E. Coli Outbreak Kills 14 in Germany

A deadly form of E. coli bacteria, reportedly linked to Spanish cucumber exports, has killed at least 14 people in Germany and sickened hundreds more in what experts are saying is the one of the biggest outbreaks of the kind worldwide.

German experts and government officials gathered Monday for a meeting to address the crisis.

Health officials from several European countries including Germany, Austria and Russia pulled Spanish vegetables from sale and blocked additional imports out of concern the outbreak could spread.

Diego Lopez Garrido, Spain's EU representative, said there is no proof that the contamination originated in Spain.

Germany's national disease institute advised people in northern Germany, where most cases have occurred, not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control is investigating the source and scope of the risk. The Stockholm-based group said infected patients developed hemolytic uremic syndrome [HUS], a potentially fatal condition afflicting the kidneys, blood and central nervous system.

According to the European health officials, the outbreak is one of the largest worldwide, and the biggest ever reported in Germany. Most of the outbreak has been in Hamburg, but cases of HUS also have been reported in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Britain.

Spanish Environment Minister Rosa Aguilar said last week that it is too early to know where the contamination took place. The European disease center, an EU agency, said authorities in Hamburg found E. coli bacteria last week on two samples of Spanish cucumbers, but it was not clear whether they were contaminated at the source or during delivery.






What about asking questions now?


1. 14 people
2. Monday
3. To address the crisis.
4. Pulled Spanish vegetables from sale and blocked additional imports
5. No, there isn't
6. People in northern Germany
7. Not to eat raw tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce.
8. The source and scope of the risk.
9. In Stockholm
10. Hemolytic uremic syndrome [HUS]
11. Last week
12. No, it isn't

Adapted from CNN, The Guardian, VOA

Sextuplets

Janine and Brian Killian, Peters Photography, Dublin, Ohio

COLUMBUS, OHIO (wosu) - Rozonno Junior, Josiah, Isaac, Madison, Elijah, and Olivia are Columbus' first set of sextuplets.

Mia McGhee, the 30 year old mother and her husband 31 year old Rozonno Senior turned to fertility drugs after years of being unsuccessful in conceiving.

"Whenever I wake up in the morning or my wife wakes up in the morning, we always say Hey it's the McGhee team. Let's wake up. Let's do this. We've got to feed these babies", said Rozonno McGhee.

Rozonno Senior says life is better now that they have a new home with four bedrooms and two full bathrooms.

The couple moved in about a month ago from their old house. It only had two bedrooms and one bath.

"Our basement flooded every time it rained. It was an old house built in 1913 and it was not good for babies" said Mia McGhee.

The McGhee's say they couldn't rent a new home. Luckily, a Central Ohio couple read about the family's story and wanted to help. The generous couple also raised enough money to buy a 3-year old minivan that can seat the entire McGhee family.

The couple also gets help everyday from church volunteers. Like Akyshia Pearsall, who has learned how to handle the 6 different babies.

"Every baby has their own personality. All of them have a different personality and you have to learn their personality in order to deal with them," said Pearsall.

Church volunteers also help the McGhee's wash the sextuplets' laundry.

Local companies also help out with free formula and diapers. The McGhee's say they appreciate the generosity but understand these are hard times.

Mia left her job at JPMorgan Chase to care for the babies. Rozonno Senior set up the McGhee carpet cleaning business to tailor his work schedule for his family.

"This is really a dream come true. It's surreal, but it's a dream come true", said Rozonno McGhee.

"We truly thank God for each and every one of them each and every day," said Mia McGhee.


Adapted from WOSU Public Media



And now, question asking time!
These are the answers

1. a month ago
2. 4
3. 1 bathroom
4. about 100 years. It was built in 1913
5. No, they couldn't
6. from church volunteers
7. JP Morgan Chase
8. Yes, they will
9. I think so
10. in some years
    

32 miscellaneous blanks (quiz)

Click HERE to go to the quiz.
Don't forget you can retry the missed questions

No cars on Sundays (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE

Some activities after watching the video at least 3 times

(A) Focus on the answers to these question-words so as to get all the details

What - When - Where - How often - Why - What for

(B) Provide the context where these words are used

1. Frustrated
2. Million
3. Main
4. People -friendly
5. Learning
6. Allowed
7. Began
8. See
9. Location
10. Rights
11. Increase
12. Choosing
13. Disturb
14. Growing
15. Actually
16. Officials
17. Claim
18. Interesting
19. Enough
20. Twice
21. Registered
22. Idea
23. For now
24. Short
25. Traffic jam

