Week 4 - Global Ice Bucket Challenge

Global Ice Bucket Challenge helps change the lives of kiwis living with MND

The global social media phenomenon, the Ice Bucket Challenge, has bought in much needed funds for kiwis living with MND and raised unprecedented awareness of the fatal disease says Beth Watson, President of the Motor Neurone Disease Association of New Zealand.

The challenge, known overseas as the ALS[1] Ice Bucket Challenge, sees participants have a bucket of ice water tipped on their head to promote awareness of motor neurone disease (MND) and encourage donations to MND. Beth was an early participant in New Zealand after being challenged by Carol Birks, the President of the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations.

The challenge has raised at least £1 million (NZ$1.9 million) in the United Kingdom and US$88 million (NZ$105 million) for ALS in the United States where the challenge originated.

In New Zealand, National Manager of the Motor Neurone Disease Association Grant Diggle says it has generated huge interest from the public since it went viral during July and August this year, including around $15,000 in donations when MND NZ usually receives around $2,000 on average, a month.

One person who will undertake the challenge this Saturday is 40-year-old doctor, Claire Reilly from Geraldine, who is living with MND.

“When I was training to be a doctor at Otago this was the disease we all feared the most. That’s because it’s like slowly watching your body die. You’re still the same person you’ve always been but now you’re locked in a body that won’t listen,” says Claire.

“This year about 100 people will die from MND and another 100 will be diagnosed. It doesn’t discriminate and most of those diagnosed will die within two to five years.

“I’m hoping that by tipping a bucket of water over my head that I can do something about this dreadful illness,” says Claire.

The association thanks Claire and other New Zealanders who have undertaken the challenge or supported those who have.

“We are really humbled by Claire’s efforts. As if having MND isn’t challenging enough,” Grant says.

“We’d like to thank everyone who has rallied around the cause and supported people living with MND in New Zealand – we welcome any donation big or small. The funds will be used to help people with MND in New Zealand get the right help at the right time. Funding our fieldworkers is an ongoing challenge for us.

“While the amount of money and awareness raised here is small by global standards, it is significant for the near 300 people in New Zealand currently living with MND and will certainly help the Association to support them as they battle with this illness,” says Grant.

“And the massive amount of money raised globally is certainly good news for kiwis with MND if it helps to fund an eventual treatment,” he says.

From: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1408/S00515/gobal-ice-bucket-challenge-helps-change-lives.htm

When: Thursday, 28 August 2014

Where: New Zealand

What: Gobal Ice Bucket Challenge

Who: Motor Neurone Disease Association NZ

Why: Raised unprecedented awareness of the fatal disease, MND

How: The challenge, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

KEYWORD

kiwis living 新西蘭人的生活

MND 運動神經元病

President of the Motor Neurone Disease Association of New Zealand 新西蘭的運動神經元疾病協會主席

diagnosed 診斷

Week 2 - South Korean ferry disaster

Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- The South Korean ferry disaster that killed more than 260 people last month was caused in part by excessive cargo and a failure to tie that cargo down properly, the joint police and prosecuting team investigating the disaster said Tuesday.

It marked the first time South Korean investigators said what they believe led to the April 16 sinking of the ferry Sewol, which was carrying 467 passengers and crew -- including more than 300 high school students on a field trip -- when it capsized.

Investigators said they've indicted four employees of the ferry's owner, Cheonghaejin Marine Co., in the last two weeks, including a senior executive Tuesday. Details about the charges weren't immediately available.

Authorities took aim at the cargo Tuesday, saying its weight was more than double the ship's limit.

The cargo wasn't tied properly -- and the loosely tied goods helped cause the ship to capsize, senior prosecutor Yang Joong-jin said "The lashing devices that should have held cargo goods steady were loose, and some of the crew members did not even know" how to use them correctly, Yang said. Investigators had been probing the possibility the ship overturned because cargo shifted and forced the ship off balance.

At least 269 people died in the disaster, which happened while the ferry was traveling from Incheon to the resort island of Jeju, off South Korea's southwestern coast. Thirty-five people still are unaccounted for, according to the country's coast guard.

Officials: Firm got $2.9 million for extra cargo since'13

Tuesday's news came nearly a week after South Korean authorities searched Cheonghaejin Marine's offices as part of a criminal investigation.

This trip wasn't the first time the ferry had excess cargo, the joint investigation team said Tuesday.Since the Sewol began the Incheon-Jeju route in March 2013, the ferry carried excess cargo 139 times, investigators said.

