newsademic issue 209 b

8/12/2019 Newsademic Issue 209 b

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31st October 2013

British English edition

Issue Number 209

Newsademic.comThe informative easy to read introduction to world news

In this issue

Reporting the Gender Gap

HistoricApple house

Learning from grasshopper

mice

WIEF in London

Rat Islands new name

Austral ian bushfires

Amazon rainforest studyKatyn massacre verdict

Near spaceballoon

Titanic instrument sold

Yeti mystery solved?

Cleaning the brain

Battles 200th anniversary

Edge of space galaxy

Bosporus tunnel

Mining permission in

Greenland

UN protest by Saudi ArabiaGeorgias new president

Aung San Suu Kyi and

peace process

GlossaryCrossword and

Wordsearch Puzzle

Anti-spying demonstrator in Washington DC, the capital of the USA

On 29th October a group, or delegation,from Germany travelled to the USA. Thefollowing day they met with Americanintelligenceofficials. Their talks followedreports in German newspapers that theUSA had been spying on Angela Merkel,the German chancellor, or leader.

The German newspapers claimed thatthe USAs National Security Agency(NSA) had been listening to Mrs Mer-

kels mobile phone calls and reading hertext messages. One of the NSAs mainjobs is to collect intelligence. This means

it tries to gather political and military in-formation or secrets about other nations.

Nowadays most people understand thattheir countries gather intelligence. Yetmany believe they only spy on enemiesand not on friends, or allies.

Secretly listening to, and record-ing, peoples private phone calls can be

called surveillance, spying, monitoring,

bugging, eavesdropping, or wiretapping.Intelligence organisations such as the

NSA do this in several ways. One is towork with telephone and internet com-

panies. Another is to tap into underseacommunication cables and satellites.

The stories about Mrs Merkels phonebeing bugged by the NSA come fromEdward Snowden. He is now living inRussia. Mr Snowden is an American citi-

zen. In the past he was an employee of acompany that worked with the NSA.Its thought that Mr Snowden passed

documents and secret information aboutthe NSA to two newspapers: The Wash-ington Post, from the USA, and TheGuardian, from the UK. People whotake the risk of making secret documents

public are often described as leakersor whistleblowers. The Guardian hasreported that the NSA has monitored the

phones of 35 world leaders.

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31st October 2013 Newsademic.comBritish English edition page 2

Mrs Merkel was said to bevery angry about her phone being

bugged. She is known to frequentlyuse her mobile phone. Some Ger-mans even joke that she runs the

country by text message. Mrs Mer-kel telephoned Barack Obama, the

president of the USA, to complain.Later an official, who works for the

president, explained that the NSAwould not bug Mrs Merkels phone.However, he did not say that her

phone had not been monitored in thepast. Some reports suggested thatthe NSA had been eavesdropping onher phone calls for at least ten years.

Barack Obama and Angela Merkel

Last July the leaders of severalcountries in Latin America com-

plained about American spying.They included Dilma Rousseff, the

president of Brazil. This was aftera Brazilian newspaper reported thatthe NSA was running a large sur-veillance operation in the country.Because of these reports Ms Rouss-

eff decided to cancel a visit to the

USA. Leaders in other Latin Ameri-can countries such as Mexico, Chileand Colombia also complained.They too accused the NSA of spy-ing on them.

After the stories about Mrs Mer-kels phone, newspapers in otherEuropean countries began printingbugging stories. In France it wasreported that the NSA had beenrecording private phone calls and

text messages of millions of French

people. The French president, Fran-ois Hollande, called Mr Obama tofind out if this was true. Somethingsimilar happened in Spain. Therenewspapers allegedthat millions of

Spanish calls were being monitored.In Italy newspapers reported

that both the USA and the UK hadbeen spying on Italians. The USAand the UK are known to work to-gether on gathering certain types ofintelligence. In the UK most intel-ligence is collected by an organisa-tion called Government Commu-nications Headquarters (GCHQ).The Italian newspapers claimed

that the NSA and GCHQ had eaves-dropped on three undersea cablesthat connect Italy to other parts ofthe world.

On 29th October NSA officials

claimed that they had done nothingwrong. They said newspaper reportsabout them recording millions oftelephone calls in Europe and LatinAmerica were incorrect. The wiretaps, they explained, were done bythe countries own intelligence op-erations. The NSA officials seemedto be saying that these countrieswere then happy to share the infor-mation with the NSA.

In 2001 an Islamic militant group,called al-Qaeda, carried out a num-

ber of attacks in the USA. Hijacked

planes were deliberately flown intobuildings in New York City and the

Pentagon. The Pentagon, which isAmericas military headquarters, isnear Washington DC, the countryscapital. Around 3,000 people died inthe attacks.

After these attacks the govern-ment of the USA was worried thatmore were being planned. It wantedto catch the people who organisedthem. To do this the governmentgave the NSA permission to secretly

collect and record communications

from other countries. This includedtelephone calls, emails, texts andweb chats. However, in the USAthere is a law that means it is illegalto spy on Americans.

The newspapers in South Ameri-ca and Europe are believed to havegot the spying stories from theleaks made by Mr Snowden. Whenworking for the NSA Mr Snowdenlived in Hawaii. About five monthsago he travelled to Hong Kong, inChina. He did this without tell-ing his girlfriend or the people heworked with.

While in Hong Kong Mr

Snowden gave some of the informa-tion he had collected about the NSAto the two newspapers. This seemed

to show that the NSA collected largeamounts of data, or records of peo-

ples phone calls and internet use.This included people living in theUSA. Mr Snowden said he decidedto become a whistleblower becausehe disagreed with what the NSAwas doing.

The government of the USAasked officials in Hong Kong to ar-rest Mr Snowden. Yet before any-thing happened he managed to flyfrom Hong Kong to Moscow, thecapital of Russia. Russian authori-

ties gave him permission to stay for12 months.

Many Americans support MrSnowden. They believe that he was

right to leak the secret informationabout the NSA. Some of these peo-

ple have taken part in small anti-spying protests in Washington DC.

The leaders of several Europeancountries such as France and Ger-many say that they now want to ar-range a no-spy agreement with theUSA. One of these agreements al-ready exists. Called Five Eyes, it

includes the USA, the UK, Canada,

Australia and New Zealand.


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GENDERGAPREPORT

The World Economic Forums(WEF) latest Gender Gap reportwas published on 24th October. The

WEF first producedthis report in 2006.

Since then it has beenpublished every year.The report tries tomeasure the differencein opportunities thatmen and women havein over 100 countries.

The WEF was setup in 1971. It is based in Swit-

zerland. The WEF is best knownfor its annual meeting. This takes

place in a Swiss town called Davos.Nowadays this meeting is often justcalled Davos.

Top 15 2013 2012

Iceland 1 1

Finland 2 2

Norway 3 3 Sweden 4 4

Philippines 5 8

Ireland 6 5

New Zealand 7 6

Denmark 8 7

Switzerland 9 10

Nicaragua 10 9

Belgium 11 12

Latvia 12 15

Netherlands 13 11

Germany 14 13

Cuba 15 19

WEF Global Gender Gap

Around 2,500 people go to theWEFs annual meeting. It usuallytakes place around the end of Janu-ary. Only those invited can attend.They are usually the bosses of theworlds biggest companies andleaders of international organisa-tions such as the World Bank and

the International Monetary Fund

(IMF). Religious leaders and tradesunionists, as well as leading musi-cians, actors, artists, and journalistsare also given invitations.

