Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to a new issue of the Weekly Bilingual News! Today, something short and different!

Across all the week, in the United States, the frustrating discussions about the debt-ceiling between the White House and the Congress were at top of the news, like in UK, the investigation about the phone-hacking, and in Europe, the financial plan to maintain the euro stability due to the Greek crisis.

In the middle of this scenario, on Friday July 22, a terrible weeping of pain and confusion came from Scandinavia, where the terror shook Norway through the Oslo's bombing attack and the massive killing on the island of Utoya.

Different sources guess that the suspect perpetrator of the killing and bombing is a psychopath with extremist beliefs. We will not debate about his profile. To find the answer for the crime is the responsibility of the Norwegian police and authorities.

But we can not stay indifferent in front of the morbid mind of the criminal or criminals who cut nearly 100 lives. The crime perpetrated doesn't have ideological justification in a civilized world. For this reason, we would like to express our compassion for all the youngsters and other innocent people who were cruelly killed in the slaughter of Utoya and the streets of Oslo.

Our humble pray to God for all victims of this tragedy…

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:

- authorities = autoridades
- beliefs = creencias
- compassion = compasión
- crime = crimen

- cruelly = cruelmente

- death toll = número de víctimas

- extremist = extremista

- fatal = mortal

- frustrating = frustrante
- God = Dios
- humble = humilde
- indifferent = indiferente
- island = isla

- killing = matanza
- life, lives = vida, vidas
- massive = masivo
- morbid = morboso
- Norway = Noruega

- Norwegian = noruego, noruega, noruegos, noruegas 

- perpetrate, perpetrated = perpetrar, perpetrado

- phone-hacking = escuchas telefónicas ilegales, piratería telefónica

- police = policia
- pray = rezar, rogar
- profile = perfil
- psychopath = psicópata
- responsibility = responsabilidad
- Scandinavia = Escandinavia

- shook = sacudió
- slaughter = matanza
- stability = estabilidad
- tragedy = tragedia
- victims = victimas
- weeping = llanto

- youngsters = jovenes

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

Thanks to Betsy, Bob, Erika, John, Mark, Pauline, Stephanie, and Suzanne for your messages and comments about the previous Weekly Bilingual News.

Sources: Norway official website, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, New York Times, The Washington Post, and Reuters.

Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to the Weekly Bilingual News! Again we are making a short tour across the world through a brief analysis of the major events of the last few days. We include a chapter of bilingual vocabulary linked with this issue.

The second half of the year began with a mix of bad news concerning financial, economic and political issues, plus bombing attacks, uprisings, repression, scandals, assassinations, and other deaths.

On Sunday 10, "Bulgaria", a Russian tourist boat with more than 180 people on board, sank on the Volga River in a fatal accident. Amid wind and rain, a strong storm knocked the vessel that disappeared in several minutes under water. The death toll was over 100 people. The boat was more than 50 years old. According to different sources its maximum capacity was 120 passengers. The authorities ordered a special investigation to know the causes of the accident.

On Monday July 11, in Damascus, Syria, the embassies of France and US were attacked by followers of the regime in apparent retaliation because the French and American ambassadors visiting an opposition city.

On July 12, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Ahmed Wali Karzai, half-brother of Afghan President Karzai, was shot and killed in an unclear episode, by a longtime associate of his family at his home.

On July 13, again Mumbai, India was the target a terrorist attack. Three bombs exploded in its financial district killing at least 21 and wounding more than 100. About this incident we wrote the followed comment in a Wall Street's blog: "The three blasts show that till now India hasn't fixed its weakness in security while Mumbai continues to bean attractive place for terrorists."

On July 14, from Mountain View, California, Google posted the financial results of its second fiscal 2011 quarter ended June 30 with figures showed the Internet's company is recovering ground after some recent shakings. Its quarterly revenues were US$ 9,026 million, up 32.25% from the same period of a year ago. It also published a net income of US$ 2,505 million, up 36.14% year over year.

On July 15, in Istanbul, Turkey, a group of 30 countries recognized the Libyan Transitional National Council. The U.S. and other nations have formally recognized the main opposition group in Libya as the legitimate government. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Col. Gadhafi has forfeited his right to rule in the Transitional National Council.

From Tuesday to Friday, Italy gained room in the papers due to the austerity measures proposed by the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and approved by the Parliament. This initiative came after rumors that the financial authorities of the European Union were afraid that Rome could convert into a second Athens. The Italian government made an important effort to restore calm to worried European leaders and markets.

