Media and Language

1. Media and Language

2. What Is News?

3. Making Things Relevant • Top lines from recent Reuters stories… (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leaned on India on Monday to cut its imports of Iranian oil further, and said Washington may not make a decision on whether to exempt New Delhi from financial sanctions for another two months. Clinton, on a three-day visit to India, said the United States was encouraged by the steps its ally had taken to reduce its reliance on Iranian oil, but that "even more" was needed. As Tehran's second-biggest crude customer, India is crucial to U.S. efforts to squeeze Iran's economy until it agrees to curb its nuclear program, which the United States and other Western nations suspect is a cover to build atomic weapons.

4. (Reuters) - Left-wing and protest parties made strong gains in local elections on Monday and the centre-right party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi saw heavy losses as Italian voters joined other Europeans in venting anger over austerity policies. The results, following the victory of French Socialist Francois Hollande and major losses for traditional big parties in Greece on Sunday, will add to pressure for European leaders to ease measures adopted to counter the financial crisis. While the vote was not directly about Prime Minister Mario Monti's government, for the two main parties that support his technocrat government in parliament, the centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) and the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), the vote was the biggest barometer of popular support for them ahead of national elections next year.

5. (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist President Evo Morales marked May Day on Tuesday by nationalizing the local unit of Spain's Red Electrica, ratcheting up tension between the former colonial power and South American governments eager to assert control over energy resources. Morales ordered the army to take over the Cochabamba headquarters of the power transmission company known as TDE. The move came two weeks after Argentina unveiled a plan to take control of the country's No. 1 oil company, YPF, from majority shareholder Repsol, based in Madrid.

6. Writing for Format Intro: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has asked for permission from the country’s parliament to return to Cuba for further cancer treatment. The president made a formal petition to be allowed to travel to the island where he was first diagnosed with cancer in June for chemotherapy. Mr. Chavez has spent less than two weeks back in Venezuela after an absence of almost a month. From Caracas, Sarah Grainger reports…

7. Cue: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has asked for permission from the country’s parliament to return to Cuba for further cancer treatment. The president made a formal petition to be allowed to travel to the island where he was first diagnosed with cancer in June for chemotherapy. Mr. Chavez has spent less than two weeks back in Venezuela after an absence of almost a month. From Caracas, Sarah Grainger reports…

8. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to have chemotherapy in Cuba Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is to return to Cuba to resume cancer treatment, including chemotherapy. He recently returned to Venezuela after spending nearly a month in Cuba, where he had a cancerous tumour removed. He has asked the National Assembly to authorise Saturday's trip, as the constitution requires. During his previous absence, opposition politicians questioned his ability to lead Venezuela from abroad, rather than temporarily handing over power. Mr Chavez said he would go to Cuba "to begin what we've called the second phase". Since his return home on 4 July, the 56-year-old president has cut his workload on doctor's orders. He has not given precise details of where the tumour was found, only that he was operated on in the pelvic region. Reading Nietzsche Flanked by his two daughters, Mr Chavez announced his plans to travel to Cuba after meeting Peru's President-elect OllantaHumala at the presidential palace in the capital, Caracas. Earlier, Brazil's official news agency had reported that Mr Chavez would be undergoing further treatment for cancer at a hospital in Sao Paulo. The Venezuelan president had spoken to his Brazilian counterpart DilmaRousseff about the trip, AgenciaBrasil reported. He did not say how long he would spend in Cuba. The BBC's Sarah Grainger in Caracas says some people will be surprised by the president opting to go back to Cuba instead of staying at home for treatment. But the strong bond he has with Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro, who first noticed he was not looking well, and his ability to recover away from the public eye may make Cuba a more compelling place for treatment, she says.

9. Cue: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has asked for permission from the country’s parliament to return to Cuba for further cancer treatment. The president made a formal petition to be allowed to travel to the island where he was first diagnosed with cancer in June for chemotherapy. Mr. Chavez has spent less than two weeks back in Venezuela after an absence of almost a month. From Caracas, Sarah Grainger reports… Script: Addressing members of Venezuela’s national Assembly via state television, President Hugo Chavez explained that he was due to start the second phase of treatment, chemotherapy, and wanted to return to Cuba on Saturday/ today. He gave no indication of how long he would need to stay in Havana. Mr. Chavez was originally taken ill while on an official visit to Cuba in early June. Weeks of uncertainty followed as he remained on the Caribbean island and little information about his condition was released to the public. He later admitted to having been diagnosed with cancer and said he had had surgery to remove a tumour. But he managed to make a triumphant return to Caracas in time to celebrate the country’s bicentenary of independence from Spain, confounding critics who had doubted his ability to carry out his duties while sick. But less than two weeks later, he is seeking to return to Cuba for further chemotherapy. He has already been criticized in some quarters for choosing to receive treatment outside of Venezuela’s own health service, and he shows no signs of changing that decision.