The usage of present perfect

Question

Hi,please take a look at the following page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11929034

Here's an excerpt:
Wikileaks has published hundreds of secret US diplomatic cables, angering the US government and triggering moves by several companies including PayPal and Amazon to end their services.

My question: why did they use the present perfect? I've learned that we use the present perfect if we want to announce that we've found something new. In this case,it seems to me that this information is already known,therefore we don't have to use the present perfect. I'm really confused,could you help me please? I hope you get my idea.

Thank you so much in advance!

Dimsumexpress · Accepted Answer

Present perfect has two known properties. One is to describe something that happened sometime in the past and still holds true at the present, i.e. I have worked for Cisco since 2001/ for 10 years/ I graduated from college. However, past time markers can not be used in its construction, such as " I have worked for Cisco since 10 years ago. But you can say: "I have worked for Cisco since I graduated from college 7 years ago". Another property is that we don't have to specify the time in which something happended, as long as it suggests continuity of past to peresent, just like the example:
Wikileaks has published hundreds of secret US diplomatic cables, angering the US government ( since the breaking of the leak) and triggering moves by several companies including PayPal and Amazon to end their services.

Avangi · Answer

kane159 I've learned that we use the present perfect if we want to announce that we've found something new. In this case,it seems to me that this information is already known

This is amusing. The verb here is "to publish," not "to find." That's the action being described.

I'm not familiar with the principle of present perfect usage which you cite. Do you have a reference?
(I think you're confusing the description of the grammar with the description of the situation. Whether or not the information was previously known is not relevant to the grammar.)

In my opinion, the tense is appropriate because it describes an action which took place in the recent past. Wikileaks has [recently] published hundreds etc.

I believe we would agree that "I have [recently] found that I can run my car on alcohol" is an excellent example of the correct use of the present perfect tense. The information may have been know for years, but you have recently discovered it. Another possibility is that you knew all along that people claimed this to be true, but now you have actually demonstrated it to your own satisfaction, with your own car.

The business about "new information" applies primarily to the verb "to find," in my opinion.
We wouldn't say, "Archeologists have found that there were dinosaurs roaming the earth."

Well, maybe??

Best regards, - A.

CalifJim · Answer

kane159I've learned that we use the present perfect if we want to announce that we've found something new.

I'm not familiar with this interpretation.

The publication of those cables is of current relevance. The current relevance of a past event is reason to use the present perfect.

CJ

The usage of present perfect

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