5/27/2013
Japanese Octogenarian Reaches Everest Peak
While reading the article, please choose the right option and then ask questions to get the underlined answers.
Yuichiro Miura, an 80-year-old Japanese man (become - became - has become) the (old - oldest - older) person to climb the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest, when he reached the top of the 8,850-meter Himalayan peak (in - at - on) Thursday after a week-long ascent.
Miura, who (had - will have - has had) three heart operations in recent years, also (climbed - climbs - will climb) Mount Everest at age 70 and 75. After (to reach - reaching -he will reach) the summit (in - on - at) Thursday, he said by phone that he was exhausted but very happy.
Prior to the climb, Miura's daughter, Emili Miura, (told - tells - will tell) reporters "My father (lived - will live - lives) by the motto that nothing is impossible. He (should -may - will) want to conquer Everest a fourth time. Please, don't tell him that. For the family members, every time he (goes - went - will go) to Everest, we hope this (will - is going - are going) to be the last time, but he always (comes - come - came) back with the next objective. (Although - Despite - Because) his age and ailments, we fully support his climb".
Yuichiro Miura (was breaking - breaks - broke) the record (held - was held - is held) by a 76-year-old Nepalese man, Min Bahadur Sherchan. Miura's record, (however - although - because), could be short-lived. Sherchan, now 81, plans (starting - to start - start) ascending Mount Everest in a few days.
Yuichiro Miura (will be - is - was) accompanied by his 43-year-old son, a photographer, (other- the other - another) experienced Japanese climber and some Nepalese Sherpas. On his ascent, he and his team (should take - took - must take) a route on the southwest side of Everest in Nepal. The group took seven days (to reach - reaching - and reached) the top.
Yuichiro Miura trained by climbing areas of the Himalayas up to 5,500 meters. He also (spend - spent - will spend) time walking with nine kilograms of weight on his ankles and up to 18 kilograms in a backpack.
Meanwhile, tourism officials say five climbers trying to scale another giant Himalayan peak, Kangchenjunga, (are missing - is missing - missed). The climbers included two Hungarians, one South Korean and two Nepalese Sherpas.
Frits Vrijlandt, 45, head of the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation, reached the Everest summit at age 33. He does not recommend that 80-year-old climbers try to do the same. Even (much more young - much young - much younger) people, if not trained climbers, can pass out there in five minutes and die in an hour.
For Yuichiro Miura, there is always (other - another - the other) goal. He believes that nothing is impossible.
"Our heroes are back" Flash mob (video)
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Closed for 10 years for a $489 million refurbishment, Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum -- the national museum of arts and history founded in 1800 -- has emerged transformed and resplendent.
To mark the reopening, the museum surprised visitors at a shopping center in Breda with a flashmob under the banner ‘Onze Helden Zijn Terug’ (Our heroes are back) and brought its most famous work, Rembrandt’s masterpiece ‘Night Watch’ back to life.
The campaign’s slogan ‘Our Heroes are Back’ alludes to famous artwork returning to Rijksmuseum’s collection.
Please check out the resemblance to Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’:
If you want to visit the Musem, click HERE
And if you're interested in Rembrandt biography and paintings, click HERE
5/20/2013
Retailers Sign Bangladesh Garment Factory Safety Deal
Workers and fire fighters are shrouded prepare to dislodge the debri and fallen ceiling of the garment factory building
Last Monday international retailers embraced a labor-backed factory safety proposal for Bangladesh’s garment factories, raising hopes that similar tragedies might be avoided in the future. Zara’s parent company Inditex, Dutch retailer C&A, H&M, and British high street giants Primark and Tesco all signed the building and fire safety agreement backed by a coalition of labor groups known as IndustriALL.
Bangladesh is the world’s second largest producer of ‘fast’ fashion for export yet workers receive very low wages and must work for long hours in sweatshop conditions. “Fire and building safety are extremely important issues for us,” Helena Helmersson, head of sustainability at H&M, said in a statement. “With this commitment we can now influence even more in this issue.” C&A and Zara both had suppliers within the eight-storey Rana Plaza, situated on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, when it collapsed on April 24..
A spokesman for Primark welcomed the agreement for “financing and implementing a joint fire and building safety program” that will include “safety inspections and fire safety training at supplier factories.”
Rana Plaza housed at least 3,500 workers in five garment factories when it collapsed three weeks ago. Bosses ignored warnings to vacate the premises after cracks indicated the building had been gravely compromised. The building’s owner, Sohel Rana, has already been brought before a court and had his assets seized after being caught attempting to flee the country. The collapse was the world’s worst industrial accident since India’s Bhopal gas disaster killed 2,259 people in 1984.
