Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to the Weekly Bilingual News, a new edition of the periodical communication of the Spanish-English Club with a brief analysis and comments about how the world was running in the last few days.

In this opportunity the main words of the week were: war, withdrawal, troops, bombs… President Obama announced the plan for the withdrawal of the troops from Afghanistan while the Congress debated about the authority of the President to participate in the NATO campaign against the Libyan regime.

Other key issues of the week were the release from the national oil reserves, the discussions about raising the ceiling of the federal budget, the Greek financial crisis, the sickness of the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the trial against the former strongman of Tunisia, the attacks along the border between North Sudan and South Sudan, the Syrian repression, and bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On Tuesday June 21, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman launched officially his campaign for president for the Republican nomination of the 2012 presidential election. Mr. Huntsman resigned as American ambassador to China same weeks ago.

On Friday June 24, Apple widened its legal battle against Samsung Electronics Co. by filing a suit against the South Korean maker in its home market over the Galaxy smart-phone. Last April, the father of the Mac made its first legal demand against Samsung in the United States alleging that Korean company copied the "look and feel" of its iPhone and iPad products for smart-phones and tablet computers that Samsung released last year and this year. In the official presentation to the Californian Court, Apple said that the manufacturer of Galaxy infringed upon design patents and "trade dress" registrations of its products. (trade dress: legal term that generally refers to features of the visual appearance of a product or its packaging).

Wall Street continued showing the pessimism of the investors for the gloomy moments of Greece and a non-clear panorama of the American economy. The markets of New York closed with mixed results. For the week, Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 69.78 points, or 0.58% to 11934.58. Nasdaq Composite gained 36.41 points, or 1.39%, to 2652.89.

END OF THE AMERICAN CRUSADES

On Wednesday June 22 President Obama unveiled his plan for the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. 5000 troops will head home this summer and another 5000 will leave Afghan territory before the end of the year. We wrote the following comment in the Journal Community forum of Wall Street Journal: "Till now, we don't have an exact idea in what phase is the Afghan campaign in. Can we discuss a withdrawal plan? We only know how many soldiers are dying onthe battlefield according to the public information distributed by the press, but we don't know who will be the winner and what will be the last balance relative to the original goals for this war. We understand that for political reasons, the White House wants to announce the withdrawal now, but what will happen in one year and in two years?" (Group Topic: How quickly should U.S. troops be drawn down in Afghanistan? Domingo A. Trassens, June 23, 2011)

Two days later, Wall Street Journal posted an article originally titled: "Bomb Kills 60 in Afghanistan" (1) where the writer of the story informed about a new bombing attack in Afghan territory. Immediately we wrote: "Are the new 60 deaths a good symptom that all is working well in Afghanistan? Or maybe in this country, 60 people are not a relevant number? How we can measure the blood spilled in the territory controlled by the Talibans?"

Next, also Wall Street Journal published another story about the war in the region titled: "Taliban Use Husband, Wife Bombers" (2) where the author described the bombing procedures of the terrorist group using women and also men as couriers and transport of bombs against public places in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This was our comment: "Who can believe it is possible to sign an agreement of peace with fanatic criminals who sacrifice their own people as a tool to spread their terror?"

Last, in the moment we was beginning the writing the new Weekly Bilingual News, we received other story from Wall Street Journal titled: "Iran Woos U.S. Allies as Troops Withdraw". This was our new comment: "U.S. and its western allies have expended their money, their time and the blood of their soldiers in a frustrating effort to export "democratic packages" to countries that never have had interest to raise the flags of the western democratic movements. It is regrettable that during 10 years of fighting, we have never reread the history about the Crusades of the Middle Ages, when different military campaigns failed in their ambition to impose the rules of Christianity on nations ruled by Muslims and pagans."

In summary, we think the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have a lot of common points with the Crusades of the Middle Ages. The American and NATO troops are fighting in territories where religious factors are more powerful than the freed mind of the population and where the regimes never trust in the friendship of western countries.