Even though it is not a political

meeting, some speciallyselected politicians are

also invited. The an-nual meeting is meantto be informal. TheWEF says it is a timewhen important and

powerful people candiscuss their ideas. TheWEFs slogan is com-

mitted to improving the state of the

world. As well as organising meet-ings the WEF also publishes a num-

ber of reports. One is the GenderGap report.

To produce the report WEF re-searchers try to work out if women

have equal opportunities to men infour areas. These include education,health, the possibility of becominginvolved in politics and how easy itis to get well-paid jobs. Health alsoincludes life expectancy. This is theaverage number of years that peoplelive for. The world average is 68 formen and 72 for women.

This years report covered 133countries. It lists all of them in or-der of gender parity. For example, ifthere was 100% parity in a country,men and women would have equal

opportunities in the four areas.

Some countries may have parityin education, but there may not beequal opportunities in other areas.

The report says that the countrywith the smallest gender gap is Ice-land. This is the fifth year runningthat Iceland has come top. Finland,

Norway and Sweden came second,third and fourth. These nations, to-gether with Denmark, are knownas the Nordic countries. All are in

northern Europe. The Philippines

was fifth, three places higher thanlast year.

Denmark came eighth. One rea-son for the Nordic countries havingsmaller gender gaps is childcare.

The governments of all these coun-tries have special childcare laws.

These make it easier for women withyoung families to go out to work.

In the report the UK was 18thand the USA 23rd. Cuba, one of thefew remaining communist coun-tries, was 15th.

HISTORICHOUSE

On 29th October officials in the stateof California, in the USA, made anannouncement. They declared that ahouse in the city of Los Altos had

been designated as a historic site.

The one-storey home with threebedrooms was where Steve Jobslived when he first started the AppleCompany in 1976.

Steve Jobs died, aged 56, in 2011.He had been ill for several yearswith a type of cancer. Jobs was aninventor and successful business-man. Most people believe that hechanged the way that people usecomputers, listen to music, operatemobile phones, and how animatedfilms are produced.

Jobs and the team that worked

with him designed and produced

some of the worlds best-sellingconsumer electronic items. Theseinclude the iPod, iPhone and iPad aswell as Apple computers.

Jobs was born in California in1955. As a baby Paul and Clara Jobsadopted him. When he was 17 yearsold he went to college, but left afterjust one term. At that time he and hisfamily lived in the house in Los Altos.

In 1976 a friend called Steve Wos-

niak showed Jobs a computer that he


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had made. Jobs was impressed. Thetwo friends set up a company to makeand sell the computers. They calledit Apple. At first the company was

based in Jobss home. The first 100

Apple computers were made in thegarage and living room of the house.As the company grew it moved

to a nearby city called Cuper-tino. This is where Apple still hasits headquarters.

Steve Jobss former home

In 1985 the company launched itsMacintosh computer. It was the firstsmall computer to have a mouse andto use onscreen icons. John Sculley,an experienced businessman, wasinvited to run the company. Yet af-ter a few years he and Jobs began todisagree with each other. EventuallyJobs was forced to leave.

He then set up another computercompany called NeXT. He also tookover a different business. This com-

pany was renamed Pixar. It workedwith the Disney Company to make

a number of animated films such as

Toy Story.After Jobs left Apple it began to

have problems. It was losing a lot ofmoney and many people thought itmight close down. Jobs persuadedApple to buy his NeXT Company.So 12 years after leaving Apple Jobsreturned. Within a short time he wasmade the companys new boss.

Jobs reorganised Apple and soonthe company was making money

again. In 1988 it launched the iMac

computer, which used softwaredesigned by the NeXT Company.The iPod went on sale in 2001. TheiTunes software and iTunes musicstore soon followed.

In 2007 Apple produced its firstmobile phone. Called the iPhone, itwas a combination of an iPod, a mo-

bile phone and an internet device.It was also the first mobile phoneto have a large touch-screen. Just

before Jobs died Apple had becomeone of the two most valuable com-

panies in the world.As the house is now a historic

site it cannot be altered without the

owner getting permission. Jobsssister owns the house and his step-mother still lives there.

PAINFREEMICE

Researchers in the USA are hopingthat their recent study will help tofind new ways of pain relief. Sur-

prisingly, they believe that a smallmammal, called the grasshoppermouse, could help humans to feelless pain.

Grasshopper mice live in de-sert areas in the USA and Mexico.The mice are about 13 centimetres(five inches) long and have a shorttail. Even though they are small,grasshopper mice are carnivores,

or meat-eaters. They hunt and feed

on insects (including grasshoppers),worms and a type of scorpion calledthe bark scorpion.

Bark scorpions also live in desertareas. They are light brown in colour.Male bark scorpions are around tencentimetres (four inches) in length.Females are smaller. The scorpionscan climb walls and trees. They aremore active at night. During the daythey often hide under tree bark, rocks

and pieces of wood. The scorpions

have a tail that is usually curled up.At the end of it is a stinger that theyuse to attack other creatures.

If a person is stung by one ofthese scorpions it is very painful.

Their sting can cause violent shak-ing and a loss of breath. Some peo-ple describe the pain as feeling likeelectric shocks.

Grasshopper mice hunt and eatbark scorpions. While attacking thescorpions the mice are often stungseveral times. Yet these stings donot seem to affect them. The venomin the scorpions sting would nor-mally kill an animal the size of a

grasshopper mouse. Venom is a typeof poison.

To find out why they were not af-fected by the scorpion venom the re-searchers studied nerve cells in themice. These cells would normally

be expected to send the feelingof pain to the brain through certainchannels. The researchers discov-ered that the nerve cells in the micereacted in a different way. When themouse is stung the venom turns thechannel off. It therefore stops thenerve cells from being able to sendany pain signals.

Grasshopper mouse

The researchers discovered thatgrasshopper mice do feel some pain.They tested this by injecting themwith other chemicals that cause pain.However, this pain was reducedif the mice were injected with the

scorpion venom at the same time.


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Therefore, in the mouse, instead ofcausing pain the venom acts like adrug that relieves it.

Bark scorpion

Studying how the nerve cells in themice work could lead to new medi-cal treatments. It might be possible

to develop a drug that switches offpain in the same way that the venomdoes in the grasshopper mouse.

WORLDISLAMICECONOMICFORUM

This years World Islamic EconomicForum (WIEF) took place between29th and 31st October. It was held inLondon, the capital of the UK. Thiswas the first time that the WIEF had

been held in a non-Muslim country.The WIEFs headquarters is in

Kuala Lumpur, the capital city ofMalaysia. It organises a large meet-ing every year. This annual meeting,called the Main Forum, usually lastsfor three or four days. In the past it hasbeen held in Muslim countries such as

Pakistan, Kuwait and Indonesia.The WIEF was set up in 2006.

Its purpose is to promote businessand trade in the Muslim world. Itwants there to be more companiesin Muslim countries and for these

businesses to work together.

