in 1994, decided to set up
an online store. Mr Bezos called his
new company ‘Cadabra’. He decid-
ed to change it after a lawyer mistak-
enly thought it was called ‘cadaver’.
A cadaver is a corpse, or dead body.
At first, Mr Bezos was not sure
which product to sell. He decided on
books. Mr Bezos says that he chose
the Amazon name for two reasons.
One, it began with the letter ‘A’.
Then, company lists on the internet
were in alphabetical order. Being
at, or near, the top of these lists was
an advantage. The other reason was
that (Mr Bezos thought) the Amazon
was ‘the world’s biggest river’. He
wanted to create ‘the world’s big-
gest online store’. (Nowadays, the
River Nile, in Africa, is judged to be
longer than the River Amazon.)
Amazon began to use its now
well-known logo 17 years ago. It has
a curved line beneath the name. The
line starts at ‘A’ and ends at the let-
ter ‘Z’. It’s shaped like a smile. ‘A’
and ‘Z’ are the first and last letters
of the alphabet. Highlighting these
two letters is meant to show that the
company sells every household item
(or from A to Z).
After six years, Amazon was still
losing money. Around that time, the
company started to sell other items
and not just books. Now, Amazon
operates huge warehouses in many
countries. The company calls its
warehouses fulfilment centres.
These huge buildings are where all
the items Amazon sells are kept.
They are also the places from which
the items are sent, or dispatched, to
the company’s customers.
Amazon makes money in several
ways. It charges other companies to
place advertisements on its website.
It also keeps a small amount of the
price of everything it sells. Other
companies used to make all the
items listed on the Amazon web-
site. This changed in 2007. Then,
Amazon launched its own Kindle
eReader. A few years later the com-
pany began selling its Kindle Fire
tablet and introduced a TV set-top
box. This ‘box’ can be used to watch
films and previously broadcast tel-
evision programmes.
Jeff Bozos, Amazon’s founder and boss
Today, Amazon is the world’s
largest provider of cloud computing
services. It also has a television pro-
duction business. What’s more, in
future, Amazon plans to make some
deliveries by drones. These are
small, remotely controlled aircraft.
Recently, Amazon launched its
Echo device, also known as Alexa.
This is described as an AI (artificial
intelligence) personal assistant. The
owner of an Amazon Echo can ask
the device to play music, tune into
radio stations, and answer questions.
To raise money, companies can
change from being ‘private’ to
‘public’. This is done via a pro-
cess called an initial public offer-
ing (IPO). It is also known as a
stock market launch, or flotation.
An IPO is when a company sells
page 8
its shares to the public for the first
time. After an IPO the shares are
listed on a stock exchange. This
means that they can be easily
bought and sold, or traded. Ama-
zon’s IPO was on 15th May 2017.
Its shares are listed on the Ameri-
can Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Last year, Amazon’s revenues,
or sales, totalled US$136 billion
(£105 billion). It made a profit of
US$2.4 billion (£1.86 billion). The
price of a company’s shares can go
up and down. Usually, if it is do-
ing well, the company’s share price
rises. If it is performing badly, the
shares lose value. A one-dollar
investment in Amazon shares 20
years ago would now be worth
over US$600. Currently, Mr Be-
zos’s fortune is thought to be $59
billion (£46 billion). ‡
PERFECT DINOSAUR
The Royal Tyrrell Museum is in Al-
berta, in Canada. It is well known
for its collection of over 100,000 di-
nosaur fossils. On 12th May, a ‘new’
fossil was displayed in the museum.
Some palaeontologists, or scientists
who study fossils, have described it
as a ‘perfect dinosaur’.
The fossil was found in an oil
sands mine. Oil sands is a mixture
of bitumen, sand and water. In parts
of Canada there are oil sands close
to the surface. This means that they
can be mined easily. Large me-
chanical excavators, shovels and
trucks do the work. These mines
are like enormous open pits. Bitu-
men is also known as asphalt or tar.
In Canada, crude oil is extracted
from the bitumen. This is then used
to make different types of fuels.
The bitumen in Canada’s oil sands
is the remains of marine creatures
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and plants that lived around 110
million years ago.
In 2011, one of the mine’s me-
chanical excavator operators no-
ticed something unusual. His ma-
chine’s bucket had hit something
that was harder. The ‘lump’ was a
different colour. Looking at several
of the pieces that had fallen out of
the cliff, the operator noticed some
strange diamond patterns. In the
past, some fossilised pieces of wood
had been found at the mine. Yet the
managers had never seen anything
like this before. They contacted the
Royal Tyrrell Museum.
The nodosaur fossil at the Royal Tyrrell
Museum, in Alberta, Canada (rskura)
Researchers from the museum
travelled to the mine. At first, they
thought that it was the fossilised
bones of an ancient marine reptile.
After further investigation, they
were surprised to discover that it
was a land-dwelling, armoured di-
nosaur. Normally, fossils are the
outlines or remains of harder body
parts, such as bones and teeth.
Amazingly, this fossil included the
creature’s armour plates. Even its
feet and claws could be seen.
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
After 14 days work, the research-
ers and mine workers managed to
dig the fossil out of the cliff. Unfor-
tunately, the mining operations had
destroyed its tail end. The part re-
covered stretches from the creature’s
head to its hips. Usually, fossils are
squashed flat. This one is differ-
ent. It has kept its ‘real life’ shape.
Even the contents of the creature’s
stomach were fossilised. Museum
workers had to carefully remove all
the rock around the fossil. This took
five years.
The fossil is a nodosaur. These
creatures were related to a group of
dinosaurs called ankylosaurs. They
ate plants. Armoured plates covered
their backs. Made of a bone-like
substance, the plates were not at-
tached to the dinosaurs’ skeletons.
Their armour protected them from
larger, meat-eating dinosaurs. The
nodosaur found at the mine would
have been 5.5 metres (18 feet) long.
It probably weighed 1,360 kilo-
