Arrests Of Saudi Activists (audio)

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Overpopulation (video)

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Another allegation of passenger mistreatment

A – Please fill in the blanks with the given verb and make all changes you find suitable

ON MAY 11TH a Nigerian woman _____________ (file) a lawsuit against United Airlines for removing her and her two children from a flight after a fellow passenger _____________ (complain) of her smell. Ms. Queen Obioma _____________ (accuse) the airline of singling her out “because of her black race and Nigerian citizenship”.

The incident _____________ (take) place two years ago on a flight from Houston to San Francisco. This _____________ (be) the second leg of Ms Obioma’s trip with her children from Nigeria to Canada, where the youngsters _____________ (schedule) to begin school.

Ms Obioma’s business-class seat _____________ (occupy) by a white man, according to the suit. She _____________ (ask) him _____________  (move) but he _____________ (refuse), she _____________ (claim), and a flight attendant _____________ ( persuade) her _____________ (sit) elsewhere. 

Shortly afterwards, the other passenger _____________ (go) to the cockpit—presumably to complain about her. Then a crew member _____________ (ask) her _____________ (step off) the plane, where an airline agent _____________ (tell) her that the pilot _____________ (order) her _______________ (get off) the flight because the other passenger _____________ (complain) that she _____________ (smell) bad.

United _____________ (take) her children and her bags off the plane, she says, and _____________ (bring) about a delay to her trip that _____________ (make) her ____________ (miss) several appointments.

United, which says it _____________ (serve negative) with the lawsuit, _____________ (restrict) its comments to saying that it “_____________ (tolerate negative) discrimination of any kind and _____________ (investigate) this matter”.

The four biggest American airlines all _____________ ( have) language in their contracts of carriage that _____________ (allow) them __________(deny) boarding or service to malodorous customers. But Ms Obioma claims her smell _____________ (have) nothing to do with her removal and that it _____________ (motivate) by racial discrimination.

It _____________ (be) not yet clear what _____________ ( lead) the United flight crew _____________ (remove) Ms Obioma from her flight, but one thing is clear: airlines really _____________ (think) hard before _____________ (kick) any passenger off a flight, unless there is a true safety risk.

 ___________(Do) otherwise _____________ (continue-backfire), over and over again.

B – Please turn these sentences into English

      La Sra Obioma  se mudó a Canada hace 10 años y vuelve a Nigeria cada 6 meses.

Su vida en Canada es diferente a la que tenía en su país natal.

El pasajero blanco no se arrepiente de lo que hizo.

El abogado de United Airlines recomendó entrevistar a los otros pasajeros para que cuenten qué pasó.

La noticia del incidente se viralizó hace dos años.  

C – Please ask questions so as to get the underlined answers

She brought a case against United for removing them from a flight.

Yes, the flight attendant did.

Because of her smell.

No, nobody did.

Only when there is a safety risk.

 

 

Angry racist customers

Videotape has caught what appears to be an angry white guy going on a rant against workers at a New York restaurant who spoke Spanish in his presence.

 The man is attorney Aaron Schlossberg. The video went viral on YouTube on the same day as President Trump said  "these aren't people. They're animals" during a meeting with law enforcement officials on the subject of illegal immigration at the White House.

His comment came after a comment from the sheriff of Fresno County, Calif., about issues in deporting members of MS-13, a violent gang. Trump and his chief spokeswoman clarified Thursday that Trump was referring to gang members, not illegal immigrants as a whole.

At the restaurant, the Fresh Kitchen in Manhattan, the man starts off by complaining to an employee who appears to be a manager, "Your staff is speaking Spanish when they should be speaking English. It's America."

Though parts of the videotape are inaudable, he is heard saying: "My guess is they are not documented."

He blasts them for having come to the U.S. and how they "live off my money. I pay for their welfare. I pay for their ability to be here. The least they can do is speak English."

Another coffee shop confrontation caught on smartphone video caused a stir on social media last week — only this time it involved a man angered by a woman who identified herself as a Muslim.

In a video seen 1.6 million times on Twitter by Monday night, the man turns to the woman and asks, "Is it Halloween or something?" When she replies, "Do you know I am a Muslim?" and inquires whether he has a problem with it, he says, "I don't like your religion, how's that?" and adds, "I don't want to be killed by you."

The incident took place Friday at a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shop in Riverside east of Los Angeles.

In the confrontation, the woman tries to engage the man in a discussion about religion, asking him whether he has read the Koran or the Bible, and mentions the teachings of Jesus. The man dismisses her, saying "I don't have any kind of conversation with idiots." 

She says, "You are committing hate speech against me" as another customer is heard shouting at the man from across the room, invoking the f-word and calling him a racist. A barista behind the counter who identifies herself as the supervisor said she isn't serving the man because he's being disruptive and "being very racist."

He then leaves. 