After all the events of the last few days we see that Iran is playing in the background with good results. Last Saturday, the Afghan and Pakistani presidents visited in Tehran and discussed with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad how they can work together when the NATO troops leave Afghanistan.

OTHER SUBJECTS

 VENEZUELAN FUTURE: On June 25, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Chavez Illness Sparks Succession Talk" where the author says Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in Cuba for medical intervention. Several sources suggest he has prostate cancer.

Our Comment: "Venezuela has to turn the page of Chavez off and it has to open the country to a free election looking for a new government with new faces, new ideas, and patriotic principles. Venezuela is a great country that has beenruled for decades by corrupt governments and bad politicians."

NATIONAL OIL RESERVERS: On June 24, Journal Community of WSJ asked to its members the following question: "Should the IEA and U.S. release oil from reserves?"

Our Opinion: The decision to release oil from the national reserves is risky. The producers have to produce more oil per day.

YAHOO'S SICKNESS: On June 23, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Yahoo, CEO Bartz Face Tough Shareholder Meeting" where the writer says Yahoo doesn't find a new formula of success.

Our Comment: "Yahoo has been sick since the mid-2000 when Google knocked its business. From that moment, nobody found the antidote for anti-Google. This is bad, but Yahoo has to learn to live with its sickness or dig its grave to die."

GREEK AUSTERITY: On June 22, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Greek Vote Sets Stage for More Cuts" where the author says the Greek Parliament will support the austerity plan.

Our Comment: "We agree the vote of confidence is a victory for Papandreou in the Parliament, but this vote doesn't imply that all the Greeks accept the new measures. Some press interviews from Athens' streets show there are a "gap" between politicians and the population because the poor people have not voice in the decision of the rulers of the country."

Best regards,

Domingo

Domingo A. Trassens

Spanish-English Club

Electronic mail: domingo.trassens@gmail.com

URL: http://spaengclub.blogspot.com/

Questions - Preguntas:

1) From your point of view, what was the worst news for the week?

1) Desde vuestro punto de vista, ¿cuál fue la peor noticia de la semana?

2) And what was the best news from the week?

2) ¿Y cuál fue la mejor noticia de la semana?

Vocabulary - Vocabulario:

- Afghanistan, Afghan = Afganistán, afgano, afgana

- ambassador = embajador

- austerity = austeridad
- budget = presupuesto
- clinic = clínica

- courier = mensajero, mensajera

- Crusades = Cruzadas

- Cuba, Cuban = Cuba, cubano, cubana

- fanatic = fanático, fanática, fanáticos, fanáticas

- fight = combate, lucha, pelea

- gap = vacío, hueco

- grave = tumba

- Greece, Greek = Grecia, griego, griega

- Iraq, Iraqi = Irak, iraquí (m/f)

- Iran, Iranian = Irán, iraní (m/f)

- Middle Ages = Edad Media, Medioevo

- oil = petróleo

- Pakistan, Pakistani = Paquistán, paquistaní (m/f)

- parliament = parlamento (also: Congreso, and in Spain: Cortes)

- regrettable = lamentable

- reread = releer

- reserves = reservas

- rulers = gobernantes

- sacrifice = sacrificar

- shareholder = accionista (m/f)

- sickness = enfermedad, mal 

- sign = firmar

- spill, spilled = derramar, derramó

- spread = diseminar, extender

- South Korea, South Korean = Corea del Sur, surcoreano, surcoreana

- Sudan, Sudanese = Sudán, sudanés, sudanesa

- transport = transporte

- troops = tropas
- Tunisia = Túnez
- Venezuela, Venezuelan = Venezuela, venezolano, venezolana

- war, wars = guerra, guerras

- withdraw = retirarse, retirar

- withdrawal = retirada

- woo, woos = cortejar, corteja

SPECIAL VOCABULARY

The Crusades of the Middle Ages were military campaigns called by Catholic Church (popes and kings) against Islamic forces and pagans in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. These expeditions to the Holy Land ended without the success. They didn’t spread the principles of Christianity in the regions dominated by other religious believes.

