Week 7 - Himalayia

Death toll climbs as Nepal rescuers search for missing hikers in Himalayas

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN) -- The grim search for missing hikers and bodies buried under snow continued Thursday against the dramatic backdrop of Nepal's Himalayas, as officials confirmed that at least 27 people had died in an exceptionally heavy snowfall.
Rescue crews combed the high altitude paths and passes of the popular Annapurna region as well as the neighboring Manang district for missing trekkers.
Nine stranded Israeli tourists were rescued Thursday, as well as three Canadians and four Indians who were pulled to safety, according to the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal.
The trekkers' group said it deployed helicopters to rescue hikers stranded by snow, floodwaters and avalanches unleashed along the popular Himalayan trekking trails by heavy snow Tuesday.


Regional administrator Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya told CNN that 14 trekkers were now known to have died near the iconic 5,416-meter (17,770-foot) Thorung La Pass in Mustang district, the highest point of the popular 21-day Annapurna Circuit trek.

The bodies recovered so far include Israelis, Nepalis and Poles, he said. Three remain buried under snow.

Even as the total death toll climbed from the 17 reported Wednesday, Thapaliya warned that there are chances of finding more people dead or lost around the pass.

A Nepal army team made it up to 16,000 feet -- still short of the pass -- on Thursday on the side of the mountain where the 14 bodies were found. But more could be found in the final 1,800 feet of ascent, officials fear.

'This is the dangerous part'

At the same time, there has been no search at all yet on the other side of the pass, which falls in Manang district, Thapaliya said.

Friday's search efforts will be concentrated there. "This is the dangerous part," he said.

There has been no contact with the remote area even by phone, he said.

One Israeli was rescued from near the pass Thursday, having been stuck since Tuesday.

Three trekkers have been confirmed as missing, two of them Indian and one Japanese.

However, government records suggest another dozen may be missing after taking into account the 14 confirmed dead so far below Thorung La Pass.

The chief district officer of Mustang district, Baburam Bhandari, said that on Monday and Tuesday, 346 trekkers had left for the pass and 320 of them had crossed -- leaving 26 people unaccounted for.

The pass is not the only area to see deaths due to the unseasonably heavy snow.

The bodies of another five trekkers, four Canadians and an Indian, were found in Manang district, Thapaliya said. Three Nepali farmers were also killed.

Further west, five mountaineers -- two Slovaks and three Nepalis -- lost their lives in an avalanche Tuesday night near Nepal's seventh highest peak, Mount Dhaulagiri, officials said.

Altogether, 320 people have now been rescued as of Thursday, more than half of them from Manang district, said Bhandari.



Those who manage the steep ascent at energy-sapping high altitude to the Thorung La Pass are normally rewarded with breathtaking panoramic views.

But on Tuesday morning everything changed.

Trekkers spend the night at local camps on either side of the mountain before they set out, sometimes as early as 4 a.m., to make the crossing, said Bidur Kuikel of Annapurna Conservation Area project.

"On Tuesday heavy snowfall began at about 8 a.m.," he said. "There was no visibility beyond three meters."

Since the tracks were covered by snow, people could have fallen down or become lost, he said. Those traveling on their own rather than in organized groups are usually most likely to lose their way, he said.

As anxious families wait for news, army and police personnel continued to search the area below the Thorung La Pass in Mustang district on Thursday, Bhandari said.

A Facebook page, Annapurna Nepal Avalanche and Blizzard Info Share, has been set up to try to connect worried relatives with those in Nepal. Some trekkers who have made it down from the remote pass have posted updates to help others.

One, Virginia Schwartz, wrote: "Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and prayers, we are safe. We are trekking out of the avalanche danger zone and heading back down along the circuit."

Another, Nic Brdo from Perth in Western Australia, wrote: "I've just got out of base camp evac'd by heli and would advise to not go up. Flying to Pokhara the amount of snow in the pass (was) astounding."

'Trekking is adventurous'

This is already one of the deadliest such tragedies in the history of Nepal, a nation of about 26 million known worldwide for its spectacular mountain ranges, including Mount Everest.

Annapurna is far and away the most popular of its trekking areas, with some 90,000 trekking there in 2013, according to Narendra Lama, tourism officer of Annapurna Area Conservation Project.

"There have been incidents of trekkers being killed in snowstorms, landslides and avalanches in the past but not as many as this year," Lama said.

