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13th October 2016British English edition

Issue Number 286

In this issue

Tricky flowersAshura festivalSuper-strong silkGobi giant footprintsUN’s new secretary-generalMan and dog ancient journeyEthiopia’s connection to the seaMini car companionAmundsen’s ship salvagedSamsung’s new smartphone recallRussia and AmericaTracking eelsKing of Thailand diesHungary’s migrant referendumShark tagging questionHurricane in the CaribbeanWorld energy meetingSeagrass protection statementGlossary Crossword and Wordsearch Puzzle

The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Juan Manuel Santos, president of Colombia (PA)

Juan Manuel Santos is the president of Colombia. Early in the morning on 7th October, Mr Santos received a telephone call. It was from Oslo, the capital of Norway. The person making the call told the president that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr Santos, and many others were sur-prised. Five days before, the people of Colombia had voted in a referendum. For the last five years, Mr Santos has been working on a peace plan. It would bring an end to Colombia’s civil war, which began 52 years ago. To stop the conflict, the majority of people had to vote ‘yes’. This would show that they were in fa-vour of the peace plan.

Each year the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the person, people or organi-sation that is thought to have made the greatest contribution to world peace. The announcement is made at the beginning

of October. Other important Nobel prizes are made public around the same time. These are given to people who are judged to have made the greatest contributions to medicine, literature, chemistry, and physics. People who win Nobel Prizes are called ‘laureates’.

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. They were the idea of a Swed-ish chemist called Alfred Nobel (1833 – 1896). As well as the Nobel Prizes he is best known for inventing dynamite. No-bel became a very wealthy businessman. Before he died, he arranged for some of his fortune to pay for the prizes that were named after him.

There is a story that explains why Nobel decided to create these prizes. In 1888 his brother died. Soon afterwards an obituary was printed in a French newspaper. However, the newspaper made an error. It wrote an obituary for

PE A C E PR I Z E, N O T PE A C E

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Alfred Nobel and not his brother. This meant that Nobel was able to read it. The obituary criticised him for making a large amount of mon-ey from explosives. These explo-sives, the newspaper added, were used to kill people. The obituary described Nobel as a ‘merchant of death’. The words shocked Nobel. He decided to set up something that brought peace and rewarded people for helping others.

At the time of Nobel’s death, the same king ruled Norway and Swe-den. This explains why both countries have a part in awarding Nobel prizes. A group, or committee, of academics from Sweden chooses the winners of the prizes for medicine, literature, chemistry, and physics. A different five-person committee selects the Peace Prize winners. The Norwegian Storting (Norway’s parliament) ap-points this committee.

The conflict in Colombia began in 1964. The Colombian army have been fighting against a militant group called Farc. In Spanish, Farc’s name stands for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. At first, it was a Marxist group. Farc’s lead-ers and followers wanted Colombia to be a communist country.

In the past, Farc controlled large areas of Colombia. It still operates from secret jungle bases. The group has carried out many bombings and shootings. Farc gunmen attacked Bogotá, the country’s capital city. One of Farc’s favoured tactics is to kidnap, or take people hostage. Many of their hostages have been government officials and Colom-bian army soldiers. The group de-mands a ransom, or payment, for their release. Alternatively, it tries to swop the hostages for its own members, who have been caught and imprisoned.

To get money to buy supplies and weapons, Farc set up jungle cocaine factories. This drug is made from the coca plant. It grows in the Colombian jungle. The group has made a lot of money from illegally selling cocaine in other countries. Colombia is still the world’s biggest exporter of cocaine. During the war 220,000 people died. Seven million were displaced, or forced to move to other parts of the country. Farc has kidnapped over 30,000 people. Its supporters attacked thousands of women. At its most powerful, Farc had 20,000 armed men and women. Today, the group is less than half this number.

Nobel Peace Prize medal

Mr Santos was elected as Colom-bia’s president in 2010. Soon after-wards, Colombian soldiers managed to track down and kill the Farc leader. A man known as Timochenko took over. Mr Santos arranged to send secret messages to him. The Colom-bian leader suggested that peace talks be held. In 2012, the first meeting was set up. It took place in Havana, the capital of Cuba.

The talks continued for four years. Eventually, the two sides came to an agreement. Farc would hand over all its weapons. The organisation would become a political party. No more illegal drugs were to be produced. Farc members would have to con-fess their crimes, but would not be imprisoned. Colombia’s congress, or parliament, has two houses. Farc

members would have ten seats in each house. They would keep these seats even if they did not get enough votes at elections.

On 26th September, a special ceremony was held. Dressed in white clothes, the Colombian presi-dent and Timochenko formally signed the peace agreement. They used a pen that had been made from bullets. Leaders from other South American countries and Ban Ki-moon, the UN’s secretary-general, were invited. However, the peace agreement still needed the Colom-bian people’s approval.

The referendum vote was held on 2nd October. Surveys, or polls, beforehand predicted that 60% of the people would vote ‘yes’. After all the votes had been counted, it was announced that 49.79% had voted ‘yes’ and 50.21% ‘no’. It was close. The result shocked many people. Those who voted ‘no’ thought that the peace agree-ment was too forgiving, or lenient. After the result was announced, Mr Santos and Timochenko both said the ceasefire would continue. What happens now is not known. Either the war continues, or the peace talks start again.

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize receives a medal and US$1.1 million (£900,000). Mr Santos said he would use the prize to try to re-start the peace talks. Some people criticised the Nobel committee’s decision. They said that the Co-lombian president should not have been rewarded for failure. One committee member explained that Mr Santos was given the prize to encourage him not to give up. An-other declared that, ‘as there was so little peace in the world, they had to choose someone who was trying’.



CLEVER FLOWER

Many plants create pollen. To repro-duce, their pollen has to be carried to other plants. Different plants do this in different ways. Some rely on the wind. Others make use of pol-linators, or certain insects, birds, or other animals.

Many insects collect nectar from flowering plants. As they do, they become covered in pollen. The in-sects then carry the pollen to other flowers. Some birds feed on nectar. They also take pollen from one plant to another. Many hummingbirds do this. Some bat, small rodent and reptile species also help to pollinate certain plants.

Plants that use pollinators need to attract them. Many do this with bright colours. Others produce a fruit, or fleshy part, that the pollina-tor likes to eat. Some flowers give off an alluring sweet sugary scent that pollinators cannot resist. A few plants have developed more unusual methods. Several tropical flowers produce aromas that smell like rot-ting flesh. These attract flies and beetles that feed on, or lay their eggs inside, dead animals.

Recently, scientists from Austria, Germany and Canada have studied a plant called Ceropegia sanderso-nii. It uses a certain type of fly as a pollinator. The scientists wanted to find out how the plants attracted the flies. The answer surprised them.

Many people call these plants the fountain flower, or the parachute or umbrella plant. They grow in South Africa, Mozambique and Swaziland. Fountain flowers are popular house-plants. They do not lose their leaves, or die back, in the colder months.

Parachute plants have funnel-shaped flowers. They look like small open umbrellas. The flowers are

about six centimetres (2.4 inches) long. They are greenish-white in colour. Flies landing on the flower’s petals fall into its funnel. Small, downward-pointing hairs stop them climbing out. While trapped in the funnel, the flies are covered in pollen. After a few days, the flow-ers wilt and begin to die. The hairs trapping the flies lose their strength. Then, the insects can escape.

Ceropegia sandersonii or parachute plant

The scientists were puzzled. The flowers do not have a distinctive smell or bright colour: so what was attracting the flies? The scientists noticed that most insects trapped by the plants were freeloader flies. These flies have a strange diet. Re-searchers call them kleptoparasites. This means that the flies steal food from other predators.

Some spiders eat honeybees. When they catch a bee, the spiders bite it with their poisonous fangs. Freeloader flies feed on these dead or dying honeybees. They do this when a spider is attacking a bee. The flies will even suck up body fluids from a dead honeybee while the spider is eating it.