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

Thanks to Bob, Betty, Erika, Frank, Gaby, John, Mary, and Suzanne your messages about the previous Weekly Bilingual News.

End of the Crusades: Iran in the background. Who will be the winner?

Sources: Word History published by United States Armed Forces Institute, Apple online pressrom, Yahoo website, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, New York Times, The Washington Post, Think Tank of Comlab.

References: (1) "Deadly Suicide Blast at Afghanistan Clinic", Associated Press, Kabul, WSJ, June 25, 2011 / (2) "Taliban Use Husband, Wife Bombers", Associated Press, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, WSJ, June 26, 2011 / (3) "Iran Woos U.S. Allies as Troops Withdraw". Jay Solomon, WSJ, June 27, 2011.

Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to a new online communication from the Spanish-English Club! In this Weekly Bilingual News you will find a brief analysis of the news of the last few days plus a story of success.

Before we talk about politics, finances, economy or civil wars, today we have something different to mention. On Thursday, June 16, IBM celebrated its first 100 years with different activities across 170 countries of the world. The Chairman and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano and other IBM executives rang The Opening Bell of the New York Stock Exchange in Wall Street as part of the special events for the first century of life for the American company.

Also during the week, other technology companies were in the headlines of newspapers. Hewlett-Packard announced the most important changes in the management of the company since Léo Apotheker assumed as CEO and president. The former executive of SAP is trying to maintain the helm of the HP under his control.

For the other side, Research In Motion warned about an important fall in the sales of its BlackBerry. By the way, the smart-phone niche is a very demanding market. If a maker cannot update its products in step with its competition, it will lose market share despite all its previous contributions to the industry. In general, the classic consumers of digital devices are not loyal to the brands. They always want the latest technological innovations. When BackBerry was at the top, RIM didn't generate a sociological phenomenon like the armies of Apple's fans.

Across the world, again Greece was one of the main headlines of the international media. In Athens, the Greek Primer Minister George Papandreou reshuffled his cabinet with the appointment of Evangelos Venizelos as new finance minister and asked to the Parliament for voting a package of austerity measures. Meanwhile, in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas launched a new plan to woo private investors to acquire the bonds of the Greek debts.

In the American politics, Michelle Bachmann added her name to the list of candidates for the Republican nomination of the 2012 presidential election. Michele Bachmann is member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 6th congressional district of Minnesota. She is a supporter of the Tea Party movement. Some observers think Michelle is the most anti-Obama candidate till now in presidential campaign.

The Wall Street markets after a long series of falls, closed with mixed results in the middle of the Greek financial crisis. For the week, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained a fraction of one percent and Nasdaq Composite fell one percent.

FIRST CENTURY OF IBM

IBM was founded by Thomas J. Watson Sr. on June 16, 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR) through the merger of four companies: Tabulating Machine Company, International Time Recording Company, Computing Scale Corporation and Bundy Manufacturing Company. In 1924, CTR changed its original name by International Business Machines (IBM).

During its first hundred years, IBM has played a very important role in transforming business, science and society through different inventions and strong dynamics. Its history is a succession of key milestones: punched card tabulating machines, electronic typewriters, computers, the first hard disk drive, mainframe systems, the UPC code, microprocessors, printing systems, computer programming languages, operating systems, database systems, the IBM PC, and more. By the way, in the last few days, IBM announced it will provide the microprocessors that will serve as the heart of the new Wii U system from Nintendo.

To celebrate the new milestone, the technology company is releasing a book titled: "Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company" written by journalists Kevin Maney, Steve Hamm and Jeffrey M. O'Brien that shows the ways the world has changed over a century in technology, business and the way progress happens, as well as the role IBM has played in making these changes.

At the Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Samuel Palmisano speaking to the employees of the company said that IBM "will reexamine the history of technology innovation and predict where the world will be in the next 100 years."

OTHER SUBJECTS

AL QAEDA IN ACTION: On June 16, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Al Qaeda Names New Leader" where the author says Ayman al-Zawahri who was the number two of al Qaeda is now assuming the vacancy generated by the death of Osama bin Laden.
Our Comment: "The western countries have to be more careful when they support uprisings in countries of the Arab world because probably they might work for the benefit of al Qaeda."

