Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins best actor Oscar for Iñárritu’s The Revenant

After four previous acting nominations, the star of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s survival drama has finally won his first Academy award

Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of a betrayed 19th-century frontiersman seeking revenge in The Revenant has won him his first Academy Award, having missed out on four previous occasions.

The 41-year-old actor was the favourite to win after picking up both a Golden Globe and a Bafta for his performance. The film, which has won a number of awards at this year’s ceremony, tells the true story of Hugh Glass, who battled his way through the wilderness after being left for dead.

DiCaprio beat out competition from last year’s winner Eddie Redmayne and Michael Fassbender. He had previously been nominated for his work in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, The Aviator, Blood Diamond and The Wolf of Wall Street.

He used his speech to warn about the effects of global warming. “Climate change is real and it’s happening right now,” he said. “It’s the most urgent threat affecting our species.” He added: “Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take this night for granted.”

The actor’s commitment to the role had received a lot of attention. DiCaprio was said to have eaten raw bison liver and slept in animal carcasses. The film also picked up Oscars for best cinematography and best director for Alejandro González Iñárritu.

He has a number of projects in the offing but is yet to confirm what next role will be. He is loosely attached to work again with Martin Scorsese on the true story of serial killer HH Holmes, and is also set to produce a film about the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/29/leonardo-dicaprio-wins-best-actor-oscar-for-the-revenant

what: Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins best actor Oscar

when: Oscars 2016

where: not mentioned

why: He have missed out on four previous occasions.

who:Leonardo DiCaprio

how: Leonardo DiCaprio’s portrayal of a betrayed 19th-century frontiersman seeking revenge in The Revenant has won him his first Academy Award.

1.Revenant亡魂

2.frontiersman拓荒者

3.favourite喜愛

4.wilderness荒野

5.Aviator飛行員

6.bison野牛

7.carcasses屍體

8.cinematography攝影

9.offing海面

10.serial串行

Second 'missing' Hong Kong bookseller returns from China

Cheung Chi-ping arrives back home two days after authorities released his boss, Lui Por, but three publishers remain on the mainland

A second of five Hong Kong booksellers detained on the Chinese mainland has returned home, according to police.

Cheung Chi-ping, who went missing in October after a trip to visit relatives in Shenzhen, was released just two days after his boss Lui Por, a general manager at the Mighty Current publishing house, was also allowed to return to Hong Kong.

In both cases the Hong Kong police released a statement confirming the men were home. According to the police both men said they did not need further assistance from the government or the police force.

Mighty Currents prints titles highly critical of the Communist party and the Chinese government, and, in the weekend before the men started to disappear, had been printing volumes that attacked Chinese president Xi Jinping’s private life.

Gui Minhai and Lee Bo, the owners and managers of the publishing house and its attached bookshop, Causeway Bay Bookstore, and another employee Lam Wing-kee, remain missing.

Gui, a Swedish national, disappeared in October after a holiday in Thailand. He reappeared in January in a tearful televised “confession” in which he said he had voluntarily returned to China out of remorse over a hit-and-run in 2004.

Lee Bo, a British national feared to have been kidnapped on Hong Kong soil, has also appeared in a televised interview where he said he had returned to China “of his own accord” in order to help with “an investigation”, and that he was renouncing his British citizenship. He reportedly met with Hong Kong police last week in an undisclosed location and told them he did not need any help.

The three clerks of the Mighty Current publishing house and Causeway Bay Bookstore had also appeared on a televised interview, where they said they had been detained for “illegal book trading” in the mainland, supposedly admitting to having delivered about 4000 books to China since 2014 without a licence.

