20200203/vocabulary

#day-31

Then, just before the plane door closed, a convoy of cars pulled up on the tarmac carrying Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Iran's security mastermind, who climbed on board along with two escorts.//blank_tarmac

The operation that took out General Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, propelled the United States to the precipice of war with Iran and plunged the world into seven days of roiling uncertainty.//blank_roil

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo initially cited the need to forestall an “imminent” attack and the president has amplified that to say four American embassies were targeted.//blank_forestall

“Yes, it is decapitated,” he added, “but the organization is not destroyed."//blank_decapitate

After seven days of saber rattling and fresh deployments, the immediate march to war had ended. But inside the security establishment, few consider the crisis to be over. //blank_saber

The most noteworthy aspect to the missile strikes is that they were unambiguously of Iranian provenance.//blank_provenance

//kill team in iran

20200111, nytimes

Puerto Rico has not stopped shaking since a 6.4-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday forced thousands of families to sleep outside, jeopardized the territory's weak power infrastructure and frayed the nerves of residents who have endured more than two years of catastrophe after catastrophe.//blank_fray

Unceasing seismic activity on a fault just off the southern coast has pushed damage estimates to $110 million, and municipal authorities are weighing evacuation orders for residents in pueblos such as Guánica, where another 6-magnitude aftershock Saturday rocked the region and threatened to topple anything that hasn't already collapsed.//blank_seismic, pueblo

Nearly 60,000 people are without power, concentrated in the most impacted areas, a reminder that the island's frail electrical grid is vulnerable to natural disasters — some people went weeks or even months without power after Hurricane Maria.//blank_grid, frail

The relative safety net tethered together by years of rapid industrialization and economic progress began to fray a decade ago, leading the U.S. territory into financial ruin and sending a diaspora of Puerto Ricans seeking better opportunity to the mainland United States, draining the island of young talent.//blank_diaspora

//Puerto Rico

20200112, wp

Carlos Ghosn lambasts the Japanese justice system he has fled//blank_lambast

But his performance at a two-hour press conference in Beirut on January 8th, ten days after he fled Japan, showed that his confinement had done little to dent the ebullience and self-belief that characterised his long tenure at the top of the car industry.//blank_dent, ebullience

Instead Mr Ghosn said he would present “facts and data and evidence” both to rebut the “baseless” charges against him and the leaks by Japanese prosecutors designed to blacken his character.//blank_rebut

And anyway, such a thing is not an offence in many countries, he averred.//blank_aver

//Carlos Ghosn

20200108, economist

Ms Tsai, Taiwan’s first female president, scooped 57% of the votes cast, against 39% for her main opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT). //blank_scoop

Ms Tsai's triumph will infuriate China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.//blank_infuriate

Since 2016 it has poached seven of the developing countries that give diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, reducing their total number to 15.//blank_poach

The campaign seemed at first to be working. Just over a year ago, Ms Tsai's popularity was dwindling.//blank_dwindle

The DPP took a thrashing in municipal elections in November 2018 and she was forced to step down as the party's chairwoman.//blank_thrashing

Ms Tsai successfully capitalised on this, and her approval ratings soared.//blank_capitalize on

To dodge American import tariffs, many Taiwan-owned businesses based in China have diversified by investing more in South-East Asia—and in Taiwan itself, where government statistics show that, encouraged by incentives, they have pledged investment of close to $24bn over the next few years.//blank_dodge, pledge

//Taiwan

20200111, economist

Once transnational gangs arrived in El Salvador, large gaps in living standards emerged at the borders between their turfs//blank_turf

Quantifying exactly how much gangs have stunted development is tricky.//blank_stunt

The president’s deputies at the U.S. Forest Service and Interior Department dispatched more than 150 firefighters across the Pacific to help battle the blazes as part of a long-standing practice of United States.//blank_dispatch

//street gangs

20200111, economist

#day-32

Beijing has long tried to win the hearts of the Taiwanese politically thanks to economic incentives.//blank_incentive

Beijing has spent lavishly on Taiwan’s young people, offering them scholarships, preferential treatment and the lure of start-up incubators. //blank_incubator

Ms. Tsai appears to have garnered considerable support from young voters in the current presidential race.//blank_garner

No forces could separate us despite gusts of wind and rain and longtime isolation from each other, because we are brothers whose bones are broken but tendons are still connected, and we are a family whose blood is thicker than water.//blank_tendon

The florid rhetoric could not mask the fact that the Chinese Communist Party's so-called One China policy — generously backed by information warfare, a diplomatic campaign against Taiwan, the cultivation of a local pro-China lobby — is in fact an aggressive annexation policy.//blank_florid

Beijing, despite itself, is only giving the people of Taiwan a raison d'être and a common cause to rally against its attempt to conquer them.//blank_raison d'être

//taiwan

nyt, 20200110

Tsai's victory is a sign that Beijing's efforts to co-opt Taiwan's political and commercial institutions through a mixture of sticks and carrots has had the opposite effect, mobilizing a younger, more pro-independence electorate to support Tsai.//blank_co-opt

In her next four years in office, Sullivan said, Tsai will have to delicately balance growing calls for independence among her supporters with Beijing's more pugnacious approach to cross-Strait relations.//blank_pugnacious

I expect Beijing to continue to squeeze Taiwan internationally, go after more allies, invest in Taiwanese media, keep up its [political influence] activities and indulge in shows of military might and bellicose rhetoric.//blank_bellicose

Hong Kongers peppered political rallies in support of Tsai throughout the week, eager to witness direct democracy.