The scientists wondered if there was a connection between the para-chute plant and dying honeybees. They caught several bees. The sci-entists poked them with a ‘spider fang-like’ thin glass tube. When at-tacked, the bees produced a mixture of chemicals. It’s a warning signal. The chemicals tell other honeybees that they are being attacked. The scientists discovered that the flow-ers produce the same chemical mix. When the scientists left a sample of the chemicals outside, many flies were attracted to it.

These chemicals are all found in the natural world. However, only honeybees and parachute plants pro-duce them in this mixture. The flies detect these chemicals. So, they are lured to the flowers because they think a dying bee is inside them. So far, the fountain flower is the only known plant that attracts a pollina-tor by ‘pretending to be prey’.

There are at least 200 other types of Ceropegia plants. The scientists now plan to find out what pollinators they use and how they attract them.

ASHURA

Ashura is an important annual reli-gious festival. On this day, Shia Mus-lims take part in large processions. Many act out scenes from a battle fought more than 1,000 years ago. Some people deliberately harm them-selves with swords or chains. In recent years, this practice has been banned in most countries with large Shia popu-lations. Others discourage it.

This year, Ashura was on 12th October. In the Islamic calendar, it takes place on the tenth day of Mu-harram. This is the first month of the calendar. It is based on the cycles of the Moon. Lunar calendars are



about 11 days shorter than the in-ternational, or Gregorian, calendar. This explains why Ashura is on dif-ferent dates each year. Last year, the festival was on 23rd October.

There are two main branches, or denominations, of Islam: Sunni and Shia. This split happened soon after the Prophet Muhammad’s death nearly 1,400 years ago. All Muslims believe that the Prophet was God’s messenger. Some de-scribe him as the founder of Islam. Yet, when he died there was an ar-gument about who should lead the Muslim nation. Those who eventu-ally became Sunnis elected a new leader. Those who were later called Shias disagreed with the election. They argued that Muhammad’s son-in-law had already been chosen as successor.

Today, there are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Around 85% are Sunnis. Large numbers of Shia Muslims live in Iran and southern Iraq. Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Bah-rain, Pakistan, and Afghanistan also have Shia communities. Iran is the largest Shia country.

In 680 CE there was a battle at Karbala. This place is now a city in southern Iraq. Karbala is about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The bat-tle was between Imam Hussain ibn Ali and a Sunni family. Imam Hus-sain was the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. His army lost. Imam Hussain and all his followers were killed. Many historians believe that this event marks the divide between Sunni and Shia Islam.

Imam Hussain was buried in Karbala. Later, a large shrine was built over his grave. This building is one of the holiest places for Shia Muslims. Another big shrine was constructed over the grave of Imam

Hussain’s half-brother. As flag-bearer, he also died in the battle. On the day of Ashura, hundreds of thousands of Shia Muslims visit the shrines in Karbala. In other places, people take part in long processions. These are organised to remember the martyrdom of Imam Hussain and his followers. Most of those who take part wear black.

The two shrines in Karbala, in southern Iraq

This year there was an important football match in Iran on 12th Oc-tober. It caused disagreements. The game was between Iran and South Korea. These two countries are competing to take part in the World Cup in two years’ time. This tour-nament will be played in Russia. As the match coincided with Ashura, several Iranian religious leaders declared that it had to be played on a different date. The World Cup or-ganisers refused. People with tickets for the match were asked to dress in black. As a mark of respect, the South Korean team agreed to wear black armbands. Iran won the game 1 – 0.

SUPER SILK

Silk is a natural, very strong fibre. Silkworms produce it. For thou-sands of years, silk has been an ex-pensive fabric, or textile. It is used to make clothes, bedding and some furnishings, such as curtains and

upholstery. Recently, researchers in China have managed to produce silk that is even stronger and tougher. They did it by adding something to the leaves that silkworms eat.

Chinese-made silk was first sold in Europe about 2,000 years ago. Then, silk was a luxury item and very expensive. The main overland trading route from China to the Middle East and then to the city of Rome was known as ‘the Silk Road’. At that time, making silk cloth was labour-intensive. It took a lot of work to produce a small amount of silk.

Silkworms are a type of caterpil-lar. Eventually, they become moths. Silkworms only feed on mulberry leaves. Mulberries are large, woody plants, or trees. There are many types. Silkworms eat the leaves from the white mulberry tree. These plants can grow to a height of 20 metres (65 feet). They are native to northern China.

Silk worms on mulberry leaves

A silkworm’s life cycle has three stages: larva, pupa and adult. The larva (or caterpillar) hatches from a tiny black-coloured egg. For six weeks, the caterpillar eats mulberry leaves. During this time, it grows to a length of 7.6 centimetres (three inches). The caterpillar then pu-pates. It takes three days to make a cocoon. This is made from a single thread of silk. Each cocoon is made from a thread between 275 and 915 metres (900 and 3,000 feet) long.



Inside the cocoon, the caterpillar becomes a pupa. It has a hard brown outer covering, or shell. Three weeks later, an adult moth comes out of, or emerges from, the cocoon. It lives for only five days. During this time, males and females mate. Fe-male moths lay between 200 and 500 eggs. These take ten days to hatch.

There are no wild silkworms. All live in captivity. Silkworms and bees are the only insects that humans have domesticated. Nowadays, moths that emerge from the cocoons cannot fly. About one week after a cocoon has been spun, its long silk thread is unwound. Some moths are allowed to emerge and mate, so more eggs are produced. It takes roughly 3,000 cocoons to make 450 grams (one pound) of silk.

White mulberry tree

Graphite is a type of carbon. Pen-cil lead is made from graphite (it does not come from the soft metal called lead). Usually, graphite in pencils is mixed with clay. Yet very soft pencils, which are used for draw-ing, are almost all graphite. Just over ten years ago, two Russian-born sci-entists working in the UK made an important discovery. They managed to produce a material from graphite that was only one atom thick. The scientists named it graphene.

Graphene is believed to be the thinnest and strongest material in the Universe. It is one million times thinner than the width of a human

hair. What’s more, it is 200 times stronger than steel of the same thickness. Graphene is also very light. In addition, it is a good heat conductor and the best-known con-ductor of electricity.

Graphene’s unusual properties mean it can be used to make light but extra-strong materials. Touch-screen phones and computers made from these materials could bend without breaking. Many people predict that, in future, graphene will have many uses. Some examples are the way in which things like cars and space-ships are designed and built.

Carbon nanotubes are very micro-scopic pieces of carbon. The Chinese researchers sprayed a water solution on some mulberry leaves. It con-tained a small amount of graphene or carbon nanotubes. Silkworms then ate the leaves. Some of the graphene and carbon nanotubes were found in the silkworm’s waste. Yet a certain amount was in their silk. This was 50% stronger than normal silk. The researchers heated the silk to a tem-perature of 1,050°C (1,922°F). Af-ter this, it could conduct electricity. Normal silk does not do this.

The researchers plan to do more work. For example, they want to find out how much graphene or car-bon nanotubes silkworms can eat. The researchers believe this extra strong silk could be mass-produced. Possible future uses might include wearable electronics and super strong protective fabrics.

GIANT FOOTPRINTS

Palaeontologists, or scientists who study fossils, have uncovered several huge dinosaur footprints in Mongo-lia. The scientists have been working in the Gobi Desert. This large desert

covers southern Mongolia and parts of north and north west China. The scientists are members of a joint Jap-anese-Mongolian expedition.

The footprints are some of the biggest ever recorded. One of the best preserved is 77 centimetres wide and 106 centimetres (42 inches) long. Imprints of the huge dinosaur’s claws can be seen. From the age of surrounding rocks, the scientists be-lieve the prints were made between 90 and 70 million years ago.

One of the scientists with the giant dinosaur footprint (Okayama University of Science)

At that time, this part of the world had a very different climate. It was tropical, or hot and wet. The dinosaur was probably walking through a wet, muddy area. The prints are like casts. Watery sand flowed into the imprints made by the large creature’s feet. Over many millions of years, the sand hardened and turned to stone.

