JERUSALEM STATUS: WORLD CONDEMNS TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT

This news was published today, on December 7^th, 2017, by the BBC newspaper. It talks about some of the reactions the announcement of Donald Trump got from Palestinians, Israelis and the main countries of EU. 

According to the news, Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital had different impacts. The Israeli PM said it was a historic day, while the Palestinian President said it was a deplorable move. Palestinians will protest, and plan strikes in order to “confront” Israel and the US.

Finally, the Arabs countries condemned the Trump’s decision, while Theresa May, the British PM, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor and Emmanuel Macron, the French President, didn’t support the decision.

The following video is an analysis from BBC focusing on what Mr. Trump said and what it means for peace. 

OPINION:

The president Trump’s announcement about Jerusalem being the Israelis’ was hard to swallow, even if it was quite predictable, considering that the US is the biggest ally of Israeli government. It looks like Trump's politics is not that different to the Obama's one. Keeping in mind how powerful the United States is, the decision they took yesterday was important even if countries like UK, France and Germany doesn’t support it, taking into account that it breaks the peace accords from 1993 and the US declaration as a neutral ally.

From my point of view, the US announcement is just another political move, just like all of their participation in each conflict throughout history. I think that supporting the Israeli country is definitely a point in favour in the US interests in the Middle East. So, the best way to secure the growth of Israel and to maintain it powerful is to recognise Jerusalem as their capital. As a result, the Israeli illegal settlements will keep going, the repression towards the Palestinians will increase and so will the attacks. 

Finally, I would like to say that Palestine must keep demanding the recognition of their country. It is not fair the occupation Palestine is suffering since 1947. Also, focusing on the current situation in Spain, comparing the wanted independent republic of Catalonia with Israel is in poor taste, meaning that what really have in common is the illegal action they make and the Zionism character both have.

VOCABULARY:

Deplorable: lamentable. 

JULIA ROBERTS ROLE IN WONDER LEFT HER 'SPEECHLESS'

This news was published on December 1^st, 2017, by the BBC newspaper. It talks about the Julia’s Roberts reaction when it comes to the movie Wonder. 

According to the news, Julia Roberts declares speechless when it comes to her role in Wonder, which is a mother of a boy with a rare congenital condition that has affected the way his face is formed. She also says she thought that the book was so special and incredible, when she first read the book. What left her speechless, she says, is how her character spends time with the boy and how she decides to send him to school.

Jacob Trembay, who plays the main character of the movie, had to spend a lot of hours to do his make-up, according to Roberts. He also maintained contact with different patience who are suffering from that illness and sent letters to him. 

Finally, both actors agreed that the main message of the movie is to choose to be kind but also true to yourself and never give up.

OPINION:

I haven’t watched this film yet, but it is a thing that I will have to do as soon as possible. As far as I am concerned, I think that Jacob Trembay is right when he describes the main goal of the film, the big message which is given to the audience which is to always act with kindness, be true to yourself and, one of the most important thing, to just never give up. I have to say that I have high expectations when it comes to the film and I hope I’d like it as much as I do without even seen it.  

THE DISEASE THAT COULD CHANGE HOW WE DRINK COFFEE

This news was published on November 6^th, 2017, by the BBC newspaper. It is about the disease that could change how we drink coffee. 

According to the news, Colombia’s coffee has been traded since 1960, when people started to bring plant materials from abroad.  Because of that, coffee plants are suffering from a rust, which is a disease with power to wipe out the production of coffee.

Considering that coffee is the base of one of the biggest industries in Colombia, that disease could affect the economics of the country and would affect the price of the coffee we drink everywhere.

Finally, researchers from Colombia are trying to investigate how the plants can survive to the disease, if it’s even possible. The disease is caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, which causes discoloration to the plants’ leaves, which end up falling. The plants lose their ability to produce beans.

Coffee rust looks like a brown powder on the leaves.

OPINION:

From my point of view, I think that if the coffee rust will not be stopped, will have a problem. Considering that as a human being we consume a lot of coffee, the importation will be more expensive if we keep in mind the reduction of production of coffee. In these cases, the role of the scientists is important to find a possible solution to this problem. That’s the reason why the Colombian researchers are working hard to solve issue that concerns a lot. I know that there are other countries where is posible to import coffee from but, imagine one day waking up without coffee. 

VOCABULARY:

Rust: oxidación.

Cripple: paralizar.

CHINESE POLICE CRACK DOWN ON FAKE PEPPA PIG PRODUCTS

This news was published on November 30^th, 2017, by the BBCnewspaper. It is about the intervention of Chinese police into the fake Peppa Pig products fabrication. Peppa Pig is a British children’s cartoon which is very popular in China.

According to the news, Police in Chine raided various places where it took place the manufacturing of counterfeit Peppa Pig products. This act took place because the British company Entertainment One complained about it, after they spotted the products on commercial websites. The raids took place in the city of Yangzhou on November 4^th, days before the country’s biggest annual online shopping event.

Finally, the head of the company which faked the products was arrested and apologized.  

OPINION:

From my point of view, from one hand, I think that it is not fair the fabrication of fake trademarks products, because the brand doesn’t win anything for its own work. That’s the reason why I think that the Chinese police did an excellent job with the raids. From another hand, I think that the head of the company which did all the counterfeits did such a good action when it comes to admit the wrong thing he had committed.