Meanwhile, the phone-hacking scandal of the "News of the World" in the United Kingdom generated resignations of the top executives of News Corp and members of the British police, arrests and a suicide. The case continues opened and Rupert Murdoch, owner of the media group, could be damaged. Scotland Yard in UK and FBI in US are instituting research to know the extent of the phone-hacking procedures.

During all week, in Washington, the discussions between the White House and the leaders of Congress about the big deficit of the federal government continued without definitions.

The Wall Street markets closed the previous week in negative territory. On Friday July 15, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 177.47 points for the week, or 1.40% to 12479.73, while Nasdaq Composite declined 70.01 points in the same period, or 2.45%, to 2789.80.

On Sunday July 17, the Japanese women soccer team defeated US in a dramatic end of penalty kicks winning the Women's World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany. It was the first title for Japan. The United States was looking for its third world cup. After an excellent match ended 2-2, it lost its chance to be again world champion in a series of the eleven meters shots.

JOURNALISM AND PHONE-HACKING

The phone-hacking is not a new practice to find murders, follow terrorists and enemies, and uncover the truth in cases of crimes, security and defense issues. It is used by intelligence agencies, police forces and private detectives in different circumstances, sometimes violating ethical principles of the society or going against international agreements with friends, partners and others.

In the case of the "News of the World", the circumstances look worse than the phone-hacking  used by the police because the press is not the correct institution to try to enforce the law. Definitely, journalists have to research information always respecting ethical principles and the privacy of others.

In connection with the UK scandal where some involved journalists working for the Murdoch media empire, we wrote the following comments in an Internet blog of Wall Street Journal: "The News Corp's scandal opens a new question mark about what really is the role of journalists: 1) Describe the events in a reasonable way? 2) Compete with the police in the detective research of the events? 3) Or push the last bloody knife in the body of the victims?"

SPECIAL TOPICS

LIBYAN REBELS: The Journal Community of WSJ asked to its members: "Should the U.S. have granted legitimacy to the Libyan rebels?"
Our Answer: "Till now we only know the National Transitional Council is an enemy of the Libyan regime. But are they our friends? We have to be cautious!" (July 16, 2011) 

FACEBOOK IN THE SKY: The Journal Community of WSJ asked to its members: "Do you think Facebook is worth $100 billion?"
Our Answer: "Facebook is a fantasy of some investors and speculators who want to inflate the balloon without logical sense. Unfortunately, the environment that Facebook offers to link people and businesses does not have enough professional level  to guarantee important business transactions. Sometimes, its users receive suggestions for personal or business links that are not viable. In general, the connections are only for fun or to find friends. Facebook is not a hardware and/or software maker. How many other assets can we consider to achieve the worth of $100 billion?" (July 15, 2011).

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:

- assassination = asesinato
- assets = activos
- austerity = austeridad
- British = británico, británica
- boat = barco, buque
- causes = causas
- concerning = sobre, acerca de
- death toll = número de víctimas
- episode = episodio
- fatal = mortal
- forfeit = perder derecho a
- fun = diversión
- illegal = ilegal
- Italy, Italian, Italians = Italia, italiano, italiana, italianos, italianas
- net income = ingresos netos
- on board = a bordo
- phone-hacking = escuchas telefónicas ilegales, piratería telefónica
- revenues = ingresos
- river = río
- Russia, Russian, Russians = Rusia, ruso, rusa, rusos, rusas
- shakings = sacudidas
- sink, sank, sunk = hundir, hundió, hundido
- soccer = fútbol
- Turkey = Turquía
- vessel = barco

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

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

Sources: Google website, Facebook website, US Secretary of State website, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to a new Weekly Bilingual News with a brief analysis of the news across the world. We include a chapter of bilingual vocabulary linked with this issue.

Like every month in its first days, the economic information linked with the job unemployment was the subject of different headlines (Unemployment rate: 9.2%, Non-farm payrolls rose 18000). At the same time, other events ran in parallel. The big deficit of the federal government and the discussion about raising the debt ceiling made more dramatic the debate. Additionally, the launch of the last shuttle mission of NASA created concern for the people associated with the American space program who will lose their jobs.

Around the world, new fears are growing in connection with the European countries with big debts. Portugal is the focus of a lot of observers. Some analysts also believe Spain and Italy could have problems. In general, the world economy is in jeopardy.

