news/notes 2009.02.20

[Top News]-from "The Japan Times"
Aso accepts blame for Nakagawa
Ex-minister was warned about alcohol in past
Prime Minister Taro Aso aplogized Thursday over the abrupt exit in
disgrace of Shoichi Nakagawa as finance minister and accepted
responsibility for appointing him.
"I really apologize for this," he said, stressing that swift enactment of the
fiscal 2009 budget should be the Diet's priority.

Obama unveils $75 billion to forestall foreclosures

JAL mulls 200 billion government-backed loan
Japan Airlines Corp. is considering borrowing some 200 billion from the
Development Bank of Japan, sources said Thursday.

BOJ takes credit-flow measures
The Bank of Japan said Thursday it will buy up to 1 trillion worth of
corporate bonds help by finacial institutions amid the deepening recession.

UBS to name U.S. clients in massive tax case
Swiss banking giant UBS AG has agreed to pay $780 million and identify
certain U.S. clients in a deal to resolve criminal fraud charges that it
assisted rich Americans to evade taxes.

[National]-from "The Japan Times"
High hopes for JAXA's new rocket
Nestled in a cavernous but air-tight hanger, scientists are putting the
finishing touches on the H-IIB rocket, hopig it will boost Japan's prestige
when it blasts off later this year.
The H-IIB - designed to take supplies to the International Space Station
as well as launch satellites - is more imposing than its predecessor, the
H-IIA. When it is ready, the H-IIB is expected to stand 56 meters high
- 3 meters taller than its sister rocket. It will also be 5.2 meters wide,
compared with 4 meters for the H-IIA, and weigh 530 tons. Two engines
and four quaxiliary boosters will be used to drive the massive rocket into
space.

[Weekend Scene]-from "The Japan Times"
Funereal flick out to reap Japan an Oscar
Yojiro Takita talks about his funereal drama 'Okuribito' ('Departures'),
Japan's big hope at this weekend's Academy Awards

[Born This Day]-from "Britannica"
Honoré Daumier
French artist Honoré Daumier, born this day or February 26 in 1808, was
renowned for his cartoons and drawings satirizing French society, and his
paintings helped introduce Impressionist techniques into modern art.

[On This Day]-from "Britannica"
1962: John Glenn's orbit of Earth
John H. Glenn, Jr., the oldest of seven astronauts selected by NASA for
Project Mercury spaceflight training (and later a U.S. senator), became on
this day in 1962 the first American to orbit Earth, doing so three times.

[Words]-from "英辞郎"
forestall-to prevent something from happening by taking action
before it does
【他動-1】～を未然に防ぐ、～の機先を制する
・The president should forestall a possible riot by deploying a garrison.
大統領は守備隊を配置して暴動を未然に防ぐべきだ。
【他動-2】〈文〉～を見越す、～を予想する
【他動-3】〔～を事前に買い占めて〕市場に出回らないようにする

foreclosure
【名】《法律》（抵当権の）請け戻し権喪失、質流れ

evade-to avoid talking about something especially because you are
trying to hide something
【他動-1】～を逃れる、避ける、回避する、～から巧みに逃げる(escape)、
うまく切り抜ける、うまく逃れる
・He was arrested for evading over 1 billion in income tax.
彼は十数億円を超える所得税脱税容疑で逮捕された。
・To evade taxes Sam invests his money abroad.
税を逃れるために、サムは海外で投資を行っている。
【他動-2】〔法律の目を〕くぐる
【他動-3】〔質問を〕はぐらかす

mull
【1-自動】〈米話〉じっくり考える、検討する、思案する、熟考する、頭を絞る、討議する
・I mulled over the decision for several days.
私は数日間、その決断について熟考した。
・I have been mulling over buying it.
買おうかどうしようかと迷っているところだ。
【1-他動-1】〈米話〉じっくり考える、検討する、思案する、熟考する、頭を絞る、討議する
・He mulls returning to metropolis.
彼は大都市へ戻ることを検討［思案］している。

iespcs@yahoo.co.jp
ieskkk@softbank.ne.jp

news/notes 2009.02.19

[Top News]-from "The Japan Times"
Obama orders surge for Afghanistan force
17,000 more soldiers to aid escalating war
President Barack Obana approved adding some 17,000 U.S. troops for the
flagging war in Afghanistan, his first significant move to change the course
of a conflict that his closest military advisers have warned the United States
is not winning.
"This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in
Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and
resorces it urgently requires," Obama said in a statement.

U.S. eyes economic recovery as stimulus signed
Obama signed into law a $787 billion economic stimulus plan Tuesday,
predicting the package of spending and tax cuts marked "the beginning of
the end" of America's worst economic slide since the Great Depression.

GM, Chrysler seek billions more in loans
Billions of dollars in government loans already handed out to prop up
General Motors and Chrysler won't be enough. The companies, which have
received $17.4 billion so far, filed plans with the government more than
doubling that request to a staggering total of $39 billion.

Aso, Medvedev agree to intensify efforts to resolve territorial row
Prime Minister Taro Aso and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed
Wednesday to itensify efforts to resolve the decades-old territorial row
over four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido.

Man who killed, chopped up neighbor gets life
The Tokyo District Court sentenced a Tokyo man to lige imprisonment
Wednesday for killing a woman who lived two doors down from him in a
condominium in Koto Ward amd mutilating her body last year.

[Born This Day]-from "Britannica"
Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, born this day in 1473,
reintroduced the heliocentric system, proposing that the Earth, like the other planets,
revolves around the Sun and that it turns once daily on its axis.

[On This Day]]-from "Britannica"
1945: Iwo Jima invaded by U.S. Marines
On this day in 1945, during the final phases of World War II, U.S. Marines
invaded Iwo Jima so as to wrest control of the strategically important
island from the Japanese, who put up fierce resistance in the ensuing battle.

[Words]-from "英辞郎"
flagging-becoming tired or losing strength
【1-形】だれぎみの、減少ぎみの、低迷する
【2-名】敷石舗装

prop up-to prevent something from falling by putting something against
it or under it
【句動】下支えする、支柱を施す、てこ入れする
【名】<→prop-up>

mutilate-to severely and violently damege someone's body, especially
by cutting or removing part of it
【他動】～を損傷により損なう、（手足を）切断する、不具にする、骨抜きにする
・He killed and mutilated 15 men.
彼は15人を殺し遺体をバラバラに切断した。
・The child mutilated the book with his scissors.
その子供は、はさみで本をめちゃくちゃに切り刻んでしまった。
【変化】《動》mutilates | mutilating | mutilated、【分節】mu・ti・late

heliocentric system
太陽中心説