sign in sign up
<<
Home , Ancient Land, Elgin Marbles, Rosetta Stone

Issue 13 Volume 109 www.weeklyreader.com 0 1 . 1 f 1 o . k e 1 e w 0 ® Inside: Captain Sully’s Story Search Me?

Who Owns The PThe Battle Osvert? Ancient Artifacts WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 0

1 QUOTE OF THE WEEK . SPACE

1 “I almost drowned laughing 1 . QUEST when I saw this the first time.” 1 1 MOJAVE, Calif.—The —Julian Finn, of the Victoria in Melbourne,

0 Australia, on seeing a small octopus scoop up and carry countdown to commercial a coconut shell for use as a shelter. Researchers believe Images

spaceflight recently took this is the first evidence of tool use by an invertebrate. AP a giant leap forward. On December 7, Virgin Galactic unveiled Space- 3 ShipTwo, which is slated to become the first com- mercial passenger space- craft. Constructed in 4 secrecy over the past two years, the 60-foot-long 2 high flier is modeled after 1 SpaceShipOne, the space- craft that completed the

om world’s first manned pri- vate spaceflights in 2004. om/Newsc Some 300 wannabe THE HORSE space tourists have put WENN.c down deposits on the GATHERERS $200,000 tickets. The 2 CARSON CITY, Nev.—Wild horses roaming the open hefty space fare will buy a plains are enduring symbols of the American West. 2.5-hour trip that includes However, thousands of mustangs may soon be headed five minutes in the to new homes farther east. On December 14, the U.S. weightlessness of space. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the “There are enormous removal of 2,500 wild horses from federal ranges near windows, which no space- Reno, Nev. It was the first step in the government’s plan craft has ever had before, to relocate as many as 25,000 wild horses to holding for [passengers] to look corrals in the Midwest and East. The BLM says the back at the Earth,” British roundup is needed to help manage the booming horse billionaire and Virgin population. Opponents say the plan is inhumane and Galactic founder Richard violates a 1971 federal law that protects the horses. Branson told CNN. “They Animal advocates filed a lawsuit to stop the roundup, can float around, and they which was scheduled to start on December 28. can become astronauts.” The first test flights of SpaceShipTwo are Government officials use planned for later this year, a helicopter to round up with the first flights carry- wild mustangs. ing paying customers to follow in 2011 or 2012. Images AP

2 CURRENT EVENTS TALK BACK ! Dear Current Events, Dear CE, I think that people There is nothing wrong should be able to have a with having different license plate that states license plates, including

Images their belief [“The Great ones that express beliefs.

AP Plate Debate,” issue 11]. The government is not It’s not as if the plate is getting involved with OBAMA telling you that one religious views, but is HONORED person’s religion simply giving the people 3 OSLO, Norway—U.S. President is better than a choice. Barack Obama got an early holiday yours. It just —Mollie H., present on December 10. Obama says that Ariz. became only the third U.S. president to accept the pres- Christianity is tigious Nobel Peace Prize while in office. During his Images their religion Dear CE, acceptance speech, Obama addressed the criticism he and that they I think it’s received for winning the prize so early in his presidency. AFP/Getty want people to great that we He reminded the audience that he is “at the beginning, know that. are finding and not the end, of my labors on the world stage.” —Hannah, different The president also acknowledged the controversy of CE blogger ways to stay being selected for the peace prize at a time when the green [“Cow Power,” U.S. is fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “There will Dear CE, issue 11]. This is just be times when nations … will find the use of force not I think that people who another example of only necessary but morally justified,” he said. are true Christians what happens when Obama said a key to promoting peace is improving should have better ways we focus our minds economic opportunity worldwide. “True peace is not just to express their beliefs on something. freedom from fear,” he said, “but freedom from want.” than on a license plate. —Kelsea F., Ariz. Read the president’s full speech at tinyurl.com/ydo45lu. Your license plate should be used as car We want to hear from identification and not you! E-mail us at for little personal [email protected]. CLIMATE messages like this. Check out the blog too: TALKS —Delia H., Md. www.cenewsblog.com.