Meanwhile the countries involved in the Arab Spring didn't show significant progress. Some news from Libya confirmed that the rebels are advancing to Tripoli but till now they have a difficult path to take control of the central government. From the other side, Iraq was again shook by bombing attacks and the Egyptians complained in Cairo's streets about the slowness of political changes after the resignation of the President Hosni Mubarak.

In the United Kingdom, research practices of the journalists of the newspaper "News of the World" generated a huge scandal that compromised the top management of News Corp and the former editor Andrew Coulson, who once worked for Prime Minister David Cameron. Amid allegations that reporters of the paper hacked into phones of murder victims and families of slain soldiers, Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp, decided to close the tabloid.

In the United States, the negotiations between the White House and the leaders of Congress about the debt ceiling improved thanks to the personal dialogue between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner but on the Sunday summit the leaders failed to produce a deal.

The Wall Street markets closed the week in the positive territory despite on Friday the majority of the indexes declined due to the disappointment by the June job report. During the last four work days, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 74.43 points, or 0.59% to 12657.20, while Nasdaq Composite grew 43.78 points, or 1.55%, to 2859.81.

NEW AFRICAN NATION

On Saturday, July 9, South Sudan was declared independent from Sudan after years of civil war between armed groups from the north and south of the African country that killed two million people in five decades.

In 2005, with the intervention of United Nations, the Muslims of the north and the Christians of the south signed a peace agreement that was the previous step for the independence referendum of last January where the people of the south decided their destiny.

he Republic of South Sudan formally emerged as a new independent country after the split of Sudanese nation into two countries.

In Juba, capital city of the youngest Africa state, was celebrating the official ceremony of independence, while in border north of the country, the violence continues for the dispute of oil areas with Sudan.

About this event we wrote the following comments on the blog of NewsHour PBS "The birth of South Sudan reminds us of the birth of a stunted child with a lot of diseases and low life expectation."

SPECIAL TOPICS

LAST SHUTTLE MISSION: TechRepublic posted: "What does this mean for the future of manned flight?"(1), written by Larry Dignan about NASA'S last Shuttle mission.
Our Comment: "Multiple negative consequences. From our point of view, tostop the Shuttle mission without a better alternative is to put in the trash all the efforts that NASA made to open new human paths through the extraterrestrial space. The United States will lose ground in many different ways: scientific, defense, security, industrial, and economic.

JOB REPORT: Wall Street Journal published "Jobs Data Dim Recovery Hopes" (2) about the June job report of the US Secretary of Labor.
Our Comment: "Since 2008, we haven'tseen a continuous strong recovery going downthe street. During this period, the statistics were always handled in away to avoid bad reactions, but the real situation is worse than the numbers say. It is a serious drama."

DEBT CEILING: Wall Street Journal posted: "Entitlement Cuts Divide Democrats" (3) about the Congress and White House discussion around of the debt ceiling of the federal deficit.
Our Comment: "When in our home, our incomes are less than our expenditures and nobody gives us credit, we have to cut some items fromour budget that normally are necessary. Something similar should happen in government. When we expend more money than our normal incomes, we cannot balance our budget and our "reserves" will decline despite all the magic formulas of our Secretary of Treasury. Of course, the public finances are more complex than the home finances, butwe have to cut expenditures or invent new "taxes". Definitively, we cannot go against the basic principles ofaccounting."

CISCO SPYING CHINESE: Wall Street Journal published: "Cisco Poised to Help China Keep an Eye on Its Citizens"(4) about the security system implemented by Cisco Systems in China.
Our Comment: "In general, the technology companies that implement electronic security systems don't analyze the possible social and human consequences of their work."

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:

- accounting = contabilidad
- deficit = déficit
- economy = economía
- debt ceiling = techo de la deuda
- jeopardy, to be in jeopardy = estar en peligro
- job = empleo, puesto de trabajo 
- oil = petróleo  - recovery = recuperación
- reserves = reservas
- shuttle = transportador, lanzadera
- spacial program = programa espacial
- taxes = impuestos

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

Thanks to Bob, Jenny, John, Mary, Stephanie, and Suzanne your messages about the previous Weekly Bilingual News.

 Flag of New African Nation: South Sudan

Sources: TechRepublic, US Secretary of State website, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, New York Times, The Washington Post, Think Tank of Spanish-English Club.

References: (1) "What does this mean for the future of manned flight?" by Larry Dignan, July 8, 2011, TechRepublic.(2) "Worries Grow Over Jobs" by Justin Lahart and Joe Light, July 8, 2011, Wall Street Journal. (3) "Entitlement Cut Democrats" by Jonathan Weisman, July 8, 2011, Wall Street Journal. (4) "Cisco Poised to Help China Keep an Eye on Its Citizens" by Loretta Chao and Don Clark, July 5, 2011, Wall Street Journal.

