stepbystep3000(3)Unit1.doc

Unit 1 World News: International RelationsPart I Warming upA Tapescripts:1. The former American Defense Secretary William Perry has recommended a radical change of policy towards North Korea. 2. Hundreds of thousands of mothers from across the United States gathered here in Washington Sunday to push for tougher gun control laws. 3. Theres been further fighting between Macedonian forces and Ethnic Albanian guerrillas inside the Macedonian border with Kosovo. 4. A bomb dropped by the United States navy aircraft during training in Kuwait has hit a group of military observers, killing six of them. 5. NATO is taking a number of steps to allay growing disquiet about the possible health risks from ammunitions containing depleted uranium, which it used in Kosovo and Bosnia.B Tapescripts:1. With the final declaration on its role in the 21st century, the summits statement is expected to call on UN members to make commitments to eradicate poverty, promote democracy and education, and reverse the spread of AIDS. More than 150 heads of state and government attended the summit, the largest gathering of world leaders in history.2. The Association of South-East Asian Nations has decided to invite Burma to join its ranks, shrugging off western denunciations of the military regime in Rangoon. ASEAN foreign ministers voted on Saturday to admit Burma, Cambodia, and the Laos.3. The missing, four of them teenagers, were among 35 people aboard a high school fishing vessel from Japan. On Friday, a U.S. nuclear submarine tore through the ship, sinking it within minutes. The USS Greenville, which was not seriously damaged, was performing an emergency surfacing drill when the collision occurred about ten miles south of Pearl Harbor. Coast Guard rescue teams plucked all but nine of the victims from the rough seas.4. Gun battles between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunman have been raiding overnight in the West Bank and Gaza. The upsurge in violence comes after Israeli attack helicopters targeted and killed a member of an elite Palestinian security force.5. Some nuclear facilities in Japan have breached many health and safety laws. Government inspectors checked 17 nuclear plants. More than half of them failed some basic tests, such as checking radiation measurements. Japanese nuclear regulators have been ordered to crack down following the countrys worst nuclear accident in September. Sixty-nine people were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation in the accident.Part II News reportsTapescript:The United Nations General Assembly has elected Columbia, Ireland, Mauritius, Norway and Singapore as the new non-permanent members of the Security Council. The vote follows several weeks of haggling and maneuvering.Columbia, Ireland, and Singapore won the required two thirds majority on the first round of balloting. But it took another three rounds of voting to decide on the remaining two regional seats.Contention marked the voting for the second seat for the African and Asian group. The United States lobbied intensely against Sudan, the candidate of the Organization of African Unity. Mauritius, the candidate supported by Washington, won on the fourth round of voting.Ireland easily captured one of the two seats allotted to the western industrialized group of nations on the first ballot. But Norway and Italy campaigned vigorously for the second spot. King Harald of Norway came to New York last week to press the case for his nations representation on the Security Council for the first time since 1982. Norway also won on the fourth ballot. The new members begin their two-year terms in January. The Security Council is made up of a total of 15 members, including five permanent members - China, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States - and 10 non-permanent members. Five non-permanent members are elected to two-year terms each year.B SummaryTapescript:Forty-eight of the ( United Nations Human Rights Commissions) 53 member nations voted to hold the emergency meeting. The United States cast the sole dissenting vote and Canada abstained. Three other countries did not vote.The special meeting will begin October 18th and will last for no more than three days.UN spokeswoman Marie Heuze says one purpose of the meeting is to try to learn how the cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians can be stopped.When you have such a high-profile for a crisis which is so dangerous, not only for the people in Palestine and in Israel, but in the region, there is a fear - and this is probably why there was a large consensus on this meeting to discuss the issue - because the situation in this part of the world is so volatile, so dangerous, so important to control that everybody thinks that they have something to contribute.Ms Heuze says she thinks the United Nations and the international community as a whole can play a constructive role in the present situation and in trying to get the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Officials from the UN Human Rights Commission will discuss the agenda toward the meeting on Wednesday.This is only the fifth time the commission has gone into emergency meeting to deal with a crisis situation. Previous sessions dealt with the Bosnian war, the genocide in Rwanda, and the violence in East Timor.Questions:1. How many members are there in the UN Human Rights Commission?2. How many of them voted to hold the emergency meeting?3. How many of them didnt vote? 4. Which country cast the dissenting vote?5. Which country abstained? 6. When will the meeting begin?7. How long will it last? 8. Whats the purpose of this meeting?9. How many emergency meetings have been held before this one? What were the three crisis situations that they dealt with?Part III Anti-piracy missionA. The European Union is sending six warships and three surveillance planes to tackle a massive problem - piracy off Somalias waters that has resulted in almost 100 ships being attacked this year alone. The ships take over from NATO vessels now trying to maintain security more than 1.5 million square kilometers. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana recently outlined the tasks facing the new mission. “It will be a very solid operation. It will have robust rules of engagement, the objective will be able to deter, to prevent, to protect and, in particular, to protect the United Nations humanitarian component in those waters vis-vis Somalia.” The EU mission will be headquartered near London and last for at least a year. Vessels from at least eight European countries will escort aid ships and conduct anti-piracy operations. Somali pirates are holding about 16 ships and more than 350 crew off their countrys coast. They generally ask for huge ransoms in exchange for the vessels release. Besides the European Union and NATO operations, private companies are also offering escort services through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, one of the worlds busiest shipping routes.B.Chinese Navys Escort Mission against Piracy The Chinese naval task force has set sail from a port in the southern-most island province of Hainan for Somalia. The ships will take part in an escort mission against piracy. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi elaborated upon the significance of the military move. “The escorting mission of the Chinese navy has won wide applause from the international community, especially African countries and people. China is supportive to the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and efforts of the global cooperation in combating piracy. And we are willing to keep contact and cooperation with other countries naval force on this issue.”Earlier, the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Du Jingcheng said all crew members of the fleet had full confidence in their ability to fulfill the mission.According to the official, the primary mission of the Chinese fleet is to secure vessels, personnel and cargo, but not to hit piracy off the Somali coast directly.“Our targets is, on one hand, to protect the ships and personnel passing through the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia. On the other hand, we are in charge of safeguarding the vessels transporting humanitarian materials from the international organizations. However, we wil