LIBYAN BOMBING: Also on June 16, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Obama Defends Libya Intervention" where the writer talks about the president's authority to pursue a military action in Libya.
Our Comment: "According to the public information about Libya, we don't see results and advances. Worse, we don't have any idea if the efforts of U.S. and its allies will help to establish a modern democracy or will they contribute to create a new extremist regime."

SYRIAN REFUGEES: On June 15, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Syrian Refugees in Turkey Call for Action" that comments the exodus of Syrian civilians due to the repression of tanks and troops of the government.
Our Comment: "We understand the situation of the Syrian refugees is dramatic but western countries cannot be involved in more civil wars of the Arab world without the effective support of the United Nations. It could have a detrimental effect for the international volunteers."

CHINESE CYBERASSAULT: Also on June 15, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Opinion: China's Cyberassault on America" with some opinions about the recent Chinese cyber attacks.
Our Comment: "We think the White House is losing time, resources, and energies in the efforts to help countries that don't know what they want, while it doesn't focus on the true risks for the nation. Without any doubt, China has a plan to conquer the world with cyber-weapons. In the first phase, step by step, the Chinese captured the best jewels of the technology industry developed by American companies and western engineers. Now, China is deploying the second phase of its plan: training for its hackers and cyber-soldiers in the guerrilla warfare. What will be the third phase? We believe the cyber-soldiers are spreading panic to prepare the battlefield for something worse."

IMF CANDIDATES: On June 14, Journal Community of WSJ asked to its members the following question: "Which candidate should become the new head of the IMF?" (Agustin Carstens from Mexico, Stanley Fischer from Israel, Christine Lagarde from France)
Our Opinion: "We think the International Monetary Fund has to select a candidate who knows what poverty is and how deep it can be for the economic and social problems of the emerging countries. This candidate is Agustín Carstens. Please don't select celebrities because they only look for the grandeur of themselves!"

Best regards,

Domingo

Domingo A. Trassens
Spanish-English Club
Electronic mail: domingo.trassens@gmail.com
URL: http://spaengclub.blogspot.com/

Questions - Preguntas:

1) From your point of view, what was the worst news for the week?
1) Desde vuestro punto de vista, ¿cuál fue la peor noticia de la semana?

2) And what was the best news from the week?
2) ¿Y cuál fue la mejor noticia de la semana?

Vocabulary - Vocabulario:

- Apple's fans = fanáticos de Apple, simpatizantes de Apple
- Athens = Atenas
- austerity = austeridad
- bonds = bonos
- century = siglo
- database systems = sistemas de base de datos
- demanding = exigente
- hard disk drive = dispositivo de disco duro
- mainframe = unidad principal, unidad central, sistema central
- microprocessor = microprocesador
- operating systems = sistemas operativos
- printing systems = sistemas de impresion
- programming languages = lenguajes de programación de computadores
- punched card tabulating machines = máquinas de tabulación de tarjetas perforadas
- reshuffle = reorganizar
- ring a bell = replicar una campana
- smart-phone = teléfono inteligente
- typewriter = máquina de escribir
- UPC (bar code) = código universal de productos (código de barras)

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

Thanks to Ann, Bob, Erika, Frank, Jenny, Joseph, Mary,and Suzanne your messages about the previous Weekly Bilingual News.

Technology always requests a good service

(Courtesy from IBM Palisades Center)

Sources: IBM, HP and RIM websites, Wall Street Journal, Journal Community of WSJ, PBS NewsHour, Barron's Online, New York Times, Think Tank of Comlab, others.

Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to a new edition of the Weekly Bilingual News! In this issue you will find a brief analysis about how the world was running during the last few days from the perspective of our comments posted in different blogs.

Last week began on Monday June 6 with the Worldwide Developers Conference of Apple where Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of the company, introduced the eighth major release of Mac OS X (Lion), iOS 5 (advanced mobile operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch) and iCloud (first Apple's cloud computing services).