The scientists suspect that the footprints were made by a titano-saur. These large creatures had long necks and tails. They walked on four legs. Researchers have found fossils of many long-necked dinosaurs. As a group, they are known as sauro-pods. There may have been over 100 types of sauropod. Their name comes from two Ancient Greek words that mean ‘lizard foot’.

Around 150 million years ago, sauropods lived in many parts of the world. However, by about 100 million years ago they seem to have



been replaced by titanosaurs. The two creatures’ necks were differ-ent. Sauropods had longer necks. Their neck bones, or vertebrae, have hollow spaces. Titanosaurs’ neck vertebrae do not have hollow cham-bers. Their neck bones were solid. Titanosaurs also had a more flexible spine. These dinosaurs were named after the Titans. In Ancient Greek mythology, the Titans were gods, or deities. They were giants with in-credible strength.

All the dinosaurs died out 66 million years ago. Therefore titano-saurs were the last large long necked dinosaurs to walk on the Earth. No one knows why the dinosaurs be-came extinct. Some people think that they all died after a ten-kilome-tre (six mile) wide asteroid or comet crashed into the Earth. Others be-lieve that huge volcanic eruptions in what is now India poisoned the air. These eruptions lasted for hundreds of thousands of years.

Artist’s impression of a titanosaur

Titanosaur fossils have been found on all the continents, includ-ing Antarctica. Some measured 37 metres (122 feet) from head to tail. Trying to work out the weight of large dinosaurs is difficult. Re-searchers disagree about the weight of titanosaurs. Some believe that adults weighed around 77 tonnes. Others argue that if these dinosaurs

were this heavy, they would not be able to move. However, it’s now known that their larger bones were full of tiny holes, or air pockets. Therefore, for their size, titanosaurs’ bones were quite light.

Titanosaurs were herbivores, or plant-eaters. They probably lived in large herds. Some titanosaurs’ eggs have been found. Even though their body size was enormous, their eggs were small. Female titanosaurs made nests and laid their eggs close to one another. They dug a dip in the ground. After laying the eggs, the females covered them in vegetation and soil. As baby titanosaurs were small, they must have grown very quickly.

The footprints found in the Gobi Desert will now be carefully studied. The scientists hope that their discov-ery will help others better understand how these ancient giants moved.

NEW UN LEADER

A secretary-general leads the United Nations (UN). This person can do the job for a maximum of two five-year terms. Ban Ki-moon has been the UN’s leader since 2007. He is from South Korea. Mr Ban’s second term comes to an end at the beginning of next year.

On 6th October it was announced that António Guterres would take over from Mr Ban. He is from Por-tugal. Mr Guterres’s appointment surprised many people. He will be the UN’s ninth leader. So far, all have been men. Many predicted that the new secretary-general would be a woman.

The United Nations (UN) was set up just after the end of the Second World War in 1945. Today, it has 193 member countries. Its headquarters building is in New York City, in the

USA. The UN has many depart-ments and agencies. Many work to help poor and vulnerable people all around the world. However, the UN’s main job is to promote peace and prevent conflicts and wars.

António Guterres (L) with Ban Ki-moon, the UN’s current secretary-general (R)

The UN’s Security Council makes most of the important decisions. It has 15 member countries. These are known as ‘permanent’ and ‘non-per-manent’ members. The five perma-nent members (often called the ‘P5’) are: China, France, Russia, the UK, and the USA. Except for China, these countries were the victors of the Sec-ond World War. China became a per-manent member in 1971.

The ten non-permanent member countries take turns to be part of the Security Council. Each is a member for two years. Then, they are re-placed by another country. The UN divides all of its members into five geographical areas. Two countries from each area are always non-per-manent Security Council members.

Each of the P5 has a veto. They can use this to ‘block’ any decisions that they don’t like. This includes the selection of the secre-tary-general. These rules mean that the UN’s leader is usually a ‘com-promise candidate’. This person has to be acceptable to each of the five permanent members. People who come from the P5 countries are not allowed to apply to be the secretary-general.



In the past, a new secretary-gen-eral was just announced by the P5. This is what’s known as making ‘a decision behind closed-doors’. In recent years, there have been com-plaints about how the UN’s leader is chosen. Many people wanted more ‘transparency’. This means that the decision is not made in secret.

Six months ago, it was an-nounced that there were 13 can-didates for the position. There were seven women. Nine of the 13 come from Eastern Europe. Later, three withdrew, or dropped out. Each candidate took part in an open meeting. During these, they answered questions about why they would make a good secretary-general. Then, an open debate with all the candidates was held at the UN’s headquarters. Diplomats from each UN member country could ask them questions.

However, the successful can-didate was still chosen by the P5 countries. They held a number ‘straw polls’, or unofficial votes. The results of these polls were an-nounced. Mr Guterres was the only candidate not vetoed by any of the permanent members. The P5 rec-ommended that the other ten Se-curity Council members select Mr Guterres. They did.

Mr Guterres was the prime min-ister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. Between 2005 and 2015 he led part of the UN called the High Com-missioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This is one of the world’s biggest humanitarian organizations. Around 10,000 people, in over 100 coun-tries, work for the UNHCR.

Mr Guterres is 67 years old. He will be the second-oldest person to be chosen to lead the UN. The oldest was Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1922 – 2016). He was from Egypt. Boutros-

Ghali was 69 when he became sec-retary-general in 1991. Mr Guterres will officially take over from Mr Ban on 1st January 2017.

STONEHENGE JOURNEY

Researchers in the UK have been digging at a site for nearly ten years. Called Blick Mead, it is only 2.4 kilometres (1.5 miles) from Stone-henge. Recently, the researchers uncovered a 7,000-year-old dog’s tooth. Even though it’s a small item, the tooth tells a remarkable story.

Alsatian (or German Shepherd dog)

Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous ancient monuments. It is made up of two circles of stand-ing stones. The whole structure took several hundred years to complete. The first stones were erected around 2,500 BCE, or 4,500 years ago. This is about the same time that most ex-perts believe the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Egypt, was built.

Stonehenge had a large outer circle of standing stones. The up-right stones had lintels, or horizon-tal stones, placed on top of them. Inside was a circle of bluestones. These were smaller than the outer circle stones. They had no lintels. The bluestones are puzzling. They came from a place over 385 kilo-metres (240 miles) away. It’s not known why the people who built

Stonehenge wanted to use them. Moving these heavy stones over such a long distance must have been very difficult.

Nobody knows what Stonehenge was used for or why it was built. There are many ideas. It may have been a temple, a meeting place or a graveyard. Some people think it was a place where animals or even humans were sacrificed. Others say the monument was where the dead were taken. Their bodies were then burnt, or cremated. Another theory is that people travelled to Stone-henge when they were pregnant or ill. In recent years, tests have been done on human and animal bones dug up nearby. These show that people travelled to Stonehenge from hundreds of kilometres away.

Some stones line up with places on the horizon where the Sun rises on Midsummer’s Day and sets at midwinter. Many people therefore suspect that the stones were a type of ‘calendar’. If so, the circle might have been used to track, or record, how the Sun appears to travel across the sky during the seasons.

Stonehenge

Excavations at Stonehenge show that the site was used long before the stones were erected. For some reason, this site must have been very important. There is an ancient camp at Blick Mead. The research-ers believe that it was connected with the Stonehenge site. Their work proves that people were living



at Blick Mead thousands of years before Stonehenge was built. Dug-up bones show that they ate aurochs (an ancient type of wild cattle that no longer exists), trout, salmon, ha-zelnuts, and even frogs’ legs.

All dogs are descended from wolves. It’s thought that dogs and wolves became separate animals around 40,000 years ago. This may have been when wolf-like dogs began to live with humans. Early humans probably trained dogs to help them hunt wild animals. To-day, there are several wolf-like dog breeds. The best known is the Al-satian (also known as the German Shepherd dog).

