Conclusions and final reflections

Conclusions and final reflections

We arrived at the end of this path, which has allowed me to expand my knowledge of the English language, teaching me to study this language in a totally different way. Probably for the first time in my life I have had the good fortune to follow an English  course in a serious way and well structured with an excellent teacher and demanding at the right point, who taught me how you have to study this language. 

Surely this semester helped me a lot, I have expanded my vocabulary with terms related to the economy and related spheres (eg negotiation); I strengthened my knowledge about verbal forms ( for example, the hypothetical period ); I improved my skills with regard  the Speaking ( thanks to the presentation of the Business Plan and the Seminar about the income inequality ); I learned how to effectively structure a writing; but mostly I learned to reason and deduce the meaning of sentences by context and not by every word.

Surely in a next time, to learn the language better, I would spend a few months in countries like England or the United States, discover their different ways of speaking English and deepen their cultures.

I conclude this post thanking to you, Sean , because you gave me the opportunity to study English in a manner totally different from the one I knew who I plan to continue.

Kerry's apartheid remark hits pro-Israel nerve

Kerry's apartheid remark hits pro-Israel nerve

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Regarding the themes studied in the past lessons about inequality, I got to read these stories in which the Secretary of State of the United States, Kerry, warned Israel to adopt different measures, as it is likely to create a new case of apartheid. 

"We reiterate the two-state solution as the only real alternative. Why a unitary state ends up being a State in which there is apartheid, with second-class citizens, or a state that denies to Israel the ability to be a Jewish state ",Kerry said, as reported by The Daily Beast today. 

Meanwhile, this morning, at 10 am local time in Israel have been heard sirens in memory of the Jews killed during the Holocaust. The entire country, including schools, is stopped for two minutes: wherever he was and whatever he was doing the people standing and  in silence and paid tribute to the memory of the six million Jews killed during the persecutions. The ceremonies of "Yom HaShoah" will end tonight.

The Central Committee of the OLP will join to 60 treaties and institutions of the United Nations. The decision, say the local media, was taken last night at a meeting of the Committee. This development follows the recent decision to join the OLP to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and 15 other UN treaties.   

In a statement, the OLP Central Committee reiterated the need for the Palestinians to continue to adhere to the United Nations agencies and to international conventions.''The OLP also conditions the resumption of peace negotiations with Israel, the recognition by the government of Binyamin Netanyahu of the'' boundaries'' of 1967, the complete block of the construction in the settlements and the release of dozens of Palestinians.

*OLP = Organization for the Liberation of Palestine.

My favorite film: "Il Ciclone"

Leonardo Pieraccioni - Il Ciclone

Who among us does not have a favorite movie that sees and sees so many times without ever getting tired? 

I love movies, especially comedies, without a complicated structure, but that make you think and    at the same time fail to make you smile.  

My favorite movie is " Il Ciclone " by Leonardo Pieraccioni , one of my favorite actors. In this film, grossing in 1996, he plays a Tuscan accountant, Levante Quarini, fully immersed in the life of his small town near Florence. One day his life changed thanks to a small but not insignificant "accident": due to the fall of the cartel indications of a farm , he will have to accommodate in his house  a company of flamenco dancers, including the beautiful Caterina. Levante falls in love the girl, after several attempts, due to its simplicity, will win the girl's heart, leaving everything and going to live in Spain to carry on a family with her.

One of the elements that makes this film captivating, is the typical atmosphere of the villages that Pieraccioni manages to convey, that good or bad each of us carries within himself during life, the grocer downstairs our house, the mechanical friend etc. . .  

The best thing however is the atypical nature of the figure of Levante : this movie is one of those few cases in which love triumphs between two "normal" people who do not look beautiful, no heroics, win their way of being, their human character .

Poignant is the ending, which leaves you printed a bitter smile , almost melancholy in revealing the identity of Gino , the "person" friendly,
humorous and wise at the right point to whom Levante was so bound.     

Obviously these are personal considerations, and not to everyone might like this kind of film; said this, however, I invite everyone to watch this movie and identify with the atypical context that this film manages to evoke.

Scotland to vote for independence

Scotland to vote for independence

Alex Salmond will tell the SNP Spring Conference today that the people of Scotland should decide the country's future.

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On September 18 there will be a referendum in Scotland to decide the country's independence from the UK. It is a historic event, because, in addition to question a union of more than three hundred years, it could set a precedent for similar situations in the rest of Europe. 

Scotland is one of four countries making up the United Kingdom (along with England, Wales and Northern Ireland). State and four nations, then. Something strange in the eyes of an observer continental, but that is made possible in the British traditions legal of the Common Law. The legal system of common law has the customs and legal precedents like own source. 

What are these precedents and customs? One of these is the Union of the Kingdom of England and Scotland in 1707, according to a law called Act of Union, passed by both parliaments of the two Kingdoms. The country, however, has always possessed a strong national pride and preserved their traditions, customs and institutions. Since 1999, it has also gained greater autonomy, acquiring its own Parliament who can legislate on certain matters. It was a very particular form of decentralization of power called Devolution, which constitutes more than a beginning, an end point in the long journey for the Scottish autonomy. 

A movement for the independence of the country was already born in 1707. Many people, in fact, consider this act as a sellout of Scotland to its historic enemy. In 1934, then was born the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP). This political force remained in the shadows for a long time (because crushed by the "majority dry" used to elect the British Parliament), but was able to find a new platform to launch in Parliament in Edinburgh, where he obtained a relative majority in 2007. Their social democratic inspiration and their look at "north" towards the Scandinavian models has allowed the nationalists to fill the void left by Labour in the defense of  Scottish typicality within the kingdom. Thus, the SNP, led by the charismatic prime minister Alex Salmond has improved again in 2011, against all odds obtaining an absolute majority of the parlament against all odds.

Today, among the pro-independence include, of course, the Scottish Nationalist Party, the promoter of the referendum, the Greens and Scottish Socialists. These forces are brought together in the group "Yes Scotland". On the other hand, they oppose the main political parties of the British Parliament (Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives) who lie gathered in the the group Better Together.

The Edinburgh Parliament has no power to proclaim the independence of Scotland. This means that a possible victory for the "Yes" in the referendum does not automatically imply the independence of Scotland, but merely allows the executive of Edinburgh to open negotiations with London for secession. It is extremely unlikely that the capital is opposed to a possible positive outcome: however, some important questions remain open on that deal. Among these, the use of (at least temporary) of the British pound by Scotland, the breakdown of public debt, the armed forces and, above all, the oil fields of the North Sea. Two other hot-button issues are those relating to membership of NATO and the European Union. Regarding the last thing, is started a political battle disguised as a legal dispute: the Scottish Government maintains that Scotland will automatically become a new member of the EU, given that, in fact, has been a member since 1973. Those oppose to independence instead, have analyzed the statements of several European leaders (especially Spanish) that an eventual independent Scotland should  starting from zero for entry in the UE.

Afghan policeman shoots dead AP reporter Niedringhaus

Photographer killed by Afghan 'police'

Famous for his reporting from war scenarios such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Seriously wounded fellow journalist Katthy Gannon

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An Associated Press photographer was killed and his colleague journalist injured during an attack by gunfire fire in eastern Afghanistan on Friday morning. The two women were attacked while they were visiting the office of the governor of the district of Tanai, by a man, wearing a uniform, who was arrested. Katthy Gannon was seriously injured, while the photographer Anja Niedringhaus is dead. 

Gannon, a correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan, is Canadian and his colleague, the photographer who accompanied him, Anja Niedringhaus, was German. The two reporters were in a small town in the province of Khost, in the district of Tania, in the eastern part of the country, near the border with Pakistan. Afghanistan is going through a turbulent election eve: tomorrow there will be presidential elections, a vote that the Taliban have threatened with bloodshed across the country.On the election, which will mark the end of the commitment period Karzai and NATO forces in the country, due to expire at year-end essentially weigh two unknowns: the security of voters and the  risk of fraud. What today is the third attack on journalists in recent weeks in Afghanistan. On March 11, he was assassinated the Swede Nils Horner, in the center of Kabul, while he was doing interviews. Two weeks ago, an Afghan journalist of the agency AFP, Sardar Ahmad, was killed in a Taliban attack against a luxury hotel in the capital, along with his wife and two older children.

Anja Niedringhaus was one of the most valued and respected photographers of his generation. He won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for his work on the war in Iraq. He had started working as a photographer at age 17. Then he covered the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1990 he became a full-time photojournalist and enters the European Pressphoto Agency in Frankfurt. Then for ten years he worked on the conflict in Yugoslavia. In 2001 he goes to Afghanistan, where he spent three months in which to tell the fall of the Taliban, and five years later was awarded the prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard. It is the author, among others, of the famous shot of the massacre of Nasiriyah.

I conclude this sad news by posting a video of his best pictures, powerful images that make us think, that they can not leave us indifferent.

Speaking Assessment - Presentation

Speaking Assessment - Presentation

The presentation about the business plan of a company helped me a lot in several respects: First, it helped me overcome one of my fears, public speaking with someone who judged me, helped me to understand how to structure a presentation, which may facilitate my future career, and ultimately helped me to impare new specific terms about the business and the economy. I think that my work with Andrea was slightly different to the other presentations because dividing us parts of speech, we have built a real business presentation. If I had to redo it again I will focus more on the company's accounting and I would do a more detailed study on the international markets who we have seen to a lesser extent by giving more prominence to the internal market. Seeing the presentations of my colleagues I have learned different and interesting ways to structure presentations.

The first meeting between Obama and Pope Francis

The first meeting between Obama and Pope Francis

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The meeting between the American president and the Pope,  began in Vatican at 10:28, lasted 50 minutes. "Thank you, thank you." These are the first words of Barack Obama to Pope Francis. And then: "Meet you is wonderful." During the interview, the prefect of the Pontifical Household, Georg Gaenswein, he met outside the studio chatting with U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry. After the meeting, the number one in the White House has presented to Bergoglio his delegation. "Pray for me and my family. They're with me on this journey, "Obama said to Bergoglio. And then: "Probably i'll read this book in the Oval Room, when I will be really frustrated and I'm sure that will give me strength," commenting on the copy of the Evangelii Gaudium, a document that represents a kind of manifesto of the papacy, which the Pope donated to Obama. There were moments of hilarity and awkwardness during the exchange of gifts. The box of medals donated by Obama to Francis, who was supposed to stay open, it was broken and the coins are fallen into the earth. Monsignor Gaenswein was quick to pick up the coins and put everything back in place. But the balance reconstituted lasted a moment, and again the coins fell into the earth. Francis laughed. President Obama gave to Francis also the seeds of the garden of the White House. 

"Why not?" It 'was the response of the Pope to Obama, who invited him to Washington. "This looks like a carrot, - said the president - each one has a seed, if you have the chance to come to the White House, you can see the garden."