Dawn: Attack on former spy
was blamed on Russia
-Two Sundays ago, former spy Sergei
Skripal and his adult daughter were
attacked by a nerve agent, a form of
poison, in Salisbury, England.  They
remain in critical condition. The incident
led to a counterterrorism investigation
which concluded that the Kremlin might be
“likely” responsible for the attack.
Skripal was a Russian who commited treason
by spying for the British and was
imprisoned before released in an agreement
between Russia and United States in 2010.
-Such an attack on a Russian was not the
first as there were several suspicious
deaths of Russians who defected to Britain
in the past decade. British Prime
Minister Theresa May demanded an
explanation from Russia on Monday.
She said the nerve agent was “highly
likely” to have come from Russia as it was
developed by the Soviet Union in 1950’s.
Russian president Vladimir Putin had
refused to answer questions regarding the
attack, and May threatened to retaliate
if Russia refuses to cooperate. United
Kingdom expelling 23 Russian diplomats
over dispute between both countries.
-Now, let’s go to next story.
Alessio: Winter Paralympics 2018 opened
-Last Friday, athletes with physical
disabilities paraded into the Pyeongchang
Stadium, representing 49 countries, to
open the Winter Paralympics 2018. There
are six events, which are: Alpine skiing,
biathlon, cross-country skiing, ice
hockey, snowboarding, and wheelchair
curling. Unlike in the recent Winter Games
where North Korea and South Korea came
together as one unified team, both
countries did not do so in the Paralympics
because of a disagreement over the design
of the unification flag. The official
mascot for the Paralympics this year is an
Asiatic black bear, not the white tiger
that was the official mascot at the recent
Olympics. The animal was chosen for its
strong will and courage, and its name,
Bandabi, means, ‘Celebration of the
games.’ The games will run until March 18th.
Dawn: Death of a Slovak journalist
led to government crisis
-Last month, journalist Jan Kuciak and his
fiance were shot dead in their home
outside of the capital, Bratislava. Kuciak
was investigating on tax evasion and
political corruption for his article,
which the police suspected was the reason
behind his murder. In the days following
Kuciak’s death, his article about the
Italian mafia and its connections to two
government officials who worked closely
with Prime Minister Robert Fico was published.
-The publication forced those officials to
step down for the interim of the
journalist’s murder investigation. The
Culture Minister, a close ally of Fico,
resigned from his post, saying “he could
not bear” handling the death of Kuciak.
President Andrej Kiska demanded Fico to
either resign or fire the Interior
Minister, another ally of Fico. Fico
refused, and tens of thousands of Slovaks
protested for the past two weeks,
demanding Fico to comply with Kiska’s
demands. The investigation of Kuciak
continued to be on-going,
with no arrests yet.
Alessio: American Deaf waitress breaks barriers
-The Orexi Greek and Mediterranean
Restaurant in the American state of
Virginia made adaptations to allow a
Sierra Campbell, a 22 year old deaf server
to work there. The owners added common
signs and the alphabet to the menu and
learnt sign language themselves to
communicate with Sierra. The owners
explain to Sierra’s customers they can
point to the menu items they want to order
and shake their heads no while pointing
at ingredients they don’t want. Sierra
uses sign language and studied at Virginia
School for the Deaf and Blind and
Gallaudet University. She plans to study
social work at Virginia Commonwealth University
Dawn: Deaf dog joins K-9 Team
-Ghost, a white pit bull mix made history
by becoming the first Deaf K-9 dog in the
American state of Washington and possibly
even in America. When Ghost was three
months old in September 2015, he was left
at a Florida Rescue Center. At that time,
animal control staff thought he was
unadoptable. A shelter in Washington saved
Ghost from being euthanized. A K-9
trainer from the Washington State
Department of Corrections later observed
Ghost to be focused and determined when
looking for a thrown or hidden ball. His
high energy and indifference to humans
made him the perfect candidate for many
years of K-9 training. Ghost now works in
state prisons and other facilities
sniffing for contraband drugs.
-Now, let’s go to next story.
Alessio: Filipino government recognizes Filipino Sign Language
-The Philippines House of Representatives
passed a bill to recognize Filipino Sign
Language (FSL) as the country’s national
sign language. “The Filipino Sign Language
Act”, will take effect once the country’s
Senate passes it. After that, FSL will be
recognized, promoted and supported as the
medium of official communication in all
transactions involving the deaf especially
in legal and medical settings, and TV
broadcasting. FSL will become the language
teaching and learning for Deaf students.
Dawn: New York City installs Direct ASL Calling Services
-The American city of New York City
installed ASL Direct – a video
communication service where Deaf New
Yorkers may directly contact city
officials in ASL. This is the first such
service in America using webcams and city
officials fluent in ASL from any Android,
Mac, iOS, or Windows platforms.
Approximately 208,000 New Yorkers who use
ASL will now have a one-stop shop for real
time information about or access to city
services like how to find affordable
housing, how to enroll a child at school,
or where to get a flu shot. ASL Direct
services are available Mondays through
Fridays from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Alessio: Stephen Hawking died at age 76
-Stephen Hawking, one of most famous
physicist in the world has passed away at
age 76. He had a rare motor neurone
disease that paralysed him. He couldn’t
speak but he use speech-generating device
which using his single cheek muscle. He
wrote many theories about the mysteries of
space, time and black holes which changed
science as we know it. He became public
figure and a science genius and made many
appearing in media. Many of his work are
too complicated for most people but they
knew that he is trying to explain about
black holes, space time and universe.
-Many people around the world was saddened
but celebrated his life and his
brilliance. His own determination to not
let his paralyse stop him.
Dawn: Plane crash in Nepal killed 49 on board
-On Monday, a US-Bangla passenger plane
arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal from Dhaka,
Bangladesh crashed into the field beside
the landing strip at the capital’s
airport. Forty-nine people, including the
pilot, died, with 22 survivors being
treated for injuries at local hospitals.
A recording of the pilot and the control
tower’s discussion was taken, regarding
which direction the pilot was to take in
order to land safely. At the last minute,
the control tower told the pilot to turn
when landing, resulting in a crash.
-The airline and airport blamed each other
for the miscommunication behind the
disaster. The Nepal government ordered an
investigation, and the US-Bangla airline
officials asked for the Bangladesh
government to be involved to ensure “a
fair investigation.” It is currently underway.
-Thank you for watching WorldSign Week,
visit H3WORLD.TV for more shows,
all in International Sign.
See you next week.