"But I do not think that this disaster will have a big impact since it is a natural disaster and not about a security situation," he said. "Trekking is adventurous in nature after all."

October is the best month of the year to do the Annapurna Circuit trek, meaning more visitors than usual may have been in the area when unusually heavy snow caused by Cyclone Hudhud in eastern India came down Monday and Tuesday.

Last year, about 20,000 foreign trekkers crossed the Thorung La Pass, almost 6,000 of them in October, according to Annapurna Conservation Area statistics.

Many remote Nepali communities rely on foreign trekkers and mountaineers for income and employment, meaning a drop in visitors could hit local people hard.

The deaths come only six months after tragedy last struck Nepal, on the slopes of Mount Everest.

Then, a bruising avalanche of ice swept 16 Sherpas to their deaths. After the accident, which came right before the peak season in May, many Sherpas refused to climb and at least six companies that lead Everest expeditions called off their 2014 climbs.


http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/16/world/asia/nepal-snowstorm/

Structure of the Lead:
WHO-The grim search

WHEN-Thursday
WHAT-continued
WHY- missing hikers and bodies buried under snow
WHERE-Nepal's Himalayas
HOW-not given

Keywords:
1.grim：嚴峻的
2.backdrop：背景、帷幕
3.altitude：海拔
4.trekkers：跋涉者
5.deployed：調配
6. floodwater：洪水
7.ascent：上升、上坡路
8.sap：削弱
9.avalanche ：雪崩
10.slope：斜坡

Week 6 - Scottish independence referendum

Scottish Independence Is Inevitable

The Independence Referendum Is a Test of Scotland’s Confidence



LONDON — ONE thing is certain: Whatever the outcome, this referendum campaign is changing Scotland irrevocably. Whether the Scots vote yes or no to independence on Sept. 18, their sense of what is possible for this small nation will have been transformed.

Reporting on Scottish politics through wind and rain for almost 40 years, I have covered three referendums on self-government. The first, in 1979, offered a modest elected assembly: A slim majority of voters approved it, but the turnout fell short of the threshold required for the proposal to become law. The second, in 1997, proposed a restored Scottish Parliament controlling most internal affairs. That time, there was a resounding yes. Since 2004, Scotland’s blue-and-white Saltire has flown alongside the Union Jack and the flag of the European Union outside the Parliament at Holyrood, in Edinburgh.

This referendum, the third, dares the Scots to go the last mile: proposing an independent Scottish state within the European Union, sharing a monarch (after the fashion of Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia), and possibly a currency, with the rump of the old United Kingdom.

At this moment, a majority for independence looks unlikely. Opinion polling has found the no vote consistently ahead since last year. Last month, the gap narrowed to single digits, though it’s opened up again.

But it’s the smell, taste and sound of this campaign that should warn us that, this time, a no vote will not be the end of the story. Scotland is changing as we watch.

The Scottish National Party, or S.N.P., and its leader, First Minister Alex Salmond, have governed this “devolved” Scotland for seven years. The S.N.P. was always an independence party; its chief rival in Scotland, the Labour Party, championed devolution, but has always opposed full independence.

Scottish political loyalties seemed as changeless as Aberdeen granite. So what’s new to me is the attitude I have found typical among longtime opponents of the nationalists all over the land in recent months: “I don’t trust Salmond, and I’d never vote S.N.P. But I’ve had to re-examine my ideas, and I don’t see how I can vote no.”

Where does this come from? In part, from economic confidence. Twenty years ago, postindustrial Scotland was dismissed as an economy shattered beyond repair. Now, even the British government and the “no” campaign admit that Scotland could survive and prosper and be a stable democracy on its own, given wise management of its North Sea oil wealth. The question is no longer “Can we?” It’s “Should we?”

The motives driving “yes” supporters are straightforward. Devolution, as the intermediate arrangement of limited self-government was called, needs to be completed. The situation in which a Scottish government’s revenue comes as a block grant from London is irresponsible. The Edinburgh Parliament should be allowed to set and raise its own taxes.

British elections must no longer trample the will of the Scottish people: The Scots are solidly anti-Tory, returning just one Conservative M.P. to Westminster in the last three general elections, yet they are outweighed by southern English voters and regularly have to endure Conservative governments. Scotland should also be allowed to become a full member of the European Union, not a bolt-on to English interests.

