JAKARTA IS SINKING

 

With more than 10 million inhabitants the Indonesian megacity is facing the effects of land subsidence and sea level rise . A lethal combo that along with the Indonesian climate facilitates floods .

"The potential for Jakarta to be submerged isn't a laughing matter," says Heri Andreas, who has studied Jakarta's land subsidence for the past 20 years at the Bandung Institute of Technology.

COLOMBIA'S SPRING RIOTS

 

On the 28th of April tens of thousands of people started to protest in many Colombian cities  against the tax reform announced by the  government of President Iván Duque Márquez .

'' When people take to the streets  during a pandemic , it means that the government is more dangerous than the virus '', it was written on the placard of a protester .

CHINA: REEDUCATION CAMPS OR CONCENTRATION CAMPS? THE PERSECUTION OF THE UYGHUR MINORITY

The other day  while I was scrolling the home page  of YouTube, I came across a video that struck me. It was about some facilities discovered in China thanks to satellite images. The surprising thing is that from above you can see the shadows of fences , a surrounding wall and some watchtowers . But what are exactly these facilities? To understand it we have to know  first the history of the Uyghurs .

The  Uyghurs  are a Turkic ethnic minority which lives mainly in Xingjian province of northwestern China.They are closer to the capital of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan than to Beijing. They are also closer culturally to those Turkic groups than they are to the Han ( China's ethnic majority ) .

READING THE NEWSPAPERS

Teenagers usually don’t like reading the newspaper - or reading in general -  but if you want to enrich your vocabulary reading is very useful. We tried this activity in pairs during one of our recent lessons: our teacher brought real English newspapers and we leafed through the pages in search of interesting news or curiosities. Our task was writing down a summary of the article giving the reasons why we had chosen it . It was quite useful and here are the results of our work in pairs.

WE ARE BACK!

HELLO WORLD!

LET’S BLOG HERE!

WEIRD! ODD NEWS FROM GABRIELE AND G.B.

Hi guys, today we are going to tell you about strange events. We are used to watch television and listen to news about politics or sport. But if you surf on Internet you can find a lot of strange news like a girl who sent a message to the police for help with her homework or a waitress who drags a giant lizard out of a restaurant.

ARE WE NOT ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE ?

Hi guys, Camilla and Francesca here! We would like to post about the breaking news of the day, that is NASA discovery.

THE WOMEN’S MARCH

The Women's March took place on 21 January in Washington DC., the day after Donald Trump inaugurated his time at the White House as the new US President. A march to protest for their rights, to raise awareness of women's rights and other civil rights that are thought to be under attack by the new president Donald Trump. It was such a huge march that it will be remembered as one of the most significant events in American history.

ISIS: DO WE REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE?

IS or ISIS: We've heard them mentioned so often on the news lately but do we really know what they are? 

I.S. (Islamic State) also known as Isis (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or Isil (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) are acronyms of "Al Dawla Al Islamiya fi to Iraq wa al Sham", the name of a terrorist organization Islamic jihad mold, active since 2006 between Iraq and Syria. There is also the Daesh variant, which has the same meaning, but with a negative meaning because it resembles another Arabic term that stands for "of discord bearer."

MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY

Today, Monday 16th January, it's a special day in the USA. It is "Martin Luther King Day" (or King Day or MLK Day) and this is a federal holiday. It is celebrated annually on the 3rd Monday of January to commemorate the birthday of American civil rights leader Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (15th January 1929). 

Martin Luther King was hugely influential in the American Civil Rights Movement (despite never holding public office) and was a major advocate of non-violent activism in the struggle for the end of racial discrimination under US law. He was assassinated in 1968.

JANUARY 2017 - NEW TERRORIST ATTACKS

Unfortunately, terrorists who in most cases are related to ISIS,  which is recognized by media as a terroristic group, have already hit MORE THAN ONCE in this new year: I would say a bad way to inaugurate 2017.

The first terrorist attack was planned in Istanbul just on New Year’s Eve, an act who reminds us of The Bataclan slaughtering in Paris.