The WIEF believes that businessesthat make money can help people intheir countries. One way of doing thisis by creating jobs that need workers

with certain skills. The WIEF also

tries to encourage younger people tobe entrepreneurs, or to set up theirown companies. The organisationsmotto, or slogan, is Building BridgesThrough Business.

Some people were surprised bythe WIEFs decision to hold its annu-al meeting in the UK. However, the

UK has a large Muslim population.Many Muslim banks have big officesin London. The leaders of the WIEFsaid that they wanted their annualmeeting to be more of a worldwideevent. It should, they explained, bewhere Muslims and non-Muslimscan meet and talk about economics

and business. Many UK companiesattended the event. All hoped to meetIslamic companies that they couldwork with.

The UK now plans to be the first

non-Muslim country to sell a bondthat Islamic investors are able to

buy. Most countries governmentsborrow money by selling bonds. Inthe UK these bonds are called Gilts.American government bonds areknown as Treasuries, or T-bonds.

The money that governments get

from selling bonds has to be paidback. This, depending on the typeof bond, could be in five, ten or 25years time. The investors, or thosewho buy the bonds, are also paida certain amount of interest. Yet

paying or charging interest underIslamic law is forbidden. ThereforeMuslim investors cannot buy thesetypes of government bonds.

Bonds sold by governments of

Muslim countries are known as

Sukuks. Investors who buy thesebonds do not receive any interest.Instead they get some of the profitmade from the bond money. Forexample, the bond money might be

used to construct a new building.Then, when the building is sold,

those who paid for the bonds alsoget some of the profit from the sale.

The leaders of 19 Islamic coun-tries attended this years Main Fo-rum. David Cameron, the UKs

prime minister, gave a welcome ad-dress, or speech. Prince Charles, theson of Queen Elizabeth the Second,also visited the event.

RATISLANDRENAMED

Officials in Alaska have reportedthat many types of seabirds have

now returned to Rat Island. An op-eration to get rid of all the rats onthis island began in 2008. The re-turning birds show that it has beena success.

Alaska is one of the USAs 50states. Rat Island is one of the Aleu-tian Islands, which are part of Alaska.The Aleutians are a long string, orchain, of islands in the northern Pacif-ic Ocean. There are 14 larger islandsand 57 smaller ones. The islandsform a curved line between Alaskaand the Kamchatka Peninsula. Thislarge peninsula is part of Russia. The

bigger islands are all volcanic andearthquakes are common.

Many of the Aleutians are unin-habited, or have no people living onthem. The local people who live onsome of the larger islands are knownas Aleuts. (They are also called theUnangan people.)

Nobody lives on Rat Island. Therats came from a Japanese ship,which was wrecked on the island

in 1780. Before it sank some of the


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rats on board managed to get ontothe island.

Many types of birds are found onthe Aleutian Islands. The seabirdslay their eggs on rocks near the

coast. The others make their nestson the ground. Therefore, on Rat Is-

land the rats could easily attack thenests and eat the birds chicks andeggs. Over time the number of ratsincreased and the birds disappeared.

Later, people who visited the is-land said it was infested with rats.This is why it was named Rat Island.These people also described howthey were unable to hear any birds.

Seabirds often make their nests inlarge groups, or colonies. Thesecolonies are usually very noisy.

Hawadax Island (USFWS)

In 2008 a team of scientists andenvironmentalists decided to try toexterminate, or kill, all the rats onRat Island. They arranged for heli-copters to drop hundreds of tonnesof rat poison around the whole is-land. Now, for the first time in over220 years the island is rat-free.

Environmentalists say that manyspecies of seabirds have now come

back to the island to make their

nests. These include oystercatchers,

puffins, petrels and gulls. Theground-nesting birds such as wrens,sparrows, eagles, and falcons havealso returned. Visitors to Rat Islandclaim it is very different. The noise

of birds, they say, can now be heardall over the island.

As there are no more rats, theisland has been officially renamed.Its new name is Hawadax Island. Inthe Aleut language hawadaxmeansthose two over there. The name re-fers to the two knolls, or mounds, onthe island.

BUSHFIRESINAUSTRALIA

Over 1,500 firefighters have beentrying to put out a number of wild-fires in the state of New SouthWales, in Australia. For a time lo-

cal officials were worried that theflames would spread to the outskirtsof Sydney. This is the largest city inthe country.

In Australia the forests are oftencalled the bush. This is why wild-fires in the country are known as

bushfires. These fires are commonduring the summer months. This is

because the forests become dry andsummer temperatures are often veryhot. This fire is unusual as it beganin early summer. Bushfires in Aus-tralia do not normally break out be-

fore December.

The bushfires near Sydney firstbegan on 13th October. Five dayslater there were over 100 separatefires. Strong warm winds helped tospread the flames. When bushfiresstart, winds will blow burning em-

bers high into the air. These can thenstart other fires where they fall backto the ground.

People whose houses were closeto the fires were advised to leave.

On 20th October officials declared

a state of emergency. When thishappens firefighters have the powerto force people to move from theirhomes. At one time firefighterswere trying to stop a wall of flames

that was almost 306 kilometres (190miles) long.Large bushfires are very difficult

to extinguish, or put out. Usuallyfirefighters just try to control them.Once this happens they eventuallydie out, as there is nothing left to

burn. Rainy weather can also help toextinguish them.

Bushfire in Australia

One way firefighters in Aus-tralia try to control fires is calledback burning. To stop large firesspreading or joining together theydeliberately set fire to other partsof the bush. These deliberate firesare then carefully controlled. Whenthe bushfire reaches these areas,which are already burnt, it will beginto go out.

One reason bushfires can spreadso quickly in Australia is because

of its eucalyptus forests. There are

many types of eucalyptus trees.Most are native to Australia, wherethey are known as gum trees.

Eucalyptus trees have evolved,or adapted, to survive in a bushfire.Their bark peels off in long strips.On the ground there are many deadeucalyptus leaves. Even a smallspark can cause these to catch fire.The fire then quickly spreads to the

peeling bark and then to the leaves

at the top of the trees.


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Eucalyptus leaves contain a typeof oil. This is flammable, or can eas-ily catch fire. Once the leaves start

burning the flames quickly spreadfrom tree to tree. Because of the

way in which gum trees can help tospread wildfires some people call

them gasoline trees.After the bushfire is out euca-

lyptus have an advantage over othertypes of trees. New buds quicklysprout from under their burnt bark.On the ground fire makes theirseeds open. Gum trees are also ableto grow very quickly in soils thatcontain a lot of ash. After a bushfire

eucalyptus trees can soon outgrowall the other trees and bushes.

The bushfires near Sydney killedtwo people and destroyed over 250houses. Some Australian soldiers

had been training where one of thelarger fires began. Officials admit-ted that the soldiers might havestarted the fire accidentally.

AMAZONRAINFORESTSTUDY

More than 100 researchers havecompleted a study of the trees inthe Amazon rainforest. Their workis based on information that tookover ten years to collect. The studyestimates that the rainforest containsabout 390 billion trees.

Amazon rainforest

The Amazon rainforest is the larg-est rainforest in the world. It is also

known as Amazonia or the Amazon

jungle. The rainforest covers an areaof around six million square kilome-tres (2.3 million square miles). Mostof it is in Brazil. Yet parts of the for-est are in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Co-

lombia, Venezuela, French Guiana,Guyana and Suriname. The trees in

Amazonia make up about half of theworlds remaining rainforest.