Add social welfare to those motives. In Britain, it’s not only Conservative-led governments but “New Labour” ones as well that now seem committed to Thatcherite economics, to the steady privatization of health, education and welfare. Most Scots hate this.

The S.N.P. governments in Scotland have tried to barricade the Scottish National Health Service against the market reforms forced on the N.H.S. in England. Many people — including the former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who is himself Scottish — have called the postwar welfare state and the N.H.S. the greatest of British achievements. By defending what’s left in Scotland of that legacy, the S.N.P. risks being called, satirically, the most “British” party in the kingdom.

But Scottish confidence is not only rational. Put it like this: Ever since the 1707 union with England, when Scotland sold its independence for a share in the British Empire, a tiny blue-and-white cell has survived in the Scottish brain that sends out the message: “Wouldn’t it be grand if only, if somehow...?” For three centuries, inhibitor cells jammed the message: “We’re too wee, too poor, too thick... are you daft?” But now that “cultural cringe” has vanished, almost without a trace. And the blue-and-white cell is free to transmit.

If Scottish “yes” reasoning is not hard to grasp, neither is Scottish “no” reasoning. Some of it is material: People are not convinced that their living standards would survive independence, and would like firmer promises about pensions and interest rates. Some of it is fear for the economic safety of Scotland, turned loose among the giant predators stalking a globalized world.

Some of it is emotional: a feeling that Scottish and English societies are so closely integrated now that separation (a word the S.N.P. never uses) would be absurd, even anachronistic. Few, though, would go as far as one Conservative peer, a former cabinet minister, who said that independence would be a betrayal of the British dead in two world wars. But the British government’s motives for opposing independence are often puzzling.

The English media and many politicians explain the independence movement by claiming that the Scots are obsessed by “anti-English racism.” My own experiences tell me the exact opposite. Scots, these days, have almost forgotten about England, so fascinated are they by their own country. (This is sour news for the English, who can bear being hated but not being overlooked.)

The notion of “anti-English racism” is of a piece with Westminster’s matchless ignorance and clumsiness in Scottish matters. In February, Prime Minister David Cameron held a full cabinet meeting in Scotland, to show the Scots that he cared about them. Then, in April, George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, went to Glasgow for a few hours and told the Scots that if they voted for independence, they would have to find a new currency in place of the pound. He was surprised when this caused the yes vote to surge in the polls.

Twenty years ago, a predecessor of Mr. Cameron’s as leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister, John Major, told me that “this whole devolution idea is loopy. The problem is that the Scots just feel left out of things. I really should go up there more often.”

I thought about a retort. But where to start?

Only three years after that, amid songs and tears, the Scottish Parliament met in Edinburgh for the first time in almost three centuries. The old Union Treaty started to fall to dust at that moment, a process that is still following its own logic.

I shall vote yes this September. The campaign has already taught me that if we don’t make it with this third referendum, there will be a fourth. It’s time to rejoin the world on our own terms.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/20/opinion/sunday/The-Independence-Referendum-Is-a-Test-of-Scotlands-Confidence.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A16%22%7D&_r=0

Structure of the Lead：
WHO- referendum campaign

WHEN-Sept.18

WHAT-ONE thing is certain

WHY-not given

WHERE-London

HOW-is changing Scotland irrevocably

Keywords：
1.inevitable：必然的、不可避免的
2.referendum：公投
3.irrevocably：不可撤銷地
4.self-government：自治
5.turnout：結果發現
6.resounding：高亢的、轟動的
7.monarch：君主、國君
8.Commonwealth：聯邦
9.digit(s)：數字
10.inhibitor：抑制劑
11.integrate：綜合、整合、統一
12.anachronistic：不合時宜的
13.rejoin：歸隊、響應

Week 5 - Ferguson

Poll: Americans have sharply differing views of Brown, Garner cases

Decisions by grand juries to not indict police officers involved in the deaths of black men in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City have drawn very different reactions from Americans, particularly whites, according to a poll released Monday.
By 50%-37%, Americans said a grand jury made the right decision in not indicting Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center.

But by 57%-22%, Americans said a grand jury in New York made the wrong decision in not indicting a police officer in the death of Eric Garner, who died after the officer apparently choked him while attempting to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes.

Almost half of Americans, 48%, said race was "not a factor at all" in the Ferguson case. A smaller share, 39%, said they thought race played no role in the Garner case, with a larger percentage saying they were uncertain.