On Sunday, Bangladesh’s government also announced plans to raise the minimum wage for the nation’s 4 million garment workers from the current rate of just $38 per month. Workers will also be allowed to form trade unions without employer approval.
At least 943 out of 3,197 factories visited by fire safety officials in Dhaka have been deemed “substandard” or “risky.” Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Bangladeshi minister for textiles, said that his government wants to safeguard the vital $19 billion industry while uplifting living standards for workers. “Labor should be justly appraised,” he said. “We do not want slave labor.”
In November, 112 garment workers died in a factory fire in Dhaka while there were nine other fatalities in 41 other “fire incidents” over the following five months, according to official figures.
While the deplorable state of safety regulations in Bangladesh’s apparel industry was never in doubt, the majority of leading Western retailers still refused to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement when it was presented by the International Labor Rights Forum in November. Companies cited rising costs and the potential for punitive legal action for their hesitance. Even while bodies were still being retrieved from the rubble that was once Rana Plaza another Bangladeshi sweater factory caught fire, killing eight people.
Workers and army personnel use heavy machinery as they work to clear the site
edited from World Time
Jewels stolen during Cannes festival
CANNES — More than $1 million worth of jewels due to be lent to movie stars at the Cannes film festival were stolen from a hotel room in the French Riviera town on Friday a police source said.
The well-planned robbery at the Novotel Hotel took place in the room of a representative of Chopard, the Swiss-based watch and jewellery-maker and festival sponsor that at that time was hosting a gala event at the 5-star Hotel Martinez across town.
Jean-Michel Caillau, a state prosecutor in nearby Grasse is leading the investigation. Dozens of police are involved in the investigation,
Authorities are going over hotel surveillance cameras and questioning witnesses.
Chopard manufactures the crystal and gold Palme d'Or trophy awarded each year to the festival's top film.
The manager of the Novotel confirmed an internal investigation is underway.
This isn't the first time that there has been a robbery at Cannes. In 2009, a lone gunman walked into a Chopard jewelry store and made off with $8 million worth of jewelry. Also in 2009, a group of armed men wearing Hawaiian shirts and masks riding motorbikes nabbed $21 million in jewelry from a Cartier store.
Next week, Jessica Chastain will wear jewelry from Elizabeth Taylor's collection at a screening of the restored Cleopatra..
Raffaella Rossiello, International Communications Director for Chopard, confirmed at a news conference on Friday evening that jewels had been stolen from the hotel.
"An employee of the Chopard house has been the victim of a robbery last night in their hotel room while they were not on the premises. There is currently a police investigation under way so we can only let you know that the value of the pieces stolen is far lower than those in the figures circulating in the media.
"The jewellery stolen is not part of the collection of the jewels that are worn by actresses during the Cannes Film Festival," she said.
How about asking questions so as to get the underlined answers?
- A police source confirmed that jewels were stolen.
- The jewels were worth $1 million dollars
- Chopard planned to lend the jewels to movie stars
- The jewels were stolen from a hotel room.
- The hotel is in central Cannes.
- An employee of Chopard rented a room at Novotel.
- The incident at the hotel took place on the night of Thursday to Friday
- Authorities are questioning witnesses
- In 2009, a lone gunman walked into a Chopard jewelry store and stole $8 million worth of jewelry.
- Next week, Jessica Chastain will wear jewelry from Elizabeth Taylor's collection at a screening of the restored Cleopatra
5/19/2013
Internet on when power goes off? (video)
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5/12/2013
Workers complete spire on New York's One World Trade Center (video)
Workers cheered and whistled as they completed the spire on New York's One World Trade Center on Friday, raising the building to its full height of 1,776 feet and helping fill a void in the skyline left by the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The spire makes the building the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, 47 feet taller than Chicago's Willis Tower, though it is substantially shorter than towers in the Middle East and Asia.
"I am very happy, but also sad, because why did we have to rebuild this tower? It's a proud day for the city," said Philip English, one of a couple dozen construction workers on hand as the spire was completed at 7:46 a.m. local time (1146 GMT).
Formerly called the Freedom Tower, One World Trade Center is one of four skyscrapers being built around the site of the fallen Twin Towers in a partnership between developer Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.
The tower's height is a reference to the year 1776, which marked the beginning of the American revolution against British rule and is considered the start of what became the modern United States.
The time-lapse video below shows construction of One World Trade Center between 2004 and 2012.
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Why is Saudi Arabia thinking of moving its weekend?
