Week in Review (31st July – 04th August)

Update: Charlie Gard has died

The little boy, Charlie Gard, died aged 11 months. He was diagnosed with a rare inherited disease last year where he was unable to breathe on his own and needed constant life support. His parents fought a hard battle to give him experimental treatment as Charlie´s doctors believed it would only prolong his suffering while his parents set their hopes on the treatment.

But on Monday Chris Gard and Connie Yates gave a loving statement, abandoning the legal battle and saying it was too late to save Charlie. The boy was transferred to a specialist children´s hospice where he spend his final hours, surrounded by people who loved him. Many people offered their help via social media, taking them into their thoughts and prayers.

rare (reəʳ) – selten

inherit (ɪnˈherɪt) – etw erben

disease (dɪˈzi:z) – die Krankheit

unable (ʌnˈeɪbl̩) – unfähig

life support (laɪf səˈpɔ:t) – lebenserhaltende Maßnahmen

treatment (ˈtri:tmənt) – die Behandlung

to prolong (prə(ʊ)ˈlɒŋ) – etw verlängern, etw hinauszögern

to suffer (ˈsʌfəʳ) – leiden

statement (ˈsteɪtmənt) – die Äußerung, die Erklärung

to abandon (əˈbændən) – etw aufgeben

legal battle (ˈli:gəl ˈbætl̩) – der Rechtsstreit

to transfer (træn(t)sˈfɜ:ʳ) – jdn verlegen, jdn versetzen

to surround (səˈraʊnd) – jdn umgeben

Trump fires Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci was fired as Communications chief on Monday after less than two weeks in office. Scaramucci´s hiring caused a shift in the Trump administration – Sean Spicer resigned as Press Secretary as did former chief of staff Reince Priebus. And now the team changes again. The firing of Scaramucci comes at the same time as a new chief of staff, John Kelley. The White House said they wanted Kelley to have a clean slate and the ability to build his own team.

Scaramucci often compared himself to Trump and spoke about the similarities they share. Apparently the president was annoyed about how Scaramucci inflated the strength of their friendship. The now former communications chief added to the chaos of the Trump administration last week with a turbulent series of media appearances. Some of his comments were inappropriate, the White House said.

Anthony Scaramucci is a former Wall Street financier and fund raiser for the Trump campaign. However, he was not always such a fervent supporter of the president. A few years back he wanted to fund Hillary Clinton´s campaign for the presidency. Furthermore, he deleted all his old tweets that contradicted any of Trump´s decision or said something negative about him. But after ten days Scaramucci´s days in the White House are over.

to fire(ˈfaɪəʳ) – jdn feuern, entlassen

chief (tʃi:f) – der/die Leiter/in, der/die Chef/in

to hire(həʳ) – jdn einstellen

shift (ʃɪft) – der Wechsel, die Änderung

administration (ədˌmɪnɪˈstrʃən) – die Verwaltung

to resign (rɪˈzn) – kündigen

clean slate (kli:n slt) – der Neuanfang

ability (əˈbɪləti) – die Fähigkeit, die Möglichkeit

to compare (kəmˈpʳ) – etw vergleichen

similarity (ˌsɪmɪˈlærəti) – die Gemeinsamkeit

to annoy (əˈnɔɪ) – genervt sein

to inflate (ɪnˈflt) – etw aufblasen, etw. Größer machen als es ist

strength (streŋ(k)θ) – die Stärke

to add (æd) – etw hinzufügen

media appearance (ˈmi:diə əˈpɪərən(t)s) – der Presseauftritt

inappropriate (ˌɪnəˈprəʊpriət) – unangebracht

fund raiser (fʌnd rzəʳ) – der/die Spendenbeschaffer/in, der/ die Spendensammler/in

however (hˈevəʳ) – allerdings

fervent (ˈfɜ:vənt) – glühend, inbrünstig

to delete (dɪˈli:t) – etw löschen

to contradict (ˌkɒntrəˈdɪkt) – jdm/etw widersprechen

decision (dɪˈsɪʒən) – die Entscheidung