Christmas tree in Brazil
More than a hundred thousand locals and tourists turned out in Rio de Janeiro. They all came to see the 279 foot tree (85 meters).
The tree was covered by 3.1 million lights which could form different pictures. The pictures shown represented five different things: water, air, forests, humanity and Christmas. Water was represented by blue lights and aquatic creatures. Birds symbolized air. Green color and monkeys stood for forests. People who held hands represented humanity and Christmas.
This Christmas tree ceremony began in 1996 and has become Rio’s third biggest tourist event.
Difficult words: turn out (come to an event), humanity (people and kindness), aquatic creatures (water animals).
Woman between two houses
It might seem unlikely, but this news is from California, not China.
A woman stood on a flat roof and she fell down. After the 25 foot (7.6 meters) fall, she became trapped between two houses. Firefighters arrived one hour after the incident and managed to pull the woman to safety. She appeared to be alert. Rescue workers put her on a stretcher.
No information has been released about the woman’s injuries. There is also no further detail on how she fell.
Difficult words: trapped (stuck), alert (able to think and communicate), stretcher (thing used for carrying injured people).
Man throws away a lot of money
An IT technician used to have a hard drive. It was in his drawer for years, but he threw it away one day.
He probably forgot or didn’t care about the 7,500 bitcoins which were on it. Bitcoin is a digital currency which now has massively increased in value. The 7,500 bitcoins are worth millions. The man didn’t lose anything, but he didn’t gain anything either. He is devastated.
Bitcoin trades 24/7. Its value depends on people’s confidence in the currency. The value has increased, but you still cannot pay any major retailer web site with it.
Difficult words: devastated (extremely shocked and sad), confidence (trust), retailer (business that sells something).
Camps in North Korea
Images of two political prison camps in North Korea were released.
Some of the camps have grown larger. The bigger one now stretches 560 square kilometers. It’s thought that up to 200,000 prisoners, including children, are being tortured and killed.
The political prison camps in North Korea are very important to the government which wants to keep control over its population.
A human rights group is calling on the North Korean government to close down the camps, but North Korea simply denies the camps exist.
Difficult words: stretch (cover a large area), torture (to hurt someone), deny (say tat something isn’t true).
Man under a ship
A boat capsized off of the Nigerian coast. A 29 year old man, who worked as a cook on the boat, was trapped under the upturned boat for nearly three days.
He survived inside a four foot high (1.2 meters) air bubble. Footage of his miraculous rescue has been published. A diver filmed him when he found the man. The diver reassured the man and gave him an oxygen mask. He told him not to panic and listen to him. The man was then taken out and brought home.
The cook was the only survivor.
Difficult words: capsize (turn over), miraculous (unbelievable), reassure (to make somebody calmer and less worried).
Boy in a well
Getting stuck is serious business in China. A two year old boy fell into a deserted well and got stuck ten meters below the ground.
Luckily, the local fire crew was alerted immediately and arrived on the scene within half an hour. They first supplied the boy with oxygen and then one of the firefighters managed to squeeze himself into the narrow well. The firefighter along with the boy were then lifted to safety.
Medical workers at the site said that the boy had suffered only some scratches. The boy was later sent to hospital.
Difficult words: deserted (not used anymore), oxygen (gas which we breath), squeeze (press to fit).
Whales in Florida
Something sad happened in a national park in Florida. Ten whales became beached on the shore. Four of them died before rangers could return them to the water.
Workers at the national park near the Gulf of Mexico fought to keep the animals wet. The whales are believed to be short-finned pilot whales. Around thirty more whales were also stranded in shallow waters.
The rangers hope that when the water rises, the whales will be able to swim back out to sea. The short-finned whales are typically found in deep waters.
Difficult words: fin (thin part that a fish uses to swim), stranded (stuck), shallow (not deep).
Protesters in Ukraine
The Ukrainian president made a surprising decision. He stopped the cooperation with the EU in favor of Russia.
This decision was so shocking that 350,000 people protested in the Ukrainian capital city. The protesters were led by the Ukrainian opposition, and they were very aggressive. They threw rocks at the riot police which were fighting the protesters. One man was attacked and beaten by three officers and he wasn’t even defending himself.
The riot police broke up the demonstration, but the opposition said that this will not be the end.
Difficult words: in favor (Ukraine will cooperate with Russia instead of the EU), riot police (police which fights protesters), break up (win).
Felix has a new mission
Felix is a famous daredevil. He made history last year when he jumped from a capsule which was 24 miles (39 kilometres) above the ground.
He broke the sound barrier and set a new world record. Before the jump, he could see the curve of the Earth. When he looked up, the sky above him was completely black.
Felix has told media about his new mission recently. It is not as exciting as the 24-mile jump, but there is still some action. Felix is learning how to fly a helicopter. He wants be a firefighter and a mountain rescue pilot.
Difficult words: daredevil (person who does dangerous things), capsule (part of a spacecraft for people), curve (line that bends like part of a circle).
Old bomb in Serbia
Serbian construction workers were digging when they found something shocking. It was an unexploded bomb from World War II.
The bomb was buried six meters underground. Experts say that the one-ton bomb was made in Germany. It contains 620 kilograms of explosives.
Local residents were evacuated from the area and the bomb was transferred to a military base where the bomb will be destroyed safely.
Difficult words: dig (move earth), resident (person who lives somewhere), transfer (move).