African Week

Birth Pains
By Bobby Ghosh Monday, Sep. 27, 2010

Time Magazine

Many cattle keepers refused to surrender their weapons during the last disarmament program. According to them, they have to remain armed to defend themselves during cattle raids. Further complicating the likely secession are the multiple tribes and internal feuding among the cattle herders.

Countries are often forged in fire and blood, and it now looks inevitable that violence will attend the birth of the world's newest nation. As Sudan prepares for a January referendum that is almost certain to give its southern region independence — local authorities have already launched a contest to compose a national anthem — the world is bracing for conflagration. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described the situation as a "ticking time bomb." President Obama will attend a special U.N. meeting on Sept. 24 to discuss Sudan's future.
Some battle lines are well-worn: the Muslim-majority north is loath to give up the oil-rich south, where most of the population is Christian or follows traditional faiths. The two regions were locked in conflict for decades — by some estimates, more than 2.5 million were killed and twice that number displaced — until a 2005 peace deal between the government in Khartoum and southern rebel groups led by the Sudan People's Liberation Army set the stage for the January referendum. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court in July on charges of war crimes in the western Darfur province, has said he will respect the vote, but his army and the SPLA have both been rearming. Clinton said the south should be prepared to make "accommodations" with the north, "unless they want more years of warfare."

Word List

to be forged - ser forjado (construido)

blood - sangue

conflagration - conflagração (incêndio destrutivo)

loath - contrário (averso)

displaced - deslocado

indicted - indiciado

warfare - guerra, combate, hostilidade

google tradutor

 - Leiam e discutam as perguntas abaixo (postem suas ideias e respostas, clicando em "COMENTÁRIOS"):

1. How do the cattle keepers justify their non disarmment?
2. What is Sudan preparing for?
3. What seems to be the general opinion about the south region independence? Why?
4. What is the reason for the North and South war?
5. What do you think Clinton meant by "accommodations"?

Brazil Oil Week

Brazil Needs Billions to Drill Really Deep

Newsweek

August, 29th

By Mac Margolis

Brazil has a sunken-treasure problem. The discovery three years ago of a huge offshore stash of oil unleashed a gusher of nationalist euphoria. At somewhere between 9 billion and 15 billion barrels, it was the largest find in the Western Hemisphere in more than a quarter century. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva hailed the find as a ticket to Brazil’s “second independence,” and called on the country’s legislators to tighten state control over the oil industry.

Since then, things have become more difficult. Brazil’s treasure lies deeper (4.5 miles) and farther from shore (200 miles) than any oil being commercially exploited today. To tap that undersea wealth, state oil company Petrobras says it needs cash up front: some $224 billion over the next five years. It has planned a massive stock offering for September. Problem is, the complicated financial transaction will only add to Petrobras’s already heavy debt load (34 percent of net assets), which could move ratings firms to downgrade the company. That would drive up borrowing costs and sour the deal. Brazil could share the burden by calling on international oil majors as risk investors, but that would mean easing its grip on the industry. In the run-up to the Oct. 3 presidential elections, that’s not happening.
 
Word List
Hail - greet, signal, adress, acclaim
Deep - profound, penetrating, submerged
Far - at a distance, extremely
Downgrade - to lower, to degrade (antonym - improve, upgrade_
Borrowing costs - the cost of mony taken from a bank or financial institution
Grip - hold, embrace, to have perception of, to control

Tradutor

 - Leiam e discutam as perguntas abaixo (postem suas ideias e respostas, clicando em "COMENTÁRIOS"):

1. What is Brazil's sunken problem?
2. Why is the new finding complicated?
3. How much cash does Petrobras need?
4. What is Petrobras' plan to get the cash?
5. What is wrong with the plan?