Week7

Nice terrorist attack on Bastille Day

How the attack unfolded ?

A truck smashed into a crowd in the French resort of Nice, killing at least 84 people in what President Francois Hollande on Friday called a "terrorist" attack on revelers enjoying a Bastille Day fireworks display.

The driver, named by authorities as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel,  barreled the truck two kilometres (1.3 miles) through the crowd on the palm-lined Promenade des Anglais, sending hundreds fleeing in terror and leaving the area strewn with bodies. 

Bouhlel then opened fire on police before they shot him dead, said the regional president in Nice Christian Estrosi . Two guns, a number of fake weapons and grenades were discovered in the vehicle. 

As the sun rose on Friday morning, the lorry could still be seen where it finally came to a halt, its windscreen peppered with bullet holes. Bouhlel's apartment was raided by police later on Friday.

Police vans blocking promenade withdrawn hours before attack.

Police vans which had been blocking off the promenade were withdrawn by the French authorities hours before a 19-ton truck ploughed into a crowd of revelers leaving at least 84 people dead.

Despite France being on heightened alert only 60 officers were on duty, even though there was concern that Nice could be the target of a terrorist attack.

Eye witnesses said the vans, which had sealed off the Promenade des Anglais to protect a military parade were removed before the attack.

when: 14 July, 2016

where: Nice

who: people in Nice and ISIS

what: terrorist attack

keywords:

unfolded 展開的 adj.

Bastille Day (Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July each year) 巴士底日(法國國慶日)

raid 襲擊 v.

plough into 撞上 v.ph

Week6

With Obama Visit to Cuba, Old Battle Lines Fade

HAVANA — For decades, Cuba and the United States have framed their relationship as a conflict of opposites: Communism vs. capitalism; Cuban loyalists vs. Cuban exiles; the state vs. the individual.

But last week’s visit to the island by President Obama — the first by a sitting American president since Calvin Coolidge — made clear that the old lines of battle are breaking down. Here in a place known for its rigidity, ruled since 1959 by a single family, a confounding mash-up of what was once held apart now defines how life works.

Just watching the awkward dance between Mr. Obama and his Cuban counterpart at a news conference on Monday left many Cubans stunned. Young and old remarked that their president, Raúl Castro, did not deliver a strong performance. But there he was, a Castro, admitting he had agreed to take only one question, then stumbling through three — about human rights, no less — as an American president nudged him along in a classic ritual of a more open society.

It was awkward to watch, the octogenarian guerrilla and the younger American, especially the missed handshake-hug at the end, precisely because it showed Mr. Castro moving into uncomfortable territory.

Mr. Obama’s engagement policy and Mr. Castro’s minor opening to free-market ideas and careful criticism have together created a new dynamic for Cuba that is just beginning to reveal what it could become.

“While I’m confident that history will judge Obama’s visit and speech as a unmitigated home run, in the Cuban context he’s only a pinch-hitter or a warm-up batter,” said Ted Henken, a Cuba scholar at Baruch College. “The real contest can only be decided through a frank, respectful and broadly inclusive national dialogue among Cubans themselves.”

who: Obama and Raúl Castro

when: March 26, 2016

where: Cuba

what: Obama visited to Cuba

Keywords

communism 共產主義 n.

capitalism 資本主義 n.