HEAT CARTOON OF THE WEEK

UP om eld/Newsc Nietf Kay

4 , —In mid-December, repre- sentatives from 193 nations met to hammer out a deal s to curb carbon emissions, which most scientists link to eator /Cr climate change. The two-week United Nations confer- ence saw plenty of heated exchanges. Developing Camera nations demanded increased funding from the United

Boulder States and the European Union to combat problems associated with climate change, such as rising seas, Sherffius/ floods, and drought. Many nations also pressed the U.S. J. and China, the world’s two biggest polluters, to step up WORK RELATED: Some economists say the their pledges to reduce emissions. U.N. Secretary- slumping U.S. economy is showing signs of General Ban Ki-moon urged countries to “stop pointing recovering. Do you think the cartoonist shares fingers” and create tougher emissions standards. that opinion? Why or why not?

www.weeklyreader.com 3 COVERSTORY

el/Corbis Who av otr Phot Atlantide

es: Owns Marbl

Elgin Visitors to the in Images; The gaze at the AP famed bust of Nefertiti. one: t

s (below) is a fighting to have the prized Rosett artifact returned to . Past? Images; Gottschalk/AFP/Getty Michael t: bus ertiti Nef The Battle Over Ancient Artifacts

a colored limestone and plaster bust “We have evidence that … Nefertiti (statue from the chest up) of Nefertiti was smuggled out of Egypt, bypass- that took his breath away. Even with ing the law,” he told the German one of its eyes missing, the statue newspaper Der Spiegel. German offi- radiated startling beauty. cials deny the charge. As Current What happened next is still in Events went to press, both sides dispute. According to the Germans, planned to meet in Berlin to present Borchardt was awarded the bust their cases. gypt and are fight- under an agreement with the Images

AP ing over a woman. Not an Egyptian government to divide his BATTLE Eactual woman, but the finds. But the Egyptians say that the Hawass is also seeking the return of statue of a queen who has been called archaeologist smuggled the statue another prized artifact, the the most beautiful woman in the out of the country. stone, from Great Britain. The stone, world. She is Nefertiti, who ruled Today, Nefertiti’s bust sits in a pro- which enabled scholars to decode Egypt with her husband, tective glass case in Berlin’s Neues Egyptian (see Time Trip), Akhenaton, nearly 3,400 years ago. Museum. Visitors from all over the was dug up by a French soldier in Nefertiti’s captivating beauty was world have gazed at the likeness of 1799 near the Egyptian city of not revealed to the modern world the beautiful queen who once dazzled Rosetta. In 1801, after the British until this past century. In 1912, the ancient land of the . defeated the French army in Egypt, Ludwig Borchardt, a German archae- Zahi Hawass, however, thinks the the stone was shipped to Great ologist, was excavating the buried site bust of Nefertiti should be returned Britain. Today it remains on display of the ancient city of Tel el Amarna. to Egypt. He is secretary-general of at the British Museum in . In the workshop of Thutmose, an the Egyptian Supreme Council of Hawass, however, told the Al ancient Egyptian sculptor, he made a , the modern agency Jazeera news agency, “We [the remarkable discovery. Brushing off responsible for all ancient artifacts Egyptians] own that stone.” The sand and dirt, Borchardt uncovered found in the country. British Museum rejects that claim.

4 CURRENT EVENTS January 11, 2010 TIME TRIP More Than Just a Stone For centuries, scholars were baffled by hieroglyphs, the picture that decorated the tombs and monuments of . had mostly gone out of use in the fourth century A.D., so their meaning A curator at the seemed to be lost forever. That British Museum A British Museum visitor studies examines the some of the disputed Elgin . all began to change in 1799 when . a young French officer, Pierre- François Bouchard, uncovered a return hundreds of other artifacts. In block of black basalt stone near 1972, the United Nations passed a the town of Rosetta, Egypt. The The British Museum finds itself in resolution banning the removal of stone, now known as the Rosetta a similar conflict with . In artifacts from the countries where stone, had three inscriptions on 1801, Lord Elgin, the British ambas- they are found. The most famous arti- it: one in , one in sador to the , facts in , however, were characters (the common ordered his agents to remove discovered and removed before 1972. script of Egypt at the time), and from the in James Cuno, the director of the Art one in hieroglyphs. Scholars could , Greece. Workers chiseled Institute of Chicago, is among many read ancient Greek and were able some sculptures off the ancient tem- museum leaders who believe that to decipher some of the demotic ple and picked up many more that artifacts from ancient cultures are not script, but the hieroglyphic script had fallen to the ground. Elgin said he the property of the modern nations remained a mystery. had permission from the Ottoman where they were found. Experts believed that the government, which then ruled Greece, “Modern Egypt, for example, bears scripts were three versions of to take them. He sold the statues, no relation to the Egypt of the the same proclamation and that today known as the , to , and modern Greece is the Greek and demotic text might the British government. The statues much different than ancient Greece,” enable them to decipher hiero- reside today at the British Museum. he told Current Events. “Their ancient . But it was a monumental Almost from the moment that artifacts are now really part of puzzle to solve. After years of Elgin removed the sculptures, Greece the common culture of humanity in painstaking work, French scholar has demanded that they be returned, which we all have a stake.” Cuno Jean-François Champollion figured charging that they were illegally argues that such artifacts “belong in out the complex language structure taken. On June 20, a new our museums, where objects of and meaning of the hieroglyphs.

