Monday 24 October 2011

News & Opinions: Today's News Digest


Today, I decided to act as a news anchor, bringing you some of the most interesting news online for your reading.
Image from bbc
Kicking off with the magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale earthquake in Turkey, killing 200 and injured 1000, aftershocks up to magnitude 6.0 were recorded and death toll is expected to rise as the temperature remains 7-12 degrees Celsius.

Image from Reuters
Moving to the middle East, Libya declares liberation following the killing of Muammar Gaddafi's 42 years of ruling. Horrific photos of Gaddafi's body are widely spread on the internet but they have not hindered the Libyans from celebrating. Gaddafi's corpse is displayed under the order of the National Transitional Council (NTC) chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, a former justice minister.

Image from android
Image from wikimedia
Next, words from Steve Jobs' biography made the headlines on the mobile industry section, stating that Android is the stolen product of the iPhone. Quoting from the news article from Taiwannews,

"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs told Isaacson. "I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go to thermonuclear war on this. They are scared to death because they know they are guilty."


Anti-"Grand Theft Android" remains as Jobs' most critical job to be accomplished after his departure.

Image from ourparkercolorado
Switching to business, the long talked-about Groupon IPO may finally arrive on 4th November. After the summer setback, the coupon-selling company is once again ready for actions. In June, Locky's English Playground posted an entry named Investment: Why Groupon Is Poised For Collapse looking into the danger of investing in companies using such coupon-selling business model. Worries or un-necessaries? Answer will be unveiled soon enough.

"Why Always Me?" were the words printed on Balotelli's shirt
Image from u.goal.com

Lastly onto football, Manchester United suffered humiliating lost-and-loss as rival Manchester City netted 6 goals to 1 by 4 different players, 2 of which (talented Italian striker Mario Balotelli together with powerful Yugoslavian forward Edin Dzeko) scoring twice. Evans also earned a red card and suspension in the next match.

Man City, numbers can hurt you know?


Vocabulary:
news anchor -- (n) [C] a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.
magnitude -- (n)[U] the large size or importance of something
the Richter scale -- (n)[S] a system used to measure the strength of an earthquake
aftershock -- (n)[C] a sudden movement of the Earth's surface which often follows an earthquakeand which is less violent than the first main movement
death toll -- (n)  [C usually singularthe number of people who die because of an event such as a war or an accident
liberation -- (n)[U] when something or someone is released or made free
hinder -- (vb)[T] to limit the ability of someone to do something, or to limit the development of something
biography -- (n) [C or U] the life story of a person written by someone else
accomplish -- (vb)[T] to finish something successfully or to achieve something 
setback -- (n)[C] something that happens which delays or prevents a process from advancing
unveil -- (vb) [T] If you unveil something new, you show it or make it known for the first time


Resources:

Turkey earthquake: Desperate search for survivors @ BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15425268

Libya declares "liberation," Gaddafi stays unburied @ Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/24/us-libya-idUSTRE79F1FK20111024

Steve Jobs' biography: Google’s Android a "grand theft" of iphone @ Taiwan News
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1740923

Groupon IPO may arrive Nov. 4 @USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/stocks/story/2011-10-21/ipo-market/50885590/1

Investment: Why Groupon Is Poised For Collapse @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/06/investment-why-groupon-is-poised-for.html

City hammer ten-man United @ Soccernet
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=317936&cc=4716

World Events @ Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/world-events-1316137200-slideshow/competitors-cross-mud-obstacle-during-wild-boar-dirt-photo-185946454.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_presenter
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/magnitude?q=magnitude
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/the-richter-scale?q=Richter+scale+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/aftershock?q=aftershock
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/death-toll?q=death+toll
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/liberation?q=liberation+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/liberation?q=liberation+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hinder?q=hinder
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/biography?q=biography
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/accomplish#accomplish__3
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/setback?q=setback
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/unveil?q=unveil