In a nod to Easter, this cartoon by Adams from The Telegraph portrays North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a boiled egg. The title of the cartoon "Bad Egg" is a play on words since a bad egg is someone who behaves in a bad or dishonest way. • He's a bad egg - don't believe anything he says.
BACKGROUND US military drills in South Korea have prompted a fresh round of threats from North Korea in the past week, with leader Kim Jong-un ordering that the military be on standby to hit the US mainland with missiles. The isolated communist state stepped up its pugnacious rhetoric still further yesterday by warning Seoul that the Korean Peninsula was entering "a state of war".
A chocolate Easter egg standing 3-feet (0.91 meters) tall sells for $1,000 in New York. Sharon Reich reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: This is one grand Easter egg. The 3-foot-tall Angry Birds-inspired confection is on sale at a New York chocolatier for one thousand dollars. Sugar and Plumm owner Lamia Jacobs. LAMIA JACOBS: "The work itself, to prepare the leaves, and the little birds, and the tree. I mean, all these things, that's what they do. It takes about four days to work on that, two people." REPORTER: And that's not surprising, considering the egg weighs 22 pounds. Crafted of dark Venezuelan chocolate, it's a delight that is catching the eyes of passers-by. LAMIA JACOBS: "The children, have you seen how each one walks in, and say, 'Oh my God, I want that egg'? So it just makes us happy to see that it appeals to them, and the parents too look happy." REPORTER: Believe it or not, some people are willing to spend one thousand dollars on the giant piece of chocolate. Sugar and Plumm have already sold two of the Angry Bird eggs.
The Daily Mail leads with claims that a police officer has instructed personal injury lawyers after suffering an accident while answering a 999 call. Full story >>
VOCABULARY If you sue someone, you start a legal case against them, usually in order to claim money from them because they have harmed you in some way. • A former student has sued Bikram Choudhury, the millionaire founder of a wildly popular yoga franchise, accusing him of sexual harassment.
An Easter bunny is hiding eggs beneath a bush. Meanwhile, a Cypriot man is digging a hole in the ground with a spade in which to hide his nest egg (a jar full of euros).
VOCABULARY A nest egg is a sum of money that you are saving for a particular purpose. • They have a little nest egg tucked away somewhere for a rainy day. According to The Phrase Finder, the allusion is to putting a real or china egg into a hen's nest to encourage her to lay. The connection between this and the 'savings' meaning isn't exactly clear. It may be that the idea was that the egg that was put into the nest could be later retrieved, after the hen had laid.
Christian worshipers mark Good Friday around the world with services and processions. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
TRANSCRIPT
Christians mark Good Friday around the world. At the Vatican the new Pontiff Pope Francis threw himself on the floor of St. Peter's Basically in prayer. In Southern Germany thousands watch the re-enactment of Jesus' walk to his death. Later they stand witness as Christ is nailed to a cross. Good Friday signifies the official beginning of Easter, which symbolizes the central Christian belief that death does not signify the end but a new beginning. In New York thousands of worshipers observe Good Friday with a procession over the Brooklyn Bridge. In Jerusalem, members of the clergy carry a statue of Jesus Christ. They hold a service at the place where they believe Christ was buried. In Mexico crowds of Roman Catholics gather to watch the annual Processions of the Flagellants and the Crucified. The faithful show their piety by hitting themselves -- its a way to share the pain that Jesus suffered on the cross.
The former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, tells the Daily Mail David Cameron has "aided and abetted" discrimination against Christians. Full story >>
VOCABULARY If you betray someone who loves or trusts you, your actions hurt and disappoint them. • The President betrayed them when he went back on his promise not to raise taxes.
This ad for Somersby cider is creating creating quite a buzz on the internet with over 650K YouTube views in just 4 days. I've no idea what the cider tastes like (it's made by Danish brewer Carlsberg), but the ad does a great job of parodying a typical product launch at an Apple store (remember that cider is made from apples). Let's just hope Apple doesn't sue them.
TRANSCRIPT
MAN: It's got the latest operating sytem: Pump. WOMAN: I'm gonna run straight in there and grab one. CUSTOMER: So this is Somersby. SALESPERSON: This is it. This is what all the excitement is about. SALESPERSON: 16-pip, 32-pip. MAN: This is the 32-pip? MAN: Is it wireless. SALESPERSON: Oh, yeah, yeah, completely wireless. SALESPERSON: Single core, dual core. SALESPERSON: Full of great content. Easy to use. SALESPERSON: Move towards the mouth, and interface (into face). SALESPERSON: It works in your normal docking system. MAN: That's docked? SALESPERSON: That's, that's docked, yeah. SALESPERSON: And you've downloaded. WOMAN: I've downloaded? SALESPERSON: One click - boom - you're connected. MAN: ??? WOMAN: It's amazing MAN: Really good. SALESPERSON: And it works perfectly in direct sunlight. VOICEOVER: Somersby cider - less apps, more apples.
COMMENT The ad features a whole bunch of clever tech puns—how many can you spot? I particularly like the comment about the product working perfectly in direct sunlight (a sly dig at the iPad, which is totally useless in any sort of sunlight!)
The cartoon shows the stage being prepared for the Stones' appearance. One of the workers explains, "We're installing a stairlift for The Rolling Stones gig".
EXPLANATION A stairlift is a device that is fitted to a staircase in a house in order to allow an elderly or sick person to go upstairs (see pictures). The cartoonist is making fun of the age of The Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are both 69, while drummer Charlie Watts is 71!
VOCABULARY A gig is a live performance by someone such as a musician or a comedian.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: For the first time in 40 years, Brits can admire the remnants of Pompeii and Herculaneum, without having to travel to Italy. The British Museum in London has put together an exhibit of 450 objects from the cities famously buried under the ashes of Mount Vesuvius when it erupted in 79 AD. It includes items such as pots, murals and even bread, showing aspects of everyday life in ancient Rome, says curator Paul Roberts. DR. PAUL ROBERTS, CURATOR: "When we look at Pompeii and Herculaneum what we see are real people, ordinary cities. They weren't Rome, they weren't Alexandria, that's why they're so important to us." REPORTER: Because of their geographical locations around Mount Vesuvius, both cities were buried differently leading to artifacts being preserved in different ways. DR. PAUL ROBERTS: "Herculaneum was buried under a phenomenally hot avalanche of volcanic material, 400 degrees Centigrade - four times the heat of a boiling kettle - and what that did was to carbonise wood, so wooden furniture and even food was turned into charcoal, turned into carbon, and we just don't get that in Pompeii." REPORTER: What did get preserved in Pompeii are humans, buried alive in the moments of their deaths. "Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" runs at the British Museum until the end of September.
Amazon is facing a revolt from small traders after announcing plans to impose fee rises on third parties who use its network to sell goods in the UK and across Europe. Full story >>
VOCABULARY A hike is a sudden or large increase in prices, rates, taxes, or quantities. • Tax hikes have caused a nationwide black market for cheap illicit cigarettes.
Two citizens of Pompeii are shown leaving a bank with bags full of euros. One tells the other, "Don't worry Hubris Maximus, this will soon blow over." Meanwhile, the volcano is erupting in the distance, showering the city with red hot ash.
BACKGROUND Now that the Cyprus banking crisis has been resolved (for the time being, at least), the spotlight has focused on Italy. In a bond auction Wednesday, Italy had to pay the highest yield on five-year bonds since October. Meanwhile, the ratings firms are circling, with Moody’s Investors Service offering a reminder in an interview with Reuters Wednesday that it’s looking at the Italian political deadlock carefully in relation to the country’s ratings. [Source: Wall Street Journal]
COMMENTARY If something such as trouble or an argument blows over, it ends without any serious consequences. The cartoonist uses the phrasal verb with an ironic double meaning, since the ash cloud will literally blow over the city. The citizen's name is significant too, as hubris is the sin of excessive pride (which, as we know, comes before a fall). The two men could be seen as representing the EU politicians who always wait until the last minute before taking action to stave off disaster. The problem is that sooner or later, they will leave it too late (just like the unfortunate inhabitants of Pompeii).
Ford Motors issues an apology after an advertising agency creates an offensive campaign for the automaker. Kilmeny Duchardt reports.
TRANSCRIPT REPORTER: Ford Motor's slogan, "Go Further" may just have gone a little too far. The company's division in India has issued an apology after one of its ads sparked international outrage. The advertisement, which was uploaded to an industry website, shows women bound and gagged in the trunk of a Ford Figo car with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the wheel. The ads, created by advertising group JWT India, did not go through the normal review process. Image expert Dilip Cherian explains why it didn't play out. DILIP CHERIAN: "India is not a market where non-ethnic kind of humour plays quite correctly, and the second is you always have to understand the nuances and this is something that we at Perfect Relations are extremely careful of in dealing with our 200 clients is understand the nuance of the moment. Things shift every week, every day and sometimes in the day, so you've got to understand what values play out and what values never play out. This bunch of values would never play out." REPORTER: Ford India did not say whether it will take any action against the agency. Family cars such as the Ford Figo are key to getting a foothold in India's booming auto market. And with company sales in India trailing behind Maruti and Hyundai, missteps can be costly.
Gas company chiefs are getting multi-million payouts while increasing energy bills are hitting families hard, says the Express. Full story >
VOCABULARY A payout is a sum of money, especially a large one, that is paid to someone, for example by an insurance company or as a prize. • A football club is celebrating after getting a payout from insurers following a four-month battle.
TRANSCRIPT I'm sure that the vi.. this visit will bear (?) our relationship at the best level we can hope (sic). We come from a great partnership, India and France, and we must always improve the relationship between our two countries. India is a great democracy, the big (sic) democracy in the world, a country which is (in ?) development, and France must be with you in the challenge. Thank you, thank you.
ANALYSIS Besides having an accent which borders on caricature, Hollande makes a number of mistakes. He says "bear our relationship" (probably translating the French "porter"), when he should have said "take", and omits the "for" after "hope". He should have used the superlative "biggest" when describing India as "the big democracy in the world" (though to be fair he gets the preposition "in" right). Finally, he talks about India being a country "in development" ("en dévelopement") rather than a "developing country". In any case, I'm not sure his Indian hosts would appreciate being referred to as a developing country, which sounds rather patronizing now that India is one of the so-called BRICS.
This cartoon by Christopher Weyant from The Hill relates to the current debate in the USA over same-sex marriage.
BACKGROUND Thousands of demonstrators descended Tuesday on the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices heard arguments on the first of two cases addressing the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.
The court on Tuesday heard arguments on California's law banning gay marriage, known as Proposition 8. On Wednesday, the court will hear arguments on the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, which limits the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples.
The cases come before the high court months after three more states — Maryland, Maine and Washington — legalized gay marriage. Altogether, nines states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing gay marriage. [Source: USA Today]
EXPLANATION The suggestion is that if the elephant and donkey were gay, they would be more popular.
VOCABULARY Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual.
The term was originally used to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy". The term's use as a reference to homosexuality may date as early as the late 19th century, but its use gradually increased in the 20th century. In modern English, "gay" has come to be used as an adjective, and as a noun, referring to the people, especially to males, and the practices and cultures associated with homosexuality. [Source: Wikipedia]
GRAMMAR Note that we use past tense forms in English to talk about wishes for the present:
