Week 4 -Israel-Gaza conflict

Israeli airstrikes hit two more Gaza high-rises

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israel bombed two Gaza City high-rises with dozens of homes and shops Tuesday, collapsing one building and severely damaging the other in a further escalation in seven weeks of cross-border fighting with Hamas.

In the past, the military has hit targets in high-rises in pinpoint strikes, but left the buildings standing. Since Saturday, it has toppled or destroyed five towers and shopping complexes in an apparent new tactic aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas.

Tuesday's strikes leveled the 15-story Basha Tower with apartments and offices and severely damaged the Italian Complex, built in the 1990s by an Italian businessman, with dozens of shops and offices.

Both buildings were evacuated after receiving warnings of impending strikes. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said 25 people were wounded in the attack on the Italian Complex.

The Israeli military said it targeted sites linked to militants Tuesday, but made no specific reference to the two buildings. Israel alleges Hamas often operates from civilian locations. The military has not said why it has begun collapsing large buildings, rather than carrying out pinpointed strikes against suspected militant targets located there.

Also Tuesday, two people were killed in an airstrike on a house in Gaza City, police said.

Israel's military said it carried out 15 air strikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

It said eight rockets were launched from the coastal strip at Israeli territory, including one that caused extensive damage to a home in the southern city of Ashkelon and lightly injured more than a dozen people there.

The Reuters news agency reports two rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon Monday night. The Israeli military said it hit back by firing artillery shells at the "source of the attack". No injuries were reported by either side.

The latest strikes came as Egypt urged Israel and Hamas to resume indirect talks on a permanent cease-fire, based on an Egyptian proposal for a new border deal for blockaded Gaza.

The Egyptian offer calls for a gradual easing of restrictions on trade and movement in and out of Gaza and would give Hamas' Palestinian rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, a foothold in Gaza.

Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007, triggering the blockade that has been enforced to varying degrees since then.

Israel and Hamas have not responded to Egypt's latest call.

The Gaza war has so far killed at least 2,133 Palestinians and wounded more than 11,000, according to Palestinian health officials. The U.N. estimates more than 17,000 homes have been destroyed, leaving 100,000 people homeless.

On the Israeli side, 68 people have been killed, all but four of them soldiers.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/israeli-airstrikes-hit-two-more-gaza-high-rises/

Structure of the Lead :

who: Israel

when: a certain Tuesday
what: two high-rises and dozens of homes and shops

why: not given

where: in Gaza Cityhow: not given


Keywords :

cross-border(a.)跨越邊界的,跨境的
topple(v.)使倒塌
complex(n.)綜合設施
agency(n.)代理處
trigger(v.)發射
blockade(n.)阻礙物,障礙物

week 3 -nuclear power plant

Taiwan's Fourth Nuclear Power Plant a hot topic among activists and youth

Tens of thousands of protesters in Taipei stepped onto the streets in Taiwan's capital city on April 26 as part of a latest round of anti-nuclear demonstrations that has been going on for years in the island country to demand its government immediately terminate the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project.

The event, joined by men and women of different ages and political affiliations, was one of the largest anti-nuclear protests in Taiwan following the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident in neighboring Japan, and was held to support the hunger strike launched by former opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Lin Yi-hsiung (林義雄).

An iconic figure in the island nation who has been pushing the anti-nuclear movement for decades, Lin began his hunger strike in mid-April, stressing that he would not stop the strike until the government had met his demand that the nation's Fourth Nuclear Power Plant be scrapped for safety reasons.

According to the protesters, the island that lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire is prone to earthquakes and not suitable for nuclear power.

There are already three nuclear plants in operation on the small island of 36,000 square kilometers, while the fourth is under construction.

With four nuclear plants in Taiwan, they argue that once a nuclear disaster occurs, the densely populated country will suffer catastrophic damage.

Moreover, the fourth plant, which is currently under construction in New Taipei City's Gongliao District (貢寮), is situated less than 30 kilometers away from Taipei, the economic and political hub of the country with a population of nearly three million. The cost for the plant has already exceeded NT$350 billion in a 15-year on-and-off-construction.

All of Taiwan's nuclear plants have been rated as some of the world's most dangerous plants by the World Nuclear Association, the activists argue, calling on the government to halt construction on the fourth plant and cease operations on the three remaining plants as soon as possible.

In response to the protesters, Taiwan's Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) announced on April 28 the suspension of construction of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, pending a public referendum on whether to resume it.

The government's latest announcement was seen as a victory for the anti-nuclear activists. Two days after Jiang's announcement, Lin also decided to stop the hunger strike and be transferred to a hospital.

The decision by the ruling administration of President Ma Ying-jeou to halt the power plant's construction despite its continuous plead that giving up nuclear power — which constitutes about 18 percent of national energy production — could deal a serious blow to the country economically and to the well being of all Taiwanese.

The state-run Taiwan Power Company also warned that there is a risk that the country may face energy rationing by 2021 if all three existing nuclear power plants are decommissioned and if the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is scrapped as demanded by activists. A huge surge in electricity prices once nuclear power is abandoned is almost a certainty, the company claimed.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/09/21/417622/Taiwans-Fourth.htm

Structure of the Lead :

who: men and women of different ages and political affiliations

when: on April 26

what: an anti-nuclear event

why: once a nuclear disaster occurs, Taiwan will suffer catastrophic damage

where: Taipei

how: not given

Keywords :

affiliations(n.)附屬機構;聯盟

iconic(a.)圖標的

operation(n.)經營

activist(n.)激進主義分子

controversial(a.)有爭議的