【明報專訊】PROTESTS in Indonesia turned ugly late last month. For example, in Wamena, a major town in Papua province, students engaged in brawls. They burned down government buildings, public facilities and private property. The incidents resulted in 16 deaths and 65 injuries. Rumour has it that the protests had been caused by a teacher who called an indigenous (土著的) student "monkey".

Cutting ties

JUST four days after the Solomon Islands cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Kiribati, another nation from the Asia-Pacific region, followed suit. There are only 15 countries left who have formal relations with Taiwan, which has lost ties with seven countries since President Tsai Ing-wen took office. Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu accused China of pursuing "dollar diplomacy" to undermine Taiwan's place in the international arena and its sovereignty.

"The privilege of a tiny"

AT its annual conference, the Labour Party in the UK passed a number of reform proposals, one of which is to abolish and nationalise private schools, which it deems "the privilege of a tiny". John McDonnell, the party's shadow chancellor of the exchequer (影子財相), criticised private schools for hindering social mobility as their graduates have dominated major positions in UK society.

■Gear up

Answer the following questions.

(1) The HKU study shows milk tea can cure nasopharyngeal cancer. ( True / False )

(2) Find two words in the articles which have a similar meaning to "put an end to".

(3) The number of countries that had diplomatic relations with Taiwan before Tsai Ing-wen took office was __________.

(Answers on next text)

■Glossary

ugly (adj) 暴力的

brawl (n) 毆鬥

ties (n) 關係

privilege (n) 特權

[Smarties' Power English 第255期]