Most scientists agree that theAmazon rainforest is one of theworlds best defences against globalwarming and climate change. This is

because its billions of trees take in,or absorb, large amounts of carbondioxide from the air. The trees also

produce oxygen. Its thought thatroughly 20% of the worlds oxygencomes from the Amazon rainforest.For this reason the Amazon jungle isoften described as the lungs of the

world.The researchers worked in each

of the nine countries that are part ofAmazonia. They recorded the num-

ber of trees in 1,170 similar sizedplots, or areas. After adding thesenumbers together they worked outtotal figures for the whole rainforest.

The study shows that there areabout 16,000 different types, or spe-cies, of trees in the rainforest. Sur-

prisingly 227 of these are much morecommon or dominant. Therefore,about half of the trees in the wholerainforest are these more dominantspecies. The most common is a thin

palm tree called Euterpe precato-ria. The study estimates that thereare five billion of these palm treesgrowing in Amazonia.

Of the 16,000 different speciessome are very rare. Around 5,800species have fewer than 1,000 trees.Some of these do not grow anywhereelse in the world. This means that theycould be classified as endangered.

None of the 227 dominant

species is found throughout the

rainforest. Each grows best in a cer-tain type of area such as swamplandor higher ground.

The researchers say they are un-sure why these species are so com-

mon. It could be that they are moreresistantto diseases and insects thatcause damage.

Venezuela

BrazilBolivia

Peru

Ecuador

ColombiaSuriname

French GuianaGuyana

AmazonRainforest

The dominant trees include Bra-zil nut, cacao (from which chocolateis made), rubber and acai berry. Eu-ropeans first arrived in South Amer-

ica in 1492. Yet the native peopleof Amazonia farmed, or cultivated,these trees long before this. Some

people think this explains why thesespecies are now more common inAmazonia. However, others believethese types of trees were dominantlong before any humans lived in this

part of the world.

KATYNMASSACRE

On 21st October the European Courtof Human Rights announced its ver-

dicton what has become known asthe Katyn massacre. Judges said thecourt was unable to decide if a Rus-sian investigation into the killingswas inadequate, or did not go farenough. The Russian investigationtook place between 1990 and 2004.

The European Court of HumanRights was set up in 1959. It is basedin the city of Strasbourg, in France.People or groups of people who live

in most European countries can ask


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the court to make judgements. Theycan do this if they think their rightsor human rights have been ignoredor denied.

The Katyn massacre took place

in 1940, soon after the SecondWorld War began. The war started

in 1939 when Nazi Germany invad-ed Poland. Before it began Germanyand Soviet Russia made a secretagreement. Then Joseph Stalin ledcommunist Russia. The agreementmeant that as soon as German troopsentered Poland from the west, Rus-sian troops would invade Polandfrom the east.

After Poland surrendered, theRussians captured thousands of Pol-ish army officers. They also tookmany professional people, such asdoctors and professors, prisoner. All

of them were sent to Russia wherethey were kept in camps. Soon af-terwards most were shot by the Rus-sian secret police. The order to mur-der all these prisoners was approved

by Stalin.Its believed that the secret police

shot around 22,000 Polish prisoners.Their bodies were buried in massgraves. The largest of these were inthe Katyn forest. This is about 19kilometres (12 miles) from the Rus-sian city of Smolensk.

One of the Katyn memorials in Poland

In 1941 the German army in-vaded Russia. It then began to ad-vance towards Moscow, the Russian

capital city. During this advance the

German army occupied much ofwestern Russia. This included thearea around Smolensk. In 1943 theGermans discovered some of themass graves in the forest. They toldother countries, such as the USA andthe UK, what they had discovered.However, at that time, some peoplesuspected that it was the Germans

who had committed the crime and

not the Russians.By 1944 the Russian army had

recaptured the area where the massgraves are. Russian leaders then de-clared that it was the Germans whohad carried out the massacre. Theyclaimed it was done after the Ger-man army invaded Russia. Most

people believed them.However, many Poles were sure

that the Russians were to blame.

After the end of the war in 1945

Poland was occupied by Russia. Itthen became part of the Russian-ledSoviet Union.

In 1989 the Soviet Union be-gan to break up. Its leader, Mikhail

Gorbachev, finally admitted thatthe Polish prisoners had been killedby Russian secret police. He alsosaid there were several other massgraves. Mr Gorbachev declared thatan investigation would be done tofind out exactly what had happened.

No one has ever been punished forthe Katyn massacre.

In 2011 a group of 15 Polishpeople took their case to the Euro-

pean Court. All had relatives thatwere killed in the massacre. They

believe the massacre was genocideand that the Russian investigation

was not done properly. The judgessaid the court was unable to decideif this was true. One problem, theyexplained, was that the crime hadhappened long before the EuropeanCourt was set up.

NEARSPACEBALLOON

A company from America has re-cently announced that it plans totake passengers on a near spacetrip. Called World View Enterpriseit has designed a capsule that will

be attached to a large balloon. Thecompany says that the first flight

will be in 2016.The balloon will be filled with

helium. This gas is much lighterthan air. The company claims thatthe capsule design is similar to theInternational Space Station (ISS).Inside will be enough room for eight

people. Two will be crew membersand the others will be passengerswho have paid to go on the trip. Likea passenger plane the capsule will

be pressurised. It will also need to

NEWSCAST

MOUNTAIN LIGHT The town ofRjukan, in Norway, has becomemuch brighter. High mountains

surround the town. For six monthsof the year, during Norways longwinter, the town is in the shade.During these months it gets no di-rect sunlight. However, on cleardays, bright sunlight can be seenon the mountaintops to the north ofthe town. Recently three large mir-rors, called heliostats, were placedon top of one of the mountains. The

mirrors were lowered into place by

a helicopter. They have been posi-tioned so that they follow the Sun,as it appears to move across the sky.The heliostats have been set at anangle so they reflect sunlight intothe town below. This means that, onsunny days during the winter, thereis a 200 square metre (2,150 squarefoot) area of bright sunlight in thecentre of the town.


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10/19


One of those who died was Wal-lace Hartley. He was the leader ofthe ships orchestra. Including Hart-ley, the orchestra had eight mem-

bers. Their job was to perform daily

concerts for some of the passengersduring the voyage.

Later, survivors described howthe orchestra played on the shipsdeck. They did this while crew mem-

bers were organising the loading ofthe lifeboats. Once all the lifeboatshad left, the orchestra continued to

play as the ship slowly sank. Noneof the musicians survived.

Wallace Hartleys violin

In the days following the acci-dent, ships from Canada were sentto the area where the Titanic sank.They collected hundreds of bodiesthat were floating in the water. Onewas the body of Hartley. He had puthis violin in its case and strapped itto his back. Inside the violin casewere a number of sheets of music.Some people believe that this wasthe music the band played when theship was sinking.

Hartleys body was eventuallyreturned to his father in the UK. The

bandleader was buried in his home

town in the north of the country. Amemorial was erected, or put up, inhis honour, near to the town centre.Before she died in 1939 Hartleysfiance gave the violin to her sister.She passed it to a local bandleader.It was then given to a violin teacherwhose family kept it. The seawa-ter damaged the violin so it cannot

be played.At the auction Hartleys violin

was sold for 900,000 (US$1.45

million). The buyers name was notgiven out. However, it was reportedthat the new owner lives in the UKand collects Titanicmemorabilia.