Similar percentages of Americans said race was a factor in both cases, with slightly more than one-quarter of those polled saying race was a "major factor" in each case and another 16% saying it was a "minor factor."

The difference in views of the two cases is divided almost entirely along racial lines.

Black Americans overwhelmingly disapproved of the grand juries' decisions in both cases, and almost two-thirds of blacks believed that race played a major role in each decision.

White Americans, by contrast, supported the grand jury's decision in the Ferguson case, 64%-23%, but disapproved of the outcome in the Garner case, with 47% saying the grand jury made the wrong decision, 28% saying it was correct and 25% expressing no opinion.

Three-fifths of whites said they believed race played no role in the Ferguson outcome, but fewer than half, 48%, said that about the Garner case.

Those who believed race played a role in the grand juries' decisions were much more likely to say that the decisions were wrong, particularly in the Ferguson case. In both cases, the overwhelming share of those who said race was not a factor said they believed the grand juries had made the right decisions.

Several circumstances could factor into the different reactions to the two cases. Garner's death was captured on video, while Brown's was not. Moreover, in the Ferguson case, witness accounts have differed over whether Brown charged toward the police officer, who testified he shot the young man because he feared for his life. In the Garner case, there is no allegation that he tried to attack the arresting officer.

The poll also found that about half of blacks said they expected relations between police and local communities to worsen in the next year. Among whites, the largest group, 43%, said they expected relations between police and local communities to stay about the same, with about one-third expecting relations to worsen.

The survey also showed a sharp decline in the percentage of blacks and of young adults who approve of President Obama's handling of race relations. His approval rating on racial issues dropped 16 percentage points among blacks and 15 points among Americans aged 18-29 compared with a similar Pew poll taken in August.

The Pew survey, conducted for USA Today, was taken Wednesday through Sunday among a sample of 1,507 Americans aged 18 or older. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 2.9 percentage points.

A separate NBC/Marist poll conducted Thursday and Friday also found sharp racial divides in attitudes about the two cases. More than four-fifths of black Americans said they believed law enforcement applied different standards to whites and blacks. Whites were more split on that, with 51% saying they did not believe there were separate standards versus 39% who said there were.

A large majority of whites, nearly four-fifths, said they had confidence that police in their communities would not use excessive force. A majority of blacks, 52%, said they had "just some" or "very little" confidence in that idea.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ferguson-garner-polls-20141208-story.html

Structure of the Lead：

WHO-grand juries
WHEN-Monday
WHAT-not indict police officers involved in the deaths of black men
WHY-not given
WHERE-Ferguson
HOW-have drawn very different reactions from Americans

Keywords：

1.indict：起訴
2.poll：調查
3.race：種族
4.overwhelmingly：壓倒性地
5.disapproved：不贊成
6.enforcement ：強制
7.excessive：過度的

 

Week 4 - Gaza conflict

Gaza conflict: Can economic isolation ever be reversed?

(CNN) -- The horrific loss of life from the three week conflict in Gaza can never be valued -- but the economic fallout from war is also devastating the local population.In the case of Gaza, a seven year air and sea blockage imposed by Israel since Hamas came to power has isolated its economy.The blockade has limited supplies of concrete and basic construction materials as well as medical supplies and food stuffs.According to the World Bank, half of Gaza's 1.8 million residents live in poverty and one out of every three workers is unemployed.

As Gaza's official economy has contracted, the shadow economy -- also known as the tunnel economy -- blossomed.
Underground tunnels were built by Gazans to circumvent the blockade allowing goods to be illegally smuggled from Egypt.
But the tunnels have also been used by Hamas to bring in weapons and launch attacks on Israel.
CNN's John Defterios sat down Middle East strategist David Butter to ask what could reverse the isolation of the Gaza economy.
He started by asking how the situation has changed over the last six to 12 months.
David Butter (DB): What's changed in the last year is the closure of the tunnels by the Egyptian government
This was handling up to 200 tons of trade every day. Fuel was running through, cars (too). It was a thriving (entryway) for bringing things in and of course Hamas was collecting a lot of revenue from customs and licenses on these tunnels.

John Defterios (JD): What are the conditions on the ground for Palestinians today with the tunnels shut and before the strikes?