Weekly Bilingual News - Special Edition

Dear Friends:

Hello! Today - 4th of July - is a very special celebration of the United States. It is Independence Day, the birthday of the nation.

¡Hola! Hoy, 4 de Julio, es una muy especial celebración de los Estados Unidos. Es el Día de la Independencia, el cumpleaños de la nación.

All the nations with historical roots have a day that is the symbol of their fight for their freedom and independence. It is an important milestone in the history of each country.

Todos los pueblos con raíces históricas tienen un día que es el símbolo de su lucha por su libertad e independencia. Es un importante mojón en la historia de cada país.

Happy Independence Day!

¡Feliz Día de la Independencia!

Domingo

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

Vocabulary - Vocabulario:

- birthday = cumpleaños
- country = país, patria, tierra
- fight = lucha
- freedom = libertad
- historic = históricas
- history = historia
- independence = independencia
- milestone = mojón
- nation = nación, pueblo
- roots = raíces
- symbol = símbolo

Happy 4th of July!

¡Feliz 4 de Julio!

Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to a new brief analysis of the news of the end of June and beginning of July across the world. We include a chapter of bilingual vocabulary linked with the subjects of this issue.

During the last few days, a mosaic of different events was in the headlines of the papers and TV. From Cuba, the report about the surgery of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez created expectations about the political future of his country. In Syria, the government called to leaders of the opposition trying to reduce the international pressure for the repression against demonstrators of the last months. In Athens, the Greek Parliament confirmed its support with the austerity measures proposed by the Prime Minister. The International Monetary Fund named French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as its new managing director. In Monaco, the Prince Albert II married a former Olympic swimmer with all the luxury and fantasy of fairy tales. The former IMF chief Strauss-Kahn, accused of sexual assault, was released from his house arrest in New York.

To remark, on Tuesday, June 28, Afghanistan was again shook by the suicide attack of the Inter-Continental Hotel of Kabul. After near six hours of terror, helicopters of the NATO troops ended the siege by militants of the Taliban who showed that till now they have the capacity to storm in the capital of the country.

In the United States, the discussion around the cut of the federal deficit continued in a tense environment between the White House and Republican lawmakers. On Wednesday, June 29, President Barack Obama made the case for ending certain tax breaks for "millionaires and billionaires" as an option to keep the federal government from defaulting on its debt. The hot new tone from the President surprised the political analysts.

The Wall Street markets changed their direction after weeks with negative and mixed results. All the main indexes closed in the positive territory with important growths. For the week, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 648.19 points, or 5.43% to 12582.77, while Nasdaq Composite climbed 163.14 points, or 6.15%, to 2816.03.

WHERE SOCIAL NETWORKS GO?

On Wednesday June 29, News Corp announced the sale of the social network MySpace for $35 million that had been acquired for $580 million just six years ago. The buyer is Specific Media, a small a digital media company. The huge differences between the acquisition and sale prices produced surprise from external observers.

A day later, in a special report, the TV program NewsHour of PBS (2) analyzed the case and the recent advance of Facebook, a competitor of MySpace that now is climbing to the sky with a strong valuation of its business. In connection with this subject we wrote the following comment: "The social networks alone will not change the economy because a lot of the projects are only bubbles that will disappear tomorrow. This niche of technology is more cannibalistic than other sectors. But we think the social media services associated with innovative tools could revolutionize the real and virtual worlds in the years ahead. This is important, despite the corpses that drop off on the route."

After that, in the Journal Community forum of WSJ, a group expanded the discussion asking about the current role of Internet in connection with traditional businesses. This was the question for debate: "Do you see the Internet as an opportunity or a threat to traditional business models?" We answered: "We see the Internet as a simultaneous opportunity and threat to traditional business models. Internet helps the traditional businesses in their globalization. In other words, Internet as a tool gives the opportunity to spread some good local businesses in the global way. But sometimes these very good ideas die when others take the helm of those businesses, or big investors buy the ideas, the factories, the engineering of the products and the shops, and they merge with other ideas, other factories and other products. In summary, Internet is a machine that cannibalizes businesses and we never know what will happen with our ideas or our products or our shops when they merge with others. Only a very small group of traditional business models can endure the integration with Internet as a tool without losing its roots. (June 2, 2011, Journal Community, WSJ)

Next, Zynga, a software company that produces games that work on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, entered in the big scene. This social network game developer announced its plan to sell stock in the New York financial market as a public company. A journalist from Wall Street Journal remarked that Zynga is valued near to $20 billion in a story titled: "Nothing Virtual About Zynga Profits" (2). This was our comment: "We prefer to be cautious. In a virtual business, the profits of today don't guarantee a big harvest of tomorrow."