YETIMYSTERYSOLVED?

A professor from Oxford Univer-sity, in the UK, may have solved theancient Yeti mystery. The professordid some DNA tests on hairs fromtwo unknown animals. The hairscame from two places in the Hima-layan Mountains. The professorsays the tests show that they belong

to a type of bear. This, he explains,is a new bear, or one that has never

been recorded before.Many people who live in Nepal,

Bhutan and Tibet insist that Yetis tall, hairy, ape-like creatures live

in the Himalayas. Some peopleclaim to have seen one. Sightingsof Yetis in this part of the world go

back thousands of years. However,none of these creatures have ever

been found or killed.

Is this a real or fake picture of a Yeti?

In recent years several mountainclimbers from other countries saythey have seen a Yeti. Some photo-graphs have been taken. Yet many

people suspect that these pictureshave been faked. Most scientistsinsist that the Yeti is a myth. Theyargue that it would be difficult forany large animal to live high in the

mountains where there is little food.

In the past, some strands of hairhave been tested that were thought tocome from a Yeti. These were discov-ered to be hair from other animals,such as goats or bears. Three types of

bears are known to live in the Hima-layas. These are brown bears, sloth

bears and Asiatic black bears.One of the hairs the professor

tested was found in a bamboo for-est, in Bhutan, about ten years ago.The other came from northern India.These two places are about 1,300kilometres (800 miles) apart.

Nowadays DNA testing is muchmore advanced. It is also possi-

ble to compare the results of DNAtests with many of those that have

been done in the past. The profes-sor says the DNA from the hairsmatched. So they came from the

same type of creature. He was thensurprised to discover that the DNAalso matched another sample. ThisDNA came from an ancient polar

bears jawbone.The jawbone was found in Sval-

bard. This is a group of islands thatare part of Norway. It is thoughtthat the jawbone is between 40,000and 120,000 years old. Polar bearsand brown bears are closely related.The jawbone dates back to the timewhen scientists believe that polar

bears and brown bears were becom-

ing separate species. The professorbelieves that the two hairs come

from a creature that is a hybrid ofthese two species. This means it isclosely related to a polar bear.

Both hairs are brown in colour.The professor thinks the new crea-ture is about 1.5 metres (five feet)tall. Those who claim to have seen aYeti say they are about three metres(ten feet) tall, covered in reddish-

brown fur, and walk upright. Theprofessor says it is possible that this

new bear walks on its back legs.


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Many people claim to have seenunusual ape-like creatures in remote

places in other parts of the world.These are known as Sasquatch inCanada, Bigfoot in the USA, Yeren

in China, Yowie in Australia, Map-inquary in Brazil, Sajarang Gigi in

Indonesia, and Mande Barung innorth east India.

Several other scientists have saidthe professors tests are convincing.However, most people are unlikelyto believe that any of these ape-likecreatures exist until one is caught orkilled.

BRAINCLEANING

A team of scientists in the USA havebeen studying the brains of mice.They say their work seems to show

that the brains of mice wash awaytoxins, or harmful waste, while theyare asleep.

Toxins are poisonous substancesthat can be produced within livingorganisms or cells. They can besmall molecules or proteins. Thesetoxins are harmful and can causecertain diseases.

In mice and other animals thereis a system that circulatesa type offluid through the brain. The scien-tists noticed that when mice go tosleep this system is ten times moreactive. So it works much faster. The

fluid is moved or pumped in andout of the brain very quickly.

The team also saw that mices braincells get smaller, or shrink, when theyare asleep. This makes it easier for thefluid to circulate between them. Whenthe mice wake up their brain cells getbigger. This increase in size almostcompletely stops the fluid from mov-ing around their brains.

The scientists are sure that the

fluid is washing away waste proteins.

These collect in the spaces betweenthe brain cells while the mice areawake. If they are not removed thesetoxic proteins can harm the brain cells.The scientists describe the process as

being a bit like a washing machine.

Human brain

The scientists say their experi-ments might explain why humansfind it difficult to think after a sleep-less night. It may also be why ani-mals and humans can die if they donot get any sleep for a long time.

Many researchers have wonderedabout sleep and evolution. Why doanimals and humans go to sleep?When asleep they are more at riskof being attacked by predators.

The scientists who studied themice brains think that animals andhumans cannot wash their brainsand stay awake at the same time.This, they suspect, is because thewashing uses a lot of energy. Sohumans would not be able to think,talk and move as well as clean their

brains all at the same time. Clean-

ing the brain might therefore be the

reason for sleep.The increase in the circulation of

fluid in the brain has now been re-corded in mice and baboons, a typeof monkey. So far, no experimentshave been done on human brains.However, the scientists say thiswould not be difficult to do.

The scientists admit that morework needs to be done. Yet, in fu-ture, their study might help to find

cures for certain diseases that can

affect peoples brains. These includeAlzheimers. Over time people withAlzheimers find it harder and hard-er to remember things. These typesof diseases are often linked to peo-

ple who find it difficult to sleep.

BATTLEOFNATIONSANNIVERSARY

On 20th October, thousands of peo-ple took part in several events in thecity of Leipzig, in eastern Germany.The events were held to mark the200th anniversary, or bicentenary,of the Battle of Nations (also known

as the Battle of Leipzig).

Battle of Nations memorial in Leipzig

The Battle of Nations lasted forfour days. It ended on 19th October1813. The battle was the first ma-

jor defeat of Napoleon Bonapartes

Grande Arme. Until the start ofthe First World War, in 1914, it wasthe largest battle ever to have been

fought in Europe. The two opposingarmies had a total of 600,000 sol-diers. The fighting took place botharound and within Leipzig.

Napoleon was a military andpolitical leader. He ruled Francebetween 1804 and 1814, and againfor around three months in 1815.He crowned himself Emperor ofFrance. Many historians believe Na-

poleon was one of the best military

commanders ever to have lived.


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In 1812, after winning many bat-tles in Europe, Napoleon decided toinvade Russia. At first his army wassuccessful as the Russian soldierskept retreating. The two armies

eventually met at Borodino, not farfrom Moscow, the Russian capital

city. Neither side managed to defeatthe other. Most historians say the

battle was a draw.

Painting of Russian, Austrian and Prussian

troops at the Battle of Nations

The Battle of Borodino features

in War and Peace. This book, by LeoTolstoy (1828 1910), is thought bymany people to be one of the bestever written. Tchaikovsky (1840

1893) commemorated Borodinoin his famous 1812 Overture. Themusic includes cannon and musketfire as well as church bells ringingin Moscow.

After the battle the Russian armywithdrew. Napoleons army thencaptured Moscow. He expected theRussian tsar (or king), Alexanderthe First, to surrender. Yet the sur-

render never came.

Napoleons army was a long wayfrom France. Getting supplies andmore men was difficult. After stayingin Moscow for five weeks Napoleondecided to return to central Europe

before the Russian winter weatherarrived. As the French soldiers re-treated, the Russian army followed.

Other nations such as Austria,Prussia and Sweden then joinedRussia in the fight against Napo-

leon. Then, Germany (as it is today)

was not a single country. Insteadit was made up of many separatestates or kingdoms. Prussia, whichlater became part of Germany, was akingdom in northern Europe.

