Hapless Bangladesh workers

Anger is high in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka following the collapse of the Rana Plaza, in which at least 304 clothing factory workers died. The tragedy is the latest and the deadliest in a long line of preventable accidents that has plagued the country's garment industry. The government is questioning the building's owners as to why more than 3,000 workers were allowed to enter the building after large cracks appeared in its walls the day before it collapsed. 

The government also wants to know why building safety standards were ignored in its construction. Bangladesh's Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu told Bangladeshi reporters: "I wouldn't call it an accident; I would say it's murder."

Thousands of furious garment workers rampaged through industrial areas of the capital on Friday. They set fire to over 150 cars and at least two factories. They are protesting at the shocking disregard for safety in buildings, child labour, and pay rates as low as 14 cents an hour. Questions are also being asked of Western clothing brands that depend on cheap clothing from Bangladesh to keep their prices low.

Garments were found inside the building with labels for some of Britain and America's top clothing stores. Western brands have a history of ignoring safety standards and working conditions in Bangladesh and other countries. Labour activists have asked the brands to help pay for safer factories. 

Interesting words: 
1. garment: a piece of clothing
2. plague: noun - an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
verb - to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner
3. tragedy: a very sad event, that shocks people because it involves death:
4. collapse: if a building, wall etc collapses, it falls down suddenly, usually because it is weak or damaged:
5. rampaged: violent or excited behavior that is reckless, uncontrolled, or destructive
6. disregard: to ignore something or treat it as unimportant

Exercises: 

1. TRUE / FALSE:Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	The tragedy at the collapsed building could have been avoided.	T / F
b.	The government has yet to get involved in finding out what happened.	T / F
c.	The builders followed all the correct construction standards.	T / F
d.	A government minister said the incident constituted murder.	T / F
e.	Protesters destroyed other factories and 150 cars on Friday.	T / F
f.	The lowest-paid factory workers receive as little as 40 cents an hour.	T / F
g.	Western brands are asking Bangladesh's government questions.	T / F
h.	Campaigners want Western companies to help pay to improve things.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH:Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	collapse	a.	took no notice of
2	tragedy	b.	clothing
3.	plagued	c.	catastrophe
4.	appeared	d.	rioted
5.	ignored	e.	cave-in
6.	furious	f.	benchmarks
7.	rampaged	g.	irate
8.	garments	h.	troubled
9.	standards	i.	campaigners
10.	activists	j.	materialised

White children nearly a minority in AMERICA

Statistics recently released from the USA's Census Bureau have shown how demographics in the U.S. are changing. The figures show that white children in the country are set to become a minority within the next year or two. It was revealed that currently, 49.9% of American children under the age of five are from non-white backgrounds. Asians and Hispanics will soon become the new majority ethnic groups in the country.
The Bureau gave two main reasons for this trend. One is that birth rates among minority populations are growing faster than those in the white community, especially in the Hispanic community. The second is the steady number of immigrants arriving in America
.
The Bureau also reported that for the first time ever, deaths outnumbered births among whites, in the period between July 2011 and July 2012. During this time, the Hispanic population grew by 2.2 per cent and the number of Asians rose by 2.9 per cent.
Mark Hugo Lopez from the Pew Hispanic Centre says the changes in the make-up of the U.S. population will have a global impact. He said: "The U.S. Hispanic population is second only to Mexico's." He noted that the current U.S. Latino population is larger than those in Peru, Colombia and Spain. He added: "That's something which has an incredible implication not only in the U.S., but as part of a larger Hispanic world."

