Problem: Nine years after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a seismic event in Lebanese history, the trial of four men accused of his killing opened Thursday in a special United Nations-backed court.

However, the stand at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague was empty, with the suspects -- alleged associates of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah -- still on the run.

Billionaire statesman Hariri was killed in February 2005 when a bomb struck his motorcade near the Beirut seafront. The blast ripped apart his armored car and destroyed the motorcade, killing 21 other people and wounding more than 200 others.

It was a moment that changed Lebanese history, fueling the sectarian divisions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Mediterranean country and leading to the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

The special court investigating the assassination announced in February 2012 that Mustafa Badreddine, Salim Ayyash, Hussein Oneissi and Assad Sabra would be tried in absentia.

They face counts ranging from conspiracy to commit a terrorist act to murder and attempted murder. Hezbollah denies involvement.

Hearing streamed live

Presiding Judge David Re opened the trial, presenting the indictments against the accused. Thursday's hearing also included the prosecution's opening statements, expected to continue until Friday, according to the official Twitter account of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

"This is a historic day for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as it marks the transition from complex and difficult investigations to the new phase of trial," said Marten Youssef, a spokesman for the tribunal.
1. Who was Rafik Hariri?
2. How many people were involved in his death?
3. How were they killed?
4. Where was he when this happened?
5. How many people were held responsible?
6. What were their names?
7. Who else?
8. Who is Marten Youssef?
9. Where the accused present during the trial?
10. What were they officially charged with?
11. What day of the week did the hearing start?
12. Was it expected to continue for another day?
13. What made the day so significant?
14. Who was still on the loose?
Answer: 1. Prime Minister
2. 21 killed
3. a bomb
4. near the Beirut seafront.
5. four
6. Mustafa Badreddine
7. Salim Ayyash, Hussein Oneissi
8. a spokesman for the tribunal.
9. No
10. conspiracy to commit a terrorist act
11. Thursday
12. yes
13. transition from complex and difficult investigations to the new phase of trial
14. the suspects

Problem: Ken and Anthony were childhood friends. They went to elementary and high school together. They went to college in different states, and then they lost touch. That was twenty years ago. One morning Ken was reading the newspaper with his morning coffee. Inside he saw an announcement for a poetry reading at a nearby bookstore. He was surprised to find that the featured poet was none other than his friend Anthony. Ken decided to see what his old pal was up to. Ken sat in the last row of the area set up inside the bookstore. When Anthony was introduced and came up the podium, Ken hardly recognized him. Anthony was almost completely bald and had a little potbelly . When Anthony was in high school, he was very handsome. What Anthony had lost in looks was made up for in talent. Anthony's poetry was quite good. Anthony recognized Ken sitting in the back row. When the reading was over, Ken stood in line with the others waiting for Anthony to sign a copy of his book. When it was Ken's turn, Anthony stood up and hugged his long lost friend. Anthony invited Ken to stay until he had finished signing books. Ken did, and the two men grabbed a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe. Even though so many years had passed since the two had seen each other, both men had a lot in common. Both graduated from college with degrees in comparative literature . Both went to graduate school. Anthony got his Master's of Fine Art in writing. Ken went to law school. Both men married Mexican women. Both men also had sons that were only a year apart. Ken and Anthony decided not to lose touch again. They planned to meet once a month for breakfast on Saturdays.
1. Who went to primary school together?
2. Who was a poet?
3. What was Ken doing the day he say the announcment?
4. Did the boys talk after school?
5. did Ken go to the poetry reading?
6. Was Anthony different?
7. What happened after the poetry reading?
8. Were both men married?
9. What was the ethnicity of their spouses?
10. Who went to law school?
11. What does Anthony look like now?
12. WHat did he get his Masters in?
13. Will the two meet again?
14. When?
15. For what?
Answer: 1. Ken and Anthony
2. Anthony
3. reading the newspaper
4. no
5. yes
6. yes
7. Ken waited for Anthony to sign a copy of his book
8. yes
9. Mexican
10. Ken
11. almost completely bald with a little potbelly
12. Fine Art in writing
13. yes
14. once a month on Saturdays
15. breakfast

Problem: A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean. The first submarine communications cables, laid in the 1850s, carried telegraphy traffic. Subsequent generations of cables carried telephone traffic, then data communications traffic. Modern cables use optical fiber technology to carry digital data, which includes telephone, Internet and private data traffic.

Modern cables are typically about 1 inch (25mm) in diameter and weigh around 2.5 tons per mile (1.4 tonnes per km) for the deep-sea sections which comprise the majority of the run, although larger and heavier cables are used for shallow-water sections near shore. Submarine cables connected all the world's continents except Antarctica when Java was connected to Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia in 1871 in anticipation of the completion of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line in 1872 connecting to Adelaide, South Australia and thence to the rest of Australia.

After William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone had introduced their working telegraph in 1839, the idea of a submarine line across the Atlantic Ocean began to be thought of as a possible triumph of the future. Samuel Morse proclaimed his faith in it as early as 1840, and in 1842, he submerged a wire, insulated with tarred hemp and India rubber, in the water of New York Harbor, and telegraphed through it. The following autumn, Wheatstone performed a similar experiment in Swansea Bay. A good insulator to cover the wire and prevent the electric current from leaking into the water was necessary for the success of a long submarine line. India rubber had been tried by Moritz von Jacobi, the Prussian electrical engineer, as far back as the early 19th century.
1. When were the first submarine communication cables placed?
2. Where do they lay?
3. What kind of communications did they initially carry?
4. What technology do they currently use?
5. Can they provide internet service?
6. When was the telegraph first introduced?
7. By whom?
8. Did Samuel Morse believe in a oceanic submarine line?
9. Crossing which ocean?
10. What year did he express his support in the project?
11. What year did he perform a test of his own?
12. Which body of water did he use?
13. Who else performed a similar test?
14. Where?
15. How wide are modern cables?
16. Do they reach all of the continents?
17. Which one is excluded?
18. Which continent was the most recent to be connected?
19. What year did it join?
20. Where did it connect?
Answer:
1. 1850s
2. on the sea bed
3. telegraphy
4. optical fiber
5. yes
6. 1839
7. William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone
8. yes
9. the Atlantic
10. 1840
11. 1842
12. New York Harbor,
13. Wheatstone
14. Swansea Bay.
15. 1 inch
16. no
17. Antarctica
18. Australia.
19. 1872
20. Darwin