Obama Presses Israel to Make ‘Hard Choices’

News story	Words	Meanings
President Obama struck back at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in a speech to a pro-Israel lobbying group on Sunday, defending his stance that talks over a Palestinian state should be focused on Israel’s pre-1967 borders, along with negotiated land swaps, and challenging Israel to “make the hard choices” necessary to bring about a stable peace. Mr. Obama, speaking before a conference of the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee, offered familiar assurances that the United States’ commitment to Israel’s long-term security was “ironclad.” But citing the rising political upheaval near Israel’s borders, he presented his peace plan as the best chance Israel has to avoid growing isolation. Administration officials said Mr. Obama chose to confront Israel on the stalled peace negotiations after his aides calculated that given the historic upheaval under way in the Arab world, the United States and Israel would both benefit from being seen as taking bold steps toward ending the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians. (The New York Times, May 22, 2011)	struck back	hit back
	lobbying	trying to influence; pushing
	stance	position; view; opinion
	negotiated	discussed
	swaps	acts of exchanging one thing for another
	challenging	stimulating; suggesting strongly (that somebody should do something)
	bring about	create
	assurances	promises; guarantees
	ironclad	able to be depended on; without flaws or loopholes
	upheaval	sudden or violent changes
	stalled	halted; brought to a standstill
	aides	advisors
	historic	significant; important
	upheaval	disruption; violent or sudden change or disruption
	impasse	deadlock; a situation in which no progress can be made

Model sentences and idiomatic expressions with “negotiate”:

• The government has refused to negotiate with the strikers.

• I'm negotiating for a new contract.

• I've managed to negotiate (= get by discussion) a five per cent pay increase with my boss.

• Union leaders have negotiated an agreement for a shorter working week.

• His first aim is to get the warring parties back to the negotiating table (=discussing something).

• We want to negotiate a settlement that is fair to both sides.

• They negotiated the sale of the house.

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the following words:

1. historic 2. impasse 3. lobbying 4. stalled 5. aide

1. The senator asked an  . . . . . to distribute copies of his speech.

2. Talks have reached an  . . . . . .

3. Women's groups are  . . . . . to get more public money for children.

4. The peace process remained . . . . . .

5. In a . . . . . vote, the Church of England decided to allow women to become priests.

Answer key: 1. aide 2. impasse 3. lobbying 4. stalled 5. historic

Anti-president protests continue in Georgia

News story	Words	Meanings
Several hundred activists in . . . Georgia extended protests into a third day on Monday, calling for the country's Western-backed President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign. Around 300 protesters maintained an overnight vigil outside the Georgian public television studios in the capital Tbilisi, many armed with sticks after brief clashes on Sunday when police used rubber bullets and tear gas against demonstrators who attacked cars. They said they wanted to defend the protest venue against any possible crackdown. The opposition accuses Saakashvili of becoming increasingly authoritarian, failing to tackle widespread poverty and losing large parts of Georgian territory during the country's disastrous war with Russia in 2008. Opposition leader Nino Burjanadze has said that a "revolution" has started in Georgia, but turnout at the protests has been relatively small, with around 6,000 attending rallies on Saturday and fewer on Sunday. The authorities say protests will be allowed to continue unhindered as long as they remain peaceful. (AFP, May 23, 2011)	activists	people who work to achieve political or social change; protesters
	calling for	publicly asking for
	vigil	watch; a period of time when people stay awake in order to protest,  watch a sick person, say prayers, etc
	armed with	carrying
	venue	place where an activity or event happens
	crackdown	strong official action taken to punish people; severe measures
	authoritarian	strict and demanding obedience; dictatorial; heavy-handed
	tackle	deal with
	widespread	common; existing over a large area or among many people
	turnout	attendance; the number of people who attend a particular event
	relatively	comparatively; somewhat
	unhindered	not hindered; unopposed

Model sentences and idiomatic expressions with “tackle”:

• There is more than one way to tackle the problem.

• Firefighters tackled a blaze in a garage last night.

• I think I'll tackle the repairs next weekend.

• Successive governments have failed to tackle the question of homelessness.

• I'll tackle this difficult task.

• Have you tackled them about paying for it?

• a new initiative to tackle the shortage of teachers

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the following words:

1. venue 2. vigil 3. tackle 4. armed with 5. turnout

1. His parents kept a round-the-clock . . . . . at his bedside.

2. He was . . . . . a rifle.

3. Please note the change of . . . . . for this event.

4. The government is determined to . . . . . inflation.

5. This year's festival attracted a record . . . . . .

Answer key: 1. vigil 2. armed with 3. venue 4. tackle 5. turnout

Spain's ruling party braces for hefty losses

News item	Words	Meanings
The ruling Socialist Party braced itself for stinging losses as voting began amid protests in regional and municipal elections throughout Spain on Sunday. The elections are a key test of how much the party's support has crumbled due to soaring unemployment and its handling of the financial crisis . . . . "I call for, encourage and appeal for a responsible, big turnout in these May 22 regional and municipal elections in all of Spain," Prime Minister Zapatero said as he emerged with his wife from casting his ballot. Polls indicate Mr.  Zapatero's party could suffer the humiliation of losing historic Socialist strongholds. The financial crisis has forced deep cuts and left Spain burdened with 21.3% unemployment, the highest in the euro zone. . . . Protest camps set up mainly by young people began to spring up in cities around the country a week ago and grew to include tens of thousands of demonstrators who even defied a ban on gatherings on the day before an election, traditionally called the "Day of Reflection."   (The Wall Street Journal, MAY 22, 2011)	braced	got ready for (something unpleasant)
	stinging	harsh; wounding
	crumbled	became weaker (in strength or influence); gradually disintegrated
	call for	publicly ask for
	turnout	number of voters
	ballot	vote; piece of paper on which somebody marks who they are voting for
	historic	important
	strongholds	centres of support; places where there is strong support for a political party
	cuts	reductions in amount
	spring up	appear or develop quickly and/or suddenly
	defied	resisted openly; refused to obey

Model sentences and idiomatic expressions with “brace”:

• The military needs to brace itself for further spending cuts, says McCoy.

• Cathy braced herself to see Matthew, who she expected to arrive at any minute.

• UN troops are braced for more violence.

• They are bracing themselves for a long legal battle.

• I braced myself for the results of my blood test.

• Smith braced himself to give her the bad news.

• Financial markets are braced for another turbulent week.

• The passengers were told to brace themselves (= to press their bodies hard against something or hold them very stiff) for a crash landing.

 

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the following words:

1. cuts 2. springing up 3. ballot 4. stronghold 5. crumble

1. All his hopes began to  . . . . . away.

2. The chairperson is chosen by secret  . . . . . .

3. The Labour Party retained its traditional  . . . . . in the north.

4. They announced  . . . . . in public spending.

5. Opposition groups are  . . . . . like mushrooms

Answer key: 1. crumble 2. ballot 3. stronghold 4. cuts 5. springing up