The dog tooth found at Blick Mead is about 2.5 centimetres (one inch) long. It was sent to a labora-tory for tests. Nowadays, scientists can work out what water people or animals drank when they were younger. They do this by testing the enamel of teeth. This is the hard outer covering. The water the dog drank is found only in a place 400 kilometres (250 miles) to the north of Stonehenge. The dog and its owner therefore walked a long distance to the Stonehenge site.

The tooth is evidence of one of the oldest known journeys. What’s more, it suggests that the Stone-henge site was an important meeting place at least 7,000 years ago. This was 2,500 years before any stones were erected.

ETHIOPIA’S NEW RAILWAY

Ethiopia is a landlocked nation. En-closed by other countries, it has no ports or coastlines. Djibouti is one of its surrounding countries. This country’s capital (called Djibouti City) is a busy seaport. It has access

to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. On 5th October, a new electric rail-way was inaugurated in Ethiopia. It travels between Addis Ababa, the capital, and Djibouti City.

Between 1870 and 1914, or the beginning of the First World War, European countries took control of most of the African continent. This became known as the ‘Scramble for Africa’. The European countries in-cluded: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the UK. They ran most African countries as colonies. By the 1970s, nearly all of these colonies had become inde-pendent nations.

During the colonial period, many of the European countries built rail-ways in Africa. Most of these old tracks have now fallen into disre-pair. Today, South Africa is the only country in Africa with a large modern railway network. However, several African countries are now planning to build new railways. The new line between Addis Ababa and Djibouti City is one of the first to be completed.

New Ethiopian trains that will operate on the Addis Ababa – Djibouti City railway

Ethiopia was unusual. It was one of the few African countries that never became a colony. Italy tried to take over Ethiopia in 1896. Its forces were defeated in a battle. This was the only time that an Af-rican country defeated a European colonial power. Even though it

never became a colony, Ethiopian leaders worked with countries such as France and the UK. France con-trolled Djibouti. In the 1890s the French built a railway from Dji-bouti to Addis Ababa. In the second half of the 20th century, Ethiopia suffered from wars, droughts and famines. The railway fell into disre-pair. The last train that used the old French railway tracks left the sta-tion in Addis Ababa in 2007.

Red Sea

ETHIOPIA

ERITREASUDAN

SOMALIA

DJIBOUTIDjibouti City

New rail route

AddisAbaba

YEMEN

INDIANOCEAN

In recent years, the Ethiopian economy has greatly improved. Since the 1990s China and Ethiopia have worked closely together. China has invested large amounts of mon-ey in the country. The headquarters of the African Union (AU) is in Addis Ababa. China agreed to pay for the new AU headquarters build-ing in the city. It opened five years ago and cost US$200 million (£164 million). China has also helped to construct roads, dams, and factories in Ethiopia. A large amount of food grown in Ethiopia is now exported to China.

Chinese engineers and compa-nies built the new railway. It cost US$3.4 billion (£2.8 billion). Chi-nese banks lent most of this money to Ethiopia’s government. The rail-way is 756 kilometres (470 miles) long. Before, hundreds of trucks



drove between Addis Ababa and Djibouti City every day. The bumpy congested road is not well looked after. A one-way trip takes three days. Freight trains can complete the same journey in 12 hours. Faster passenger trains are expected to start running within the next few months. Then, people will be able to travel between Addis Ababa and Djibouti City in less than ten hours.

A Chinese company will operate the railway for the first five years. The drivers and staff on the trains and at the stations are all Chinese. Local people will be trained to take over. Announcements are made in Amharic (the language spoken in Ethiopia), Chinese and English. Of-ficials say the new railway will im-prove the country’s economy. There are plans to build another 2,415 kilometres (1,500 miles) of track. These lines will connect Ethiopia’s larger towns with the capital city.

MINI COMPANION

Based in Japan, Toyota is one of the world’s biggest and most suc-cessful carmakers. At the begin-ning of October, the company un-veiled its latest product. It’s not a car. Called Kirobo Mini, it is a ten centimetre (four inch) tall talking robot. The company says that the small robot has been designed to be a ‘companion’.

The Toyota Company was found-ed in 1937. Today, the company sells its cars in most of the world’s coun-tries. It has a workforce of around 330,000 people. Toyota was the first automaker to produce more than ten million vehicles in one year. Four years ago, the company announced that it had made, or manufactured, its 200 millionth car.

Japan has a space agency. It’s known as JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). Japan’s space agency develops satellites and un-manned spacecraft. It also builds the rockets that take them into space. Three years ago, JAXA, with help from several other companies, in-cluding Toyota, created a talking ro-bot. It was called Kirobo. This name comes from two Japanese words that mean ‘hope’ and ‘robot’. The robot was 34 centimetres (13 inches) tall. It was designed to go into space.

Three years ago, Kirobo was sent to the International Space Station (ISS). It travelled on an unmanned JAXA-made resupply cargo space-craft. The ISS is an international project. It was built by the USA and Russia, with help from several other countries. The first part of the ISS was sent into space in 1998. Many other rocket launches were needed to complete it. The space station goes around the Earth nearly 16 times every day. It circles, or orbits, at a height of roughly 400 kilome-tres (248 miles).

Astronauts have lived on the ISS since 2000. Nowadays, there are usually six astronauts on the space station. After six months, others re-place them. So far, people from at least 17 countries have visited the ISS. Yet most of those who have stayed on the space station are Rus-sians or Americans. While on the ISS, astronauts carry out experi-ments, or maintain and repair parts of the space station.

A Japanese astronaut was sent to the ISS soon after the robot arrived. Kirobo could operate in zero grav-ity. It was programmed to recognise the Japanese astronaut’s face. The robot recorded all their conversa-tions. It also passed messages from the astronaut to JAXA’s control

room in Japan. The robot spent 18 months on the ISS.

Japan is more advanced in build-ing robots than any other country.Kirobo was part of an experiment, or study about isolation. Japanese scientists want to know how people react when they are with talking ro-bots for a long time.

Japan’s population is ageing quickly. More and more elderly peo-ple are alone. What’s more, many younger Japanese people are choos-ing to live by themselves. In future, some people might choose to have a robot as a companion.

Toyota’s Kirobo Mini

Toyota used its space robot tech-nology to make Kirobo Mini. The tiny robot can recognise its owner’s mood from their face and sound of their voice. It can be carried any-where. In a car, the robot’s limbs move when going around corners or stopping. Kirobo Mini stores infor-mation about its owner’s likes and dislikes. It uses this to make conver-sation. The robot also knows where the owner lives or to where they are travelling. So, when nearing its owner’s house, it might say ‘that was a long drive, welcome home’.

People in Japan can buy a Kirobo Mini at the beginning of 2017. It will be sold in Toyota car showrooms at a cost of ¥39,800 (£315). The company says that it has no plans to sell its mini companions in other countries.



AMUNDSEN’S SHIP

A famous ship has been raised from the seabed in northern Canada. It will now be taken back to Norway. Called the Maud, the ship sank in 1930, or 86 years ago. The wooden ship was built in Norway for Roald Amundsen. It was launched in 1917.

Roald Amundsen (1872 – 1928) was a Norwegian explorer. He named the ship after Queen Maud. She was married to Norway’s king at that time. By the time the Maud had been completed, Amundsen was world-famous. Ten years earlier, he became the first person to success-fully sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific along the northern coast of Canada. This route is known as the Northwest Passage.

There had been many earlier, un-successful, European expeditions to sail through the Northwest Passage. Then, the difficulty was that the seas to the north of Canada froze for much of the year. Amundsen’s expedition began in 1903. It took three years. His ship was trapped in the ice for two winters. Amundsen and his crew had to wait until the ice melted to carry on. Today, be-cause of warming temperatures, the Northwest Passage can be ice free throughout the summer months. In 1911, Amundsen led another expedition. This time he travelled south to Antarctica. He and his team were the first people reach the South Pole.