Bao Pu, an independent publisher in Hong Kong, said he believed with this gesture “the Chinese authorities want to minimise the impact of the bookstore event, and sweep everything under the carpet as quickly as they possibly can”.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/06/second-missing-hong-kong-bookseller-returns-from-china

what: A second of five Hong Kong booksellers detained on the Chinese mainland has returned home.

why: Mighty Currents prints titles highly critical of the Communist party and the Chinese government.

when: Cheung Chi-ping went missing in October.

who: Cheung Chi-ping, Gui Minhai and Lee Bo

how:  In the weekend before the men started to disappear, had been printing volumes that attacked Chinese president Xi Jinping’s private life.

1.Communist共產

2.Swedish瑞典

3.reappeared再現

4.confession自白書

5.remorse悔恨

6.renouncing放棄

7.citizenship國籍

8.reportedly據說

9.undisclosed未公開

10.carpet地毯

S. Korea urges Japan to implement comfort women agreement

SEOUL - South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday urged Japan to play its role in implementing the bilateral agreement on Japan's wartime sex slavery of Korean women during World War II.

"How the Japanese government and media do is very important, though South Korea's government will do its best, to make the agreement well understood and accepted," Park told the national televised speech.

Park said if distorted words and acts come from the Japanese government and media hurting the heart of comfort women victims, it would be much more difficult for Seoul to make its people understand the agreement.

Park's comments came after Seoul and Tokyo reached a final and irreversible agreement on the comfort women, a euphemism for women forcibly recruited to serve in Japan's military brothels during the devastating war, on Dec 28, 2015.

Japan vowed to offer 1 billion yen (about $8.3 million) and coffered to help South Korea set up an assistance fund for the victims.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered his message of apology and remorse "from his heart" to the wartime sex slavery victims.

In return for those action and word, South Korea pledged a final and irreversible agreement on the war crime and promised to refrain from criticizing Japan in the international community.

The South Korean victims and their advocates continued the so-called "Wednesday rally" that has been held every Wednesday for more than 20 years in protest against the agreement as it lacked of Japan's legal responsibility for the wartime atrocities.

Japanese media reported that South Korea agreed behind the doors with Japan to remove a "girl statue" standing in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, which was denied by the South Korean government.

The statue, erected there in 2011 with funds donated by citizens, describes a teenage girl forcibly conscripted and raped by Japanese soldiers.

Park said all the negotiations have a limitation in reality, stressing a timely urgency of the issue because only 46 victims with an average age of 89 are alive. Last year, nine victims passed away due to the old age.

According to the government's survey and meeting with the victims, former South Korean comfort women called for three points, including Japan's acknowledgement of its military's involvement in the wartime crime, Japan's official apology and the compensation offer, which are reflected in the Dec 28 agreement, Park said.

The president also said the removal of the girl statue is not a matter the government can decide on, saying that distorted reports and comments will not be desirable and only cause controversy.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2016-01/13/content_23068296.htm

what: South Korean President urged Japan to play its role in implementing the bilateral agreement on Japan's wartime sex slavery of Korean women.

when:2016/01

where:South Korean and Japan

who:sex slavery of Korean women during World War II

why:women forcibly recruited to serve in Japan's military brothels during the devastating war, on Dec 28, 2015

how:Japan vowed to offer 1 billion yen (about $8.3 million) and coffered to help South Korea set up an assistance fund for the victims.

1.implement實行

2.bilateral兩岸

3.distorted扭曲的

4.irreversible不可逆

5.euphemism婉辭

6.forcibly強制

7.recruit招募

8.brothels妓院

9.remorse悔恨

10.pledged承諾

11.refrain避免

12.advocates倡導者

13.atrocities暴行

14.erected架設

15.conscripted徵召

16.negotiations談判

17.compensation賠償金

Shenzhen landslide: 85 still missing after construction waste hits buildings

Chinese premier orders investigation after landslide caused by 100-metre mound of mud wrecks industrial park

At least 85 people remain missing in southern China a day after a mountain of construction waste and soil swept over dozens of buildings, in the latest disaster to hit a nation increasingly facing the consequences of its rapid industrialisation.

