Week 7- Canada Parliament Ottawa shooting

Parliament shooting paralyzes downtown Ottawa

OTTAWA — Three shots fired Wednesday morning set in motion a response that paralyzed the dense downtown of Canada's capital city as police scrambled to ensure the thousands who work and serve there were safe.

Sirens sounded throughout the downtown as police cruisers, RCMP vehicles, Emergency Task Force units, search dog teams and more descended on Parliament Hill. The police response would shut down the city's dense business core for the entire day, putting schools, hotels, businesses, offices, Parliament, the civil services, and a large shopping mall into a strict lockdown that would, for some, last the entire day.

The response by law enforcement and security officials began at 9:52, when the first 911 call came in alerting police to shots fired at Canada’s War memorial, located across from Parliament Hill. Witnesses heard three shots fired, many initially believing the sound of gunfire was part of an official ceremony.

Police cars and emergency vehicles swarmed the foot of the Peace Tower and the Centre Block was evacuated as the emergency response kicked into gear. The RCMP warned everyone in downtown Ottawa to stay away from windows and roofs as police shut down streets around Parliament Hill.

Soon the lockdowns on Parliament Hill rippled out across Ottawa, to nearby hotels, businesses, and schools. Many guests told to stay inside the Westin Hotel, which overlooks Parliament Hill, saw dozens of heavily armed police running down the main streets around Parliament.

In some Parliament Hill buildings, the lockdown was in place for more than 10 hours, trapping employees and children inside child care facilities inside.

Ottawa police announced in the early afternoon that a suspect had been shot and killed, but the lockdown in some parts of downtown remained in place for several hours as police scoured the area.
Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/22/parliament_shooting_paralyzes_downtown_ottawa.html
What: The shooting paralyzes downtown Ottawa
When: on Wednesday
Where: downtown of Canada's capital city
Key words
1.paralyze 使癱瘓
2 .lockdown 單獨關押
3. shut down 關閉

Week 6-ISIS

‘ISIS commits mass murder, advertises it’: Iraq executions detailed

Radical Islamists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS/ISIL) have stormed unopposed across much of northern Iraq and have taken the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, as well as capturing border posts with Syria. Their aim is to create a medieval-style caliphate in northern Iraq and eastern Syria.

Human Rights Watch report that between 160 and 190 men were killed in at least two locations around Tikrit between June 11 and June 14.

Pictures on the HRW website showed rows of men lined up in trenches who were then shot by gunmen, it also said that the death toll could be much higher, but they had no way of locating bodies or even getting to the area to carry out a full investigation.

ISIS themselves claim to have executed 1,700 Shia soldiers in Tikrit and Iraq’s human rights minister, Mohamed Shia Sudani, announced on June 22 that 175 air force recruits had been executed by ISIS, also in Tikrit. Some of them were thrown into the Tigris River while others were buried in mass graves.

HRW posted around 60 photographs on its Twitter feed on June 14, which showed fighters herding civilians onto trucks before forcing them to lie in three trenches.

Between 90 and 110 men were killed in one trench and between 35 and 40 in another, the New York Based rights group said.

HRW spoke to one man who had managed to escape from Tikrit after the killings. He said he had seen hundreds of men being loaded onto trucks and driven away by ISIL fighters.

Separately the United Nations said on Friday that at least 1,000 people were killed in other violence in Iraq in June. Victims included summary executions committed by ISIS and prisoners who were killed by retreating Iraqi soldiers. Reuters put the figure at more than a thousand.

UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said on Tuesday that this figure is a minimum and was likely to be higher. He said that some people, including civilians, police and soldiers who were not in combat had been killed in summary executions, while others had been killed in shelling and cross fire.

A UN spokesman said on Tuesday that ISIL have broadcast dozens of videos showing beheadings, shootings and other cruel treatment of soldiers, police officers and civilians, with many people being targeted because of their ethnicity, including Shiites and Christians.

The one-million-strong Iraqi army, trained and equipped by the United States, has been largely ineffectual in the face of the ISIL assault.

Iraqi army helicopters fired at a university campus in Tikrit on Friday in an attempt to dislodge fighters holed up inside the building.

The wanton murder of anyone not actively taking part in hostilities, including members of the armed forces who have laid down their arms is considered to be a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Meanwhile a Pentagon official has confirmed that the US is flying armed drones over Baghdad, but that the flights are for the protection of the US Embassy and not a precursor to air strikes.

Source: http://rt.com/news/168916-isis-iraq-war-crimes/

What: ISIS commits mass murder

Where: Iraq

Key words

1.execute 將....處死

Week 5-Kaohsiung gas explosion casualties increase to 292

Kaohsiung gas explosion casualties increase to 292

The number of people killed in multiple gas explosions in Kaohsiung overnight increased to 22 as of 7:30 a.m. Friday, the National Fire Agency said. Another 270 people were injured.

 Twenty-six firefighters were among the casualties, including 4 fatalities.

An unknown number of people remained missing, including a senior fire official who went to the scene after 9 p.m. to help determine the source of an apparent gas leak before the first of several explosions occurred.
At daybreak, the full picture of the destruction became clear.
An area of two to three square kilometers in the city's Cianjhen District saw its roads ripped open and once busy streets strewn with debris. Cars were overturned and motorcycles mangled after many of them had been thrown into the air by the powerful blasts.
The series of explosions and subsequent fires lasting for hours were believed to have been caused by gas leaks underground and not connected to terrorism.
Fires at all but one location had been put out by dawn Friday.
Speaking to reporters early Friday, Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch and a Kaohsiung City official said there were indications that the explosions were caused by ethylene, propene or butane, all highly flammable petrochemical products.
 Several petrochemical plants are located in Kaohsiung. It is too early to say which of the companies' pipelines is to blame for the explosions, the officials said.Many of the casualties involved emergency response personnel as the first explosion occurred when they tried to contain a gas-related incident on a busy street in Cianjhen District.
As of early Friday, search and rescue efforts were still going on, with troops going through piles of debris to look for signs of life.
Offices and schools in Cianjhen and Lingya Districts were shut down Friday to facilitate emergency work, Mayor Chen Chu said. The city government designated a cultural center and eight schools to be used as emergency shelters.
Firefighters from neighboring Tainan City and Pingtung County, as well as hundreds of troops were called in to help as President Ma Ying-jeou ordered "full-gear rescue efforts."
Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/kaohsiung/2014/08/01/413787/Kaohsiung-gas.htm
What: Kaohsiung gas explosion
When: on midnight Thursday and early Friday
Where: Kaohsiung
Key words
1.leak 漏出
2.rip 裂開
3.strew 鋪蓋
4.mangle 損毀
5.flammable 易燃的
6.petrochemical 石油化學的
7.pipeline 輸油管
8.casualty 傷亡人員