Cheonghaejin Marine earned an extra 62 million South Korean won ($62,000) for the excess cargo on the April 16 voyage, and nearly 3 billion South Korean won ($2.9 million) in extra profit for all of the excess cargo that the ferry carried since March 2013, investigators said.

Diver dies as search for bodies continues

The grim task of retrieving bodies from the sunken ferry was dealt a painful blow Tuesday when an experienced diver lost consciousness and died.

But the nearly 130 divers continued combing the ship despite the loss of their colleague, identified as Lee. His full name was not provided.

Five minutes into his dive, he apparently had problems with his oxygen supply.

"By the time his colleagues went to save him, Lee was unconscious and unable to breathe by himself," government spokesman Koh Myung-suk said.

Lee had been diving for 30 years, officials said.

Since the first day when many escaped the sinking ship, no one has been found alive.

Over the weekend, South Korean President Park Geun-hye visited the port where the rescue operation is based to console families and encourage divers.

Corralling the debris has been difficult for search teams.

Mattresses and clothing from the ship have been found up to 9 miles (15 kilometers) away from the accident site, said Park Seung-ki, a spokesman for the rescue operation.

Large stow and trawler nets will be set up around the sunken ship to catch items that may float away, he said. At the same time, some three dozen ships will be clearing an oil spill from the ferry, which is threatening the livelihood of the local fishermen.

From: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/06/world/asia/south-korea-ship-sinking/

When: April 16, 2014

What: Ferry disaster

Who: Korean on the ferry

Where: Incheon to the resort island of Jeju, off South Korea's southwestern coast

Why: Too much cargo contributed to sinking

How: The ferry overturned.

cargo: 貨物

capsized: 翻船

port: 港口

Corralling: (網子)撈到

debris: 廢物:碎片

Week 3 - University of Santa Barbara.

The plot may have been years in the making, but the killer gave just minutes' notice before he rained terror across a Southern California community.

Now, shattered glass and flowers mark the path of horror created by a young man bent on getting his revenge for perceived slights and chronic problems with women.

Six victims and the assailant are dead, and 13 people were wounded, authorities said. Three of the wounded are still being treated at at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, spokeswoman Maria Zate told CNN on Monday. Two are in good condition and one is in fair condition.

In the three days since the rampage, a slew of new information has emerged about the victims, the suspect and what led up to the stabbings and shootings.

Here's what we know:

The rampage started with his roommates

Authorities now know Elliot Rodger's killing spree across Isla Vista began before he even left home.

The 22-year-old former Santa Barbara City College student fatally stabbed three young men in his own apartment -- George Chen, 19, Cheng Yuan Hong, 20, and Weihan Wang, 20.

Chen and Hong were the attacker's roommates.

A friend of Rodger's family said Rodger recently had a feud with his roommates, complaining to his landlord that his roommates were too noisy and played lots of video games.

The assailant himself outlined his plan to kill two roommates in a 137-page manifesto he left behind.

"I'd even enjoy stabbing them both to death while they slept," Rodger wrote.

The assailant had been seeing therapists

Rodger's history of mental health issues was no secret to his family, and the young man was seeing at least two therapists prior to his death.

He had been seeing therapists on and off since he was 8, family friend Simon Astaire said. When he went to high school in Van Nuys, California, he met with a therapist "pretty much every day," Astaire said.

Rodger's family contacted police after discovering social media posts about suicide and killing people, family spokesman and attorney Alan Shifman told reporters Saturday.

Six policemen showed up at Rodger's home in Isla Vista on April 30, but they found nothing alarming. So they told Rodger to call his mother and they reassured her that he was OK, according to Astaire.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters Saturday that at the time, deputies "determined he did not meet the criteria for an involuntary hold."

Brown said Rodger told deputies it was a misunderstanding and that he was not going to hurt anyone or himself. Rodger said he was having troubles with his social life.

But long before that, Rodger was plotting his deadly "Day of Retribution."

"I had the striking and devastating fear that someone had somehow discovered what I was planning to do, and reported me for it," Rodger wrote about the police visit, toward the end of his manifesto. "If that was the case, the police would have searched my room, found all of my guns and weapons, along with my writings about what I plan to do with them.

"I would have been thrown in jail, denied of the chance to exact revenge on my enemies. I can't imagine a hell darker than that."

From: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/26/justice/california-killing-spree/   (CNN)

When: 2014/5/24

What: Rodger killed six people

Who: Elliot Rodger

Where: University of California, Santa Barbara

Why: because of his Antisocial Personality Disorder

How: by gun and knife

feud: 仇恨

manifesto: 宣言

Retribution: 報應