Interesting words: 

1. statistic: a set of numbers which represent facts or measurements:
2. demographic: information about a group such as the people who live in a particular area:
3. minority: a small group of people or things within a much larger group; a group of people of a different race, religion etc from most other people in that country
4. Hispanics: someone who comes from a country where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken, especially one in Latin America 
5. outnumber: to be more in number than another group
6. implication: a possible future effect or result of an action, event, decision etc
7. incredible: extremely good, large, or great

Exercises: 

1. TRUE / FALSE:Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	A census predicts white kids in the U.S. will be a minority in 20 years.	T / F
b.	49.9% of American kids under five are from non-white backgrounds.	T / F
c.	Afro-Americans will soon become the new majority ethnic group.	T / F
d.	Immigration has little to do with the changing demographics.	T / F
e.	More whites died than were born in the year to July 2012.	T / F
f.	The Asian population in the U.S. grew faster than the Hispanic one.	T / F
g.	The Latino population in the USA outnumbers that in Spain.	T / F
h.	A man said the US's Hispanic population won't impact the wider world.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH:Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	released	a.	presently
2	within	b.	consequence
3.	currently	c.	in history
4.	trend	d.	issued
5.	steady	e.	effect
6.	ever	f.	swing
7.	during	g.	pointed out
8.	impact	h.	inside
9.	noted	i.	in the course of
10.	implication	j.	consistent

Racism

Racism should be decreasing around the world, but it isn't  I think it’s getting worse. It really is one of the worst things in the world. It’s totally illogical and disgusting. How can you hate someone because of the colour of their skin. I know many horrible people who have my skin colour and many beautiful people with different skin colours. I remember at school hearing racist words said to someone. I felt sorry for him. He was the only non-white person in the whole school. I never understood where the hate came from. Racism never leads to anything positive. Accepting people from other races, and religions and cultures, can only bring many positives to the world. I hope my grandchildren live in a less racist world.

Off-putting Mask Festival

They may not be the most aesthetically pleasing group of people you've ever met, but these revellers at the Lucerne Carnival in Switzerland hope their ugly masks will scare off the evil spirits of winter and pave the way for spring.
The festival also features lanterns, costumes and music, and is part of a tradition which can be traced back to the 15th Century.

Interesting words:
1. aesthetically pleasing - beautiful to look at
2. revellers - people who party in a noisy way
3. scare off - to make someone or something worried about something so they decided not to do it
4. pave the way for - make it possible for (something to happen)
5. traced back to - identified as having started in

Exercises: Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from news reports. Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

AESTHETICALLY PLEASING / REVELLERS / SCARE OFF / PAVE THE WAY / TRACED BACK TO
1.Fire purified things. The popularity of setting off fireworks at new year can be ________ that idea of fire purifying.

2.Creatures that achieve world fame for being under threat - the panda, the mountain gorilla, the tiger - tend to be conventionally _________, even cute.

3.As Rio de Janeiro's carnival gets under way, its oldest street parade has drawn an estimated 1.5m ________.

4.Puffing Billy was one of the first steam locomotives to transport coal from Wylam Colliery to Lemington Staithes on the River Tyne.

Developed by Newburn-born engineer William Hedley in 1813, it _______ for the development of the rail industry.

A delicate job for hard man

An unusual sight in a tough environment.
Inmates in a Brazilian prison have been learning how to knit.
The scheme, which sees prisoners working on intricate woollen designs, is a collaboration between prison authorities and a fashion designer.
Prisoners are paid 75 percent of the local minimum wage and also earn days off their sentence.

Interesting words:
1. tough - difficult and strong
2. Inmates - people in prison
3. to knit - to make woollen clothes by creating knots with needles
4. intricate - complex
5. minimum wage - the least amount of money to be legally paid for work done

Exercise: Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from news reports. Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

TOUGH / INMATES / TO KNIT / INTRICATE / MINIMUM WAGE

1. Each doll takes at least a month to make because of the __________detail and design, and thousands of brush strokes are used to create and layer the colour of each doll to make them as life-like as possible.

2. The 136-year-old jail was one of seven prisons shut by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to cut costs. The last __________were transferred to other prisons at the end of February.

3. Bangladesh's __________ for garment workers is currently $38 (£25) a month, the lowest in the world.

4. The parrot had plucked out most of its feathers was said to resemble an oven-ready chicken. A vet said it should be put down but Rebecca Blagg, the charity's coordinator, __________ jumpers to keep it warm.

5. The cave environment is a __________ place in which to make a living, limited in food and essential nutrients, forcing microorganisms to fight over limited resources.