grams (3,000 pounds).
Drawing of how nodosaurs may have looked
(B G Seielstad)
The part of Canada where the
nodosaur was found was a shal-
low sea 110 million years ago. The
fossilised creature was on its back.
The museum researchers think that
the nodosaur must have died in, or
close to, a river. Floodwaters then
swept the body out to sea. There, it
floated on its back. Soon afterwards,
the body sank. On the seabed, it was
page 9
quickly covered in sand and other
marine deposits.
The nodosaur is one of the best-
preserved dinosaurs ever found.
Also, so far, it is the oldest to be un-
covered in Alberta. ‡
ROUHANI WINS AGAIN
An election for Iran’s president
was held on 19th May. Hassan
Rouhani won. Just over 57% of
the electorate, or people registered
to take part, voted for him. Mr.
Rouhani’s closest rival got 38% of
the votes.
Iran’s presidents are elected
every four years. They can serve for
two successive four-year terms. Mr.
Rouhani first became president four
years ago. His re-election means
that he will now complete another
four-year term. To win the presiden-
tial election, a candidate must get
over 50% of the votes. If this does
not happen, another election is held
the following week. The two can-
didates with the highest number of
votes contest it.
Present-day Iran was the centre
of the ancient Persian Empire. The
country used to have a royal family.
For hundreds of years, Iran’s king
(known as the shah) ruled the coun-
try. The last shah was friendly with
western countries such as the USA
and the UK.
In the 1970s, many Iranians were
unhappy with the shah. He wanted to
make many changes and modernise
Iran. Yet the country’s religious lead-
ers disagreed with his plans. In 1979
there was a revolution. The shah
was deposed and forced to leave the
country. Ayatollah Khomeini (1902
– 1989) took over. He was a senior
Muslim cleric. Khomeini was given
the title ‘Supreme Leader’.
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When Khomeini died, Ali
Khamenei, another Muslim cleric,
became the new supreme leader.
This person is the country’s head
of state. He leads a group of peo-
ple called the Guardian Council.
This group is very powerful. The
supreme leader appoints most of the
Guardian Council’s 12 members.
Some are experts in Islamic law.
Candidates only take part in presi-
dential elections if approved by the
Guardian Council.
The supreme leader has far more
power than the president. This is
why Iran is often described as a the-
ocracy. This is a form of government
where God, or a deity, is recognised
as the country’s ruler. In a theocracy,
religious leaders are in charge. The
legal system is based on religious
laws. The name ‘theocracy’ comes
from two Ancient Greek words:
theo (‘God’) and kratos (‘rule’).
(The ‘demo’ in ‘democracy’ is the
Greek word for ‘people’ (demos).)
Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani
(Meghdad Madadi)
Even though Iran’s supreme
leader has more power, the president
leads the country’s government.
He makes the decisions that affect
Iran’s economy. The president ap-
points other government members
and the governors of Iran’s prov-
inces. He also meets leaders of other
countries when they visit Iran. It is
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
the president, and not the supreme
leader, who represents Iran on over-
seas visits.
In Iran, Mr. Rouhani is thought
to be a ‘moderate’ leader. This is
the opposite of a ‘hardliner’. In the
election, Mr. Rouhani’s main rival
was often described as the hard-
line candidate. Hardliners have set
ideas and usually refuse to com-
promise or listen to others who
think differently.
Last year, Iran made an im-
portant agreement with six world
powers (the USA, the UK, France,
Germany, Russia, and China).
These countries were represent-
ing the United Nations (UN). For
many years, the UN accused Iran of
secretly developing nuclear weap-
ons. Iran’s leaders always denied it.
They claimed that their nuclear pro-
gramme was for medical research
and generating electricity. The UN
imposed sanctions on Iran. This
meant that other countries could
not sell items to, or buy items from,
Iran. These sanctions badly affected
Iran’s economy.
The agreement means that Iran
cannot have a nuclear weapons pro-
gramme for at least ten years. The
sanctions were ended, or lifted. This
caused much celebration in Iran.
Many people believe that the agree-
ment was only possible because Mr.
Rouhani was the president. ‡
SEED BANK WORRY
During the last six months, Arctic
temperatures have been far higher
than normal. On 20th May, sev-
eral newspapers reported that a
large amount of water had recently
entered the Global Seed Vault.
The water, the news reports said,
came from heavy rain, thawing
page 10
permafrost and melting snow. Per-
mafrost is ground that is usually fro-
zen all the time.
The Global Seed Vault is in
Svalbard. This is an archipelago, or
group of islands, that belong to Nor-
way. The islands are midway be-
tween the North Pole and Norway.
The vault is a seed storage facil-
ity. It has been specially designed.
Some people call it the ‘doomsday
vault’. This is because seeds inside
it would survive any man-made, or
natural, global catastrophes. These
include: nuclear wars, large asteroid
or comet strikes, and sudden chang-
es in the climate.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault entrance
If any of these disasters hap-
pened, large areas of the Earth
could become desolate. Food
plants in these parts of the world
might all be destroyed. The seeds
kept in the Svalbard vault mean
that these plants would not be
‘lost’. They could be replanted.
The vault was built on Svalbard
because it’s very cold. The natu-
ral temperature inside the vault
is about -18ºC (-0.4ºF). Electric
power is not needed to maintain
the freezing temperature. Some
seeds could be planted and grown
after being kept in the vault for
hundreds of years.
The Norwegian government paid
for the vault. The construction cost
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25th May 2017
£7 million (US$9 million). Only the
entrance is above ground. It leads to
a tunnel that is 125 metres (410 feet)
long. The vault was dug into the side
of a mountain. It’s 130 metres (425
feet) above sea level. Inside are four
sets of airtight, or air-locked, doors.
There are three separate rooms, or