//tsai ing-wen

npt, 20200111

... in an election that saw the incumbent win more votes than any other presidential candidate in Taiwan’s history. //blank_incumbent

But the press has all but ignored these bread-and-butter issues in its coverage of the Taiwan elections, and with good reason. //blank_have all but

Beijing would throw a fit (and maybe a few missiles) if Taiwan ever removed “China” from its official name.//blank_throw a fit

Whatever the legal status of Taiwan, its moral connection to China is tenuous at best.//blank_tenuous

U.S. policy since 1979 has been to dissuade Beijing from forcibly seizing the island, and to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons to make that less likely. //blank_dissuade

Initially a military autocracy, that government evolved into a raucous democracy.//blank_raucous

//taiwan

fp, 20200115

#day-33

How Giuliani's outreach to Ukrainian gas tycoon wanted in U.S. shows lengths he took in his hunt for material to bolster Trump//blank_take lengths to

The four men are gathered around a table cluttered with glasses inside an exclusive Parisian cigar bar, beaming as they each offer an ebullient thumbs-up for the camera.//blank_ebulient

Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, is flanked by Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.//blank_flank

They were not included in the trove of materials released by the House, indicating that there is still more to be gleaned from Parnas's records.//blank_glean

//Giuliani

wp, 20200116

It would tear asunder "the motley feudal ties that bound man to his 'natural superiors'", in the words of "The Communist Manifesto". //blank_tear asunder

She is the epitome of cool under pressure, able to move from one challenge to the next, said Penny Junor, a royal historian.//blank_epitome

Palace sources quickly nixed those reports.//blank_nix

It is worth noting that many of the challenges Elizabeth has faced have been generated by the family itself — through a long litany of affairs, divorces, sketchy financial dealings and drunken mischief. //blank_litany

//Megxit

wp, 20200116

They wobbled again this week, after Iran first threatened and then carried out an attack on American bases on Iraqi soil.//blank_wobble

Save a few oases, notably in energy, aerospace and defence, the region looks like a multinational desert.//blank_save

//iran

the economist

The deal leaves untouched Beijing's subsidies for homegrown industries and its firm control over crucial levers of its hard-charging economy. //blank_lever

Wednesday's partial trade pact, portrayed by both sides as a temporary truce, may be the lasting legacy of more than two years of economic conflict. //blank_truce

//trade war

nyt, 20200116

Lisa Power, one of the co-founders of Stonewall, a gay-rights charity, reckons part of the explanation might be that lesbians move quicker from first dates to marriage than gay men, then repent at leisure.//blank_repent

#day-34

The government in Beijing broadened an extraordinary quarantine to more than 50 million people//blank_quarantine

The galloping virus, which has crimped travel, shuttered movie theaters and idled factories, will further depress growth.//blank_crimp

That will put pressure on Chinese officials to pause their debt-reduction campaign and goose the economy with more spending.//blank_goose

bailout//blank_bailout

The panel, which has been meeting regularly since last summer, wants a new public-private partnership to essentially absorb much of the debt that the drivers took on in recent years in order to buy medallions, the city-issued permits that let them own cabs. //blank_medallion

McDonald’s might be worried that a plant-based burger is going to be more expensive, a cost it may be leery of passing on entirely to its customers, Goldin said.//blank_leery

//coronavirus latest

wp, 20200127

The U.S. Senate is in the midst of the president's impeachment trial, which has been roiled by new reports regarding his actions toward Ukraine.//blank_roil

But holed up in apartment blocks across an area the size of Washington state, tens of millions of others who are symptom-free are fending off cabin fever.//blank_cabin fever

Sex Education is, ostensibly, a show about a boy: Otis Milburn, teenage son of an acclaimed sex therapist, who becomes an armchair sex guru for his classmates as they explore their burgeoning sexual identities. //blank_guru, burgeon

Yet in the show's stellar second season, it's the girls who shine the brightest, particularly in a sensitive, heartfelt storyline about the singular experience that binds all women together: unwanted sexual contact. //blank_stellar

Any change in the status of gay marriage is probably some way off.//blank_some way off

AFTER A WHIRLWIND romance and two years of dating, Emma and her girlfriend, Han, have tied the knot.//blank_whirlwind

Charlene Liu had the perfect venue in mind -- a bomb shelter turned multi-purpose space -- to display art that she and fellow organizers had curated for this year's Shanghai Pride, China's longest-running LGBTQ celebration.//blank_venue, curate