At the Battle of Nations two Ger-man states and thousands of Polishand Italian soldiers fought on Napo-leons side. Over 100,000 men werekilled or wounded during the fight-ing. The day before the battle endedthe German states changed sides.

Napoleon, together with thou-sands of French soldiers, managedto get away from Leipzig and re-turn to France. The following year

the Russian army reached Paris, theFrench capital city. Napoleon wasforced to step down. As a punish-ment he was exiled, or sent to live

on the Island of Elba in the Mediter-ranean Sea.

In under a year Napoleon hadescaped from Elba and returnedto France. He immediately raisedanother army. In 1815 British andPrussian forces defeated his newarmy at the Battle of Waterloo, inBelgium. Napoleon was captured.This time he was exiled to the re-mote island of Saint Helena, in theAtlantic Ocean. He died on the is-land in 1821, aged 51.

Before the 200th anniversary

events in Leipzig began, MartinSchulz, the president of the Euro-

pean Parliament, made a speech. He

spoke standing in front of the hugememorial close to the city, whichcommemorates those who died inthe battle.

On 20th October about 6,000people re-enacted parts of the bat-tle. Over 30,000 spectators watched.Those taking part came from manydifferent European countries. Allwere dressed in uniforms that wouldhave been worn by the soldiers who

fought in the battle 200 years ago.

MOSTDISTANTGALAXY

A team of American astronomers,or scientists who study the starsand planets, recently announced

that they had detected the farthestknown galaxy in the Universe. To

make their discovery the team usedthe Hubble Space Telescope and theKeck Telescope, in Hawaii.

Scientists believe that the Uni-verse began with what is known asa Big Bang. This happened about13.8 billion years ago. The BigBang theory says no space, time,matter, or energy existed before the

Big Bang.

Newly discovered edge of space galaxy. Green

lines show both location and enlarged image

The name Big Bang makes itsound as if there was a giant explo-sion. This is misleading. Scientistsoften say the best way to imag-

ine how the Universe was formedis to think of a very tiny balloon.The balloon is the Universe, whichgradually keeps getting bigger and

bigger, or expanding, in all direc-tions. However, unlike a balloon,no extra air is being blown intothe Universe.

The distant galaxy has been giventhe name z8_GND_5296. It is about30 billion light years away. The

speed of light is roughly 300,000


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

USA

Alaska

UK

TURKEY

SYRIA

SAUDI

ARABIA

RUSSIA

POLAND

NORWAY

Svalbard

MYANMAR

MALAYSIA

Kamchatka

Peninsula

JAPAN

IRELAND

INDIA

ICELAND

Greenland

GERMANY

GEORGIAFRANCE

BRAZIL

BHUTAN

AUSTRALIA

AleutianIslands

SWITZERLAND

kilometres (186,400 miles) per sec-ond. One light year is the distancethat light travels in one year.

The American astronomers wereable to work out how far away the

galaxy is by using something calledredshift. As the Universe is ex-

panding all the time, everything ismoving away from the Earth. Thismeans that light waves becomestretched. This makes distantspace objects, when seen from theEarth, look much redder than theyreally are. Redshift is like a scale ofthis red colour. The redder an objectthe farther away it is.

Because of the time it takeslight to travel the huge distances inspace, images we now see of distantobjects are what they looked likemillions of years ago. This means

looking deep into space is like look-ing back in time. So the image ofz8_GND_5296 is what it looked

like 13.1 billion years ago. This isonly 700 million years after the BigBang. Therefore, the distant galaxyis not just the farthest found so far

but also the earliest.

The reason this galaxy is now 30billion light years away is becausethe Universe keeps expanding.Some people have even describedthe far away galaxy as being on theedge of space.

The astronomers are able to findout many things about the distantgalaxy from the telescope record-ings. For example, 13.1 billion yearsago it was producing roughly 300

new stars a year. This is hundredsof times faster than stars are createdin our own galaxy, the Milky Way.Furthermore, at that time, the distant

galaxy was only about 1.5% of themass of the Milky Way.

The Hubble Space Telescope isnamed after Edwin Hubble (1889

1953). He was an American astrono-mer. Hubble discovered many galax-ies beyond our own Milky Way. Hewas also the first person to work outthat the Universe is expanding.

EUROPEASIATUNNELOPENS

A special ceremony was held inIstanbul, the largest city in Turkey,on 29th October. Recep TayyipErdoan, Turkeys prime minister,and ShinzAbe, the prime ministerof Japan, attended it. The ceremonymarked the official opening of the

first tunnel to be built under theBosporus strait.

The Bosporus is part of a seachannel that connects the Black Seato the Aegean and MediterraneanSeas. The channel is made up of the

Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara andthe Dardanelles. Together these are


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known as the Turkish Straits. Thissea channel is the boundary betweenEurope and Asia.

Throughout history the Bosporushas been a place of strategic impor-

tance. This is why the Roman emper-or Constantine decided to build hisnew capital city next to the Bosporusin 330 CE. He named the city Con-stantinople. Today it is called Istan-

bul. Over the years the city has grownmuch bigger. Its buildings are on bothsides of the Bosporus. Istanbul is nowhome to 15 million people.

The Bosporus is about 31 kilo-metres (19 miles) long. At its wid-

est it is 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles)across. Yet some parts are muchnarrower. Many ferries sail fromone side to the other. In Istanbulthere are two bridges that cross theBosporus. Around two million peo-

ple use these bridges every day. Sotraffic jams are not unusual.

Building work on the tunnel firststarted in 2004. Mr Erdoan sup-

ported the project. Then he was themayor of Istanbul. The tunnel has

been designed to withstand earth-quakes. It is part of a new under-ground, or metro, railway line.

Satellite picture of Turkish Straits

So far about 15 kilometres (ninemiles) of the metro line and threestations have been built. When com-

pleted the line will be 76 kilometres(47 miles) long with 37 stations.Building work has taken longer

than expected. This was because the

construction uncovered an impor-tant archaeological site. Work wasdelayed while tens of thousands ofitems were excavated, or dug up.These included hundreds of clay

pots as well as the remains of 30ships. These date back to medieval

times, or over 800 years ago.The tunnel is 1.4 kilometres (0.9

miles) long. It is about 60 metres(197 feet) below the seabed. Engi-neers first dug an underwater trench.Separate sections of the tunnel werethen lowered into the trench and fit-ted together. The sections are madeof concrete and steel. Once all of

them were connected the trench wascovered over.

For hundreds of years Turkeywas the centre of the Ottoman Em-

pire. After the end of the First World

War (1914 1918) the empire be-came many different countries. OnOctober 29, 1923 Turkey was of-ficially declared to be a republic.The tunnel opening ceremony there-fore took place on the countrys90th anniversary.

Banks from Japan have helped toraise money to build the metro line.This was why the Japanese primeminister was invited to the openingceremony.

MININGINGREENLAND

On 24th October members of Green-lands parliament voted to end its

ban on uranium mining. Permissionwas also given to a mining companyto build and operate a huge new ironore mine.

Greenland is known to havemany natural resources. These in-clude oil and gas fields that areunder the seabed close to the coast.Valuable rare earth minerals have

also been discovered.