In Peru, Ollanta Humala defeated to Keiko Fujimori in a second round for the presidency of the nation. Ollanta Humala is a former army officer who led a rebellion like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Keiko Fujimori was the "first lady" of the Peruvian President, his father Alberto Fujimori.

Meanwhile, in New York, from Monday to Friday, the Wall Street markets continued its decline amid of  the negative reactions to the speech of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and the worries about the economic recovery of the country. Dow Jones Industrial Average closed on Friday under the mark of 12000. For the week, DJIA lost more than 1.5 percent adn Nasdaq Composite fell 3 percent.

In Washington, President Obama received the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a meeting that smoothed differences over Libya action between the United States and Germany and opened the doors for new ways of cooperation across the Atlantic. The White House honored to Dr. Angela Merkel with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.

Hours later upon the return of Ms. Merkel to Europe, Wolfang Schäule, financial minister of Germany revealed his new financial plan to help Greece that try to reduce the risks of a collapse of the euro and European Union.

NATO COMMITMENT

Next, in a quasi perfect sequence of crucial speeches, the U.S. Defense Secretary, Robert Gates criticized the members of NATO who didn't have ammunition and resources to participate together in the Libyan bombing.

About the problems of the North Atlantic Alliance we wrote the following comment: "Before his departure, the U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made his best contribution to his nation by showing the current picture of NATO in a speech that will be memorable. By the way, after three months of campaign in Libya, the forces of the alliance remind us the battles of the Crusaders of Middle Ages to conquer Jerusalem. Is it possible to achieve military goals without coordination and the poverty of resources?" (PBS NewsHour, Analysis Air Date: June 10, 2011, "After Gates' Blunt Warning, What's Next for NATO?")

Originally NATO was created with the intention of protecting the countries of Western Europe against possible attacks of the Soviet Union and its partners. Today the military alliance includes 28 members: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Rep, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.

During the last decade, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization grew a lot in the number of members, but it has lost stature. The difficulties to implement the Libyan operation – Operation Unified Protector - show coordination and economic problems among the allies. Due to this new scenario, it is time the United States rethinks its commitment to the alliance.

OTHER SUBJECTS

PAKISTANI HUMILIATION: On June 10, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Pakistani Army Pleads for Respect" by Matthew Rosenberg, Tom Wright and Zarid Hussain, where the authors comment the negative reactions of Pakistani army and population about the United States continue.
Our Comment: "Nobody gives billions of dollars as a gift. Of course, the American commando operation humiliated the Pakistani army. But why did Pakistan accepted the money if they didn't want to apprehend Osama bin Laden?"

THE FACES OF FACEBOOK: On June 9, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Facebook Again in Spotlight on Privacy" by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Christopher Lawton that explains Facebook is using a face recognition technique to identify people in photos of its website.
Our Comment: "We think Facebook is an innovative company that is making important contributions for developing of social networks. But we also have concerns about the intrusive techniques Facebook uses frequently against the interests of its members. For example, we don't like that somebody wants to push us more than where we want to goin our social connections. By the way, usually, Facebook sends messages with statements like this: "a friend is waiting for you", but when we enter to the system we don't find a friend waiting for us. They want to push us to contact people who we don't know and we don't have any interest to know."

ECONOMIC RECOVERY: On June 8, Journal Community of WSJ asked to its members the following question: "Do you think the U.S. economic recovery will strengthen in the second half of 2011?"
Our Opinion: "We don't perceive symptoms of economic recovery for the second half of 2011. With more than 14 million people out of work, an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, the high gasoline prices and a lot of people working for less than 7 dollars anhour it is not possible to make a trustworthy forecast. Ben Bernanke plays with all the math formulas of the Federal Reserve from before the 2008 crisis, but in three years he hasn't show sufficient efforts to rebuild the finances of the country. Additionally, politicians from both parties continue discussing if they should cut taxes or create higher stimulus packages without a rational plan. It is tough to recognize that nobody in Washington experiences the hunger of the people who wait near restaurants to eat the food that others didn't eat. Also it is offensive that our politicians don't think sensitively about Americans who fight abroad or in the country as volunteers, while there are lawmakers who have time for chatting pornography and more."