DB: About half of the Gaza population receive humanitarian support from the UN. There's also salaries coming in from the Palestinian Authority to its members of the civil service -- there's about 70,000 of those.
But without that trade coming in through the Rafah crossing from Egypt, the situation is becoming increasingly more subdued and desperate for the people on the ground.

JD: Grinding poverty and the desire by Hamas to strike at Israel. Would you say there is a direct link?

DB: Well, I think the timing of this escalation is linked to a number of things. Obviously we have the breakdown of the peace process. We have the reconciliation if you like, the unity government between Hamas and Fatah.But certainly from the Hamas point of view, the desperation they were in may have driven them to risk getting involved in this escalation on the assumption that a major crisis would result in a major reappraisal of the entire economic situation.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/03/business/gaza-economic-isolation-mme/index.html?iref=allsearch

Structure of the Lead：
WHO-the local population
WHEN-from war
WHAT- the economic fallout
WHY-not given
WHERE-in Gaza
HOW-devastating

Keywords：
1.fallout：餘波
2.devastating：破壞性的
3. impose：強加、施
4.blockade：封鎖、封鎖線
5.poverty：貧窮、缺乏
6.circumvent：規避
7. reverse：逆轉
8.closure：關閉、閉鎖
9.humanitarian ：人道主義
10.escalation：升級
11.reappraisal：重新評價

Week 3 - Robin Williams

Robin Williams' death leaves friends, fans with questions

As the investigation into Robin Williams' death continues, friends and fans are still trying to process why he took his own life.

Preliminary results of the forensic exam indicate the cause of death was "asphyxia due to hanging," said Lt. Keith Boyd, assistant deputy chief coroner for the Marin County Sheriff's Office, on Tuesday. A time of death has yet to be established.

Toxicology tests, which are expected to take two to six weeks, will reveal whether Williams had any alcohol or drugs in his system.

Boyd said Williams had been receiving "treatment for depression" but declined to offer more details.

Friends told The Times that Williams seemed to be pulling away recently.

"He started to disconnect," comedian Rick Overton, a friend of Williams' since the 1970s, said Tuesday. "He wasn't returning calls as much. He would send texts and things like that, but they would get shorter and shorter."


In a Times review of Williams' last few months, friends said he wrestled with the cancellation of his CBS series "The Crazy Ones" and fought to maintain his sobriety.

Neighbors said they were stunned by his death.

On Monday, people who live in the area expressed sadness at their neighbors' death.

Kelly Cook, 50, called him "brilliant," as well as "really quiet and private." An avid cyclist, he was often seen riding the Paradise loop, which hugs the Tiburon peninsula.Cook's children called him "the funny man" and would greet him as such when he was out walking his pug, Lenny (after another famous comedian). He joked around easily with them, Cook said, "because they were kids."

"It's just so sad when depression takes someone like that," she said, sharing that her good friend had also committed suicide.

On Tuesday, authorities provided more details about his death.

Rigor mortis had already set in by the time Williams' assistant discovered the body in a slightly elevated position with a belt around the neck, Boyd said.The assistant, whose name was not released, called 911 at 11:55 a.m. Monday to report the incident.

Williams, 63, also had recent, but superficial cut marks on his left wrist. A pocket knife was found near his body, with a dried substance resembling blood.

Williams and his wife, Susan Schneider, were alone Sunday night in their home, which fronts San Francisco Bay, Boyd said. Sheriff's officials had previously said Williams was last seen at 10 p.m., but Boyd said Schneider retired to a bedroom at 10:30 p.m.

Schneider left home at 10:30 a.m. the next day, believing her husband was OK, Boyd said. At 11:45 a.m., the personal assistant became concerned when Williams failed to respond to knocks at his door, Boyd said.When the assistant entered, Williams was unresponsive, clothed and "cool to the touch," Boyd said. The belt was wedged between the closet door and the door frame, Williams' right shoulder was touching the door and his body was "slightly suspended," as though in a seated position.


Tiburon Fire Department personnel pronounced Williams dead at 12:02 p.m., Boyd said. Due to concerns about photos being taken or released, his body was taken to Napa County for an autopsy, Boyd added.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Timeshttp://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-robin-williams-friends-fans-questions-20140813-story.html




Structure of the Lead：
WHO-friends and fans
WHEN-As the investigation
WHAT-trying to process
WHY-Robin Williams took his own life
WHERE-not given
HOW-not given

Keywords：
1.process：對...處置
2.forensic：法庭的
3.asphyxia：窒息、昏厥
4.sobriety：清醒
5.substance：物質、體
6.resembling：類似、相似
7. unresponsive：反應遲鈍的
8.wedge(d)：卡、楔
9.seated position：坐姿
10.autopsy：屍檢

Week 2 - Malaysia Airlines 370

Chinese Families Demand 'Return' of Those on Missing Jet

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Relatives of Chinese passengers on missing Flight 370 unfurled banners, chanted in protest and demanded the return of loved ones during a press briefing on Sunday.

