|
1. President Bush defends a post-September 11th secret eavesdropping program in the US, and slams senators blocking renewal of the Patriot Act.
2. Iraqi authorities ease some security measures imposed for this week's parliamentary elections, lifting the driving ban and opening most border crossings.
3. In Hong Kong, security forces use tear gas to scatter hundreds of protestors after they come close to storming into the WTO's meeting venue.
4. Bolivians face a polarizing choice in a presidential vote set for Sunday between a leftist coca farmer and a conservative former president.
5. And at the Vatican, an 11-year-old Austrian boy who saved the life of a young relative, lights a towering Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square.
WORDS IN THE NEWS
1. eavesdrop
eavesdrop eavesdrops eavesdropping eavesdropped
If you eavesdrop on someone, you listen secretly to what they are saying.
The government illegally eavesdropped on his telephone conversations.
The housemaid eavesdropped from behind the kitchen door.
VB
= listen in
· eavesdropping
Eavesdropping is a pastime for the nosy.
N-UNCOUNT
2. storm
4 storm storms storming stormed
If you storm into or out of a place, you enter or leave it quickly and noisily, because you are angry.
After a bit of an argument, he stormed out.
He stormed into an office, demanding to know where the head of department was.
VB
= charge
3. venue
venue venues
The venue for an event or activity is the place where it will happen.
Birmingham's International Convention Centre is the venue for a three-day arts festival.
Peace talks failed to take place because of a dispute over the venue.
N-COUNT
4. polarize
polarize polarizes polarizing polarized
If something polarizes people or if something polarizes, two separate groups are formed with opposite opinions or positions.
Missile deployment did much to further polarize opinion in Britain.
As the car rental industry polarizes, business will go to the bigger companies.
The green debate tends to polarise into science-as-saviour versus science-as-devil camps.
V-ERG (BRIT) also polarise
= divide
USA PATRIOT Act (11/14/2003)
Just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act. There are significant flaws in the Patriot Act, flaws that threaten your fundamental freedoms by giving the government the power to access to your medical records, tax records, information about the books you buy or borrow without probable cause, and the power to break into your home and conduct secret searches without telling you for weeks, months, or indefinitely.
Some of these flawed provisions are set to expire at the end of the year. But President Bush wants to make them permanent, and the House and Senate have been holding hearings in preparation for votes that are expected in June and July.
|