In other article from the blog Digits of WSJ titled "What Zynga CEO's Letter Could Have Said" (3) was reproduced the official letter of Zynga announcing its IPO .This was our new comment: "Zynga is jumping into a virtual world that till now has a low value. The pioneers of the Internet's search machines have destroyed the monetary value of a lot of valuable intellectual works with the technique of cloning their creative brains. If the Zynga's philosophy expands its roots, we will see a new Renaissance of intellect that will reward the intellectual workers with real revenues. Good beginning!"

In summary, after browsing the official website of Zynga we conclude that the game developer founded by Mark Pincus in 2007 in San Francisco, California, is marking a possible turning point in the evolution of the social networks. We really enjoyed navigating through games like FarmVille, CityVille and RewardVille. Probably the virtual creatures (imaginary tractors and special goods) of these games will make history.

OTHER SUBJECTS

WHITE SMOKE AT IMF: On June 28, the conclave of election of the new "Pope" of the IMF selected Ms. Christine Lagarde after the United States and China endorsed the French Minister against the Mexico's central banker Agustin Carstens. Wall Street Journal talked about the selection process in an article titled: "France's Lagarde Named IMF Chief". These were our comment: "Ms. Christine Lagarde thinks she is a celebrity and for this reason, she deserves to become the head of IMF. But the real world doesn't begin in the Camps-Élysées. The International Monetary Fund needs a leader who will feel comfortable walking with their feet submerged in a swamp or across the smelly alleys of the poor neighborhoods of the big cities of the emerging countries." 

GOVERNMENT REFRESHMENT - On July 3, Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "Politics Dog Possible Top Treasury Vacancy" where the journalist Damian Paletta talks about the rumors that Secretary Timothy Geithner will leave the President Obama's cabinet very soon. Our Comment: 'The potential departure of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is the last opportunity of President Obama to correct the mistakes he made when he arrived at the White House. The successor has to be a brilliant professional with more knowledge than the current Secretary about the economy of every day and every corner of the nation, and with enough humbleness and intelligence to speak on the same level with Republican members of the Congress, Chinese financial authorities, colleagues of the Democratic party or a beggar at the end of a religious ceremony."

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
- beggar = mendigo
- brains = cerebro, inteligencia
- budget = presupuesto
- cabinet = gabinete
- cannibal = cannibal
- cannibalistic = canibalístico
- ceremony = ceremonia
- cloning = clonando, copiando en un sentido genético
- Cuba, Cuban = Cuba, cubano, cubana
- deficit = déficit
- demostrators = manifestantes
- destroy, destroyed = destruir, destruyó
- developer = desarrollador
- dog = seguir los pasos
- French = francés, francesa
- game = juego
- Greece, Greek = Grecia, griego, griega
- harvest = cosecha
- humbleness = humildad
- intellect = intelecto
- Mexican = mexicano, mexicana, mejicano, mejicana
- Pope = Papa
- refreshment = refresco
- religious = religioso, religiosa
- Renaissance = Renacimiento
- repression = represión
- reward = premio, recompensa
- siege = cerco, sitio
- smelly = maloliente
- social network = red social
- storm = tomar por asalto
- suicide = suicida
- surgery = cirugía, operación, intervención médica
- swamp = pantano, ciénaga
- Venezuelan = venezolano, venezolana

MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

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

A mosaic of different events across the world...

Sources: Zynga website, MySpace website, IMF website, Wall Street Journal, PBS NewsHour, New York Times, The Washington Post, Think Tank of Comlab.

References: (1) "Are Social Media Services the Next Tech Bubble?", NewsHour Report Air, June 30, 2011, PBS. (2) "Nothing Virtual About Zynga Profits" by Rolfe Winkler, July 2, 2011, Wall Street Journal. (3) Digits - WJS Blogs : "What Zynga CEO's Letter Could Have Said" by Tom Loftus, July 3, 2011, Wall Street Journal.(4) "France's Lagarde Named IMF Chief", by Sudeep Reddy, Nathalie Boschat and William Horobin, June 29, Wall Street Journal.

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.