vaults, on the other side of the doors.
These rooms are big enough to store
two billion seeds.
There are at least 1,500 seed
vaults, or seed banks, in other parts
of the world. These are collections
of local food crop seeds. Yet many
seed banks are poorly managed.
Some have been damaged by wars
or natural disasters such as flooding
or earthquakes. These seed banks
rely on freezers. They need electric
power. If the electricity stopped, all
the seeds could be lost.
Staff taking seeds into the Svalbard Global Seed
Vault (Okayama University)
Nowadays, all countries are
invited to keep their seeds in the
Svalbard vault. Most have now
chosen to do so. Currently, the
vault contains seeds from 930,000
food plants. Countries do not have
to pay to put, or keep, their seeds
in the vault. The Norwegian gov-
ernment and an organisation called
the Crop Trust pay for the vault’s
operating costs. Much of the Crop
Trust’s money comes from the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation. Mr
Gates co-founded the Microsoft
Company. At present, he is the
world’s richest person.
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
The Global Seed Vault opened
in 2008. Then, average Arctic tem-
peratures were lower. These latest
warmer winter temperatures may
have been an exception. Yet, many
scientists now predict that the Arc-
tic will continue to get warmer. Of-
ficials at the seed vault say that the
water did not cause any damage. It
collected just inside the entrance.
There, it quickly froze. The ice had
to be broken up and removed.
The officials admit that liquid
water getting into the vault’s en-
trance is a worry. It is supposed to
survive a disaster. The vault should
not need any human involvement
or maintenance. Work is now be-
ing done to waterproof the inside of
the tunnel. Outside, trenches are to
be dug. These will channel any rain
or meltwater away from the vault’s
entrance. ‡
LADYBIRD WINGS
Ladybirds are a type of flying bee-
tle. (In some parts of the world
they’re called ladybugs.) Flying in-
sects have two pairs of wings. La-
dybirds are different. Their front, or
fore, wings are hard. Called elytra,
they protect the ladybird’s back, or
hind, wings. These hindwings are
used for flying.
A ladybird can change quickly
from walking to flying and flying
to walking. When not in the air,
its hindwings are folded beneath
the elytra. To take off, the ladybird
opens its elytra. The hindwings un-
fold immediately and it flies away.
A team of scientists in Japan
wanted to observe how a lady-
bird’s hindwings fold and unfold.
This was not possible because the
elytra were in the way. If the elytra
were removed, the hindwings could
page 11
not fold and unfold. The scientists
found a solution. They replaced one
ladybird’s elytra with a see-through,
or transparent, cover. The scientists
made the ‘false’ elytra from resin
normally used for nail art.
Ladybird with see-through elytra (Kazuya Saito)
There are more than 6,000 lady-
bird species. They live in most parts
of the world. Most of the flying bee-
tles’ elytra are yellow, orange or red,
with small black spots. The largest
ladybirds are about 18 millimetres
(0.7 inches) long. Like all insects,
they have six legs. Ladybirds are
popular with gardeners and farmers.
They feed on smaller insects, such
as aphids. Many of the insects that
ladybirds eat are known to damage
certain plants and food crops.
A ladybird’s hindwings are
strong and rigid when in flight. Yet,
to quickly unfold and fold, they have
to be very flexible. The wings have
no ‘folding’ joints. This is unusual.
There are creases in a ladybird’s
hindwings. The scientists guessed
that the wings unfolded along these
crease lines. This would be like folds
in a piece of paper. The see-through
false elytra meant that the scientists
could now find out if this was true.
Using high-speed cameras, the
scientists filmed the ladybird’s
wings folding and unfolding. The
film could then be watched at a
much slower speed. The scientists
noticed that the edge and lower
parts of the forewings matched the
pattern of veins in the hindwings.
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The ladybird uses the shape of its
elytra to fold its hindwings along
these crease lines. Once folded, the
hindwings are pulled into their stor-
age space.
Next, the scientists used special
scanners to make 3D (three-dimen-
sional) images of the hindwings.
These showed the way in which
veins in the wings are curved. Ener-
gy stored in the veins is compressed
when the wings are folded. This is
why they spring open and become
rigid quickly. Nowadays, similar
mechanisms are used in satellite an-
tenna hinges.
A ladybird taking off (University of Tokyo
The scientists believe that their
understanding of a ladybird’s wings
could be useful in several research
fields, or areas. These include: robot-
ics, mechanics and engineering. The
ladybird’s hindwing mechanisms
are far simpler than those used in
many man-made folding items. Um-
brellas are a good example. These
have rigid joints. An umbrella that
resembled a ladybird’s hindwings
would not break in high winds. Nor
would it blow inside out. ‡
FIRE ICE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA
Officials in China made an an-
nouncement on 18th May. It was
about a possible new energy source.
The officials explained that, for the
first time, a Chinese operation had
managed to extract large amounts of
natural gas from a substance called
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
methane hydrate. This was done in
the South China Sea.
Methane hydrate is also known
as ‘combustible ice’ or ‘fire ice’.
It exists under the seabed in many
parts of the world. Fire ice is also
found under land in the Arctic. It
is often described as a sherbet-like
substance. Fire ice is a mix of meth-
ane (natural gas) and water. It can
also contain small amounts of other
gases such as propane and butane.
Natural gas is formed over mil-
lions of years. It comes from decay-
ing plants and animals, or organic
matter, trapped under layers of
rock. Here, extreme temperatures
and heat cause the organic mat-
ter to turn into carbon. It then be-
comes one of three types of energy
resource, or fossil fuel: oil, natural
gas or coal.
In most countries, fossil fuels are
used for generating electricity, heat-
ing, transport, and cooking. Burning
fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide
(CO2) into the air. Most scientists
now agree that extra CO2 in the at-
mosphere is now acting like a green-
house. It traps more of the Sun’s
heat. The scientists claim that this
‘greenhouse effect’ is altering the
climate in some parts of the world.
Of the three fossil fuels, natural gas
is the ‘cleanest’. When burnt, it pro-
duces the least amount of CO2.
Methane hydrate is formed when
methane combines with water that
is very cold and under high pres-
sure. If the pressure and tempera-
ture is just right, the mix of gas and
water turns into methane hydrate.
If a flame is held under fire ice, it
burns. The conditions for creating
methane hydrate exist just below the
ocean floor. There, methane coming
up from rocks below mixes with
very cold water that’s under ex-
treme pressure. If the pressure was
page 12
lowered or temperature increased,
the fire ice would break down into
methane and water.
Japan has been researching the
use of methane hydrate for many
years. It has no reserves of oil and
gas. All the oil and gas burnt in
Japan’s power stations has to be
bought from other countries. Japan
does not use coal to make electric-
ity. Many other countries are now
planning to close their coal-burning
power stations. This is because of
the pollution and large amount of
CO2 that they create.
Burning methane hydrate (USGS)
Like Japan, China does not have
any oil and gas. It still operates
many coal power stations. Methane
hydrate found around China’s coast-
line could be a valuable new energy
resource. It could replace the coun-
try’s coal-burning power stations.
However, getting the gas out of fire
ice on the seafloor is difficult. Cur-
rently, it is also very expensive.
The Chinese officials say that their
latest results were impressive. They
claim to have extracted far more gas
than the Japanese researchers. Sci-
entists in other countries think that
this type of gas extraction will be far
too expensive for many more years.
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25th May 2017
However, more research and testing
could mean that it becomes viable,
or economic, in the future.
Some people are worried about
extracting gas from methane hy-
drates. They claim that removing
large amounts of methane from
under the sea floor could be danger-
ous. For example, it may cause big
undersea landslides. These can cre-
ate tsunamis, or giant waves. What’s
more, methane is a ‘worse’ green-
house gas than CO2. Large amounts
of it ‘escaping’ from the seafloor
into the atmosphere might ‘speed
up’ climate change. ‡
MANCHESTER BOMBING
Manchester is a city in the north
west of the UK. There is a large
indoor arena not far from the cen-
tre of the city. Inside are seats for
CANADA
USA
MEXICO
COLOMBIA
This map shows countries to which news stories refer in this issue. Visit www.newsademic.com for more detailed world maps.
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
21,000 people. The arena is busy.
It hosts frequent music concerts and
sporting events.
Ariana Grande is a young Amer-
ican singer. Her songs and perfor-
mances are very popular. Most of
the singer’s admirers are teenage
girls. Three months ago, Ms Grande
began a world tour. The first con-
cert was in Phoenix. This city is in
the state of Arizona, in the USA.
Later concerts were held in many
other American cities. The tour
then moved to Europe. On 22nd
May, Ms Grande performed at the
Manchester Arena. All the tickets
were sold many months before the
concert date.
Ms Grande finished her last
song about half past ten in the
evening. People in the audience
then began to move towards the
exits. Many parents had gathered
outside the arena. They had made
Svalbard
NORWAY
UK
BELGIUM
JORDAN
ITALY
PORTUGAL
ISRAEL
TUNISIA
SAUDI
ARABIA
BRAZIL
page 13
arrangements to collect their sons
and daughters after the end of the
concert. Then, there was a huge ex-
plosion. It occurred near the foyer,
close to the main entrance. Police
and other rescue workers arrived
within a few minutes.
There were frightening scenes.
Friends and families became sepa-
rated in the crush to get out of the
arena. Young children were unable
to find their parents. The police
wanted to move everyone away as
quickly as possible. They feared
another explosion. Later, police
commanders confirmed that it was
a suicide bombing. A young man,
aged 22, standing close to the foyer,
had detonated the explosives hidden
under his clothes.
Excluding the attacker, the blast
killed 22 people. The youngest
was an eight-year-old girl. Over 50
people were badly injured. At least
CHINA JAPAN
IRAN
INDIA
MALAYSIA
PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
INDONESIA
AUSTRALIA
NEW ZEALAND
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25th May 2017
20 have what are described as ‘life
changing’ injuries. The incident was
the deadliest terrorist attack in the
UK since 2005.
The police gave frequent up-
dates. Yet they did not name the
attacker. This is not unusual. Once
the police know who an attacker
is, they quickly have to speak
with, or arrest, their relatives or
associates. If the attacker’s name is
announced early, these people may
have time to get away, or even
leave the country.
Exterior of the Manchester Arena
Music concert at the Manchester Arena
Within a few hours of the
bombing, an American breakfast
television channel broadcast the
attacker’s name. This surprised
many people. The following day,
an American newspaper published
two photographs of items on the
floor of the foyer. The pictures
had been taken as part of the po-
lice investigation.
The UK and the USA have
an intelligence sharing alliance
or agreement. Canada, Australia,
and New Zealand, are also part
of this alliance. This arrange-
ment is often called the ‘Five
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
Eyes’ agreement. Officials in
the UK were very angry that
someone working for the Amer-
ican intelligence services had
passed this ‘secret’ information
to television and newspaper re-
porters. Theresa May, the UK’s
prime minister, contacted the
American president, Donald J
Trump, to complain.
The suicide bomber was a
22-year-old Muslim man. He was
born in the UK. The man’s par-
ents had come from Libya. They
returned to their home country
six years ago. An investigation
will be held to try to find out
how and why the man became