From USA Today (edited)

Click HERE  to watch the video of the attorney and HERE to watch the footage of the man who was refused service because of his anti-Muslin remarks 

Is migration harmful? (video)

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Huge chocolate spill

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Rescue officials in Poland are working quickly to clear one of the country’s highways. The roadway is covered with a sticky brown substance that is blocking cars from both directions. What is causing the mess? Milk chocolate.

The problems began early Wednesday, after a huge vehicle carrying many tons of liquid chocolate overturned near the western Polish town of Slupca. Chocolate spilled out and spread across six lanesof Poland’s A2 highway.

The liquid chocolate solidified as it cooled, causing even more difficulties. Bogdan Kowalski is with the fire brigade of Slupca and said that “the cooling chocolate is worse than snow.”

The  driver of the vehicle was taken to a hospital with a broken arm. The accident happened in the morning when there was little traffic. Nobody else was harmed.

The sticky situation became a trending topic on social media. Some people offered to help the cleanup workers…. by eating the chocolate themselves.

Marlene Kukawa, a media officer for Slupca police, said that accidents are rare in this part of the A2 highway. And she added she was sure the area had never experienced something quite like a huge chocolate spill.

Article from VOA News

Thrown out of the UK — in error (captions)

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65,000 text messages after first date

PHOENIX --- Paradise Valley police arrested Jacqueline Ades, 31, Tuesday on suspicion of stalking and harassing a man she met online, according to Maricopa County court documents. Court records say Ades, 31, of Phoenix, visited the man's home and office while flooding his phone with threatening text messages. She began stalking the man last summer shortly after meeting him through a dating website, according to the documents, which were submitted to the court by police.

Ades told reporters in an interview Thursday that she quickly fell in love with the man,

"I felt like I met my soulmate and I thought we would just do what everybody else did and we would get married and everything would be fine," Ades told reporters. 

Ades is suspected of sending the man around 65,000 text messages and sometimes 500 in a single day, court documents show. 

When a reporter asked whether Ades recognized that sending thousands of text messages seemed threatening, Ades responded  "I love him".

Paradise Valley police said in a separate statement the man called the department last summer when he found her parked outside his home. Police said they escorted her off the property.

Ades began sending threatening text messages after the incident, including multiple death threats.

"Oh what would I do w ur blood! ... Id wanna bathe in it," was an example listed in court documents. 

Another included an anti-Semitic epithet with Ades describing herself as the "new Hitler."

The man called police last month when surveillance footage showed Ades in his home while he was out of the country. 

Paradise Valley police arrested Ades after finding her taking a bath in the home on April 8. At that time, police also found a large butcher knife on the passenger seat of her car. 

She was later released, but failed to appear in court on multiple occasions.

Scottsdale police later escorted Ades away from a Scottsdale office building where the man worked. Police say Ades told the Scottsdale officers she was the man's wife.

After hearing about the Scottsdale incident, Paradise Valley police searched for and arrested Ades on Tuesday in Phoenix. Ades told police she didn't want to hurt the man and sent the threatening texts because she didn't want him to leave.

Ades faces charges of threatening and intimidating, stalking, and harassment. She is being held without bond.

From USA Today

Trump to Meet Kim Jong Un June 12 (audio)

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No 2018 Nobel Prize In Literature

The Swedish Academy, responsible for handing out the annual Nobel Prize in literature will not present the award this year as it struggles to contain the damage from a sex abuse scandal.

Anders Olsson, the acting Permanent Secretary of the Stockholm-based body, announced that the 2018 prize will instead be given in 2019, a decision that "was arrived at in view of the currently diminished Academy and the reduced public confidence in the Academy." 

"Work on the selection of a laureate is at an advanced stage and will continue as usual in the months ahead but the Academy needs time to engage a larger number of active members and regain confidence in its work, before the next Literature Prize winner is declared," the academy said.

It will be the first time since 1943 — in the midst of World War II — that the prestigious prize has not been awarded.

Last month, the head of the Swedish Academy, Permanent Secretary Sara Danius, stepped down amid criticism of the institution's handling of accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Jean-Claude Arnault, the husband of former academy member Katarina Frostenson.

Three members withdrew from the 18-member academy in protest after it voted not to remove Frostenson. She later resigned.

Following the meeting, the institution issued a statement acknowledging that "trust in the Swedish Academy has been seriously damaged" and questioning whether its Nobel board could carry out the 2018 selection for the prize "in a credible manner."

The allegations against Arnault "first surfaced last November when the Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter  reported that the man  “allegedly sexually assaulted or harassed at least 18 women over the past two decades on properties that belong to the Academy."

Even more spectacular was the revelation that Sweden's heiress Crown Princess Victoria was among Arnault's alleged victim.  

Shortly after the allegations first came to light, the Nobel body said it was cutting all ties and funding to Arnault, who runs a cultural club in Stockholm.

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Article from The Two-Way NPR (edited)