Officials said debris from the 100-metre hill in Shenzhen, the city adjoining Hong Kong, buried or damaged 33 buildings on an industrial park, including factories, offices, workshops and dormitories.

The debris, excavated soil, cement and other construction waste had been piled on the hillside for two years amid the city’s ongoing construction boom, and was seemingly loosened by heavy rain.

China’s premier, Li Keqiang, ordered an investigation into Sunday’s landslide, which came four months after a series of huge explosions at a warehouse filled with chemicals in the northern city of Tianjin killed at least 50 people.

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said 85 people remained unaccounted for following the landslide, down from an earlier figure of 91 following new checks on missing people.

Most are expected to have died. A website update by the firefighting bureau of the public security ministry showed photos of a huge area covered in thick red mud. Posts on the website said the mud had swept through many of the buildings, with the chances of survival seen as extremely small.

Map of region

According to the state-run CCTV, just seven people were rescued overnight, and 13 were in hospital, three with life-threatening injuries.

Liu Qingsheng, the vice mayor of Shenzhen, which was little more than a village before it was picked by China’s leaders in the late 1970s as a new industrial zone, said the landslide covered 380,000 square metres, about the area of 60 football fields.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted another official as saying the mud was up to 10 metres thick in many places, and inundated with water, making rescue attempts especially difficult as rescuers could not walk on it.

One witness told AFP he was heading home when he saw the landslide. “I saw the houses collapse, all the factories got buried,” said Liu Youqiang, 45. A migrant worker told the agency that 16 friends or family members were missing after his home was buried.

The ministry of land and resources said said heavy rain had loosened the huge pile of building debris. “The pile was too big, the pile was too steep, leading to instability and collapse,” it said in a statement.

Some locals said officials had been negligent in allowing the waste to build up. “If the government had taken proper measures in the first place, we would not have had this problem,” one resident, Chen Chengli, told AP. “We’ve been down this road before, it’s too crazy.”

His neighbour, Yi Jimin, dismissed the idea it was a natural disaster. “Heavy rains and a collapse of a mountain are natural disasters, but this wasn’t a natural disaster, this was man-made,” Yi said.

The landslide sparked an explosion in a section of a natural gas pipeline owned by PetroChina, the country’s leading oil and gas producer. By Monday morning, the fire was extinguished and a temporary section of pipe was being laid.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/21/china-landslide-dozens-missing-shenzhen-construction-waste-collapses

what:a mountain of construction waste and soil swept over dozens of buildings and at least 85 people remain missing

when:2015.12

where:Shenzhen, in southern China

why:natural disasters

who:people in Shenzhen

how:The mud was up to 10 metres thick in many places, and inundated with water, making rescue attempts especially difficult as rescuers could not walk on it.

1.debris廢墟

2.adjoining隔壁的

3.excavate挖掘

4.piled堆積

5.unaccounted下落不明

6.vice副

7.inundated淹沒

8.negligent不在意

9.dismissed駁回

10.extinguished熄滅

A Day After the San Bernardino Shooting

A man and a woman shot and killed 14 people at a social-services center in California on Wednesday.

pdated on December 3 at 3:08 p.m. EST

Here’s what we know Thursday afternoon:

—The shooters have been identified by police as 28-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook and 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik. They were married and had a six-month old daughter. Both shooters were shot and killed by police officers.

—At least 14 people are dead and 21 wounded, up from 17 on Wednesday, in the attack, which occurred at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.

—Police recovered a haul of weapons and ammunition both from the vehicle in which Farook and Malik were found and at a home they had rented.  

—Police are investigating terrorism and a workplace dispute as possible motives.

---

The married couple who killed 14 people and wounded 21 others at a social-services center in San Bernardino, California, fired up to 75 rounds in the attack, left behind three pipe bombs that had been rigged together, and had thousands of rounds of ammunition on them and at their home, officials said.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said at a news briefing Thursday that the couple had more than 1,600 bullets when they were killed in their SUV. Authorities discovered more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as 12 pipe bombs, and other tools, he said.