radicalised. ‡
FATIMA SAINTS
Pope Francis is the leader, or head,
of the Roman Catholic Church.
On 13th May, he travelled to
Fátima. This town is in Portugal.
There, Pope Francis took part in
a special ceremony. During it, he
canonised a young boy and his
younger sister. Both children are
now saints.
The children were called Fran-
cisco and Jacinta. They lived in
Fátima. One hundred years ago,
the children often acted as shep-
herds. They looked after their fam-
ily’s sheep. Their cousin, Lúcia,
usually accompanied them. Like
most people in Portugal, they and
their families were Roman Catho-
lics. Then, Francisco was nine
years old, Jacinta was seven and
Lúcia was ten. While in the nearby
hills, they twice saw a ghost-like
image of a person, or apparition.
The three children thought it was
an angel. At first, they did not tell
anyone what they had seen.
page 14
On 13th May 1917, the children
saw a different figure. This time they
were sure that the apparition was
Mary. Christians believe that Jesus
is the Son of God. The Bible, or the
holy book of the Christian religion,
says that Mary was the mother of Je-
sus. She is also known as the Virgin
Mary. Mary is one of the Catholic
Church’s most important saints.
Lúcia Santos (left) with her cousins Jacinta and
Francisco Marto, in 1917
The figure the children saw
spoke to them. They claimed to
have seen the same saintly appari-
tion six times. The children said
that they were told three secrets, or
prophecies. These became known as
the Three Secrets of Fátima. Many
people did not believe the children
when they told them what had hap-
pened. Then, the children told others
that the saintly figure would perform
a miracle on 13th October 1917.
About 70,000 people came to wit-
ness it. Some believed that the Sun
behaved in an unusual way for about
ten minutes on this day. They said
that it ‘had danced in the sky’ and
changed colours. Yet, not everyone
 NID: 1000708-208-302 B Newsademic. Prepared for: Western International School of Shanghai
25th May 2017
saw it. This event later became
known as the Miracle of the Sun.
After the Miracle of the Sun,
Fátima became a place of pilgrim-
age for Roman Catholics. The figure
the children claimed to have seen is
known as Our Lady of Fátima. In lat-
er years, a large shrine was built on
the site where the figure is thought
to have appeared. The building is
called the Sanctuary of Fátima.
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima
After four years of fighting, the
First World War ended in 1918.
Soon afterwards, a deadly flu pan-
demic spread to many countries.
It was known as the Spanish Flu.
It’s thought that 500 million peo-
ple became ill with the flu. It’s not
known how many died. Estimates
vary between 50 million and 100
million. At that time, 100 million
people equalled five percent of the
world’s population.
Francisco and Jacinta both caught
Spanish Flu. Francisco died in 1919
and Jacinta the following year.
When older, Lúcia became a Catho-
lic nun. She died in 2005, aged 97.
In the 1930s, the Catholic Church
investigated what had happed at
Fátima. It concluded that the chil-
dren had been telling the truth.
There are several stages to be-
coming a saint. People declared to
be saints have usually been dead for
a long time. Francisco and Jacinta
are now the Catholic Church’s
youngest saints who did not die as
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
martyrs. Lúcia is also expected to
become a saint. Yet, as her death
was not long ago, this may not hap-
pen for many years.
Today, thousands of people visit
the Sanctuary of Fátima every year.
This is where Pope Francis led
the canonisation ceremony. Over
500,000 people gathered at the
shrine to take part. The ceremony
was held on the 100th anniversary
of the first time that the three chil-
dren saw the apparition of Mary. ‡
UNTITLED PAINTING
Sotheby’s is a well-known interna-
tional auction house company. On
18th May, the company held an art
auction in New York City, in the
USA. One of the pictures due to be
sold was painted by an American
artist called Jean-Michel Basquiat.
When the bidding began, several
people wanted to buy it.
The Basquiat Untitled painting and its new
owner (Yusaku Maezawa, Instagram)
After ever-increasing bids, the
painting finally sold for US$110.5
million (£81.8 million). Art experts
were astonished. The price is the
highest ever paid, at auction, for a
painting by an American artist. The
Basquiat picture is the first paint-
ing created since 1980 to sell for
page 15
more than US$100 million (£77.5
million). Only ten other works of
art have ever been auctioned for
more than this amount of money.
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 –
1988) was an African-American art-
ist. He was born in New York City.
Basquiat’s father came from Haiti.
When Basquiat was a young boy, his
mother took him to many art exhibi-
tions in the city. At school, Basquiat
learnt to read and speak French and
Spanish at an early age. However,
later, he dropped out of school. For a
time, Basquiat lived on the streets.
Basquiat began painting graffiti
on old buildings. He also became a
musician. Basquiat was a friend of
Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987). War-
hol is one of America’s most famous
artists. He may be best known for
leading the ‘pop art’ movement. In
the 1980s Basquiat finally became
a ‘full-time’ artist. He made money
by selling some of his paintings.
Several exhibitions of Basquiat’s
work were organised. Yet by this
time, the young artist had begun to
take drugs. At age 27, Basquiat died
of a drug overdose.
Often, Basquiat did not name his
artworks. These paintings are usu-
ally called ‘Untitled’. This is the
name of the painting sold by Sothe-
by’s. The picture is of a large human
skull. Basquiat painted it in 1982.
Then, he was 21 years old.
Yusaku Maezawa is the paint-
ing’s new owner. He is one of the
richest people in Japan. Twenty
years ago, Mr Maezawa set up a
company called Start Today. Then,
he was very young. Mr Maezawa
is now 41 years old. In Japan, his
company is best known for its popu-
lar Zozotown fashion retail website.
Mr Maezawa is now a collector of
contemporary, or modern, art. Last
year, he paid $57.3 million (£44.4
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25th May 2017 Newsademic.com™ – British English edition page 16