CHINESE MOMENTUM: On June 7, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Chinese Companies Embark on Shopping Spree in Europe" by John W. Miller says Chinese are looking for top European food companies after acquisitions in other industrial sectors like Volvo and the IBM PC unit.
Our Comment: "Chinese know that for conquering the world they need the best brands, the best products, the best companies and the expertise in businesses from Americans and Europeans. With money they can make excellent acquisitions in the moment that U.S. and Europe are in crisis."

Best regards,

Domingo

Domingo A. Trassens

Spanish-English Club

Electronic mail: domingo.trassens@gmail.com

URL: http://spaengclub.blogspot.com/

Questions - Preguntas:

1) From your point of view, what was the worst news for the week?

1) Desde vuestro punto de vista, ¿cuál fue la peor noticia de la semana?

2) And what was the best news from the week?

2) ¿Y cuál fue la mejor noticia de la semana?

Vocabulary - Vocabulario:

- acquisition = adquisición

- ammunition = municiones

- brand, brands = marca, marcas

- chat, chatting = charlar, charlando

- China, Chinese = China, chino, china

- cloud computing = computación nube

- crucial = decisivo

- Crusader, Crusaders = Cruzado, Cruzados

- embark = embarcarse

- food = comida, alimentos

- Greece, Greek = Grecia, griego, griega

- Holy Land = Tierra Santa

- humilition = humillación

- Jerusalem = Jerusalén

- Libya, Libyan = Libia, libio, libia

- Middle Ages = Edad Media

- momentum = momento

- operating system = sistema operativo

- Pakistan, Pakistani = Paquistán, paquistaní (m/f)

- Peru, Peruvian = Perú, peruano, peruana

- pornography = pornografía

- quasi = cuasi

- remind = recordar

- Soviet Union = Unión Soviética

- speech, speeches = discurso, discursos

- stature = estatura

SPECIAL VOCABULARY - VOCABULARIO ESPECIAL

. Crusaders: Warriors of the Crusades, the military campaigns to take the control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

. Face recognition: technology to recognize human faces in photos and pictures.

. NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

. Tripoli: In Arab, its name is Tarabulus al Gharb, also known as the Western Tripoli.

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

Thanks to Bev, Bob, Erika, Mary, Paul, and Stephanie your messages about the previous Weekly Bilingual News.

Sources: Apple Press website, NATO website, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, Barron's Online, New York Times, Think Tank of Comlab, others.

Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to a new issue of the Weekly Bilingual News! This is the first communication of June 2011 with a brief analysis and comments about the news of the last few days.

May ended with a lot of concerns about the economy of the country: manufacturing production, inflation, jobs and the bad performance of the Wall Street market across the last five weeks.

After the trip of President Obama through Europe where he talked with world leaders about how to help Egypt, Tunisia and the countries involved in the Arab Spring, his next step was to visit Joplin, Missouri, where a tornado hit complete families of Americans who also need help and assistance. With this frame, the first days of June began full of skepticism. Economists, investors, and jobless people showed worries for the negative conditions the United States are living through.

ECONOMY  & JOBS

On June 1st, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "May Data Indicate Slowdown" where the author explained the slowdown of the manufacturing sector and how industry again shows symptoms of less demand of cars and other products.

Our comment: "The US economy cannot improve if the manufacturing sector doesn't generate jobs. The growth of industrial production is one of the most important factors for job creation".

A day later, on June 2, also Wall Street Journal posted another story but about the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average index titled: "DJIA Drops 279.65 on Economy Worry".

Our Comment: "The economy worry is real. Since 2008, we were pessimist about the trends of the economy in the US. Meanwhile, in 2010, others celebrated the apparent economic recovery of the nation. Our thesis is: the productive and R&D sectors are the main engines of modern economies. How many US manufacturing plants were opened in the last three years? How many old factories were re-opened? How many R&D labs were moved abroad? Additionally, how many American companies are assembling products with 99% of supplies made China, Vietnam or other countries?"