“There was obviously a mission here,” David Bowdich, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said at the news briefing. “We know that. We do not know why. We don’t know if this was the intended target or if there was something that triggered him to do this immediately.”

Bowdich refused to speculate on a motive for the shooting, but said authorities had not ruled anything out, including terrorism or whether the attack at the Inland Regional Center was prompted by a workplace dispute.

Speaking from the Oval Office, President Obama echoed those comments, and added: “We’re going to get to the bottom of this.”

Farook was an environmental engineer who worked with the San Bernardino County Health Department. He had been attending a holiday party for the department at the Inland Regional Center on Wednesday, left after some sort of dispute, and returned with Malik at about 11 a.m. local time carrying weapons, Burguan said. All four guns were legally purchased, he said Thursday. Three pipe bombs rigged together, discovered at the scene, failed to detonate, Burguan said. 

Bowdich said Farook, who was born in Illinois, had traveled overseas in recent years, and had visited Pakistan, from where his parents emigrated. He returned in July 2014 with Malik, who traveled on a Pakistani passport with a fiancee visa. The couple had a 6-month-old daughter. Farook’s colleagues told the Los Angeles Times he had visited Saudi Arabia and had returned with Malik.

On Wednesday night, Farhan Khan, who is married to Farook’s sister, expressed his condolences to the victims, who have not yet been identified.

“I have no idea why he would do something like this,” Khan said. “I have absolutely no idea. I’m in shock myself.”

Police received word of the shooting at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. They secured the scene and evacuated the sprawling facility, which provides services for people with disabilities. The suspects fled in a dark-colored SUV, Burguan said Wednesday. On Thursday, he said police received a tip about Farook leaving the party. They then found he had rented a Ford Expedition, which marked the description of the vehicle the suspects were seen leaving in. That vehicle was due to be returned on Wednesday.

The information led about 300 local, county, state, and federal law enforcement officials to the nearby town of Redlands, where Farook and Malik rented a home. It’s unclear if they lived there, Burguan said. Officers and the couple exchanged fire. Farook and Malik fired up to 75 rounds at them, Burguan said. Officers fired 380 rounds at the suspects, killing them.

Two officers were wounded: One was shot in the left leg; the other received cuts; neither injury is life-threatening. News helicopter footage Wednesday showed the scene at a residential street, where dozens of heavily armed police officers had gathered. A dark-colored SUV was stopped in the middle of the street, its windows blown out.

The FBI is leading the investigation, Obama said, and is being assisted by local agencies. The Loma Linda Medical Center said of the five victims in its care, two are in critical condition and three in fair condition.

A suspect who was detained on Wednesday was released, Burguan said, after it was determined he had no connection to the shooting.

We will update this story as we learn more.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/12/a-shooter-in-san-bernardino/418497/

when: A day after the San Bernardino shooting

where: news briefing

who: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik

what: 14 people are dead and 21 wounded

why: some sort of dispute
how: The married couple who killed 14 people and wounded 21 others at a social-services center in San Bernardino, California.

1.ammunition彈藥

2.rigged操縱

3.news briefing新聞發布會

4.prompted提示

5.echoed呼應

6.detonate起爆

7.condolences慰問

8.detained 扣留

9.footage鏡頭

10.sprawling蔓延

IOM: One million refugees arrived in Europe in 2015

Half of those who crossed Mediterranean were fleeing Syria, according to International Organization for Migration and UN

 Over one million refugees have arrived in Europe by sea and land this year so far, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

According to IOM, almost 3,700 refugees died crossing the Mediterranean and 1,005,504 refugees have arrived in Europe by sea and land so far this year.

Some 971,289 people reached Europe by sea via the Mediterranean and 34,215 people reached Europe by land after crossing from Turkey into Bulgaria and Greece by land.