Museum opened near the Parthenon. ancient cultures can be placed side by ection In doing so, he opened the long- Greek officials again asked the British side so visitors can learn how they Coll lost book of Egypt’s past, enabling

Museum to return the sculptures. A relate to each other.” anger archaeologists and scholars Gr

British government spokesperson, Hawass strongly disagrees. “There The to read thousands of however, told the Toronto Star that is a moral imperative for museums inscriptions. the Elgin Marbles will stay where they around the world to return certain are, “available free of charge in a artifacts to the countries they came museum that has more visitors than from,” he told an Australian news- any other in the world.” paper. “And we are going to identify how we can … increase the pressure WHO’S RIGHT? on the keepers of those artifacts to The bust of Nefertiti, the Rosetta give them back.” CE stone, and the Elgin Marbles are only some of the most famous ancient PREDICT THE NEWS artifacts in dispute. Many nations are Where will Nefertiti’s bust and increasing the pressure on museums, other disputed antiquities end up? Tell us at [email protected]. mainly in the U.S. and Europe, to HOT TOPICS BOOKS 0 1 . 1

1 Hero . From video footage of US Airways 1 of the Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River 0 HBy studentu reporterds Coloe Boettchern (2) Images AP January 15 marks Chesley Sullenberger: I think one CS: My first officer, Jeff Skiles, and the first anniversary of them has to be that I was, like I didn’t know exactly what to of one of the most many people have been, an ordinary expect in a water landing. I didn’t famous crash land- person thrust into extraordinary know how hard it was going to be. ings in history. Just circumstance. … This isn’t just my … In those few seconds after we one minute after story; it’s our story, it’s a human stopped, Jeff and I turned to each taking off from New story. If we can cultivate seemingly other in the cockpit and at the same York’s LaGuardia ordinary virtues, it can prepare [us] time and in almost the same words Airport, US Airways to face extraordinary challenges and said to each other: “Well, that Flight 1549 struck a to perform extraordinary acts. wasn’t as bad as I thought.” But we flock of geese, dam- certainly didn’t celebrate, because aging both engines. CB: What was going through your we had much work left to do. … Captain Chesley head the moment the engines failed? I unstrapped, stood up, opened the “Sully” Sullenberger CS: I had two distinct thoughts. … cockpit door, and stated into the knew his plane could The first one I still remember clearly cabin the word evacuate. not reach an airport, was This can’t be happening. And CB: e so he made a bold the second one, [which] followed You said that you don’t consider

Smal decision to land in the Hudson immediately after the first, was yourself a hero. Why not? River. All 155 people on board This doesn’t happen to me. … We CS: To me, a hero is someone who Brian survived, and Sullenberger became certainly trained for it but had never chooses to put him or herself at risk an instant celebrity. I spoke with experienced an actual engine failure to save another or for some other him about his experience and his in 42 years. … It was going to be higher purpose. And that wasn’t the new book, Highest Duty: My Search the test of my life. And I knew it in case. This was thrust upon us—we for What Really Matters. the first seconds. didn’t choose it. And my crew and I [just] did our jobs exceedingly well. Cole Boettcher: What is the most CB: After you landed the plane important lesson that you want your and everything was all right, how Read more of the interview with Captain Sully at www.cenewsblog.com. readers to get out of your book? did you feel? Images

STRANGE BUT TRUE AP Primate Suspects Officials in the suburbs south of Cape Town, led them to associate cars with food. As a South Africa, are trying to stop a curious result, the menacing monkeys have become crime spree. Roving troops of baboon ban- more aggressive. “We spend the whole day dits have been ransacking cars that stop basically rescuing tourists,” says Mark along the scenic coastal roadways. They jump Duffels, a volunteer with a local baboon through car windows and open unlocked monitoring team. Officials worry that their doors in search of snacks. Baboons are pro- primate problem will only worsen as visitors tected under local law, so they have no fear flock to Cape Town for the FIFA World Cup of humans. Years of being fed by tourists have soccer tournament this summer.

6 CURRENT EVENTS DEBATE ATouchy

ShoSuldu policbe jtheire most imcportantt job—keeping people safe. In New York City, for be allowed to example, the crime rate has fallen stop and frisk sharply as the number of searches has increased. “This is a proven law without cause? enforcement tactic to fight and deter ow should we balance law and crime, one that is authorized by crimi- order with the rights of citi- nal procedure law,” says Raymond zens? That’s a question being Kelly, the city’s police commissioner. Hdebated in major cities as police are According to the Federal Bureau stepping up their use of a tactic called of Investigation, New York City has stop-and-frisk. To prevent crimes the lowest crime rate among the from happening, police officers may 25 largest U.S. cities. stop, question, and pat down anyone Supporters say the stop-and-frisk they believe to be armed or involved policy is meant to protect people, not in criminal activity. hassle them. The police are well Evidence shows that the hands-on trained in how to identify and deal m o

approach to maintaining law and with suspicious behavior, says senior c s w e N

order is on the rise. The Associated officer Kevin Berardinelli, an instruc- / s e r u

Press reports that police across the tor at the Gwinnett County (Ga.) t c i P

country stopped and frisked more Police Academy. “Our officers don’t n a e than 1 million people in 2008. just approach any ordinary Joe on the D Critics argue that the searches street,” he told Current Events. “They According to the NYCLU, over the infringe upon the privacy rights of are trained to pat down only individu- past few years close to 90 percent those who get stopped—many of als they suspect are carrying concealed of the people stopped by New York whom turn out to be innocent. The weapons. Stopping them before they police officers weren’t arrested or Fourth Amendment to the U.S. can act saves lives—of officers and ticketed. Opponents of stop-and-frisk Constitution protects citizens from innocent people nearby.” argue that a policy with a success rate “unreasonable searches.” of one in 10 is ineffective. They claim However, the U.S. Supreme Court HANDS OFF! that as police pat-downs increase, ruled in 1968 that police have the Critics say that stop-and-frisk pro- the rights of many more law-abiding right to stop and search a person if grams unfairly target innocent people will be violated. David Harris, they have “reasonable suspicion” that people—especially minorities. For a law professor at the University of the person has committed or may example, in New York City, 83 per- , told the AP, “The hit rate commit a crime. Supporters say the cent of people stopped by police in goes down because you’re being less tactic is an effective tool for cracking 2008 were either African American selective about how you’re [picking down on crime. or Hispanic. “It is not a crime to people to stop and frisk]. That has a Is it reasonable or unreasonable? walk down the street in New York cost. It’s not free.” Current Events takes a look at the City,” says Donna Lieberman, the frisky business. executive director of the New York WHAT DO YOU THINK? Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). FRISKS LOWER RISKS Are police pat-downs needed for “Yet every day innocent black and our safety or do they violate our Law enforcement officials argue that brown New Yorkers are turned into rights? Tell us at cenewsblog.com stop-and-frisk tactics help them do suspects for doing just that.” and [email protected].

www.weeklyreader.com 7 s e g a m I

y

TEST YOURSELF t t e G / z t n 0

Artifacts of Ancient Egypt ANALYZE THE MAP e R

s a 1 The map below shows where three of the most e

Fill in the circle next to the correct answer. r . famous Egyptian artifacts were found. d n A

: r 1

1. Which artifact was discovered closest to Cairo? e v o 1 C

. Ꭽ burial mask of King Tutankhamen (King Tut)

1 Ꭾ Nefertiti’s bust

0 Ꭿ Rosetta stone

2. About how far is the location of King Tut’s burial mask from the spot where it was found? Ꭽ 150 miles Ꭾ 200 miles Ꭿ 300 miles

3. About how many years ago was the Rosetta stone created? Ꭽ 200 Ꭾ 2,000 Ꭿ 2,200

4. Which statement about Nefertiti’s bust is false? Ꭽ It is older than the burial mask of King Tut. Ꭾ It was found more than 100 years ago. Ꭿ It was found close to the Nile River.