million) for another Basquiat picture.

trees. In the Middle East and North Carthage and Tunis, the capital city.
This painting is of a horned devil. Africa, the insects attack date palms. Tunisia’s large date plantations are
The ‘Untitled’ skull picture has Adult red palm weevils feed on far away in the south of the coun-
not been seen in public for more thanthe date palm’s leaves. They cause try. So far, no weevils have reached
30 years. Mr Maezawa is hoping to only minor damage. The problem them. If they do, it would cause seri-
loan it to art galleries and museums is their larvae. After mating, the ous problems.
in several countries. He wants as female produces about 200 eggs.
many people as possible to see the These are usually laid at the base of
painting. Eventually, it will be dis-new leaves on the crown, or top, of
played in the museum that he is plan-the palm. Alternatively, the female
ning to build in Chiba, in Japan. This
will place the eggs in a cut on the
is Mr Maezawa’s hometown. ‡ tree’s trunk. Soon after they are laid,
white legless larvae emerge from
the eggs. The larvae then eat into the
PALM WEEVILS woody parts of the palm. As they do
so, they harm the tree from the in-
Red palm weevil
Dates are edible, sweet fruits. They side. The larvae can grow to a length
grow on date palm trees. Dates have of six centimetres (2.4 inches). The government officials are
been an important source of food worried. Experts from other coun-
in the Middle East for thousands tries were invited to their meeting.
of years. In more recent times, date They explained the best ways to
palms have been planted in many fight the palm weevils. Infected trees
other countries. Today, there are have to be removed and destroyed
about 5.4 million date palms in Tu- quickly. Plantation workers need
nisia. It produces more dates than to be trained to carry out frequent
any other country. inspections. The workers should
Tunisia’s date industry is im- be able to detect the early signs of
portant. Many people work on the an infestation. Then, the trees can
country’s date farms, or planta- be sprayed with a pesticide, or mix
tions. Also, the places where the Date palm of chemicals, that kill the beetles.
dates are prepared and packed em- Eventually, the larvae drop out of Pheromone traps can also be used.
ploy thousands of workers. Most of the tree. Then, they make cocoons These contain chemicals that attract,
Tunisia’s dates are exported. These out of dead leaves near its base. In- or lure, adult weevils into them.
exports are worth about US$230 side their cocoons, the larvae gradu- The experts say that these actions
million (£178 million) each year. ally change into adults. The com- have stopped, or slowed, red palm
Recently, government officials or- plete life cycle, or from egg to adult, weevil infestations in other parts of
ganised a special meeting. It was takes between seven and ten weeks. the world. For them to work, eve-
held to discuss a growing threat: Once the larvae have chewed into ryone must know what to look for
red palm weevils. the trunk, the tree’s leaves begin to and what to do if the weevils are
The red palm weevil is a type wilt. The palm’s crown then starts to spotted. ‡
of beetle. Adults are about three rot. Once this happens, the palm tree
centimetres (1.2 inches) long. The is unlikely to survive.
insects are a rusty red colour. Red In other countries, red palm SHOOTING STAR FUNERALS
palm weevils can fly. These insects weevils seem to have infested date
are not native to the Middle East or palms in the cities first. After this, When people die their bodies are
North Africa. They come from Asia. they spread to the countryside. In usually buried or cremated. In many
The weevils were first seen in the Tunisia, many city streets are lined countries, cremation is now the more
Mediterranean in the 1980s. In Asia, with date palms. The weevils have popular option. After the body is
red palm weevils will kill coconut infested and killed palm trees in burnt, the ashes are given to a relative.
 NID: 1000708-208-302 B Newsademic. Prepared for: Western International School of Shanghai
25th May 2017 Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
Depending on the wishes of the de-
ceased, the ashes are either buried or
scattered in a favourite place.
Elysium Space is an American
company. It is now offering a dif-
ferent funeral service. People can
pay to have some of their ashes
travel in space and then burn up
like a shooting star. The word ‘Ely-
sium’ comes from Greek mythol-
ogy. It’s at ‘the ends of the Earth’.
This is the place where the gods
took certain heroic figures to, after
they had died.
People who register with Ely-
sium Space are sent a small metal
capsule. Some of the cremated per-
son’s ashes are put inside it. The
person’s initials can be engraved on
the capsule. As well as the capsule,
a message of up to 80 engraved
characters can be sent into space.
The capsules fit into trays. These
are then placed inside a cube-like
metal box, or container. The metal
box will then be taken into space
by a rocket.
Until recently, only government
agencies, such as NASA, sent rock-
ets into space. Today, space travel
is different. In the USA, there are
SpaceX rocket launch (SpaceX)
several private companies that de-
sign, build and launch rockets.
Communication companies and
scientific organisations pay them to
take their satellites and other pay-
loads into space.
Now, some space rocket com-
panies have contracts with NASA.
NASA pays them to take supplies
to the International Space Station
(ISS). Astronauts have been living
on the space station for 17 years.
SpaceX is one of the companies that
have a contract with NASA.
Ashes capsule (Elysium Space)
In the past, rockets that launched
satellites into space fell back to the
Earth. They were used only once.
This meant that space launches were
very expensive. SpaceX has built a
page 17
new type of rocket. After taking
payloads into space, it lands back
on the Earth. These rockets are reus-
able. This makes rocket launches far
less expensive.
Elysium Space has made an ar-
rangement with SpaceX. It will pay
SpaceX to take its metal boxes into
space. The boxes will contain hun-
dreds of small capsules filled with
people’s ashes. As they do not take
up much room, the boxes will be
loaded onto rockets carrying other
much larger payloads. The first
rocket to take the ashes into space is
due to lift off early next year.
Elysium Space’s metal boxes are
to be released about 500 kilometres
(310 miles) above the Earth. There,
the box, with the ashes inside it,
will orbit the planet for two years.
During this time, the box will pass
over every part of the Earth. Each
day, it will cross the Equator at
the same time. At any time, rela-
tives will be able to track the metal
box’s position via a free app on
their smartphones.
An object circling the Earth is
affected by what’s called orbital
decay. Slowly, it gets closer and
closer to the Earth. Eventually, the
object falls into the Earth’s atmos-
phere. Then, travelling at very high
speed, it burns up. After orbiting
the Earth for two years, this is what
will happen to Elysium Space’s
metal boxes.
When the box full of ashes burns
up, it should appear as a shooting
star in the night sky. Making a
long-term prediction of where the
shooting star can be seen is diffi-
cult. Yet, Elysium Space says that
it should know about two weeks
before it happens. Relatives would
therefore have time to travel to a
place from which the shooting star
might be visible.
 NID: 1000708-208-302 B Newsademic. Prepared for: Western International School of Shanghai
25th May 2017
The least expensive Elysium
Space funeral costs US$2,490
(£1,925). The company says that,
so far, 100 people have reserved a
place on its first rocket launch. ‡
CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD
A large forum, or meeting, was
held in Beijing, the capital of China,
on 14th and 15th May. It was organ-
ised by Xi Jinping, China’s presi-
dent. Many world leaders took part.
Senior ministers represented other
countries. The purpose of the forum
was to explain a Chinese plan that’s
become known as the ‘Belt and
Road initiative’, or ‘One Belt One
Road’ (OBOR).
Land route One Belt
Sea route One Road
CHINA
The purpose of the plan is to
connect China, Europe and all the
countries in between. This is to be
done on land and across the sea.
Confusingly, the belt part of the
initiative covers the land and the
road part covers the sea. It’s not the
building of a single road or rail-
way. The connection is economic.
China will help to pay for, and
build, large infrastructure projects
in countries adjoining the ‘belt’
and the ‘road’. Mr Xi believes that
this will boost economic growth,
improve trade and create well-paid
jobs. Some people describe the ini-
tiative as a modern-day Silk Road
or updated Marshall Plan.
Many years ago, there was an
important trading route between the
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
Belt and Road Forum attendees, in Beijing: (front centre) Xi Jinping, China’s president
eastern coast of the Mediterranean
Sea and China. It went through Per-
sia (or present-day Iran) and Cen-
tral Asia. Today, it’s known as the
Silk Road. The route was given this
name by a German writer in 1870.
It comes from the traders who used
the route to buy silk from China and
take it to Europe. Large numbers of
camels (known as caravans) carried
silk, spices and other items along
this trade route. The Silk Road was
used for about 2,500 years. It was
not a single road or track, but a route
between cities, towns and places to
stop and rest.
At the end of the Second World
War in 1945, Germany and many
other European countries were in
ruins. Much of their infrastructure
had been destroyed. Between 1948
and 1951, the USA provided large
sums of money. This was used to
rebuild many European towns and
cities. Old industries were helped.
New industries were given money
and encouraged to expand. This
initiative became known as the
Marshall Plan. It was named after
George C Marshall. At that time,
he was the American secretary
of state. Most people believe that
the Marshall Plan was a success.
Within four years, the economies
of countries included in the plan
had recovered.
page 18
Mr Xi first talked about the Belt
and Road initiative four years ago.
Since then, China has already made
plans for several major infrastruc-
ture projects. Some have begun.
They include: railways in Laos and
Thailand, electric power plants and
highways in Pakistan, ports in Sri
Lanka and Greece, and roads, tun-
nels and pipelines in several other
countries. At the Beijing forum, Mr
Xi said that China was planning to
spend US$900 billion (£695 billion)
on OBOR projects.
Not all countries approve of Mr
Xi’s plan. Some believe that the
Chinese president wants to create
new markets for Chinese-made
goods. They argue that the OBOR
will help only Chinese construction
companies. Currently, too much
steel and cement is being made
in China. This excess could now
be used to build the infrastruc-
ture projects that Mr Xi described.
Some do not believe that large
infrastructure projects would im-
prove the economies of the coun-
tries in which they are built. They
also want companies from other
countries to be able to work on
these projects.
During a speech at the forum, Mr
Xi talked about swan geese. These
birds live in China. In the summer
months, they fly to northern China
 NID: 1000708-208-302 B Newsademic. Prepared for: Western International School of Shanghai
25th May 2017
to breed. Then, before winter ar-
rives, the birds migrate to central
and eastern China. Swan geese, the
president said, can fly safely through
winds and storms. Yet, they can only
do this by flying in a flock, staying
together and helping one another. ‡
DRAGON’S BREATH CHILLI
The chilli pepper (also known as the
chilli) is well known for its hot, spicy
flavour. A plant grower in the UK
has produced what’s now thought to
be the world’s hottest chilli. It was
grown with a new type of plant food.
University researchers developed
this food. The chilli has been given
the name Dragon’s Breath. The plant
grower warns that it should not be
eaten because it is too hot.
Red chili peppers (Tomascastelazo)
Most people think of fruits as be-
ing sweet and juicy. Apples, pears,
plums, and oranges are examples. A
fruit comes from a flowering plant.
Inside it are seeds that grow into the
same flowering plant. This is what
chilli peppers do. Therefore, even
though a chilli pepper is thought to
be a vegetable, scientifically, it’s a
fruit.
Chilli peppers contain a chemi-
cal, or molecule, called capsaicin.
This is what affects a person’s taste
buds when they eat a chilli. Capsai-
cin activates the pain receptors in
the mouth and throat. These recep-
tors sense heat. When activated by
Newsademic.com™ – British English edition
capsaicin, the receptors send mes-
sages to the brain. It responds by
increasing the body’s temperature
and heart rate. Capsaicin can also
make a person’s eyes water and
nose run.
The Dragon’s Breath chilli (Mike Smith)
Birds do not have the same re-
ceptors in their mouths. They can
eat wild chilli peppers without
any effects. In the wild, the plants
rely on birds. They eat the plants’
seeds, but do not digest them. The
plants’ seeds are then scattered, or
dispersed, in the bird’s droppings.
Other mammals are affected by the
chilli’s capsaicin. Scientists think
that the plants’ spicy taste is a type
of defence. It is supposed to deter
mammals from eating them.
Chilli peppers are native to Cen-
tral and South America. It’s known
that they were grown in what’s
now Mexico and Peru many thou-
sands of years ago. Christopher
Columbus (1451 – 1506) may have
been the first European to taste a
chilli pepper. After setting out from
Spain, Columbus landed on some
Caribbean Islands in 1492. There,
the local people gave him some
chillies. The taste reminded him
of pepper. Chilli is a local word.
It was Columbus who called them
chilli peppers.
page 19
Columbus took some of the
plants and seeds back to Spain.
Within a few years, explorers from
Portugal had taken the seeds to
several places in Asia. Now, chil-
lies are grown in many parts of the
world. Mexico is still a big pro-
ducer. India is the world’s biggest
chilli grower. It is also the biggest
chilli consumer. More chilli pep-
pers are eaten in India than in any
other country.
Wilbur Scoville (1865 – 1942)
was an American pharmacist. Also
known as chemists, these people
advise others on what medicines,
or medication, they should take.
Scoville worked out a way to test
the ‘heat’ or ‘spiciness’ of chilli
peppers. It grades the strength of
the capsaicin inside them. This
measure of ‘spiciness’ is called the
Scoville scale. On this scale, each
chilli has a certain number of ‘units
of heat’.
Until now, the hottest known
chilli, or record holder, had a Scov-
ille scale reading of 1.57 million
units of heat. The Dragon’s Breath
chilli registered 2.4 million units of
heat. The grower of the super-hot
chilli thinks that it could be used
as a type of anaesthetic. This is a
drug that prevents pain. A person’s
skin would go numb, if oil extracted
from the Dragon’s Breath chilli was
rubbed on it. ‡
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25th May 2017 Newsademic.com™ – British English edition page 20

ISSUE 302 INSTRUCTIONS: 1 Complete the crossword. The answers are

highlighted in orange in the news stories. There are 25

GLOSSARY PUZZLE
words highlighted and you need 20 of them to complete the
crossword. 2 Once you have solved the crossword go to
the word search on the next page F
1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9

10

11

12 13 14

15 16

17

18

19

ACROSS
2 Noun An official ceremony to mark the beginning of a new
period
7 Noun The power or will to get something started or to be the
first to set something up
11 Noun A large open area just inside the entrance of a public
building where people can wait and meet each other
12 Noun An outbreak of a disease that affects a very high
proportion of the population
13 Noun Plural Predictions about what will happen in the future
15 Adjective Dead
17 Verb Reached a decision or judgement
18 Noun A collection of legends, or traditional old stories,
about people, gods and the history and culture of a country or
civilisation
19 Noun Keeping something, often a road, building or machine, in
good condition
DOWN
1 Verb Worked out, or came up with (an idea, plan, theory or
explanation)
3 Noun A union of two or more groups that support each other
4 Norn Torn apart or burst open
5 Noun A person who buys goods or services for his or her own use
6 Noun Systems and services such as transport and power supplies
that enable a country or organisation to work effectively
8 Verb Occupied in large numbers (a word especially used of
insects)
9 Verb To settle an argument by agreeing to something you do not
want
10 Adverb Involved with buying and selling of goods, or trade
14 Adjective Likely, or able, to catch fire
15 Adjective Describes a place that is empty, deserted or uninhabited
16 Verb Overlooks or looks down on
 NID: 1000708-208-302 B Newsademic. Prepared for: Western International School of Shanghai

25th May 2017 Newsademic.com™ – British English edition page 21

ISSUE 302 INSTRUCTIONS: 3 Find 19 of the 20

crossword answers in the word search.

GLOSSARY PUZZLE CONTINUED

Words can go vertically, horizontally,
diagonally and back to front. 4 After
finding the 19 words write down the
20th (or missing) word under the puzzle.

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and Family Subscribers can earn.
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