The Maud was built for Amunds-en’s next expedition. It was designed to withstand very thick ice. Amund-sen planned to sail from west to east along the top of northern Russia. This is known as the Northeast Pas-sage or Northern Route. The ship would become stuck in ice along the way. While trapped, Amund-

sen hoped that the ship would drift with the ice towards the North Pole. However, this didn’t happen. After three years, Amundsen sailed the Maud to Alaska. By this time the ship needed to be repaired.

The Maud in 1918

Amundsen returned to Norway. He went back to his ship in 1921. Yet, by this time, he was running out of money. Amundsen then de-cided to try to reach the North Pole by plane. Amundsen’s creditors, or people from whom he had borrowed money, seized the Maud.

Amundsen’s attempt to fly over the North Pole failed. He went back to Norway. In 1925, his ship was sold to the Hudson Bay Company. The following year, it became stuck in winter ice near a small settlement in northern Canada called Cambridge Bay. Later, the ship was moved clos-er to the shore and used as a floating warehouse. It sank in shallow water in 1930. The top of the wreck could still be seen from the shore.

In 1926 Amundsen managed to fly over the North Pole in an Ital-ian-built airship. Two years later, he took part in a rescue mission. He and several others set off in a plane to find the crew of an air-ship. It had gone down while it was flying back from the North Pole. The plane never returned. It’s thought that Amundsen and the

others were killed after it crashed into the sea. In Norway, Amundsen is a national hero.

Six years ago, the government of Canada gave a group of Norwegians permission to salvage the wreck of the Maud. The group returned to Cambridge Bay each summer. Div-ing into the cold waters, they gradu-ally placed large inflatable bags around the ship’s hull. Two years ago, a specially made barge was towed from Norway to Cambridge Bay. This summer, the group man-aged to raise the ship and put it on the barge.

The wreck of the Maud on the barge, in Cambridge Bay, Canada (Jan Wanggaard)

The group now plan to start to tow the barge back to Norway next summer. This will probably take two years with an over-winter stop on the way. Therefore the Maud should arrive in 2018, or 101 years after it was launched. When resto-ration work is completed, the ship will be displayed in Oslo, Norway’s capital city.

SAMSUNG RECALL

Samsung is a well-known South Korean company. On 11th Octo-ber, company officials announced a product recall. The company decided to recall all of its new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. This was after several of them overheated and caught fire.



Product recalls happen when a company discovers that an item, or items, it has made might be dan-gerous. The company asks every-one who has bought the items and the shops where they are sold to return them. Announcing a recall is a difficult decision for a company to make. When they happen bosses are worried about their company’s reputation. Recalls are very expen-sive, yet protecting the company’s reputation is more important.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone

In South Korea, chaebol (pro-nounced chay-bol) are large con-glomerates, or groups of companies. Samsung is the largest chaebol. The company’s name means ‘three stars’. Other well-known chaebol include: LG, Hyundai, SK Group, Kumho Asiana, and Hanjin. Most chaebol are public companies. People can buy and sell the companies’ shares, or stock. However, unlike public companies in most other countries, many chaebol are still controlled by members of their founding families.

In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. This led to the Korean War, which lasted for three years. During the war the United Nations (UN), with mainly American mili-tary forces, supported the South. China helped the North. The war ended in a truce. No peace treaty has ever been signed.

After the war, most of South Ko-rea was in ruins. Over the next 30 years South Korea’s leaders worked

to improve the country’s economy. Several companies were encour-aged to set up large factories. They made items that could be exported, or sold, in other countries. The gov-ernment helped these companies in several ways. One was to provide large, inexpensive loans. These companies became the chaebol. Over time, they got bigger and big-ger and more powerful. Samsung was one of them. It was founded in 1938. At first, the company sold fruit and vegetables.

Nowadays, most people around the world know that Samsung makes popular smartphones. It is the Apple Company’s main competitor, or ri-val. However, in South Korea, Sam-sung has many other businesses. It makes games consoles and refriger-ators. The company also builds and sells apartment blocks. Samsung owns South Korea’s biggest credit card company and the country’s most popular baseball team. The company makes up 14% of South Korea’s total economy. Some South Korean people jokingly call their country ‘the Republic of Samsung’.

Samsung released its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone two months ago. The new phone impressed many people. Soon after its release, several custom-ers complained that their phones had caught fire. The company replaced them immediately. Yet, three of the replacement phones also caught fire and melted. A plane in America had to be evacuated. This was after smoke came out of a passenger’s Samsung phone. The company then decided to recall all of its Galaxy Note 7 phones. Later, it declared that production of the phones had ceased.

Some people suspect that the phone’s battery was overheating. Yet, so far, Samsung has not said what the fault was. Financial experts

predict that the product recall will cost the company US$5.4 billion (£4.4 billion). This figure includes lost sales.

RUSSIA AND AMERICA

Barack Obama will come to the end of his second four-year term as American president in three months’ time. As he steps down, the relation-ship between his country and Russia has broken down. Some describe it as ‘being at an all time low’. Cur-rently, these two powerful countries have many disagreements.

Baltic Sea

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In the past, the USA and Russia were the world’s two ‘superpow-ers’. Between the end of the Sec-ond World War, in 1945, and 1991, the two countries were rivals. This period was nicknamed ‘the Cold War’. Then, communist Russia led the Soviet Union. It included many Eastern European and Central Asian countries. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union broke up. Russia’s communist government was dissolved. Soon afterwards a new Russian government was democratically elected. Most for-mer Soviet Union countries became independent nations.

The relationship between Rus-sia and the USA greatly improved after the end of the Cold War. However, Russian leaders were annoyed when former Soviet Union



countries in Eastern Europe joined NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Or-ganization). NATO, which is led by America, is a military alliance. If one NATO member is attacked, the others agree to help.

Ukraine is a former member of the Soviet Union. At the end of 2013, talks about a trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union (EU) broke down. Many peo-ple in Ukraine were unhappy. They wanted their country to rely less on Russia and work more closely with European nations. Ukraine’s pro-Russian president was deposed. The USA and the EU offered to support the new government. Many Russian-speaking people in Eastern Ukraine were unhappy about these events.

Russia took over, or annexed, an area of Ukraine called Crimea. The people living in this part of country welcomed the Russian takeover. This angered the leaders of the USA and the EU. They im-posed economic sanctions on Rus-sia. These are meant to damage Russia’s economy. Fighting broke out in Eastern Ukraine. This was be-tween Ukrainian government forces and armed groups. These groups are supported by Russia. A ceasefire has been agreed. Yet some shooting still occurs. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the USA moved some troops and military equipment to Poland. Poland is a NATO member.

The war in Syria started in 2011. It is between Syrian government forces and rebel groups. The USA and several European countries of-fered to support one of the rebel groups. Just over 12 months ago, Russia sent warplanes and helicop-ters to Syria. It backs the Syrian government. The Islamic State (IS) is an Islamist militant group. It has taken over much of eastern Syria.

Both the Syrian government and the Syrian rebels oppose the IS. Rus-sia and the USA tried to arrange a ceasefire in Syria. It failed. If it had worked, the two countries would have jointly attacked the IS. Since the ceasefire fell through, the USA has accused Russia of bombing ci-vilians in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

President Vladimir Putin (L) and President Barak Obama (R) in 2015 (kremlin.ru)

At the beginning of October, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, announced that he was suspend-ing an old agreement. It was made with the USA 16 years ago. The two countries agreed to destroy supplies of plutonium. This can be used to make nuclear weapons. Mr Putin complained that the USA was not destroying the plutonium in the agreed way. What it was doing, the Russian leader said, meant the plu-tonium could be reused in the fu-ture. The USA has not denied this.

Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave. It is bordered by Poland and Lithu-ania. Kaliningrad has a Baltic Sea coastline. It used to be a part of Ger-many, but was taken over by Rus-sia during the Second World War. Today, thousands of Russian troops are based in Kaliningrad. Recently, Russia sent some nuclear missiles to Kaliningrad. This has alarmed several European countries such as

Poland. Military experts say that these missiles could reach Berlin, Germany’s capital city. After the missiles arrived in Kaliningrad, a senior Russian official made an an-nouncement. He said that Russia might decide to open its old military bases in Cuba and Vietnam.

The USA’s presidential elec-tion will be held at the beginning of November. It is between Donald J Trump and Hillary Clinton. Mrs Clinton is a member of the Demo-cratic Party. Many Democratic Party emails have been hacked. This has embarrassed Mrs Clinton and her advisers. Some people have accused Russia of hacking these emails. They argue that it is trying to influ-ence the election outcome. Russia insists that this is not true.

Many people want Russia and the USA to work together. This, they say, would make the world a safer place. However, others predict that this is unlikely to happen for a very long time.

EEL STUDY

Researchers from 12 countries in Eu-rope have been studying European eels. These creatures have an unusual life cycle. During their lives, the eels go on two very long journeys. The first is after they are born, or hatch. The second, as adults, is to repro-duce, or create the next generation. Until now, how long it takes them to make these long journeys, or which route they follow, was not known.

There are over 800 eel species. Eels are found in both salt and fresh water. They have long narrow bod-ies. Even though they look like snakes, eels are fish. Yet they have no fins. The smallest eels are around five centimetres (two inches) in



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

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length. The largest are four metres (13 feet) long. In many countries eels are a popular dish.

On average, adult European eels are 70 centimetres (2.3 feet) long. They are found in freshwater rivers in most European countries. How-ever, unlike most freshwater eels, European eels are born in the sea. For thousands of years these eels were a mystery. Young, or baby, eels were never caught. Therefore no-body knew where eels came from.

In the early 1900s a Danish scien-tist found some European eels cross-ing the North Atlantic Ocean. He discovered that the eels were smaller the closer they were to the Sargasso Sea. This is a large calmer area of the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North America. Ocean currents encircle the area. The Sargasso Sea is well known for its large amounts of floating seaweed. The Danish

scientist did not find any adult eels laying eggs (known as spawning). Yet, he correctly concluded that these eels begin their lives in the Sargasso Sea.Larvae, or young eels, emerge from the spawned eggs. Then, they start on their long journey to Euro-pean rivers. This distance is at least 4,800 kilometres (3,000 miles). The trip takes two or three years. As the young eels approach the European coast, they are about two centime-tres (0.8 inches) long. They are see-through, or transparent. At this stage of their life cycle, they are known as ‘glass eels’. After entering the riv-ers, the young eels are called elvers.

The eels live in the rivers for between five and 20 years. Adult European eels are a brownish-yellow colour. At some stage, each eel begins to change. Their eyes get bigger and they turn a silver colour with a white underside. Now, as ma-

ture adults, or ‘silver eels’, they start their journey back to the sea. The mature eels swim all the way back to the Sargasso Sea. There, they mate, spawn and die. On their return journey across the Atlantic Ocean, the silver eels do not eat.

European eel

Normally, silver eels leave Eu-rope between August and Decem-ber. New lightweight tracking de-vices make it easier to record them. The European researchers attached electronic tags to 707 eels. They



record speed and location. The tagged eels were released in differ-ent parts of Europe. Over a five-year period, the researchers successfully tracked 80 of them. The other tagged eels were eaten or their tracking de-vices did not work correctly.

The tags showed that the eels travelled between three and 47 kilometres (one and 29 miles) in 24 hours. During daylight, they were deeper in the ocean. At night, the eels swam closer to the surface. The eels did not arrive at the Sargasso Sea all at the same time. Faster ones com-pleted the journey in four months. Others took about one year. Larger marine creatures, such as whales, prey on the eels. By travelling at dif-ferent speeds, there is less chance of large numbers being eaten.

Only a few eels reached the Sar-gasso Sea in time for spring. This is the best season to mate and produce eggs. Late arriving eels waited until the following year to spawn. There are still several unanswered ques-tions. It is not known how the eels navigate, or find their way across the North Atlantic Ocean. What’s more, no one has managed to see or film the eels spawning.

In recent years, the number of European eels has declined. They are now listed as endangered. This is because of: machinery used in rivers, numbers caught, habitat loss, pollution, and predators. Some wor-ry that if nothing is done to protect them, European eels might become an even higher extinction risk.

THAI KING DIES

On the evening of 13th October, government officials in Thailand released a statement. It said that the country’s king had died earlier that

day. He was 88 years old. The king had been ill for several years. Bhumi-bol Adulyadej (also known as Rama the Ninth) was the world’s longest reigning monarch. He became Thai-land’s king in 1946, or 70 years ago.

Later the same day, Thailand’s prime minister made a live televi-sion broadcast. He said that a peri-od of mourning would continue for 12 months. Flags on all government and royal buildings are to be flown at half-mast. The prime minister requested that all entertainment events planned for the following four weeks be cancelled or muted.

Bhumibol (pronounced poo-mee-pon) was born in the USA, in 1927.

His father was a prince. Then, Bhumi-bol’s father was studying at Harvard University. After the family returned to Thailand, his father died. Bhumi-bol was only two years old. He and his mother moved to Switzerland. This was where Bhumibol was educated.

Back in Thailand, some people wanted to get rid of the monarchy. They disliked the king (Bhumibol’s uncle). He agreed to stand down, or abdicate, in 1935. Bhumibol’s elder nine-year-old brother became king. In 1946, King Ananda was shot and killed at his palace in Bangkok, Thai-land’s capital city. What happened was never fully explained. Bhumi-bol returned to Thailand to become

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit in 2008 (PA)



the new king. He was 18 years of age. Bhumibol returned to Switzer-land to complete his studies. While visiting France, the new king met his future wife and queen. She was the daughter of Thailand’s ambassador in Paris. They married in 1950.

At that time, Thailand was a military dictatorship. Army gener-als ruled the country. Bhumibol was only a figurehead. He had few pow-ers and little to do. A different gen-eral took over in 1957. He allowed Bhumibol to restore the monarchy to what it used to be. During this time, Bhumibol travelled to many parts of the country. He helped to set up many farming projects. During the next 30 years there were many at-tempts to overthrow the military government. On several occasions, Bhumibol intervened.

The coronation of Thailand’s King Bhumibol

Democratic elections were held in 1992. However, political prob-lems continued. Military leaders frequently took over. In recent years, the country has become di-vided between two main political groups. Some describe them as ‘yellow shirts’ and ‘red shirts’.

The most recent military takeover happened two years ago. The cur-rent prime minister led it. He is a former air force commander. The prime minister says that new elec-tions will be organised. Yet no date has been set.

Bhumibol saw many changes in his country. Because of the country’s political problems, many people looked to the king to unify the coun-try. Some thought he was god-like. Bhumibol was greatly respected, especially by Thais who live in the countryside. After the king’s death was announced, tens of thousands of people crowded into the streets in central Bangkok. Many cried and held photographs of the king.

In Thailand, what’s known as lese-majesty is against the law. (Lese-majesty comes from the Latin words that mean ‘injured majesty’.) People are not allowed to insult, or make fun of, the king or other mem-bers of the royal family. Anyone found guilty of this crime can be sent to prison for up to 15 years.

King Bhumibol’s son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, will succeed him. The prince is 64 years old. He is not worshipped like his father was. In recent years, the prince has spent most of his time in Germany.

Elizabeth the Second became the queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other countries 64 years ago. Aged 90, she is now the world’s longest reigning monarch.

MIGRANT REFERENDUM

A referendum, or vote in which all adults can take part, was held in Hungary on 2nd October. The vote was about European Union (EU) migrant quotas. It was organised

by Hungary’s prime minister, Vik-tor Orbán. The turnout, or number of people who decided to vote, af-fected the result.