5. From the map, you can conclude that r e g

e Burial mask of King Nefertiti’s bust Rosetta stone

a Ꭽ important ancient artifacts have been found in H Tutankhamen

h Created: 1340 B.C. Created: 196 B.C. g i different areas in Egypt. e Created: 1322 B.C. L

Found: 1912 in Found: 1799 near : p

a Found: 1922 in the Tel el Amarna Rosetta Ꭾ few important artifacts have been found near M

;

) Valley of the Kings

3 Current location: Current location: ( King Tut’s burial site.

s

e Current location: Neues Museum British Museum g a Egyptian Museum in Berlin in London Ꭿ not many important Egyptian artifacts can be m I

P in Cairo

A found in Egyptian museums. Note: Dates are approximate.

WHICH WORD WORKS? Fill in the circle next to the correct answer. s Fill in the circle next to the best definition for the 1. Which country recently held a major conference

emphasized word in each sentence. The page number w on climate change? shows you where the word can be found in this issue. Ꭽ Norway Ꭾ Denmark Ꭿ Egypt 1. Opponents say the plan is inhumane. (p. 2) 2. What is the main idea of “Who Owns the Past?” Ꭽ illegal Ꭾ cruel Ꭿ foolish Ꭽ Nations are pressuring museums in other 2. “There is a moral imperative for museums around countries to return ancient artifacts. the world to return certain artifacts.” (p. 5) Ꭾ The discovery of the bust of Nefertiti revealed Ꭽ obligation Ꭾ code Ꭿ dilemma her startling beauty.

w the Ne Ꭿ Visitors are flocking to museums in Europe to 3. But it was a monumental puzzle to solve. (p. 5) see ancient artifacts. Ꭽ memorable Ꭾ ancient Ꭿ huge 3. How did Captain Sullenberger feel immediately

4. “I had two distinct thoughts.” (p. 6) Kno after he landed the airplane in the Hudson River? Ꭽ similar Ꭾ separate Ꭿ disturbing Ꭽ panicked Ꭾ confused Ꭿ relieved 5. “They are trained to pat down only individuals they 4. Which constitutional amendment prohibits suspect are carrying concealed weapons.” (p. 7) unreasonable searches? Ꭽ multiple Ꭾ loaded Ꭿ hidden Ꭽ First Ꭾ Second Ꭿ Fourth

Senior Managing Editor: C. COLBERT • Editor: B. FITZGERALD • Senior Group Art Director: J. TALBOT • Manager, Photo Department: J. ALISSI • Manager, Copy Editing: K. PARAS • Senior Copy Editor: S. CHASSÉ • Copy Editors: C. MA, T. REYNOLDS • Production Designer: R. GORE • Operations Manager, Manufacturing: C. DiLAURO • Director, Finance: R. HOFFMEISTER • Executive Marketing Director: M. McCARTAN • Vice President, Operations: M. SMITH • Senior Vice President, Editorial: I. WOLFMAN • President: N. GOFF • The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer: M. BERNER • Division President: A. ALSTON • SVP, Chief Marketing Officer: A. RADIN CURRENT EVENTS (ISSN 0011-3492) (USPS 140-340) Volume 109, Issue 13—Copyright © 2010 by Weekly Reader Corporation. Current Events is a federally registered trademark of Weekly Reader Corporation. Executive and Editorial Offices: 1 Reader’s Digest Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570-7000. Material in this issue may not be reproduced, in whole or in part in any form or format, without permission from the publisher. Issued 23 times during the school year (4 weeks in March; 3 weeks in Sept., Oct., Nov., Feb.; 2 weeks in Dec., Jan., May; 1 week in April) by Weekly Reader Corporation, 1 Reader’s Digest Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570- 7000. Published also in Braille by the American Printing House for the Blind, Louisville, Ky. Periodicals postage paid at Pleasantville, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Printed in U.S.A. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Current Events, Publication and Subscription Offices, Weekly Reader Publishing, 3001 Cindel Drive, Delran, NJ 08075. 1st printing at World Color, Cincinnati, OH.

8 CURRENT EVENTS