뉴스&스피킹(영자신문)
하루 10분이면 영어에 대한 두려움을 극복하고 누구나 유창하게 영어를 구사하실 수 있습니다.
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China’s Peking University Increases Communist Party Control China’s world-famous Peking University has moved to strengthen Communist Party control and limit dissent.
The move follows demonstrations across the country. Those protests were called to publicize issues such as labor rights and sexual abuse.
Peking University, often called "Beida" for short, has a long history of student activism.
On November 14, the school warned its students against taking part in demonstrations of support for labor-rights activism.
Recent labor-rights demonstrations involved some former Peking University students. The university said that students would be held responsible if they “challenged the law.”
Earlier, the Communist Party committee at Beida reportedly set up groups to carry out inspections as well as “control and management” of the school’s grounds. That information comes from a document released by the committee. The Reuters news agency saw a copy of the document.
The committee held a meeting for all its members on November 13. At the meeting, the committee said one recent Beida graduate who went missing after labor protests had been working with an illegal organization.
Reuters reported that a representative of Peking University said the school was not able to immediately comment on the meeting or warnings to students.
A history of activism
Peking University is set on a huge, tree-covered campus in northwestern Beijing. Its students helped to launch the anti-imperialist May Fourth Movement in 1919. They also were involved in the pro-democracy Tiananmen protests in 1989.
But student activism has been increasingly limited during the presidency of Xi Jinping.
Current and former students of universities have joined with labor activists at protests called to support factory workers fighting for the right to setup their own labor union. International news media have reported on the movement.
The Communist Party announced in October that Qiu Shuiping had been named as the new party secretary at Peking University. Observers say the appointment is a sign of greater restrictions on students. Qiu is a former head of Beijing’s state security office. He has little experience as a school administrator.
Activists disappear
Last weekend, at least 12 labor activists went missing in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan. Most of them were college students or recent college graduates.
Five of the missing were recent graduates of Beida. One of them, Zhang Shengye, was taken by unidentified men and put into a car on the Beida campus. The university told Reuters that the incident was a lawful seizure by police of a suspect and did not involve students.
The incident led to action by a group of students who described themselves as a “concern group for missing Peking university graduates.” Last Sunday, the group gave out information about Zhang and others who had gone missing.
On Monday and Tuesday, warnings reportedly were given to students who had spoken out or supported the labor rights movement. One of those students said the warnings came from teachers, parents and what appeared to be policemen in plain clothing. The student spoke with Reuters, but did not want to be identified.
That person also said students were told Peking University officials formerly had protected them from punishment or other action. The student added that anyone who demonstrated in support of the missing students would no longer be protected.
No one explained what laws the student group had broken or why people had been seized on campus, the student added.
“Zhang Shengye was someone who was concerned about society, cared about the lower classes and was close to workers,” the student told Reuters. “Why would someone like that be treated like this?”
I’m Ashley Thompson.View -
Historic Kilogram Measure to Be Replaced For nearly 130 years, the world’s scientists have used a singular small, metal cylinderto define the exact weight of a kilogram. But that is about to change.
The cylinder was made in 1889 of platinum and iridium metals. It is called the Grand K. The International Bureau of Weights and Measures, or BIPM, keeps the object at its headquarters near Paris. Many safeguards protect the Grand K. In fact, it takes three specially chosen people to open the container that holds the cylinder. They must each release separate locks at exactly the same time to do so.
The Grand K has served as the official world measurement tool for weight in kilograms. All modern mass measurements have been based on the Grand K.
There are seven main units of official measure. These include the meter for length, and the second for time. Other units measure things like electrical current or amounts of a substance.
Currently, the kilogram is the only measure based on a physical object. The meter used to be represented by a singular metal stick. In 1983, scientists decided that a meter would be defined by the speed of light. Light speed is constant. Light always takes the same amount of time to travel one meter.
The Grand K was only rarely – and always extremely carefully – removed so that other kilos sent from around the world could be compared to it.
But even such rare contact does not fully protect the Grand K and its mass. It is still affected by its environment. This can be a problem when using it as the single exact weight measurement tool.
Ian Robinson is an engineering specialist at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory. He told Reuters that pollutants in the atmosphere can easily add weight to the historic measuring tool.
“When you just get it out of the vault, it’s slightly dirty,” Robinson said. “But the whole process of cleaning or handling or using the mass can change its mass.”
Now, officials at the BIPM believe the time is right to change the kilogram standard, to make it fit better in today’s technology-driven world. So on November 16, scientists from around the world will gather in Paris to approve replacing the Grand K with a new standard.
BIPM’s director, Martin Milton, told the Associated Press he does not see the event as a sad development, but as “a moment of celebration.” He says this is because it will be the last world measurement standard to “finally be replaced by new innovation.”
The Grand K is to be replaced by a new definition based on a complex physics formula called “Planck’s constant.” This process can measure the mass of an object using electromagnetic force. The method will permit scientists to correctly measure an exact kilogram without comparing it directly with the weight of a physical object.