(C) Ask questions so as to get the following answers

1. 9 million people.
2. in 2007
3. twice a month
4. to get pre wedding pictures
5. to increase public awareness.
6. because they don't want to disturb traffic
7. pollution,
8. No, the planner at Tarumanagara University doesn't
9. over a thousand new cars and motorcycles
10. a better city, with no pollution, more bicycles and fewer cars

Miss or Lose? (quiz)

Click HERE if you're ready to choose the right option for each of the 15 sentences

Mobile phones and farming tips (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE

Listening and writing (quiz)

Please listen to each question as many times as you want. Then click inside the box and type what you've heard. Pay attention to spelling!

If you're ready click HERE to start the quiz

Hackers targeted Sony (audio)

Photo: AP

Sony Computer Entertainment held a news conference last week in Tokyo and apologized for a problem Sony faced

Please click HERE to listen to the audio and find out more.

Scrambled questions (quiz)

Click HERE to put the questions in the right order

A new low-salt diet study surprising conclusions (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE

NY Police arrest IMF head

Photo: AP

New York City police apprehended the 62-year-old International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn aboard an Air France plane Saturday in New York, just minutes before its departure for Paris. Police said he was not handcuffed, but taken off the plane and into custody.

A 32-year-old maid at the Sofitel hotel near Manhattan's Time Square told authorities she entered his room to clean it early on Saturday afternoon. The maid told police Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom unclothed and attempted to force her into performing sex acts. She escaped the room and told other hotel personnel, who called the police.

Police say when they arrived at the hotel, Strauss-Kahn had already left for the airport, leaving behind his mobile phone and other personal items.

The maid was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital.

Tomorrow New York City police will formally charge the IMF head with criminal sexual assault, attempted rape and the unlawful imprisonment of a hotel maid.

Strauss-Kahn, who is married to a famous French television reporter, admitted in 2008 to an affair with one of his subordinates, a Hungarian economist at the IMF. He apologized and said his actions reflected "a serious error in judgement" but that the relationship had been consensual.

His supporters say he is not the kind of man to carry out a sexual assault.

Strauss-Kahn took charge of the IMF in November 2007 and French media late Saturday commented his arrest could cost him the top job at the IMF.

The former French Finance Minister is considered a leading contender to run as the Socialist Party's candidate against President Nicolas Sarkozy in France's 2012 election.

Some say Mr. Sarkozy supported Strauss-Kahn to become the IMF director because he wanted to keep him away from French politics.

If the charges prove true, Strauss-Kahn will not be able to run against French President Nicolas Sarkozy next year.

Observers speculate the charges will probably boost Le Pen's candidacy for the 2012 presidential elections, as well as that of Sarkozy, who is fighting against historically low popularity ratings

Photo: The Economist

• And how about finishing at least 15 of the following questions?

1. Who did NY police …….?
2. Why did NY police …..?
3. Where did NY police ........?
4. When did NY police ….?
5. When will NY police ……..?
6. What will NY police …..?

7. What did Strauss-Kahn…..?
8. What does Strauss-Kahn…..?
9. Where did Struass-Kahn ……?.
10. When did Struass-Kahn …….?
11. Did Strauss-Kahn ….?
12. Will Strauss-Kahn …..?
13. Was Strauss-Kahn…..?
14. Is Strauss-Kahn…..?

15. How old is ………..?

16. What does the maid ……..?
17. Why did the maid ……?
18. Did the maid ……?
19. Was the maid ……?
20. Will the maid ……..?
21. What did other hotel personnel …?


22. What did Mr. Sarkozy ………?
23. Why did Mr. Sarkozy ……..?
24. What is Mr. Sarkozy ……..?
25. Will Mr. Sarkozy ………..?


Photo: The Economist

New alert system (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE

• Please use these guidelines to organize your retelling

…………………….……. gathered at the World Trade Center site to announce …………………………..

Bloomberg said the system will ……………………………………...

The system will warn …………………………. about …………………………….

All major U.S. cell phone companies will ……………………………….

The system will give priority …………………………….

The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, said that September 11, 2001 tragedy taught ……………………………..

• And now, let's ask questions to get the following answers
  

1. at the World Trade Center
   
2. to announce something
3. Personal Localized Alerting Network,
4. alerts about imminent safety threats.
5. by using only local cell phone towers.
6. about an approaching tornado, hurricane or storm.
7. all major U.S. cell phone companies
8. emergency messages
9. on a terrace overlooking Ground Zero
10. the necessity of communication technologies in times of crisis and disaster.

NASA to Launch Telescope That Will See Into the Past

Photo: NASA: Chris Gunn

The first six flight-ready James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror segments are prepped to begin final cryogenic testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama

Light from distant galaxies, billions of light years away from us, is so faint that it shifts from the visible spectrum ino the infrared segment and becomes heat. It can be detected only by instruments cooled to almost absolute zero. The U.S. space agency NASA is building a new space telescope that will be cool in both senses of the word.

In the "clean room" of NASA's Goddard Space Center, outside Washington, engineers are building the new infrared space telescope named after NASA's second director James Webb. They hope that when deployed in 2014. it will help them look many billions of light years into the past.

The deputy senior project scientist for the telescope, Jonathan Gardner, says its 6.5-meter-wide (21-foot-wide) mirror will be able to detect extremely faint infrared signals, because it will be kept at a very cold temperature, close to absolute zero (minus 459 degrees F). A large radiator screen, the size of a tennis court, will shield it from the warmth of the sun and earth.

But how will the scientists be able to look into the past?

"We can see back in time because light takes time to get from there to here. So, as we look further and further away, it takes longer and longer for the light to get from where it's emitted to here and we can actually see backwards in time. And if we look far enough away, we're actually looking back to when the universe was much younger than it is today, when the light was emitted from these galaxies. We're looking at the universe when it was younger and we're looking back most of the way to the Big Bang," Gardner explained.

Gardner says scientists want to know when the first galaxies were formed. What did they look like? What were their features? How were the stars born? Many are also hoping to find something we don't yet even know exists.

The telescope will be equipped with three infrared cameras, more sensitive than ever before. But its most interesting parts are the special gold-coated mirrors that form the big primary mirror.

"The primary mirror is made up of 18 hexagonal segments, as you can see on the model. Each of these segments is supported by actuators which can move. So, during the lifetime of the mission, when it's in orbit, we can send the commands to move these mirrors and that way we can constantly keep them in alignment, in a common focus," he said.

Jonathan Gardner says the new telescope will be available to scientists around the world, whose projects will be chosen according to their scientific value.

"We will ask for proposals from astronomers. Any astronomer, at any university, in any country can write a proposal for what they want to do with the telescope. The committee, probably about a hundred astronomers, will consider these proposals, and they will read all the proposals and choose the very best science that will be done that year," Gardner stated.

Gardner says the process makes sure that the telescope is doing the best science it can, answering the most important, relevant, current questions.

The new telescope will be launched in 2014 and is expected to function around 10 years. The life expectancy is limited by the quantity of fuel in its booster jets, used for periodical adjustment of its position in space. The telescope will be stationed a million-and-a-half kilometers, or 932,000 miles, from earth, so astronauts will not be able to visit and replenish its fuel.

adapted from VOA

Math tutors teach online (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE

Bees important role in agriculture (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE

Meet Paul McCartney's Fiancée, Businesswoman Nancy Shevell

He loves her, yeah, yeah yeah.

Paul McCartney is getting married. The Beatles legend recently announced his engagement to New York businesswoman Nancy Shevell.

Shevell, 51, a board member of New York's transportation authority, and McCartney, 68, have been dating for about four years.

There isn't much information about Shevell. According to the official website of her place of work, New England Motor Freight (NEWF), Shevell works as a vice president and is "responsible for accounts receivable, corporate communications, benefits administration, purchasing of all supplies and equipment -- with the exception of trucks -- and overall office management." In other words, she's not in show business.

Again, according to NEWF, Shevell earned her Bachelor's Degree from Arizona State University, where she majored in transportation. She also serves as co-chairperson of the Arlene Walters Shevell Endowment Scholarship Fund, "a family foundation which provides self-help groups for parents of addicted children and financial support for individuals in accredited rehabilitation programs."

The AP reports that Shevell was married for over 20 years to Bruce Blakeman, a lawyer. Blakeman is a "close friend of former New York Gov. George Pataki, who appointed her to the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Agency."

McCartney and Shevell met in 2007 in the Hamptons. This will be McCartney's third marriage and Shevell's second.

Paul was married to Linda McCartney for 29 years until her death in 1998. He then married Heather Mills, which ended in a messy divorce in 2008. According to the New York Post, Shevell is already quite popular with McCartney's five children. Always important to get the kids' blessing.

Photo credit: New York City/WireImage/Access Hollywood

Posted Fri May 6, 2011 1:30pm PDT by Mike Krumboltz in Stop The Presses!

Venus and Serena Williams (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE

Bin Laden's death

Photo: AP Photo/GEO TV

An image made from Geo TV video shows flames at what is thought to be the compound where terror mastermind Osama bin Laden was killed Sunday, May 1, 2011, in Abbatabad, Pakistan.

The world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, is dead at the age of 54. He was killed by U.S. forces on Sunday at a compound deep inside Pakistan.

Blamed for terrorist atrocities on at least three continents, Osama bin Laden was the target of perhaps the largest U.S. manhunt in history.

Following the catastrophic attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th, 2001, President Bush publicly vowed to find the man believed to be the master mind - Osama bin Laden. "This man wants to destroy any semblance of civilization for his own power and his own good. He's so evil that he's willing to send young men to commit suicide while he hides in caves. Not only is he guilty of incredible murder, but he has no conscience and no soul," he said.

Born on March 10 1957, bin Laden was one of more than 50 children of a wealthy Saudi construction magnate who died when Osama bin Laden was a teenager.

Raised in the opulence of Saudi Arabia's upper-class, bin Laden went on to pursue an engineering degree and seemed headed for work in the family business.

But his life forever changed when, in 1979, the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

Bin Laden, like many Muslims, left home to join the fight against the Soviets, although at first his participation amounted only to logistical support for new recruits to the Afghan mujahedin Islamic fighters - the same ones supported by the United States.

But in the mid-1980's, bin Laden decided to use his share of his family's wealth to form his own militia force, which later became known as "al-Qaida" - Arabic for "The Base."

After the Soviets withdrew, bin Laden returned home, but kept ties with fellow veterans from the Afghan war and maintained an interest in other Muslim causes.

Another major turning point in his life came in 1990 when Iraq invaded the oil-rich Persian Gulf state of Kuwait, prompting Saudi Arabia to invite U.S. troops to deploy within its territory.

Bin Laden saw the arrival of non-Muslims on what he considered holy land as an affront to Islam. He protested strongly against the move, resulting in his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991.

Bin Laden found refuge in Sudan, where he is said to have orchestrated attacks on the U.S. military in Somalia and Saudi Arabia. Under U.S. pressure, the Sudanese expelled him in 1996, and he returned once more to Afghanistan.

Bin Laden quickly became a close ally of Afghanistan's new rulers, the hard-line Islamist Taliban movement, providing them with needed funds.

Osama bin Laden became associated with attacks on the West and his popularity grew among those unhappy with U.S. policy in the Middle East. He became an icon of resistance to the United States, regardless of whether or not people actually support Osama as an individual or the ideology he represents.

Stopping bin Laden became the top priority for the United States following the New York and Washington attacks in 2001, which claimed more than 3,000 lives.


Please think of the questions that could get the following answers

1. on Sunday

2. to find the man believed to be the master mind - Osama bin Laden.

3. send young men to commit suicide while he hides in caves

4. on March 10 1957

5. when Osama bin Laden was a teenager.

6. when, in 1979, the former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

7. to join the fight against the Soviets

8. use his share of his family's wealth to form his own militia force

9. the oil-rich Persian Gulf state of Kuwait

10. in Sudan,

11. to Afghanistan.

12. needed funds.

13. 3,000

14. I don't think so


adapted from AP, Reuters, VOA

The beatification ceremony of the late Pope John Paul II (video)

You can also watch this video by clicking HERE