On Friday, June 3, the US Labor Department published the May's job figures that include a net of 54000 new jobs and the climb of the unemployment rate from 9 percent to 9.1 percent. Private employers hired 80000 new workers, but the manufacturing sector and the government eliminate positions. According to different sources, the expectations of the economic analysts were higher than the numbers published by the government.

On the same day, the TV program NewsHour of PBS, analyzed the U.S. unemployment report for May with the participation of Lisa Lynch of Brandeis University and Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors and the coordination of the journalist Judy Woodruff. The analysis was titled: "'Utterly Disappointing' May Jobs Report: Why Aren't Businesses Hiring?"

Our Comment: "During the past decade, American companies moved complete production lines abroad, looking for cheap manpower. Then a high percentage of the productive infrastructure was dilapidated. Since that moment, the domestic manufacturing industry assembles from computers to cars with a high level of imported parts. Additionally, the software makers went to India, East Europe, Russia and other places to hire professionals with excellent background but less expensive. Meanwhile the services sector grew with numbers of fantasy: more salesmen for houses, cars and papers for the past times of richness. In 2008, all the curves of growth for the services sector fell abruptly. Now, also the government is cutting positions of teachers and others. With this panorama, the potential margins for improving the employment indexes are small. The phenomenon cannot reverse itself in a short time. The disappointments will continue."

On Saturday, June 4, Wall Street Journal made a new evaluation of the fall of the economy in May and the impact in the stock market: "Economy Point Down, Takes Market With It". Our Comment: "The investors of Wall Street are realizing that the optimistic economic forecasts and speeches of the politicians and economists were not true. The "engines" of the American economy are exhausted."

OTHER COMMENTS:

CHINESE HUMAN RIGHTS: On June 4, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Thousands Rally in Hong Kong for Human Rights" about the protest through the streets of Hong Kong against the oppression of the Chinese regime.

Our Comment: "We cannot expect the human-rights-movements to advance fast across China. The Communist Party worked for decades to procreate androids that only follow the orders of their leaders. Of course, like any dictatorship regime, there are people who have their own minds and fight to express their ideas of freedom and human rights. But the western countries will not help these people because nobody wants to damage their pocketbooks. Today everybody has businesses with the Chinese without caring a lot about what happens in the jails of China."

CUCUMBERS, TOMATOES, LETTUCE...: On June 3, Wall Street Journal published a story titled "E. coli Crisis Intensifies". Its subject: the food problems across Europe and the people who died in Germany due to bacterial infections till to be determined. In the beginning, medical institutions said the cucumbers and tomatoes imported from Spain have bacteria that produce sickness in the people who eat these farm products. After the complaint of Spanish agricultural authorities, the German labs denied the first news.

Our Comment: "Everybody talks about the bacterial infections but nobody knows from where the sickness comes and how many products are contaminated. In the middle of this chaos, a new European war began against cucumbers, tomatoes, and lettuce. A new factor of discord for the EU!"

NOKIA'S MISFORTUNE: On June 2, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Nokia's Latest Headache: Android" where the author comments the sales of Nokia are falling dramatically. The mobile phone leader thinks the devices of the Android platform from Google are damaging its business.

Our Comment: "From the throne of the king of the mobile phone market, Nokia didn't see the path of the evolution of the technology. After that, when it woke up, it refused to follow the route of the new software leaders and signed an agreement with Microsoft, another loser of the phone business. Now, it continues losing ground without taking any heroic action. The last IDC's reports show that in Western Europe, Samsung surpassed it in the segment of mobile phone and Apple in the niche of smart-phones. Android is not the problem, the problem is the sickness of Nokia."

WEEK SUMMARY

Again the main indexes of Wall Street closed the week in the negative territory. Dow Jones Industrial Average went down 290.32 points or 2.33% to 12151.26, while Nasdaq Composite fell 64.08 points or 2.29% to end at 2732.78. This was the fifth consecutive week that Dow Jones fell.