VOCABULARY:

Counterfeit: falsificación.

Raid: asalto

Trademark: Marca registrada (logo). 

PRALJAK: BOSNIAN CROAT WAR CRIMINAL DIES AFTER TAKING POISON ON COURT

This news was posted on November 29^th, 2017 by the BBC newspaper. It is about the death of the Bosnian Croat war criminal, Praljak, who took poison in court, during an appeal hearing in The Hague.

According to the newspaper, Praljak was sentenced for crimes in Mostar during the Bosnian war in 2013, next to five more formers. On this day, it took place the final appeal judgment hearing where Praljak was sentenced for 20 years on jail because of the crimes he committed, which were crimes against humanity.

After he drunk the poison, he was immediately assisted by the medical staff and transported to a hospital, even though, he died.

Slobodan Praljak, in the middle. 

OPINION:

From my point of view, I think that Praljak drinking the glass of poison is just a coward action. If he truly believed that he wasn’t a criminal, he wouldn’t drink poison, he wouldn’t give up on himself. Otherwise, he would go to jail and fight for his thoughts, but that’s impossible to do because even himself knew that he was such a big criminal.

When it comes to the crimes he committed, they are horrible. As far as I am concerned, one of the worsts wars was against Muslims. He destructed as many mosques as he could, leaving aside the city’s historic Old Bridge, and tortured them as bad as he could.

The problem I see in here is what now for the victims. Now that the ex-commander is dead, that doesn’t take away the pain people had suffered and all what they went through, for not talking about the losses of their loved ones.

MUSIC INDUSTRY

Lately, I have been shocked when it comes to the different songs are very successful nowadays. As far as I can remember, I didn’t really know the reason why the songs achieve such an overwhelming victory in the music industry and, most important, how did people like it. However, I think that know I might be conscient of it. To explain the possible reasons why some current type of music is so overrated, I am going to give different examples.

When it comes to the rappers, I could say that there as been clearly changes. I still remember the time when Lil Wayne, Eminem, Jay Z used to sound on the radio. I think that the current style hip-hop music isn’t what it used to be anymore, mainly because of the lyrics of the songs and how they don’t treat the same themes as before, considering that hip-hop was a way to recriminate the injustices people where suffering, specially in the United States. Even thought, I think that a lot of people made and make money by making rap songs, even though, in my opinion its lyrics is just a bunch of nonsense sentences. Despite that, I have to say that the songs can be hilarious, and that’s maybe why those singers have so much audience. Big Shaq song is clearly an example of what I am saying. In the following video, you can hear his song which reminds me of the beginning of Stormzy.

Additionally, we must keep in mind that music industry tries to get the higher number of earnings, as any other industry. So, how could I talk about music and profits without mentioning the one and only Jake Paul. The YouTube star has revolutionised the social media since he dropped out his song It’s everyday bro. The problem comes when he and his brother got into the music industry. In my opinion their songs are an example of what music shouldn’t be but, even so, they seem to succeed taking into account the number of visualizations they get in each song they post in YouTube and Sotify and, the number of sells in iTunes. 

Finally, I would like to talk about the classic pop songs which are basically made for boybands for commercial interest. I can not stand to that type of music anymore just because it has turned into weary music style. 

As a conclusion, I can say that the music industry has every right to promote and sell any type of music, but it depends on us in making it succeed or fail and since now, it looks like people just makes victorious the kind of music which discriminates, disrespects and is characterised by being lacked of talent. 

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER

One of my favourite tv series is How to get away with murder. It was premiered on Semptember 25^th, 2014 by the original network ABC. The series was created by Peter Nowalk. The genre that characterise it are legal drama, mystery and thriller. The cast is formed by Viola Davis (as Annalise Keating), Billy Brown (as Nate Lahey), Alfred Enoch (as Wes Gibbins), Katie Findlay (Rebecca Sutter), Jack Falahee (Connor Walsh), Matt McGorry (as Asher Millstone), Aja Naomi King (as Michaela Pratt), Karla Souza (as Laurel Castillo), Charlie Weber (as Frank Delfino), Liza Weil (as Bonnie Winterbottom) and Conrad Ricamora (as Oliver Hampton). There are 4 seasons with 15 episodes each of them.

When it comes to the plot of this series is quite difficult to explain because of the mechanism of order follows each episode and to avoid possible spoilers. Despite that, I can say that How to get away with murder is about a law professor, Annalise, who works at a prestigious Philadelphia university who, next to five of her students, becomes entwined in a murder plot. With the help of her employees and a detective from the Philadelphia Police Department, she tries to investigate who are the murderers and the reason why she was entwined with them.

The first episodes of each season are always a short anticipation which leaves the audience with suspense and curiosity. Then the episode goes by until the last minutes where there’s another anticipation leaving a clue for the audience so that we can make our own hypothesis once the episode is finished.

As a lot of the Tv series I have watched, how to get away with murder was recommended to me by my sister. She was always talking about it, especially when she was finishing some episode. I don’t really get how the writers and director are able to think about the amazing plot of this series. I really like how each action and move of any character throughout the season might seem to be insignificant but at it end it is not. I can say that is one of that Tv series that I could watched on repeat without getting tired of it. I’m looking forward for the premier of the second part of the last season.

This is the trailer of the first season of How to get away with murder: