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1. The Arab based company that was set to take over port operations in the United States is backing out of the deal. The company owned by the government of Dubai says it plans to transfer the operations that it is buying at 6 US ports to a US entity after opposition from Congress.
2. President Bush signed the renewal of the Patriot Act Thursday. The act gives police and intelligence agencies enhanced powers to hunt for information and share with each other.
3. A former teacher who was holding 23 people hostage at a high school in France surrendered peacefully Thursday. Authorities say the man suffers from depression. No one was injured.
4. College-bound students who took the SAT tests last October may have received the wrong scores. The firm that administers the test says there were errors with scoring for about 4,000 students who may have had scores lowered by as much as 400 points.
WORDS IN THE NEWS
1. back out : phrasal verb
to decide not to do something that you had said you would do:
e.g. They backed out of the deal the day before they were due to sign the contract.
2. entity :noun [C] FORMAL
something which exists apart from other things, having its own independent existence:
e.g. The museums work closely together, but are separate legal entities.
3. enhance :verb [T]
to improve the quality, amount or strength of something:
e.g. These scandals will not enhance the organization's reputation/image.
4. bound :adjective [after verb]
certain or extremely likely to happen:
These two young musicians are bound for international success (= are certain to be successful).
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