Only 57,000 people live inGreenland. It is the worlds largestisland. (Australia is bigger, but it isdefined as a continent.) Greenlandused to be a Danish colony. In 1979

Denmark gave Greenland permis-sion to set up its own parliament.

Now it is a self-ruling province ofthe Kingdom of Denmark. The par-liament, known as the Landsting, isin Nuuk, Greenlands capital city.

At first the Landsting made rulesabout things such as schools, hospi-tals and medical care. In 2009 Den-mark agreed that Greenland couldalso make decisions about its natu-

ral resources.

Nuuk, capital of Greenland

Traditionally Greenland makesits money by selling the fish andshrimp that its fishermen catch.However, it still relies on Denmark,which gives its former colony about3.5 billion kroner (400 million)each year. This money is used to payfor public services such as schoolsand hospitals.

An election for the Landsting was

held last March. A party led by AleqaHammond won. She then becameGreenlands first woman prime min-ister. Before the election Ms Ham-mond said that she wanted to end themining ban. She explained that min-ing companies would have to pay aroyalty, or fixed amount, for every-thing they dug up, or extracted.

In recent years warmer tempera-tures have been melting much of

the sea ice around Greenland. This


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means it is easier for large ships toreach the island throughout the year.

Nowadays mined resources can beeasily shipped to other countries.

The company that has been given

permission to run the iron ore mineis based in London, the capital of the

UK. The mine will be about 150 kilo-metres (93 miles) from Nuuk. It will

be an open cast mine. This is like abig hole in the ground. Most of theiron ore extracted will be transportedto China. There it will be used tomake steel. Many of the 3,000 peo-

ple who will work to set up the mineare expected to come from China.

The rare earth minerals in Green-land contain uranium. Therefore theending of the uranium ban meansrare earth ores can now also bemined. Uranium is used in nuclear

power stations.Rare earth is the name given to

a group of 17 elements. Many havedifficult names to remember or

pronounce, such as praseodymiumor lanthanum.

Today rare earth minerals arevery important. Some people evendescribe them as 21st centurygold. This is because they are need-ed to make many of the latest hightech items such as flat-screen televi-sions, electric cars, wind turbines,computers and mobile phones. Rare

earth elements have special thermal,optical, electrical, and magnetic

properties. Currently about 90% ofall the rare earth elements used inthe world come from China.

Some people say that Greenlandis one of the worlds few remainingunspoilt areas. They therefore arguethat ending the mining ban is wrong.Ms Hammond claims that miningiron ore, rare earth elements anduranium will improve Greenlandseconomy. It will also help to create

more jobs. She says that all mining

companies in Greenland will haveto make sure that they do not dam-age the environment.

SAUDIARABIAUN PROTEST

Each year the United Nations (UN)

votes for five countries to be non-permanent members of the SecurityCouncil. These five then have a seaton the UN Security Council for thenext two years.

On 17th October the five newnon-permanent members were an-nounced. They are Chad, Chile,

Lithuania, Nigeria, and Saudi Ara-bia. These countries are due to taketheir seats on the Security Councilon 1st January 2014.

However, the day after the an-nouncement Saudi Arabia declared

that it would refuse to take its seat.Officials in the country accused theUN Security Council of doublestandards. This means not beingfair, or favouring one group overanother. The Saudi officials saidtheir decision was a protest. Thishas never happened before.

The UN was set up after the Sec-ond World War (1939 1945). Itsheadquarters is in New York City, inthe USA. The UNs main job is to tryto keep peace and security among all

the nations in the world. It currentlyhas 193 member countries.The UNs Security Council has

15 members. Five, the USA, theUK, Russia, France, and Chinaare permanent members, so othersnever replace them. The permanentmembers can veto, or block, anyvotes taken by the Security Council,if they do not agree with them.

The ten other countries, which

make up the Security Council, arenon-permanent members. Theyare selected from different regionsof the world. This means there is

always a non-permanent memberthat is an Arab or African countryas well as one from Eastern Europe,Asia, Western Europe and LatinAmerica. Non-permanent mem-

bers sit on the Security Council fortwo years.

All UN members vote for the fivecountries that will replace those thathave been non-permanent members

UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL

Permanent member countries:

France Russia China USA UK

Current non-permanent member countries: Asia-Pacific Western Europe and Other

Republic of Korea AustraliaPakistan (replaced by Saudi Arabia*) Luxembourg

Latin America and Caribbean Africa and Arab GroupArgentina Rwanda

Guatemala (replaced by Chile*) Togo (replaced by Nigeria*)Morocco (replaced by Chad*)

EasternEuropeAzerbaijan (replaced by Lithuania*)

* From January 1, 2014 Withdrawn


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for the last two years. These votesusually take place in October.

Many countries want to have aseat on the Security Council. Thisis because it makes many of the

UNs most important decisions.For example, the Security Council

can vote to punish nations if theyare thought to have done somethingwrong. This punishment is usuallyordering other member countries tostop trading with them. The SecurityCouncil can even order a militaryattack, or send peacekeeping forcesto prevent wars and conflicts.

This year Saudi Arabia an-

nounced that it wanted to be one ofthe new non-permanent members.This was the first time it had donethis for many years. People weretherefore surprised about its deci-

sion not to take up its seat, especial-ly as it had just been chosen.

Officials in Saudi Arabia ex-plained that they are unhappy withthe UN Security Council. For exam-

ple, they claim it has done nothingto help people in Syria.

The war in Syria began two and ahalf years ago. So far around 100,000people have died in the fighting. Onone side is the Syrian army. It sup-ports the countrys president, Bashiral-Assad. On the other side are sev-eral groups that dislike Mr al-Assadand his government. These opposition

groups are often called the rebels.

Saudi Arabia and countries suchas the USA, France and the UK sup-

port the rebels. Yet, traditionally,Russia has been on the side of theSyrian government. It believes thatsupporting the rebels will makethings worse.

The USA, France and the UKdisagree with Russia about whatshould be done in Syria. All fourare permanent members of the UN

Security Council. Russia has said it

will veto any Security Council voteon Syria that it thinks is a bad idea.Most people therefore believe that,until these countries agree, the UNwill not be able to end the war.

POLITICALCHANGESINGEORGIA

An election for the new president ofGeorgia took place on 27th October.After the votes had been counted itwas announced that Giorgi Margve-lashvili had won.

The election marks the end ofMikheil Saakashvilis ten years as

Georgias president. Mr Saakash-vili did not take part in the election.This is because Georgias constitu-tion, or rules by which the countryis governed, says that a person canonly be president for two five-

year terms.

Giorgi Margvelashvili, Georgias new president

Georgia used to be part of theRussian-led Soviet Union. It, likemany other countries in EasternEurope and Central Asia, became

an independent nation in 1990. Thiswas when the old Soviet Union be-gan to break up.

Mr Saakashvili became Georgiaspresident after what is known as theRose Revolution. Because of largestreet demonstrations the countrys

previous leader was forced to stepdown. Mr Saakashvili, who at thattime was only 36 years old, led the

protests. Before becoming president

he worked as a lawyer in the USA.

Mr Saakashvili wanted Georgiato have closer links with Europe. He

believed that Georgia should join theEuropean Union (EU). He also want-ed the country to become a member

of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Or-ganization). This angered Russia.In 2008 Mr Saakashvili was re-

elected for another five years. In thesame year a war broke out betweenRussia and Georgia. It lasted for fivedays. Russian troops easily defeatedthe Georgian army. They then occu-pied half of the country. After the war,two of the countrys regions, Abkhaz-ia and South Ossetia, decided to leave

Georgia and become independent.Russia has continued to support them.

Mr Saakashvili used to be a popu-lar leader. Yet after the war many

people said he changed. They ac-cused him and his government of be-

coming corrupt and too strict. Theyalso claimed that Mr Saakashvili hadgiven the police too many powers.

Last year there was an elec-tion for Georgias parliament. MrSaakashvilis United NationalMovement (UNM) party did badly.A newly formed party, called Geor-gian Dream, won.

Bidzina Ivanishvili set up GeorgiaDream. He is a wealthy businessmanand the richest person in Georgia. MrIvanishvili said that he formed thenew party because he was unhappy

about how Mr Saakashvili was run-

ning the country. As Georgia Dreamwon the election, Mr Ivanishvili be-came Georgias prime minister.

In 2010 it was agreed that thepolitical system in Georgia wouldchange. The change would beginwith the election of a new presidentin 2013.

Under the new system, the primeminister would be in charge of thecountry. He or she would have more

power than the president. This is


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similar to many other nations suchas Austria, Italy and Turkey. In these

places the president acts as the coun-trys head of state, or figurehead. The

prime minister and his government

make all the important decisions.Mr Margvelashvili was selected

as Georgia Dreams presidentialcandidate. In the election he got62% of the votes. The UNMs candi-date, David Bakradze, came secondwith 22%. Because of the changesin Georgias political system MrMargvelashvili will be the countrysnew head of state. As prime minis-ter, Mr Ivanishvili will now run the

country.

AUNGSANSUUKYIINNORTHERNIRELAND

On 24th August Aung San Suu Kyitravelled to Northern Ireland, whichis part of the UK. Ms Suu Kyi is anopposition leader in Myanmar (alsoknown as Burma). She said that shewanted to visit this part of the UK tolearn more about the peace processin Northern Ireland.

Myanmar has been controlledby a group of military leaders, orformer military leaders, since 1962.Twenty-five years ago Ms Suu Kyiformed a new political party in My-anmar called the National League

for Democracy (NLD). In 1990 the

countrys military government, orjunta, organised elections. It expect-ed to win. Yet when the NLD got80% of the votes the military juntaignored the result.

NLD supporters arranged largedemonstrations. The junta sentarmed soldiers to stop the street pro-tests. Shots were fired and many peo-

ple were killed. When force is usedin this way it is often described as

a crackdown.

Many NLD members were put inprison. The crackdown continued forover 20 years. Ms Suu Kyi was heldunder house arrest. This meant shewas not allowed to leave her home.

Anyone wanting to visit her had toget special permission. In 1991 the

people who select the Nobel awardsgave the Peace Prize to Ms Suu Kyi.

Ms Suu Kyi was eventually re-leased in 2010. The following yearthe junta organised more elections.The NLD refused to take part. Itsaid the elections had been fixedso only those who supported themilitary leaders would win. Thein

Sein, a former army general, be-came the countrys new president.Many think it was Thein Sein whoarranged to end Ms Suu Kyishouse arrest.

Aung San Suu Kyi

In early 2012 another smallerelection was held. Ms Suu Kyi andher supporters decided to take part.They did well. Now the NLD is rep-resented in the countrys parliament.However, most agree that the mili-

tary is still in control of Myanmar.Another problem in Myanmar

is violence against Muslims. Mostpeople in the country are Buddhists.Yet many Muslims live in the cen-tral and eastern parts of Myanmar.Muslims in the country claim tohave been persecuted for manyyears. Two years ago fighting brokeout between Buddhist and Muslimgroups. Hundreds of people have

been killed. Most were Muslims.

Many Muslim homes have been seton fire and destroyed. Now around140,000 Muslims in Myanmar areliving in makeshiftcamps.

Many people accuse Myanmars

leaders of not doing anything to stopthe violence. Ms Suu Kyi says both

sides are to blame.In Northern Ireland militant Prot-

estant and Catholic groups foughtagainst each other for many years.The militant Catholic group, knownas the Irish Republican Army (IRA),wanted Northern Ireland to become

part of the Republic of Ireland. TheProtestant political and militant

groups insisted that Northern Ire-land should remain part of the UK.

In 1998 the UK governmentmanaged to get the different groupsto accept a peace agreement. Later

on elections were held. Now mem-bers of Catholic and Protestant po-litical groups jointly govern North-ern Ireland. What has happened in

Northern Ireland is often called thepeace process. Many world lead-ers believe that the same processcould be used to solve similar prob-lems in other parts of the world.

While in Northern Ireland MsSuu Kyi spoke with Catholic andProtestant political leaders. She saidthat what she learnt might help peo-

ple in Myanmar live peacefully with

each other.

Newsademic.comEditor:Rebecca Watson

Acknowledgements:

News story photographs by gettyimages

For further details about Newsademic

and subscription prices visit

www.newsademic.com

Newsademic 2013


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ISSUE209GLOSSARYPUZZLECONTINUED

INSTRUCTIONS:Find 19 of the 20crossword 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.

S E I T R E P O R P F G V C Y W T A

U E G Z L Z C H F O R B I D D E N I

R S T R I K S T U O P L Y C D B A L

V T N A M S T I S O P E D O E E J I

E R J N L K N I L T S D W N T M V B

I A R W Y U D I B S I X X V A X V A

L T Z Z L E C M E R D E F I N E D R

L E I G P R Z R B T R L U N G E K O

A G X F D U H Y I K O B C C I T O M

N I O V Y T H A Z C W R E I S D U E

C C D L O A J L Z Z G N P N E Y D M

E Z F S P V D L F F R K N G D U E P

Q V B P E R S E C U T E D R P Y G C

F M Q B A U E J H U I I T R B T E N

J D W Y M C S X Q F E Q F I D H L W

C T F I H S E K A M Q D I X R F L O

A S S Q R C A G F I G U R E H E A D

I N T E L L I G E N C E Z T H L J H

MISSING WORD ANSWER =

ISS

UE208ANSWERS

H G U O R H T K A E R B Y E E U J I

D T U B I I X N C V S P L P E T T N

T S E C R E T E S M O A D F L L L A

E X P E D I T I O N M C E I I X S C

G J H I O F E T D P E A U E M H B C

A H M G P R P C H U N Y W G I V L E

M M O D D M P I N A A E G Q N X S S

I G T U Y E B N L A T T G G A M S S

R N W S P I Z Y M A T Q W T T D U I

G O F F A A T I R F H S Y Q I P S B

L I X N R I Q D S S P E I P O F N L

I T S X C G Y Y X P S M G S N W E E

P I L A R H E R O Z A E R Q E E S Q

M N L O O H L X Q A N C S I I R N U

T G E B S J G Q T G D F B U T Y O E

B I R D E D R A B M O B D K O U C S

A A G W B K M I V I B L Y U X P A T

C O N T R I B U T I O N F Q G M S L

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I A A R T I S

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A C10

D Y I11

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E13

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E

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Z L I A O S

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