Milton says changes in drug and chemical production now require new ways to measure much smaller amounts of material. He says a kilo is fine for weighing things like potatoes, where extreme exactness is not necessary.
“But it's not the right weight for many applications in demanding science and industry,” he said.
Scientists have spent years developing the new definition to make sure the change goes smoothly.
Although the time has finally come to change the Grand K, Milton says the system has served humanity well and proved man’s ability to unite for science. “It’s been called a great work of peace, actually, because it’s one of the areas where all of the states of the world come together with absolutely the same objective.”
I’m Bryan Lynn.View -
Indonesia’s Goal of Food Sovereignty Remains a Work in Progress Four years after taking office, Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s goal of food sovereignty continues to be a work in progress.
The president, known locally as “Jokowi,” believes Indonesians should be able to produce as much rice, corn and soy as the country needs. But the government’s decision to import 100,000 tons of corn for animal feed through the end of 2018 shows how far Indonesia is from the goal.
The Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture said the decision was made because the price of corn has risen as a result of transportation costs and other issues, not a decrease in production.
Agung Hendriadi is head of the Food Security Agency at the Ministry of Agriculture. He said that Indonesia produces enough corn to meet the local demand. “In fact, our production has a surplus,” he said.
As of 2018, the country produces 28.48 million tons of corn.
Food sovereignty vs. security
Dwi Andreas Santosa is a professor at the Bogor Agricultural Institute in Bogor, Indonesia. He says the idea of food sovereignty includes protecting farmers against what he called an unfair international trading system.
Santosa said that importing large amounts of commodities almost always hurts farmers. The goal of food sovereignty is different from food security, he added. Food sovereignty means a country can produce as much food as it needs. Food security means a country will find the food it needs, whether it be from production or imports.
The Indonesian National Statistics Agency reports that Indonesia increased its farm exports by 24 percent from 2016 to 2017. But Santosa argued the country’s needs for imported commodities has also increased.
“(Importing of) seven main commodities rose from 21.7 million tons in 2014 to 25.5 million tons in 2017. Last year, Indonesia became the biggest wheat importer,” he said, adding that Indonesia imported 12.5 million tons of wheat in 2017.
Wheat imports
Indonesian farmers cannot grow wheat in the country. And because the government reduced imports of corn by 60 percent, wheat imports for animal feed jumped by 1,500 percent between 2015 and 2016.
Hendriadi explained that his ministry has a program to change the commodities used in food production to reduce imports. They will use locally produced crops instead of using imports.
Widiyanto is with Oxfam, an alliance of 20 independent aid groups. He said Jokowi’s government needs to create a national food agency if it really wants food sovereignty.
In Indonesia, the agriculture ministry supervises the production of crops, while prices are controlled by the trade ministry. Farm stock is the responsibility of the Logistics Affairs Agency.
Widiyanto noted that Indonesia has lost more than 600,000 hectares of farmland over the past five years. That leaves the country with 7.1 million hectares of active land. But the majority of the farmers own less than 2 hectares of land.
The Oxfam official agreed with a presidential decree announced on October 10. The measure will guarantee land certification for farmers, enabling them to borrow money and take on more land. It also gives Indonesians rights to deal with local forestry issues.
Truthful information about production
The government has also admitted that a lack of correct, detailed information is one of the biggest problems for Indonesian agriculture.
Starting this year, rice production numbers will come only from the National Statistics Agency or BPS. Santosa said that the BPS does not have conflict of interest concerns, but other agencies might.
Santosa said the idea of food sovereignty should aim to increase the earnings of farmers since they are the most important people in food production.
Fewer farmers
At present, Indonesian agriculture is losing money and many farmers have left their fields for other work. Yet the government seems mainly concerned with the amount of production and export.
“Indonesia lost 5 million farmers who stopped farming activity in the last 10 years,” Widiyanto said.
But Hendriadi said he sees an improvement since the presidential decree.
“Jokowi’s program (for food sovereignty) is running well, we are already self-sufficient in rice,” he added.
I’m Susan Shand.View -
Rohingya Fearful of Modern Medicine, Keep Faith Healers in Business Abul Kalam sits cross-legged on the floor of his small home and quietly says prayers into a small plastic bottle filled with water.
Kalam says he is creating a potion that will cure stomach pain. He says, “I got these powers in my dreams. People come to me because I heal them.”
Kalam is a faith healer, or boidu in the local language. For many years, he has been treating Rohingya Muslims, first in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and now at a camp in Bangladesh. Last year about 700,000 Rohingya took refuge in the camp after escaping a campaign of government violence at home.
Faith healers have long been sought out in Rohingya society to treat physical and mental conditions. Their business has survived, in part, because of traditional beliefs and partly because Rohingya rarely receive modern medical care in Myanmar, which has a Buddhist majority. They are considered one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world
Medical care has improved in Bangladesh. Thousands of aid workers there offer Rohingya everything from vaccinations to mental health support.