About 816,000 people arrived in Greece by sea and 4,000 people arrived in Greece by land.

Some 219,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean last year.

"Persecution, conflict and poverty have forced an unprecedented one million people to flee to Europe in 2015," the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR and IOM said in a joint statement.

"One-in-every-two of those crossing the Mediterranean this year – half a million people – were Syrians escaping the war in their country. Afghans accounted for 20 per cent and Iraqis for seven per cent," the IOM and UNHCR revealed.

The organizations said 800,000 refugees reached Europe via the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, accounting for 80 percent of the refugees arriving irregularly in Europe by sea in 2015. 

http://aa.com.tr/en/todays-headlines/iom-one-million-refugees-arrived-in-europe-in-2015/494751

WHAT:Almost 3,700 refugees died crossing the Mediterranean and 1,005,504 refugees have arrived in Europe by sea and land so far this year.
WHEN:2015
WHERE:Europe
WHY:Escaping the war 
WHO:Syria refugees
HOW:by sea and by land 

1.Mediterranean地中海
2.Bulgaria保加利亞
3.Persecution迫害
4.poverty貧窮
5.unprecedented空前的
6.flee逃跑
7.joint聯合
8.Afghans阿富汗人
9.Iraqis伊拉克人
10.Aegean Sea愛琴海

Bangkok bombing: Explosive found in Sukhumvit district after police admit they are not CSI

Thailand's police say they found and deactivated an explosive device in Bangkok on 24 August. Police officials said they found the device after receiving reports of a bomb in the Sukhumvit district of the capital.

"I went to check and found a wide bomb. It was left in the house of a construction worker," said Kamthorn Aucharoen, commander of the police's explosive team, according to Reuters. He added that the device has been deactivated and is to be dismantled.

The investigation into the bombing on 17 August that killed 20 people in the capital earlier this month was showing little progress. Earlier, national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung admitted it was possible that the prime suspect in the attack at the revered Erawan Shrine has already left the country.

Somyot said the manhunt was hampered by faulty security cameras that failed to record the suspect's escape route and complained Thai police lacked the sort of technology seen in crime TV series CSI. "Sometimes there are 20 cameras on the street but only five work. We have to waste time putting the dots together," Somyot told a press conference.

"The footage jumps around from one camera to another, and for the missing parts police have to use their imagination. Have you seen CSI? We don't have that," he said, referring to software used in the crime series to clear blurred CCTV images, adding Thailand has asked other countries for cooperation.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing but authorities said the suspect is part of a wider "network" of 10 people. Fingers have been pointed at Uighur militants from north-western china, and Islamists from Indonesia, but no conclusive evidence has so far emerged.

Thai police asked Interpol for help in finding Thailand's most-wanted man, described as a "Caucasian, Arab or mixed race", aged 20 to 30 and about 170cm tall, depicted in a detailed sketch released last week.

Somyot however said police have no clue on the man's whereabouts. "You want the truth? We don't know if the suspect is still in Thailand but I have to assume he still is because we've got no information that he left," he said.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/bangkok-bombing-explosive-found-sukhumvit-district-after-police-admit-they-are-not-csi-1516760

WHO: national police chief Somyot Poompanmoung
WHAT: Police officials said they found the device after receiving reports of a bomb in the Sukhumvit district of the capital.
WHERE: Bangkok
WHEN: August 24, 2015
WHY: Somyot said the manhunt was hampered by faulty security cameras that failed to record the suspect's escape route and complained Thai police lacked the sort of technology seen in crime TV series CSI.
HOW: The footage jumps around from one camera to another, and for the missing parts police have to use their imagination.

1.deactivated關閉
2.Reuters路透社
3.dismantled拆除
4. revered尊敬
5. manhunt搜捕
6.hampered阻礙
7.footage鏡頭
8.militants 武裝分子
9.Interpol國際刑警組織
10. depicted描繪