Cuba faces its worst drought for 50 years

Cuba is facing its worst drought in half a century, with tens of thousands of families almost entirely reliant on water trucks for essential supplies. The drought started two years ago, and reservoirs are now down to a fifth of their normal levels. The government is providing road deliveries of water to more than 100,000 people in the worst affected areas of the capital, Havana. The situation in Havana is compounded by a pipe network in poor condition. Cubans are hoping the rainy season in May and June will bring some respite. But even a normal rainfall will not be enough to fill up the reservoirs.

Adopted from BBC

Vocabulary

drought	a period of dry weather
reliant	dependent
supplies	things such as food, medicine, and equipment that you need to live
reservoirs	natural or artificial lakes where water is stored
deliveries	goods that are brought to a place
compounded	complicated
network	system; a complicated system of lines, tubes, etc. that are connected to each other
respite	relief
rainfall	fall of rain; rainwater

Dissolution of Mubarak’s party ordered

An Egyptian court ordered the dissolution of former President Hosni Mubarak's political party, meeting a demand of the pro-democracy movement whose protests ended his 30-year authoritarian rule.

The disbanding of the National Democratic Party (NDP) was likely to further appease protesters who had called off fresh demonstrations after the military council that now rules Egypt earlier this week ordered Mubarak detained for questioning about corruption allegations.

For many in Egypt, the NDP epitomised the graft and abuse of power that helped ignite the protests which forced Mubarak to quit in February.

Adapted from Reuters

Vocabulary

dissolution	ending; termination; disbanding
meeting	satisfying; fulfilling
authoritarian	dictatorial; enforcing strict obedience to authority
disbanding	breaking up; dissolving
appease	pacify; calm down
called off	cancelled
council	ruling body; a group of people who are elected to govern a particular area
allegations	accusations; charges
epitomised	symbolized; was a perfect example of
graft	the use of dishonest or illegal means to gain money
abuse	misuse
ignite	provoke
quit	leave

Michel Martelly wins Haiti election

Preliminary results released by the electoral authority showed Michel Martelly, a conservative and a popular singer, winning Haiti’s presidential election, with 67.6% of the vote. He will take office in May, charged with speeding up the country’s reconstruction after last year’s earthquake.

Adopted from The Economist

Vocabulary

preliminary	initial
conservative	someone who favours the preservation of established customs and values
office	the position of authority, here he will become president
charged with	entrusted with the responsibility of
speeding up	accelerating; increasing the speed of

Spain’s premier won’t seek third term

Spain’s unpopular prime minister, Zapatero, said that he would not stand for a third term at a general election, putting an end to months of speculation about his political future amid an economic downturn that had considerably undermined his chances of winning re-election. The ruling Socialist Party is expected to hold primaries to elect Mr Zapatero’s successor as party leader after local elections on May 22nd.

Adopted from The New York Times and The Economist

Vocabulary

stand	be a candidate
putting an end to	stopping; making an end of
speculation	hypotheses; conjectures; theories
amid	in the middle of
downturn	decline; slump; depression
considerably	significantly; much
undermined	weakened; dented
primaries	preliminary elections to select candidates for a principal (esp. presidential) election

President Obama launches re-election campaign

To no one’s surprise, Barack Obama announced that he is to seek re-election as president in 2012. In his opening message, he called for a big push on fund-raising, and some analysts reckon he might raise as much as $1 billion, shattering all records. Only one serious Republican candidate has so far entered the race for that party’s nomination.

Adopted from The Economist

Vocabulary

called for	demanded
push	a determined effort
reckon	think
shattering	breaking
Republican	a member of the Republican Party of the US
race	contest

Richard Goldstone backtracks

Richard Goldstone, a South African judge who headed a UN inquiry into Israel’s three-week war on Gaza two years ago, recanted a key finding of his original report. He says that he now believes Israel did not intentionally target civilians “as a matter of policy”. Israeli media responded to Goldstone's article with jubilation.

Adopted from The Economist

Vocabulary

headed	was in charge of
recanted	withdrew; rejected; retracted
key	important
target	intend to attack; aim
jubilation	joyousness; delight

Embattled Yemeni President

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen struggled to stay in charge in the face of growing demonstrations in the capital and unrest across a divided country. In a policy shift, meanwhile, the American administration signalled that it would like Mr Saleh to be eased out of office, despite fears that al-Qaeda might fill the vacuum if he departed.

Adopted from The Economist

Vocabulary

in charge	in control
in the face of	despite problems, difficulties, etc
unrest	turbulence
shift	change
signalled	hinted; indicated
eased out of	moved slowly

Boat from Libya sinks

More than 250 migrants were reported to have drowned after a boat that set off from Libya carrying 300-odd people [. . .] sank on April 6th off the Italian island of Lampedusa. Officials said the vessel, which was loaded well above capacity, capsized in the predawn dark after its motor failed. The shipwreck is an alarming sign of the challenges facing Italy as it contends with a wave of migrants leaving North Africa.

Adapted from The Economist

Vocabulary

set off	began a journey
odd	approximately or a little more than
off	away from
vessel	a large ship or boat
capsized	turned over in the water
shipwreck	the destruction of the ship at sea
contends with	has to deal with
wave	a large number of