Doctors Without Borders operates four hospitals and 12 medical centers along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar. The group says it has provided help to 800,000 patients and admitted another 15,000 patients to hospitals since August 2017.
Yet many Rohingya still want their faith healers.
Sixty-year-old Kalam is a faith healer who arrived in Bangladesh in 2012. He says he receives more than five patients each day.
He says, “People come to me because they benefit from my power. That’s why they keep coming back.”
Myanmar officials have announced plans to begin bringing Rohingya back to Myanmar this week. Some rights groups have criticized the move. They say it is not yet safe in Rahkine state for the Rohingya.
Anita Saha is a mental health worker who has worked in the camps since August 2017. She says Rohingya refugees’ dependence on faith healers comes from a lack of understanding of science and doctors.
Saha says many refugees mistakenly believe they will lose their Islamic faith and become Christians if they take vaccinations for diseases. And in the case of mental conditions, she says, many believe it is caused by evil forces and can be healed with prayer.
“They believe in the boidus to overcome their problem,” Saha says. She says beliefs in the camps are slowly changing.
Ali Nesa has never known what is wrong with her teenage daughter. She spends her day lying on the floor of her family’s shelter in the refugee camp. She is unable to talk, walk or eat on her own.
Nesa says her daughter has been this way since she was three years old. At that time, she experienced epileptic seizures for nearly two weeks.
Nesa says, “I don’t know if her disease is due to an evil spirit or because of difficulty in breathing. If this is because of an evil spirit, then only a boidu can treat her. If it is a breathing problem, then a doctor may be able to help her.”
Nesa says none of the many boidus she has visited has been able to help her daughter and she is losing her faith in them. She is now interested in seeking medical help.
Climate extremes and unhealthy conditions make the camps a good place for diseases to spread and people to develop mental health problems.
That means there is plenty of work for doctors. It also means there is plenty of business for faith healers like Kalam, who does not care if people do not believe in his powers.
He says, “I can’t be worried by what people have to say. Maybe the doctor will say what does a boidu know? I don’t want to answer them. I don’t need to fight them.”
I’m Jonathan Evans.View -
Remembering Paradise, a Town Destroyed by Fire The numbers of dead and missing continue to rise in what is being called California’s deadliest wildfire.
By Friday, officials said at least 63 people had died. Six hundred thirty-one people are listed as missing from the fire in Northern California. And three people are dead as a result of another fire near Los Angeles in Southern California.
The Sheriff of Butte County said the number of missing people probably includes some who fled the fire. He said he is making the list public so people can let officials know if they survived.
About 52,000 people have fled. They have sought shelter in the homes of friends and relatives, hotels and even in the parking lot of a Walmart store in the town of Chico.
The fire in Northern California began about one week ago in Paradise, a town of 27,000 people.
There is a story about Paradise.
More than 170 years ago, a group of workers enjoyed their break in the forest with the cool air and the fresh smell of pine needles. The team leader commented, “Boys, this is paradise.”
That is, how they say, Paradise was born.
Over generations, thousands of people came to live there. They worked in gold mines and harvested trees from the forests. They built homes, schools, businesses and places of religion.
But, in a few hours last week, much of that was destroyed.
It is estimated that the fire has destroyed 9,000 homes and hundreds of businesses. The Honey Run Covered Bridge, built in 1886, was among the historic structures lost.
Patrick Knuthson’s family has lived in Paradise for four generations. He pointed out the burned-out structures that were once a hotel, a pawn shop, a property office, a liquor store, and an auto repair shop, and his favorite Mexican restaurant.
People who live in Paradise say children could bike to the park and go fishing in the pond. As they got older, they would play in the river or hike in the forests after school.
Kaitlin Norton, whose uncle is still missing, does not know if her home still stands. She told the Associated Press, “We could tell the kids to go outside and play, and be back when the street lights come on.”
Harold Taylor moved to Paradise eight years ago to care for his mother until she died. Taylor said, “The most cherished thing for me about Paradise were the summer nights my mother and I would sit out on the porch under the clear, starry night.”
The Gold Nugget Museum, a reminder of the town's gold-mining past, was damaged.
Each spring there were Gold Nugget Days to mark the discovery of a 54-pound gold nugget in 1859. The people would hold a parade to recreate how miners carried the heavy nugget into town.
“My daughter’s going out for the Gold Nugget Queen this year,” said Krystin Harvey, whose home burned down. “Well, it’s been going on for 100 years, but we don’t know — there’s no town now,” she said.
Tom Hurst is 67 years old. He grew up in Paradise and raised horses at his Outlaw’s Roost ranch. He said, “Paradise is everything the name implies.”
Hurst refuses to talk about the town as something of the past. Some buildings still stand, including the town hall, the 750-seat performing arts center, and the Feather River Hospital.
“Don’t use the word ‘was,’ use the word ‘is,’ because we ain’t done, we’re just getting restarted,” Hurst said.
I’m Caty Weaver.View