This cartoon by Dave Brown from The Independent uses the idiom 'to paint oneself into a corner' to comment on the bloody repression of civilians by Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. If you paint yourself into a corner, you find yourself in a situation which is difficult to deal with and get out of (you can also say that someone is in a tight corner). The metaphor is easy enough to understand, as anyone who has ever had to paint a floor will know! However, in the cartoon, Assad is using blood not paint. The message is clear enough: Assad's brutal crackdown on the Syrian opposition has left him in a difficult position with very little room for manoeuvre. You could also say he has his back to the wall, to quote another idiom.
Some of France's finest firms from the luxury brands industry including Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton have launched a publicity campaign to combat global counterfeiting.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: A warehouse in a suburb of Paris packed with designer named goods. But take a closer look and you'll find they're fakes - seized by the authorities. Forgeries of the luxury goods which made Paris a global fashion capital are costing France up to six billion euros a year. Now some of the country's finest including Chanel, Dior and YSL are launching a campaign to combat the global trade. Lacoste says there's a human cost as well as an economic one to be considered. FRENCH LUXURY BRAND LACOSTE REPRESENTATIVE NATHALIE MOULLE-BERTEAUX: "I think we have to keep on repeating the message that at the end of the chain you have workshops which do not respect human working conditions or the environment and that we have to fight against that all together." REPORTER: The number of counterfeit goods seized at French customs is forty times higher than it was 18 years ago. And the trade isn't restricted to handbags and belts, says Chief Customs Officer Agnes Roussel. CHIEF CUSTOMS OFFICER AGNES ROUSSEL: "All sorts of counterfeit products, all the way from clothes and accessories to medicines and small car parts that we find in this sort of package." REPORTER: China is the biggest supplier of counterfeit goods - it makes up to 85 percent of fake goods seized by customs in Europe. But most buyers are westerners. Luxury brand Longchamp is also involved in the crackdown. GENERAL DIRECTOR OF FRENCH LUXURY BRAND LONGCHAMP JEAN CASSEGRAIN: "A few years ago you had to go to the silk market in Beijing or Bangkok or these kinds of places to bring back your counterfeits and now you can buy them over the internet which makes the issue much much worse than it used to be." Posters are being put up at airports across France in an attempt to deter holiday makers. 'WITH THIS MOBILE, YOU COULD ALWAYS CALL YOUR LAWYER' says one or 'FAKE CARTIER, GENUINE CRIMINAL RECORD' says another. But it may take a little more than that to eradicate an industry said to cost the world economy 1 trillion dollars every year. Hayley Platt, Reuters.
VOCABULARY • Counterfeit (pronounced 'counterfit') money, goods, or documents are not genuine, but have been made to look like the real thing in order to deceive people. Counterfeit is also a noun. • This handbag is a counterfeit. • If someone counterfeits something, they make a counterfeit version of it. • A counterfeiter is a person who makes counterfeit money, goods, or documents. • Fake is a synonym for counterfeit, and can also be an adjective, noun or verb. • This Rolex is obviously a fake.
VOCABULARY If someone who is giving evidence in a court of law commits perjury, they lie. • A former Tulsa police officer convicted of perjury and civil rights violations is seeking a new trial.
This cartoon by Mac from The Daily Mail relates to accusations that dentists are steering patients away from NHS treatment and onto the more lucrative private treatment. Full story >>
BACKGROUND The National Health Service – or the NHS – is a publicly-funded health care system in the UK. This means that UK residents are entitled to dental treatments that are either free of charge, or have very minimal costs, under the NHS. Private dentistry prices are not set or fixed (unlike those under the NHS), so the cost of dental treatments can be a lot higher.
THE CARTOON In the cartoon the patient has opted to 'go NHS', which means he will be paying less for his treatment. This is why a) the dentist asks the nurse to mix up some Polyfilla (a paste used to fill holes and cracks in wood, plaster, etc.), and b) he's brandishing a power drill (rather than a dentist's drill).
VOCABULARY • surgery > room or house where a dentist or doctor works • drill > tool used for making holes • nurse > dentist's assistant
Facebook is under pressure to make money from mobile devices and that may have it tuning into Norway's Opera Software as the newly public company puts together a revenue building strategy. Bobbi Rebell reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Facebook is playing defense- and that could be a good thing. Case in point: Word is that Facebook is scoping out buying Opera Software- which makes web browsers that work on various platforms- including mobile. Opera has a technology that can better display mobile ads- just what Facebook needs these days to convert its increasing traffic from mobile platforms to revenue. It also could create a path to get around Apple and Google- and to the consumer directly. Morningstar's Rick Summer ... RICK SUMMER, SENIOR EQUITY ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR: "There is a new operating system in mobile, there's Apple and there's Android. They risk being shut out of that environment so as a defensive nature to actually have Opera as long as consumers are using it and that's the big if. If they can get consumers to use Opera than they are not shut out of Facebook services and quite frankly it may be easier for us to continue to use Facebook in a mobile environment." REPORTER: To get a deal done- Facebook would have to pay a hefty premium- much like it did with its billion dollar Instagram deal. It also has to get past Google- which already has extensive relationships with Opera. And Opera itself which, even as its stock soars on takeover rumors, says it wants to grow organically. But Facebook is a company that likes to shop. Summer says Facebook will be targeting video chat as well as expanding into online payments beyond their Zynga deal. RICK SUMMER, SENIOR EQUITY ANALYST, MORNINGSTAR: "If they are going to compete with PayPal, if they are going to compete with Square, things around those lines, they have to build much more robust things: fraud prevention, fraud detection payments processing technologies. We could certainly see some acquisitions around those sides." REPORTER: Facebook has been mum on the rumors- but with its stock price falling- its buying power is in flux- as is its good will with shareholders. Bobbi Rebell, Reuters.
The Sun reports on the arrest of a Derby couple on suspicion of murder, after the deaths of their six children in a house fire. Full story >>
VOCABULARY If the police nick someone, they arrest them. This usage is informal. • The only contact most people have with the police is when they are nicked for speeding.
This cartoon by Mac from The Daily Mail relates to news that Google is facing an inquiry into claims that it deliberately harvested information from millions of UK home computers.Full story >>
A Google Street View car has pulled up outside a house. The Google operative tells the householder, "About that Email you just sent to your sister. I think I can help. … Have you tried hot lemon and yoghurt for your piles?"
EXPLANATION The Google operatives in the Street View car have intercepted the woman's email message to her sister. The joke is that the Google employee offers the woman advice on how to deal with her sensitive health problem—piles!
VOCABULARY Piles are painful swellings that can appear in the veins inside a peson's anus.
Spanish debt yields jumped and shares in fourth-largest lender Bankia SA plunge to record lows, highlighting a lack of confidence in government efforts to stabilise the finances of Spain and its ailing banks. Ciara Sutton reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Last week it was suspended from trade on the Spanish stock market - this week it became clear why. As trading resumed on Monday shares in Bankia plummeted nearly 30 percent. The troubled lender is seeking a 19 billion euro bailout from the state. Some reports suggest Spain may recapitalise Bankia with Spanish government bonds in return for shares in the bank. However they do it the state takeover has fueled fears that the cost of helping banks may force Spain to seek an Irish-style international bailout. But Senior Economist at Standard Chartered, Sarah Hewin, says there is no fear that Spain's banking sector will collapse. SARAH HEWIN: "The European bailout funds are there to help with the banks, particularly once we have the European Stability Mechanism up and running in July. That has the ability then to support banks rather than having to support the governments as a whole." REPORTER: Bankia reported losses of nearly 3 billion euros for 2011. It's parent company BFA is also set to report equally gloomy results. And any rescue will affect Spanish debt at a time when the country is implementing tough austerity measures. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been discussing the latest economic measures with members of his party - no doubt conscious of the growing anger on the streets. FELISA, 79 YEAR-OLD RETIRED SPANIARD: "This money comes from the taxes taken from the people at the bottom. The people on top don't cut back their wages or anything. I'm retired and this year my pension is much less than last year." JAVIER CASAS, ADMINISTRATOR IN THE JUSTICE SECTOR: "I don't thinks its right that we have to pay for debts of a private entity whose directors and mangers generated the debt." REPORTER: Spain's borrowing costs have shot up in recent weeks as investors fret about a possible Greek exit from the euro zone. That makes it even more difficult for Spain to raise the cash it needs to rescue Bankia. Ciara Sutton, Reuters.
Ministers have been forced to back down over plans to hold sensitive inquests behind closed doors, claims the Daily Mail. Full story >>
VOCABULARY A climbdown in an argument or dispute is the acg of admitting that you are wrong or changing your intentions or demands. • Babies will be allowed into London Olympic venues without a ticket if they are firmly fastened to an adult, organisers said in a climbdown after complaints from angry mothers.
The Eurovision Song Contest took place this weekend, and was won by Sweden. This cartoon by Patrick Chappatte shows the Greek entry (not the real one!). Three men in traditional Greek dress are singing a tearful song while holding out begging bowls. A member of the audience comments, "Reminds me very much of the Spanish song".
IDIOM A begging bowl is a container which a beggar holds out to people for money. Begging bowl is also used to talk about a request for money made by an organization or country. • Arts and theatre groups are constantly thrusting the begging bowl at the government.
New figures from the World Health Organisation showing the trade in illegal kidneys is now so prolific that one black market operation takes place every hour, The Guardian reports. Full story >>
VOCABULARY Your kidneys are the organs in your body that take waste matter from your blood and send it out of your body as urine. • With more than 90,000 U.S. patients needing kidneys, only a dramatic expansion in living donations would meet the growing demand for organs.
Various leaders including David Cameron, Angela Merkel, and IMF head Christine Lagarde are shown walking around in blindfolds. The title of the cartoon, 'Euro Vision' (a play on Eurovision!) is, of course, ironic since they don't have any, either literally or figuratively.
The Sunday Express reports that pensioners are having to ask their children for money because the recession has left them out of pocket. Full story >>
VOCABULARY An OAP is a person who is old enough to receive an old age pension from the government. OAP is an abbreviation for 'old age pensioner'. • Police probing a savage attack on an OAP as she slept were yesterday due to speak to her about her ordeal for the first time.
President Obama asks an aid, "Which states' economies give us the most worry?" The aid replies, "Greece ... Spain ... Italy ... Portugal ... France ..."
EXPLANATION Obama is talking about American states (as in United States), but the aid, who is reading a newspaper about the euro debt crisis, thinks Obama is referring to countries. US officials see the European crisis as a threat to the fledgling US recovery, upon which Mr Obama's chances of re-election depend.
VOCABULARY The cartoonist plays on two meanings of the word state. Some large countries such as the USA are divided into smaller areas called states. And you can refer to countries as states, particularly when you are discussing politics.
PUNCTUATION Have you ever wondered what those three dots are called? Well, it's an ellipsis.
VOCABULARY Payback time is when someone has to take the consequences of what they have done in the past. • Other EU member states have enjoyed a quality of life that has been supported by generations of deficit spending, and it's now payback time.