In the week, Japan was news because the Prime Minister Naoto Kan has lost the confidence of the Parliament. During the last few years, due to corruption cases and other unclear issues, Japan was changing its prime ministers continuously. Now the earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster shook again the weak foundation of the political apparatus. We think the Japanese political institutions don't work properly due to different factors: corruption, shortage of political leaders, and maybe fatigue of the system.

Google accused China for a cyber-attack of important electronic accounts of Gmail. The Chinese government refused the accusations, while the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the hackers that are making the Internet unsafe. In separate note, the Pentagon affirmed that any cyber-attack against American government institutions will be consider from now an act of war and it will repel aggressively.

In the Arab world, the bombing of the Presidential Palace of Yemen and the trip of the President Ali Abdullah Salen to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment produced big commotion and important interrogations about the future of country. The Yemeni President was injured in the attack but nobody knows about his health and the level of his wounds.

In the frame of the political campaign for the U.S. 2012 presidential elections, the former Mass governor Mitt Romney announced he is running for the GOP presidential nomination. Till now it is not clear if Sarah Palin will join the list of Republican candidates.

In the technology arena, the Chinese PC maker Lenovo announced the acquisition of German PC maker Medion with the intention to extend its presence across the European region. In 2005, Lenovo bought the PC unit of IBM and its famous notebook ThinkPad plus all the technology developed by IBM for mobile computers. According to the IDC report, in the first quarter 2011 quarter, the Chinese maker grew 16.3% worldwide compared with a year ago and shipping 8,172,000 computers.

In other news, Apple anticipated details of the 2011 Worldwide Developer Conference from June 6, where Steve Jobs and his team are introducing new hardware and software: the new operating system Lion, iCloud – cloud computing services - and software for Macintosh, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Best regards,

Domingo

Domingo A. Trassens

Spanish-English Club

Electronic mail: domingo.trassens@gmail.com

URL: http://spaengclub.blogspot.com/

Questions - Preguntas:

1) From your point of view, what was the worst news for the week?

1) Desde vuestro punto de vista, ¿cuál fue la peor noticia de la semana?

2) And what was the best news from the week?

2) ¿Y cuál fue la mejor noticia de la semana?

Vocabulary - Vocabulario:

- android, androids = androide, androides

- apparent = aparente

- assemble = armar, ensamblar, montar, fabricar

- assistance = asistencia

- cloud computing = computación nube

- cloud computing services = servicios de computación nube

- concern = preocupación

- cucumber, cucumbers = pepino, pepinos

- damage = dañar

- data = datos

- dilapidated = desmoronado, desmoronada, desvencijado, desvencijada

- economy = economía

- engine, engines = motor, motores

- exhausted = agotado, agotada

- frame = marco

- forecast = pronóstico

- former = anterior

- hit = golpe, golpear

- human rights = derechos humanos

- intensify, intensifies = intensificar, intensifica

- investor = inversor

- jail, jails = cárcel, cárceles

- job, jobs = trabajo, trabajos, empleo, empleos

- jobless = sin trabajo

- lettuce = lechuga, lechugas

- manpower = mano de obra

- misfortune = desgracia

- notebook = computador portátil

- operating system = sistema operativo, sistema operacional

- outcome = resultado

- parts = partes, piezas

- pessimist = pesimista

- pockets = bolsillos

- rally = mitin, manifestación

- realize = darse cuenta

- speeches = discursos

- skepticism = escepticismo

- supply, supplies = suministro, suministros

- symptom, symptoms = síntoma, síntomas

- system = sistema

- thesis = tesis

- tomato, tomatoes = tomate, tomates

- utterly = completamente, totalmente

 - war = guerra

SPECIAL VOCABULARY - VOCABULARIO ESPECIAL

DJIA: Dow Jones Industrial Average

IDC: International Data Corporation

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

Thanks to Ann, Bob, Gaby, Erika, Fred, Paul, and Susan your messages about the previous Weekly Bilingual News.

The manufacturing sector depends of imported parts.

Sources and references: Wall Street Journal, PBS, Barron's Online, New York Times, Think Tank of Comlab, others.