Please fill in the gaps with the connectors below:
SAUDI ARABIA'S Shura Council agreed on April 22nd to consider a proposal to switch the country’s official weekend from Thursday and Friday to Friday and Saturday. The idea was first debated in 2007, …………………………………………….. it was blocked by the council. Some members of the conservative Islamic clergy opposed it on the grounds that it would mean observing the same weekend as the Jews—whose Sabbath lasts from Friday evening to Saturday evening—and might even be a step towards the Saturday-Sunday weekend observed by Christians.
…………………………………………….. why is Saudi Arabia once again thinking of moving its weekend?
……………………………………………..the seven-day week dates back at least as far 2350BC—when it was first formalised by Sargon I, king of the Mesopotamian empire of Akkad—the two-day weekend is a more recent development. The norm, first established by the Bible, was to work for six days and rest only on the seventh.
For Jews and early Christians, that day was Saturday. When the Roman Empire embraced Christianity, Constantine the Great switched it to Sunday—some say in order to attract converts from the eastern religions who worshipped the Sun. A few hundred years later, the Koran fixed Friday as Islam’s holy day, on which Muslims must gather at midday for communal prayer ……………………………………… there is no particular requirement to rest.
…………………………………………….. the idea of a two-day weekend is a product of modern day labour laws. Indeed, Saudi Arabia is only now discussing legislation to give private-sector employees the same rights to two days off that public-sector workers now enjoy.
While much of the Middle East established Friday to Saturday weekends, some Gulf and North African countries took off Thursday and Friday instead. …………………………………………….., as the economic cost of sharing only three working days (Monday to Wednesday) with international trading partners became increasingly apparent, most switched to Friday and Saturday. The most recent country to do so was Oman, on May 1st.
Saudi Arabia has the region’s biggest economy and largest stock market. As it tries to promote itself as a regional financial hub, it is paying an especially high price for keeping its calendar out of sync with its neighbours. Opinion polls suggest most Saudis approve of changing the current weekend. Business has been pressing for change for years. And some private companies are taking unilateral action: the Savola group, a Saudi company that is one of the Middle East’s biggest conglomerates, is considering moving its weekend from the middle of this year to facilitate its operations with the rest of the region.
The issue is a national topic of debate. …………………………………………….. there is no religious proscription against working on a Thursday, traditionalists dislike the change. The switch may still not be approved; the Saudi gerontocracy has been notoriously slow to reform. …………………………………………….. as the cost to Saudi Arabia’s economy becomes ever clearer in difficult economic times, the pressure to fall in line will continue to mount.
Tokyo's exotic animal cafes (video)
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5/06/2013
Room to Read
A former Microsoft executive, who hopes to put a dent in those numbers, has opened 1,650 schools and 15,000 libraries in some of the world’s poorest communities.
“The thing I learned at Microsoft was that bold goals attract bold people," said John Wood (photo), founder of the Room to Read campaign. "From the very beginning, Room to Read’s goal was to reach 10 million children around the world in the poorest countries.”
In 1998, on a three-week vacation trek in Nepal, Wood, then a Microsoft executive, met a local headmaster who invited him to visit his school in a remote mountain village. The experience changed Wood’s life.
“This headmaster had 450 students at the school, but he didn’t have any books," Wood said. "He had a library that was completely empty.”
Wood promised to fill the library shelves and returned to the village a year later with a team of yaks carrying bags filled with 3,000 books. And that was just the start.
Wood retired from Microsoft and used some of his personal wealth to start Room to Read. The not-for-profit organization is based on the belief that world change begins with educated children. Today, the nonprofit operates in 10 countries across Asia and Africa.
Wood believes the key to the program’s success is local involvement. While Room to Read donates money and provides books, communities donate land, parents contribute labor to build the school, and the country’s ministry of education agrees to pay salaries for the teachers and librarians.
Room to Read has also set up local printing plants that produce culturally-relevant children’s books in bright, appealing colors. They are written in native tongues by local authors and illustrated by local artists.
By the end of this year, Room to Read will publish 1,000 original titles in over 20 languages, according to Wood.
Room to Read’s biggest challenge is overwhelming demand.
“Our strong local teams at Room to Read should not be in the business of saying ‘no’ or ‘not yet.’ They should be in the business of saying ‘yes". Yes to your community having literacy programs. Yes to your girls being empowered by education. Yes to every child having a place in a school that is well-run and has really good teachers. And I am not going to give up on that goal” said Wood, who recently published his second book about the program, Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy"
One measure of Room to Read’s success is that it will accomplish Wood’s goal of reaching 10 million kids by 2015, five years earlier than planned.
Adapted from voa
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