March 17
[ 2007-03-19 08:00 ]
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| Tanks have moved into
Nabatiya |
| 1978: Civilians flee southern
Lebanon |
England have
Thousands of Palestinian civilians are fleeing a third day of Israeli
attacks in southern Lebanon.
A convoy of refugees in vans, lorries and old buses are heading for
Beirut as the death toll of civilians reaches an estimated 150 and is
expected to rise as Israel makes further incursions into the region.
Heavy artillery shells fell within Israeli-controlled southern Lebanon
as international diplomacy continued with fervour to end the fighting.
The large town of Nabatiya, only two miles from the Litani river, has
been almost totally depopulated of its 30,000 inhabitants who have fled
the shelling.
Buffer zone
Hundreds of homes have been devastated by artillery fire and one entire
street is reported to have been reduced to rubble by an Israeli air attack
this morning.
The Israelis have created a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, reported
to be a six mile belt across the Lebanese frontier.
Israeli defence minister Ezer Weizman, gave public assurances there
would be no further advances into Lebanon.
But there are reports guerrilla positions north of the newly forged
"security belt" were struck by Israeli warships and artillery in response
to shelling against them.
Israeli troops are now understood to be in Mansoura, on the
Mediterranean coast south of Tyre, in Bent Jbail, Khiam and Ibl al-Saki.
Palestinians have been fighting to hold the southern village of Tibnine
from Israeli ground and air attack and they deny reports it has fallen.
Israel launched an offensive in southern Lebanon in retaliation to the
11 March bus hijacking in Tel Aviv which killed 35 people and injured 100
others.
The Litani River operation began on 15 March when Israel crossed into
southern Lebanon and struck at PLO bases and staging areas south of the
river up to 10 km deep inside the country.
Israel accuses Palestinian fighters of using southern Lebanon to mount
intermittent cross-border attacks against civilian and military targets in
Israel. |
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| The Cambrige team were
forced to abandon ship |
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1984: Boat race halted before
starting | Artificially 1969:
The The 130th
Boat Race has been postponed less than an hour before it was due to start
after the Cambridge vessel was in collision with a barge and sank.
It is the first incident of its kind in the history of the world famous
boat race in which students from Cambridge and Oxford universities are
pitted against each other.
The Cambridge boat, estimated to cost ?,000, ran head long into a large
moored barge, used by umpires
in the middle of the river, shattering the bow section of the vessel.
'Cold'
Before an audience of hundreds of spectators gathered at Putney Bridge,
the oarsmen were forced to paddle to the side of the river, with bows
still and pointed upwards, until it was almost submerged.
Most of the crew stepped out of the boat and walked to the side, while
others who had to swim back described it as "cold".
The Light Blues have now taken shelter in their boat house and the race
has been postponed until tomorrow afternoon, estimated to start at 1345
GMT, with a vessel borrowed from the Amateur Rowing Association.
The crew had been holding a practise run under Putney Bridge when the
accident happened.
It is reported the barge was only wheeled into position yesterday
morning but the team had been practising for weeks without it there.
The crew refused to blame the boat's cox, 21-year-old Peter Hobson, who
at only 5 feet 4 inches high apparently struggled to see over some of the
large rowers.
Officials first hoped the race could go-ahead this afternoon with a
substitute boat but by the time necessary alterations had been made to the
boat it was decided the tide would have turned.
There were other suggestions to run the race in the opposite direction
from Mortlake to Putney.
The team is reported to have suffered only minor bruises and is not
expected to change before tomorrow but they are not expected to attend the
annual Boat Race Ball tonight. |
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| Vocabulary:
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incursion: An aggressive entrance into foreign
territory; a raid or an invasion（襲擊；侵入）
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umpire : A person appointed to rule on
plays（裁判員；仲裁人） |
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