Newsademic British English edition 260

12th November 2015
British English edition
Issue Number 262
In this issue
Fancy 
vivid coloured 
diamonds
Holiday 
plane crash 
Coyote 
wolf hybrid 
Algae 
harvesting in Baltic 
Sea
Trevi 
fountain restoration 
Cave 
lion cubs
‘World's 
Most Powerful 
People'
Mars' 
lost atmosphere 
explained
Flowering 
Atacama 
Vultures 
in Africa 
Turkey's 
second election 
Renewables 
in Austria
Romania's 
Colectiv 
Revolution'
Swimming 
techniques study 
Rhodes 
Colossus proposal 
Guy 
Fawkes Night 
Cyclones 
in the Arabian Sea 
China 
- Taiwan meeting
Glossary 
Crossword and 
Wordsearch Puzzle
C *
-------------------- :----------------- -\
Learning
English as a
foreign
language?
Newsademic.com
Recommended
reading
for
EFL and ESL

---

12th November 2015 
N e w s a d e m ic .co m ™
 - British English edition 
page 
2
The Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital city
look after her. She left her husband 
and children in the UK. Ms Suu Kyi 
planned to return after her mother 
had recovered.
At that time, many demonstra­
tions against the junta were taking 
place in Yangon, M yanm ar’s capital 
city. Soldiers were ordered to shoot 
the protesters. Thousands died. Ms 
Suu Kyi made her first political 
speech. She declared that the ju n ta’s 
rule must end and democratic elec­
tions held. Ms Suu Kyi then helped 
to set up the NLD. She was arrested 
soon afterwards.
The junta allowed M s Suu Kyi to 
live in her own house, but she had to 
stay inside. This is known as house 
arrest. In 1990 the generals arranged 
for elections to be held. They ex­
pected political groups that sup­
ported them to get the most votes. 
Even though Ms Suu Kyi was under 
house arrest, the NLD won easily. 
The junta decided to ignore the elec­
tion. Large street protests followed. 
Thousands of NLD supporters were 
killed and hundreds arrested.
World leaders said that the gener­
als must accept the election result. 
They also demanded the release of 
Ms Suu Kyi and all political pris­
oners. Yet the junta took no notice. 
M yanmar became cut off from most 
o f the rest o f the world.
In 1997 Ms Suu K yi’s husband 
was diagnosed with cancer. The ju n ­
ta refused to let him visit his wife in 
Myanmar. Ms Suu Kyi then made a 
difficult decision. She knew that if 
she returned to the UK to spend time 
with her husband, the junta would 
not let her come back. Ms Suu Kyi 
had not seen her husband and chil­
dren for a long time. She decided to 
stay in Myanmar. Her husband died 
two years later.
In 2010, after a 20-year gap, the 
junta organised another election.
The NLD decided to boycott the 
vote, or not to take part. M ost peo­
ple said that the election was nei­
ther free nor fair. Some reports said 
that people were forced to vote for 
the two political groups that sup­
port the junta.
One o f these parties is the Union 
Solidarity and Development Party 
(USDP). After the election Thein 
Sein became the leader of the USDP 
and the country’s president. He used 
to be one o f M yanm ar’s senior army 
generals. Five years before the elec­
tion, the junta decided to build a new 
capital city. Called Naypyidaw, it is 
in the centre of the country. A large 
parliament building was constructed 
in the new capital. It’s called the 
Assembly o f the Union. It has a 
lower house (the House o f Repre­
sentatives) and an upper house (the 
House of Nationalities). In total the 
parliament has 664 seats.
Five years ago, the junta handed 
power to the USDP. Leaders of 
the army and police now support 
this party. Also, 25% o f the seats 
in the parliament are reserved for 
military leaders.
Ms Suu Kyi was released from 
house arrest six days after the 2010 
election. She had spent 15 o f the 
previous 21 years either in prison 
or under house arrest. After Nelson 
Mandela (1918 - 2013) was freed 
in 1990, Ms Suu Kyi became the
world’s most famous political pris­
oner. M r Mandela spent 27 years in 
prison in South Africa. Four years 
after his release, he was elected as 
the president o f his country. In 1991 
Ms Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel 
Peace Prize.
After the electoral commission 
began to announce the results, NLD 
supporters started to celebrate. The 
USDP got only a small number of 
seats. Thein Sein, the U SD P’s leader 
and the country’s president, declared 
that he accepted the results. He, Ms 
Suu Kyi and the commander o f the 
army are now expected to meet for 
talks. They will discuss how Ms Suu 
Kyi plans to govern the country.
At the beginning of next year the 
members of parliament will have to 
select a new president. However, 
M yanm ar’s constitution has a rule 
that means Ms Suu Kyi cannot be 
selected for the position. The rule 
says that anyone with a foreign hus­
band, wife or child is not allowed to 
be the country’s president.
Soon after Ms Suu K yi’s was 
released five years ago, thousands 
of people gathered outside the NLD 
headquarters. She told the crowd 
that they should never give up hope. 
Ms Suu Kyi predicted that, one day, 
democracy would return to M y­
anmar. Many believe that the day 
she talked about has now finally 
arrived. □

---