It's really part and parcel of organizing Pride every year.//blank_part and parcel

And despite last month's legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province, there is little prospect of the mainland following suit in the foreseeable future.//blank_follow suit

#day-35

As of 11 p.m. London time, midnight in Brussels, Britain was out of the bloc it helped establish almost five decades ago.//blank_bloc

Around the corner, at a party in Parliament Square, hardcore Brexiteers were rowdy and merry in the drizzle.//blank_rowdy

The prime minister didn't want to gloat, with pollsters finding that more than half the country opposes Brexit. But he did want to mark the moment.//blank_gloat

English sparkling wine, shortbread topped with Shropshire blue cheese, filet of lamb, a ploughman's of cheddar and pickle, roast chicken skewers — probably not chlorinated — and roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.//blank_chlorinate

Britain's departure is also a loss for the E.U., whose free-trading, expansionist vision of the world was profoundly steered by expertise and ideas from British leadership, no matter how much the country's tabloids ginned up stories of humiliation at the hands of dastardly continentals.//blank_gin up, tabloid, dastard

“Dear Members,” read an improvised sign, “Due to Brexit and the subsequent new distribution of seats, we are obliged to rearrange the post boxes.”//blank_improvise

A candlelight vigil outside the European Commission building in London, a “European Solidarity March” in the historic town of Canterbury, protests in villages along the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.//blank_vigil

Negotiations on a new relationship between Britain and the EU will be fraught.//blank_fraught

And hopes for a harmonious start to negotiations on a new relationship have already been dashed.//blank_dash

The EU argues that allowing unfettered access to its market while tolerating regulatory divergence would threaten the integrity of its single market, a circuitous phrase that expresses fears of being undercut by a more competitive, less regulated economy.//blank_unfettered

The American reaction to Britain's decision to give China's Huawei a role in its 5G network was a foretaste of the difficulty of post-Brexit trade negotiations. //blank_foretaste

America may allow a deal to lapse if its partner agrees one with China, and Chinese deals are one-sided.//blank_lapse

President Trump proposed a sweeping Middle East peace plan Tuesday that would establish a disjointed Palestinian state largely surrounded by Israel.//blank_sweeping

Sporting a face mask, Li on Monday toured Wuhan -- the central Chinese city that has recorded the overwhelming majority of the cases and deaths -- to reassure overworked medical workers and jittery ordinary citizens, pledging government resources and receiving loud cheers.//blank_jittery

immitation:

The operation that took out General Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, propelled the United States to the precipice of war with Iran and plunged the world into seven days of roiling uncertainty.

Unceasing seismic activity on a fault just off the southern coast has pushed damage estimates to $110 million, and municipal authorities are weighing evacuation orders for residents in pueblos such as Guánica, where another 6-magnitude aftershock Saturday rocked the region and threatened to topple anything that hasn't already collapsed.

The hurricane, the resultant struggle for survival, the unsettled governance and now days of strong quakes have deteriorated the emotional and mental health of some of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens of the United States.

No forces could separate us despite gusts of wind and rain and longtime isolation from each other, because we are brothers whose bones are broken but tendons are still connected, and we are a family whose blood is thicker than water.

Can Beijing still hope to buy Taiwan, or do the Taiwanese now feel too Taiwanese to allow that?

Tsai's victory is a sign that Beijing's efforts to co-opt Taiwan's political and commercial institutions through a mixture of sticks and carrots has had the opposite effect, mobilizing a younger, more pro-independence electorate to support Tsai.

I expect Beijing to continue to squeeze Taiwan internationally, go after more allies, invest in Taiwanese media, keep up its [political influence] activities and indulge in shows of military might and bellicose rhetoric.

But the press has all but ignored these bread-and-butter issues in its coverage of the Taiwan elections, and with good reason.

The galloping virus, which has crimped travel, shuttered movie theaters and idled factories, will further depress growth.

Black faculty members have cited lack of mentorship and sponsorship, barriers to promotion and advancement, and lack of supportive — and sometimes hostile — work environments as factors in their attrition from academic medical centers.

As the country struggles with questions about the legal and social status of transgender individuals — and with the parallel, emerging understanding that others may not fit into a binary, either/or gender category — pronouns have become an unexpectedly and unnecessarily heated area of contention.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appears to be escalating his criticism of NPR — this time not just with words but with actions.

Sex Education is, ostensibly, a show about a boy: Otis Milburn, teenage son of an acclaimed sex therapist, who becomes an armchair sex guru for his classmates as they explore their burgeoning sexual identities.

Yet in the show's stellar second season, it's the girls who shine the brightest, particularly in a sensitive, heartfelt storyline about the singular experience that binds all women together: unwanted sexual contact.

The American reaction to Britain's decision to give China's Huawei a role in its 5G network was a foretaste of the difficulty of post-Brexit trade negotiations.