Study this model text of news item.

Headline Italy Reports 475 New Coronavirus Deaths, Highest

This is to encourage One-day Toll of Any Nation
readers to read the
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
news.

Introductory
Paragraph ROME: Italy on Wednesday (Mar 18) reported 475 new deaths from
This answers who, the novel coronavirus, the highest one-day official toll of any nation
what, when, and since the first case was detected in China late last year.
where.
Total deaths in Italy have reached 2,978, more than half of all the
cases recorded outside China, while the number of infections stood
This is a series of at 35,713. The previous record high of 368 deaths was also recorded
paragraphs that in Italy, on Sunday.
provide details of the
event. The nation of 60 million has now recorded 34.2 percent of all the
deaths officially attributed to COVID-19 across the world. With the
death rate still climbing despite the Mediterranean country entering a
second week under effective lockdown, officials urged Italians to
have faith and to stay strong.
Quotes "They main thing is, do not give up," Italian National Institute of
This is a comment
Health chief Silvio Brusaferro said in a nationally televised press
made by the people
involved in the event. conference. "It will take a few days before we see the benefits" of
containment measures, said Brusaferro."We must maintain these
measures to see their effect, and above all to protect the most
vulnerable."

Imposed nationally on Mar 12, the shutdown of most Italian

businesses and a ban on public gatherings are due to expire on
Mar 25. But school closures and other measures, such as a ban fan
attendance at sporting events, are due to run on until Apr 3. A top
government minister hinted on Wednesday that the school closure
would be extended well into next month, if not longer.
Ending Statement
The rates within Italy itself remained stable, with two-thirds of the
deaths - 1,959 in all - reported in the northern Lombardy region
around Milan, the Italian financial and fashion capital.
 Task 3

Read this text and identify its generic structure.

Foreign Visitors to Japan Plunge 58% in February

Amid COVID-19 Outbreak
Thursday, March 19, 2020

TOKYO: The number of foreign visitors to Japan plunged 58 per cent in

February from a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday (Mar
19), as the coronavirus pandemic takes a heavy toll of the tourism industry.

Total foreign arrivals, including those for tourism and business, declined to
1.09 million from 2.60 million in the corresponding month last year, the
Japan National Tourism Organization said. It was the fifth straight month
of declines.

"With the impact of the new coronavirus, demand for overseas travel in
many markets including Japan has been curbed," the agency said in a
statement. "We will promote travel to Japan while closely monitoring
future market trends."

Tourism has emerged as a key driver for Japan's retail and hospitality
industries in recent years as they try to offset weak domestic consumption
by an ageing and shrinking population.

But the virus outbreak has fanned concern that Japan has become over-
reliant on tourism, and could make it hard to reach a government target of
40 million visitors this year, up from 31.9 million last year and double
those of five years ago.

Arrivals from China, normally the biggest source of tourists to Japan, sank
88 per cent last month, the data showed, after it halted all tour groups to
other countries over the virus.

Arrivals from South Korea plummeted 80 per cent. Apart from the virus,
South Korea has been boycotting Japanese goods and services since a trade
dispute erupted between the neighbours last year.

Task 4

Match pieces of news with their headline. Write A for headline A and B for headline B next to each
piece of news.

A. Cable breaks in plugging of mud

B. Prodi keeps job as Italy PM

 Headline Pieces of News
Italy’s president asked Romano Prodi to stay on as prime minister on
Saturday, but he now faces a confidence vote in parliament to prove he has
enough support to govern

Over the next few weeks, authorities plan to drop nearly 1,500 concrete balls,
weighing up to 250 kilograms each, into the geyser that started spewing
noxious muck at an oil drilling field in East Java nine months ago.

“This government does not have the numbers or the political unity to run the
country”, said the spokesman of the National Alliance party. – Reuters

Indonesian engineers were forced to abandon an attempt to plug a gushing

mud volcano by dropping cement balls into its crater on Saturday when a
steel cable hoisting the balls broke, officials said.

The Centre-right opposition said the president’s decision would only

“prolong the agony” of Prodi’s government, Italy’s 61st since 1945.

A string of four balls was successfully lowered into the hole Saturday in
heavy rain and wind, said Rudi Novrianto, a spokesman for a government
task force handling the disaster.

A creeping sea of sediment has covered dozens of factories, thousands of

homes, displaced 13.000 people and blocked major roads into the country’s
second largest city, Surabaya.

After two days of consultations with party leaders on how to resolve the
crisis, President Giorgio Napolitano asked Prodi, 67, to stay and put his
majority to the test in both chambers of parliament. The votes are likely to be
held next week.

“Thank God, we have managed to drop one chain, equipped with sensors to
monitor pressure and depth,” he said. “We had to halt the process because of
the broken steel cable. We will continue tomorrow after repairing it.” –AP

Prodi resigned on Wednesday after he was defeated on foreign policy in the

upper house, the Senate, plunging the country into political uncertainty.

Task 5

Read all pieces of news in Task 4 and reorder them so that they can make two different
news texts.
Task 6

Read the news text below and rewrite it in your words. Pay attention to the generic
structure.

Japan Launches Spy Satellites

JAPAN : Japan launched its fourth spy satellite Saturday, improving its ability to monitor
potential threats including North Korea, whose missile and nuclear tests have spooked the
region.

An H-2A rocket, delayed three times by bad weather, finally lifted off from the southern
island of Tanegashima, carrying a radar satellite that will join two optical satellites and
another radar satellite already in operation.

With the full component of four satellites, Japan will be able to monitor any point on
Earth once a day, government officials have said.

Japan’s spy satellite program has initiated after North Korea launched a ballistic missile
in 1998 that flew over Japan, - Routers

Task 7

Continue the introductory statement below. Gather supporting information to complete the
news. Do necessary actions to gather the data such as interviewing relevant person. Also
find the title that best represents the content of the news.

Title: ____________________________________________________________________

Indonesia: An odd incident was reported to happen in a state-owned campus in Bandung

yesterday. _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________.

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
__________________.

___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________________.

Task 8

Compose a news report for a chronicle, news circular, or bulletin board in your department.
Pay attention to the generic structure of news report. You may choose one of the following
topics or even develop your own.

a. Academic events
b. Sport events
c. Outdoors activities
d. Extracurricular activities
e. Gathering (class, group, etc.)
f. Contest (speech, debate, news reading, etc.)
g. Campus orientation
h. Art events
i. Research paper writing
j. Graduation day