The method used for these two attacks is practically the same: sure enough they shoot at the crowd in a public area, killing and wounding the mass and diffusing terror.

BEWARE!!! THE VIDEOS BELOW CAN BE TRULY SHOCKING!

BULLYING: A MONSTER TO FIGHT

Last month a girl, Brandy Vela (see picture on the left) killed herself, putting a gun to her chest while her family begged her not to. She was 18 years old and she had been relentlessly bullied.

Brandy’s sister says she had always been bullied for her weight. Brandy had to change her phone number and had even reported the bullying to the police, but was told they couldn’t help her. They couldn’t do anything because the suspects used an app and it wasn’t traceable and they couldn’t do anything until something happened.

Jackie said she knew something was wrong when she got a text from Brandy on Tuesday saying “I love you so much, please remember that, and I’m sorry for everything”. Worried, she called her parents and grandparents. They rushed home to their house in Texas City, where they found Brandy in her room with a gun. The family pleaded with the teen not to pull the trigger. But Brandy had made up her mind. 

ED SHEERAN IS BACK!

  

After a break lasted more than a year Ed Sheeran's back with two new songs. More than a year ago the singer decided to take a break and not to post anything for a while (a tragedy for his fans)

“Hello all. I’m taking a break from my phone, emails and all social media for a while, I’ve had such an amazing ride over the last 5 years but I find myself seeing the world through a screen and not my eyes so I’m taking this opportunity of me not having to be anywhere or do anything I missed. To my family and friends, if you love me you will understand me buggering off for a bit, to my fans, the 3rd album is on its way and is the best thing I have made thus far. See you all next autumn, and thank you for being amazing”

Ed Sheeran wrote before getting rid of his iPhone and getting a Nokia 3310. But now he is back!He posted a  video where he said that on 6th January  he was going to release new music probably from his new album. So here we are!  6 January is today!!!

TERROR & DEATH IN BERLIN AND ANKARA

                      

19th December 2016 - Something terrible happened: two men killed 12 people and 48 people were wounded.

How did they act? They hit the Christmas Markets with a 7-tonne truck. In the truck there were two men: one was found dead, the other would have jumped out and fled on foot.

NICO ROSBERG: A YOUNG F1 CHAMPION

In these last days we have heard a lot about Nico Rosberg. He is a Formula 1 pilot and he drives for the Mercedes team. He has recently become the new Formula 1 world champion and he has surprised everyone a few days later with his decision to quit F1 forever! Isn't that unbelievable? Anyway, we must be happy for him since this means Nico is totally free and  the priorities in his life are really cear in his mind. But what are we going to discuss here in this post today? Just 6 curious things about Nico Rosberg, the latest F1 champion! 

CHAPECOENSE: CHAMPIONS IN HEAVEN

On the night of November 28, 2016 a plane with 81 people aboard,  the charter airline Boliviana Lamia, heading for the airport of Medellin, crashed in Cerro Gordo, 57 km from the Colombian capital. Aboard also the Chapecoense Brazilian team,  Santa Catarina state, which flew to the final of the South American Cup (the equivalent of the Europa League) against Atletico Nacional. For Chapecoense is the first end of the story.

WILL DONALD TRUMP KEEP HIS PROMISES?

Donald Trump has won victory in the presidential race, but no one is quite sure what he  will actually do in office. We usually hope presidents keep the promises they made as candidates once they get started. Unfortuantely, we are not actually sure we want that to happen this time! 

Here, we look back at 7 of Trump’s professed beliefs from an article from BBC News:

1. The US should use waterboarding

This and other methods of "strong interrogation" should be deployed in its fight against the Islamic State group. These methods, Mr Trump said, are "peanuts" compared to the tactics used by the militants, such as beheadings

MOST OUTRAGEOUS DONALD TRUMP QUOTES

The new US President is going to be elected  in a few days.  In this post we are going to list the most outrageous statements of one of the two candidates: Mr Donald Trump.