Many people call Mr Orbán a hardliner. This is a person who ex-pects others to agree with their ideas and to follow strict rules. Mr Orbán has been Hungary’s prime minister for the last five years. His party won the last two elections. Mr Orbán is a divisive figure. Many people in Hungary admire him. Yet others claim that he and his government are too authoritarian.

Viktor Orbán, prime minister of Hungary

Two years ago, thousands of mi-grants began crossing from Turkey into Greece. Many came from Syria. Others had travelled from Iraq, Af-ghanistan and countries in North Africa. Most were young men. The migrants wanted to travel to other EU member countries. To do this, many moved from Greece to Hun-gary. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, or leader, announced that her country would welcome the migrants. This encouraged many more to make the journey.

Mr Orbán decided to put up a fence along his country’s border with Serbia. It stopped more mi-grants from travelling to Hungary. At first, many European leaders criticised Mr Orbán for doing this. Later, as the migrant crisis



worsened, other EU countries did similar things. Eventually, nearly all migrants in Hungary moved to Aus-tria and Germany.

Several months later, EU lead-ers announced a new policy. They wanted to distribute 160,000 mi-grants between EU member coun-tries. These migrants were asylum seekers. They were forced to leave their homes because of the fight-ing in their countries. Hungary’s share, or quota, of migrants was 1,294. Mr Orbán declared that Hungary would refuse to accept them. What’s more, he said that a referendum would be held. Then, all Hungarians could say if they wanted to accept the migrants or not. Other Eastern European coun-tries, such as Slovakia, Romania, and the Czech Republic, were also angry about the migrant quota.

Government poster in Hungary recommending a ‘no’ vote in the migrant referendum

In Hungary, a referendum vote is only valid, or legally binding, if the turnout is greater than 50%. This means that at least half of all those eligible to vote must take part. Af-ter all the votes had been counted, it was announced that the turnout was 44%, or less than half. However, of those who did take part, 98% voted ‘no’ to the migrants.

Political parties opposed to Mr Orbán told their supporters not to vote. They knew that if the turn-out was lower than 50%, the vote

would not be legally binding. Hun-gary receives large amounts of money from the EU. Many people therefore thought it would be wrong to anger EU leaders by voting against their migrant quota policy. Also, in recent months, EU leaders have hinted that this policy may be shelved, or abandoned.

Many people think that the ref-erendum result reflected Hungary’s current political divide.

SHARK TAGGING

There are over 400 species of shark. Most do not threaten humans. Yet some are known to occasionally at-tack swimmers and surfers. Shark attacks are infrequent and not usu-ally fatal. However, in parts of Australia shark attack numbers seem to be rising. A recent study by researchers in Western Australia suggests that tagging sharks might explain the increase.

Swimming and surfing is popu-lar on Australia’s many beaches. Most shark attacks occur on the country’s western shoreline and off the coast of New South Wales (NSW) in the east. The dangerous sharks seen in these places include: great whites, tiger sharks and bull sharks. Great whites are the most fearsome. They can be 6.4 metres (21 feet) long. Nowadays, many shark species, including great whites, are protected.

In Australia, local officials use several methods to protect people from shark attacks. Fences, or nets, made of wire mesh can be set up off the coast. These are expensive to look after. Stormy seas can damage the nets. What’s more, other marine creatures often die if they get caught up in them.

Drum lines have also been used. These are floating drums with two lines. One is attached, or anchored, to the seabed. The other has a large hook on the end. A small amount of dead fish, or bait, is put on the hook. Drum lines are not meant to attract lots of sharks. Instead they are sup-posed to stop ones that come near the coast from getting closer to the shoreline. Fishermen are paid to kill larger sharks caught on the hooks or swimming nearby. Drum lines are controversial. Many argue that they should not be used.

Great white shark (Terry Goss)

In some places drones, or un-manned small aircraft, fly above the sea. Fitted with cameras, they can spot the arrival of any sharks. Peo-ple on the beach are then told to get out of the water.

Another method is tagging. This has become more popular. Both Western Australia and NSW have tagging programmes. More than 200 great whites have been tagged in Australia. The sharks are caught, fitted with an acoustic device, or tag, and then released. The tags are fixed to the outside or inside of the shark. Batteries that last for ten years power them. Tagged sharks can be tracked. If a tagged shark approaches a beach where many people are in the water, they can be warned.

The researchers noticed that shark attacks seem to be increasing



where there are shark-tagging pro-grammes. This is true for Western Australia and NSW. Victoria is an-other area of Australia. It does not have a tagging programme. There have been no shark attacks in Vic-toria for 28 years. The waters in this part of the country are colder. Therefore this might be the reason for a lack of attacks.

Réunion and Mauritius are two islands in the Pacific Ocean. The researchers say that there have been 19 shark attacks around Réunion during the last five years. This island has a shark-tagging programme. Mauritius is 200 kilometres (125 miles) away. Its population is twice as big as Réunion’s. This island na-tion does not tag sharks. There have been no shark attacks around Mau-ritius for 20 years.

The researchers suspect that the acoustic devices are affecting the sharks. The tags might scare off fish that sharks normally feed on. As they are hungry, the sharks move towards the coast to find something easier to catch. Alternatively, the de-vices may affect the shark’s health. A weakened, unhealthy shark is more likely to stay near the coast. The researchers are not sure if this is true. They say that a proper inves-tigation is needed to find out. In the meantime, they believe that all tag-ging should stop.

HURRICANE MATTHEW

A powerful hurricane struck the western part of Haiti on 4th Octo-ber. With wind speeds of over 260 kilometres (160 miles) per hour, it wrecked houses, ripped up trees and destroyed crops. The hurricane af-fected other Caribbean nations, such as Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican

Republic, and The Bahamas. A few days later, the powerful storm caused more destruction along the USA’s south east coast.

Hurricanes are huge tropi-cal storms. They form far out in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. The hurricane season is between 1st June and 30th No-vember. This is the time of year when most of them develop. Simi-lar storms in the western Pacific Ocean are called typhoons. In the Indian Ocean and around north-ern Australia they are known as cyclones. The storms bring high-speed winds and huge amounts of rain. They can damage or destroy buildings and cause dangerous and destructive flooding. Once they move across land, hurricanes get weaker and gradually disappear.

Hurricanes, typhoons and cy-clones are given names. Each year their names follow an alphabetical order. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which is part of the United Nations (UN), makes up these names in advance. The first storm of this year’s hur-ricane season was called Alex, the next Bonnie, and the third Colin. These first three were all tropi-cal storms. They did not become powerful enough to be classified as hurricanes.

Hurricanes have an ‘eye’. This is a central circular area of low pressure. Within the eye, it is very calm. Yet the winds swirling around it are the deadliest part of the storm. The eye of a hurricane usually has a diameter of about 40 kilometres (25 miles). Yet some can be much bigger.

As hurricanes near a coastline, they can create what’s called a storm surge. The strong winds cause the water to pile up higher than the normal sea level. There are five categories of hurricane. Category one has the least powerful winds. The one that passed over Haiti was called Matthew. It first formed far out in the Atlantic Ocean at the end of September. When Matthew

Hurricanes Hurricanes

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Map of the paths, or tracks, of all the powerful tropical storms between 1985 and 2005

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arrived in the Caribbean, it was a category five.

At first, the storm was pre-dicted to hit the island of Jamaica. There, many people boarded up their homes and bought extra food and water. The hurricane took an unexpected turn. It veered away from Jamaica and headed towards the Windward Passage. This is the strait, or gap, between Cuba and Haiti. By the time it struck western Haiti, Matthew had slowed to a cat-egory four hurricane.

Haiti is a poor country. Many people live in makeshift homes. Sheets of tin, or corrugated iron, and plastic sheets are used for roofs. Most of these homes were flat-tened by the winds. Over 90% of the buildings in several towns were either badly damaged or destroyed. Many thousands of trees were blown down. About 100 centimetres (40 inches) of rain fell. It caused mudslides and flash floods. These damaged roads and washed bridges away. Officials in Haiti say that the storm killed at least 1,000 people.