"We want evidence and we want our families back," said one banner held aloft by some 35 newly arrived family members in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Another banner read: "Relatives of MH370 strongly condemn the Malaysian government's delay of rescue time. They announced that the plane crashed into the Southern Indian Ocean based on just speculation. They trampled on innocent lives. We want the truth ... Tell the truth to the world.”

Steve Wang, a representative of some of the Chinese families, told Reuters that relatives were unhappy with responses the Malaysian government had provided in Beijing.

"We have demanded that we meet with the prime minister and the transportation minister," Reuters quoted Wang Chunjiang, whose younger brother was on Flight 370, as saying. "We have questions that we would like to ask them in person."

More than 150 of the 239 aboard when Malaysia Airlines MH370 went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing were Chinese, and there has been deep anger and dissatisfaction at the Malaysian response to the disaster.
- John Boxley, Christina Marker, Marc Smith and F. Brinley Bruton.


http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/chinese-families-demand-return-those-missing-jet-n67096

Structure of the Lead：
WHO-Relatives of Chinese passengers
WHEN-Sunday
WHAT-chanted in protest
WHY-demanded the return of loved ones
WHERE-during a press
HOW-not given

Keywords：

1.unfurl(ed)：打出

2.banners：橫幅、旗幟
3.chant(ed)：高呼
4.trample(d)：踐踏、蹂躪
5.prime minister：首相、總理
6.transportation minister：交通運輸部部長
7.aboard：飛機上
8.dissatisfaction：不滿

Week 1 - 2013 Review

Boston bomb case judge wants 1,000 juror summonses

By Associated Press October 20



BOSTON — At least 1,000 people will be summoned and asked to fill out questionnaires for the jury in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a federal judge said Monday.

Tsarnaev, 21, is charged with carrying out the April 2013 attack that killed three people and injured more than 260. He has pleaded not guilty and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors say Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, planted two bombs near the marathon finish line. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police several days later.

During a status conference in U.S. District Court on Monday, Judge George O’Toole Jr. said he expects to whittle down the pool of 1,000 potential jurors to about 100 who will be questioned individually. The jury of 12 jurors and 6 alternates would then be chosen from that group.


Jury selection is scheduled to begin Jan. 5. O’Toole said it could be delayed by one day if there are juries for other trials being picked on that date.

Tsarnaev, who is being held in a federal prison while awaiting trial, did not attend Monday’s status conference.

Seven protesters stood outside the courthouse holding placards challenging the case against him. One of them, Karin Friedman, of Boston, called the evidence against Tsarnaev “flimsy.”

A woman who identified herself as the mother-in-law of a Florida man who was shot by the FBI while being questioned about Tamerlan Tsarnaev said she drove two days from her home in Georgia to stand outside the courthouse. Elena Teyer held a placard with photos of son-in-law Ibragim Todashev.

“I am dead because I knew Tsarnaevs. I knew the truth,” the sign read in part.

Todashev was killed in May 2013, about a month after the bombings, while he was being questioned about a triple slaying in Waltham in 2011. Federal authorities have said that Todashev implicated Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the triple slaying.

Authorities cleared the agent, saying Todashev had charged at a Massachusetts state trooper.


Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lawyers-due-in-court-in-marathon-bombing-case/2014/10/20/ba531722-5820-11e4-9d6c-756a229d8b18_story.html



Structure of the Lead：
WHO-At least 1,000 people , Tsarnaev
WHEN-Monday
WHAT-will be summoned and asked to fill out questionnaires
WHY-for the jury in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,
WHERE-Boston
HOW-not given

Keywords：
1.trial：審訊、訴訟
2.plead：辯護、懇求
3.be charged with：被控告...
4.death penalty：死刑
5.shootout：槍戰
6.whittle down：削減
7.individually：逐一、個別地
8.placard(s)：告示、標語牌
9.state trooper：州警