Hurricane Matthew then passed over The Bahamas and followed the south east shoreline of the USA. More than three million people living near the Atlantic coast of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, were urged to leave their homes. Many places lost electric power. Storm surges and the heavy rain caused severe flooding in several areas.

A powerful earthquake struck Haiti six years ago. It killed 200,000 people. Many structures damaged by the quake are yet to be rebuilt. After the hurricane, many countries sent food, water, medicines, and temporary shelters to Haiti. Repair-ing all the storm damage will prob-ably take several years.

ENERGY MEETING

The 23rd World Energy Congress took place in Istanbul between 9th and 13th October. This city is Tur-key’s largest. These meetings are held every three years. They bring together energy experts, politicians and the biggest energy companies in the world.

Over 10,000 people travelled to Istanbul to take part. They came from 85 countries. The attendees in-cluded 250 government energy min-isters. During the four-day meeting, 65 subjects were discussed. Over 250 people made speeches.

Senior mangers from the world’s largest oil and gas companies at-tended the event. They included: Gazprom, Aramco, BP, Shell, and SOCAR. Gazprom is a Russian company. Aramco is from Saudi Arabia. BP is based in the UK. Shell, or Royal Dutch Shell, is a joint UK-Netherlands (or Anglo-Dutch) com-pany. SOCAR is the government-run oil company of Azerbaijan. This small country has large reserves of oil and natural gas.

The World Energy Council ar-ranges the congress. Before the Istanbul meeting, it published a re-port. This made predictions about future energy use. The report says that fossil fuels, oil, gas and coal, will probably remain the main pro-ducers of energy for many years. In 2014, of all the energy generated in

the world, 81% came from burning fossil fuels. In 2060, this figure is still expected to be between 50% and 70%.

Solar and wind energy have been growing quickly. Two years ago, about 4% of the energy, or electricity, used in the world came from solar and wind. By 2060, this could be as high as 39%. Hydroelectric power and electricity generated by nuclear power stations is also expected to increase. In future, more and more people are likely to drive electric cars. Now, about 92% of all vehi-cles in the world use petrol or diesel (both are made from oil). This may drop to 60% by 2040.

President Putin (L) and President Erdoğan (R) at the World Energy Congress

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, attended the energy meet-ing. During it, he and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, signed an important agreement. Russia is one of the world’s largest producers of natural gas. Much of this gas is sold to European coun-tries. Long pipelines transport the gas from Russia to Europe. The agreement is for work to begin on a new pipeline. Known as the Turkish Stream, it will go under the Black Sea. This will take gas from Rus-sia to Turkey. Later, this pipeline could be extended to Greece and other countries in south east Europe.



Currently, Russia is also construct-ing Turkey’s first nuclear power station. The two presidents said that they planned to work together on other energy projects in Turkey.

The fourth and final day of the meeting was dedicated to Africa. Those involved, discussed ways of helping African governments to produce clean energy. This is gener-ating electricity without producing any additional carbon dioxide.

SEAGRASS STATEMENT

Seagrasses are flowering plants. They grow under the sea in shallow water. The World Seagrass Associa-tion is a network of over 100 scien-tists. They work in many countries. All are interested in studying and managing the world’s seagrasses.

On 10th October, the association issued a statement. It stated that sea-grasses need to be urgently moni-tored, managed and protected. These important ecosystems, the statement said, can no longer be ignored. Over 110 scientists in 25 countries signed it. Nowadays, many animals and habitats are protected. The scientists believe that something similar must now be done with seagrass.

There are four distinct families of seagrass. Within them, there are about 60 seagrass species. These underwater flowering plants are not like the grasses that grow on dry land. Yet, like land plants, they use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into food and energy. This process is called photosynthesis. As part of the process, seagrasses store carbon and produce oxygen. This explains why some scientists call the plants the ‘lungs of the sea’. As they need sunlight, seagrasses grow only in clear shallow water.

Seagrasses are found around the coasts of every continent except Ant-arctica. These plants existed when the dinosaurs walked on the Earth. In places where they densely cover the seabed, seagrasses are part of sepa-rate ecosystems. These are known as seagrass meadows or seagrass beds. An ecosystem occurs when different animals and plants live together and help each other survive. Seagrass meadows act as places of shelter for many marine creatures. Some coral reef fish spend the night searching for food in seagrass beds. When it gets lighter, they return to the reefs for protection.

Many smaller fish and other small marine creatures lay their eggs amongst seagrass. The plants act as fish nurseries. They are also important in some marine food chains. Small creatures eat the plants. Bigger fish then feed on these creatures. The larger fish are a food source for seabirds, sharks and other bigger marine creatures. Some large marine creatures eat seagrass. These include: turtles, manatees and dugongs. Manatees and dugongs are marine plant-eating mammals.

Manatee feeding on sea grass

Seagrass beds have dense root systems. These help to protect the seabed. The roots hold the softer sediment in one place. Here, they act like plants and trees on the land. They prevent the sediments from being eroded, or washed away.

Despite the plants’ importance, World Seagrass Association scien-tists say that large amounts of sea-grass have been destroyed. They believe that as much as 50% of the areas covered by seagrasses around the world have been lost. This, the scientists say, has hap-pened over the last few decades. Human activity has caused most of the damage. Pollution, destruc-tive fishing, dredging, and costal developments, or building work, are all examples.

Seagrass

The current rate of seagrass loss is about two percent every year. The World Seagrass Association scien-tists want to make governments of every country aware of the impor-tance of seagrass. They believe that, if all countries with coastlines work together, the loss can be stopped. After this happens, it may be pos-sible to begin increasing the number of seagrass meadows and seagrass beds.

Newsademic.comEditor: Rebecca Watson

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ISSUE 286 GLOSSARY PUZZLE

INSTRUCTIONS: 1 Complete the crossword. The answers are highlighted in orange in the news stories. There are 25 words highlighted and you need 20 of them to complete the crossword. 2 Once you have solved the crossword go to the word search on the next page

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

9

10 11

12

13

14

15

16 17

18

19

20

ACROSS

1 Noun Soft padded fabric that is fixed to furniture, such as sofas and chairs

5 Noun The act of bringing something back to a former good condition

7 Noun A state of being kept separate from other things or people 9 Noun Something that is accepted even though it is not what was

originally wanted, as a way of settling disagreements 11 Verb To raise the wreck of a ship or plane from the seabed 12 Noun The opinion that people have about something or someone 14 Adjective Believing in strict obedience 16 Noun Death that happens because of the person’s religious faith

or belief 18 Noun Plural Places or natural habitats where newly born animals

are born and can grow 19 Verb Made a sudden turn 20 Verb Dragging a frame or net along the seabed to catch shellfish

or remove unwanted material

DOWN

2 Adjective Not very strict, merciful or tolerant 3 Noun A connection between a group of people,

or organisations, which have common a purpose or interest

4 Noun A friend, or person, who you often spend time 6 Adjective Describes something that is designed to

absorb, respond to or control sound 8 Verb Officially started or introduced a new system or

process 10 Adjective Giving a lot of time and effort to achieving

something because a person, government or organisation thinks it is very important

13 Noun Plural The qualities of a substance or material, or the ways in which something can be used

15 Adjective Describes something that is highly attractive or inviting

17 Verb Made quiet or silent



ISSUE 286GLOSSARY PUZZLE CONTINUED

INSTRUCTIONS: 3 Find 19 of the 20 crossword answers in the word search. Words can go vertically, horizontally, diagonally and back to front. 4 After finding the 19 words write down the 20th (or missing) word under the puzzle.

MISSING WORD ANSWER =

ISSUE 285 A

NSW

ERS

If you wish to earn additional Demics please email the missing word answer to: [email protected] entries need to be submitted by 10pm on 26th October 2016 (GMT/UTC).*

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