King in Congress.
Merz: 'humiliated' US?

🧠 Vocabulary challenge​
​
Which of these is the meaning of the word 'intercept'?

(A) to connect or lock multiple objects together
(B) to abruptly enter a conversation, stopping someone from speaking
(C) to delay an event until a later time
(D) to stop or catch something before it reaches its destination

​
(answer at bottom of email)

3 big stories…

1. Mali attacks.

Both Islamist Jihadist groups and the Azawad movement (a Tuareg separatist group) have claimed responsibility for major attacks on the weekend across Mali. Defence Minister Sadio Camara was among the dead. More detail in Monday and Tuesday's episodes.

2. 'Humiliated' US?

Talking to students this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that "an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership." Apparently in response to this statement, the US said that it was considering lowering the number of soldiers it has in Germany.

3. Antisemitism in the UK.

Two Jewish men were stabbed in an attack in London this week. There has been a series of antisemitic attacks in the UK recently. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gave a televised address on Thursday, addressing antisemitism and saying that everyone needs to 'open their eyes to Jewish pain'.

… and one you might have missed.

A few weeks ago my (Stephen's) home town of Canterbury was in the international news due to a meningitis outbreak. Here's a story about my family's original home - Gibraltar. The Rock's macaques are the only wild monkeys in Europe. Recently, researchers have found that Gibraltar's monkeys eat mud to protect their stomachs from salty and sugary food that they steal from tourists. And, yes, it is extremely common for the monkeys to steal people's food - I've seen it many times!

Here's a photo of me in Gibraltar.

🔍 Find the Synonym:​
​
Somewhere in the "3 big stories", find a synonym for the word "string".

Graph of the week

The movement of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has collapsed since the start of the war in the Middle East. Iran has been effectively blocking the passage of almost all ships. This Reuters graph shows that the average daily number of oil tankers passing through the Strait has fallen from around 20 to 1 or 2. About 20% of the world's oil normally passes through the Strait, which is why there have been global consequences.

🌍 World news question:​
​
This week, which country received its first commercial flight from the United States since 2019? The new route is the start of a daily service between this country's capital and Miami, Florida.

Quote of the week:

- King Charles III, to the US Congress

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Stephen’s view:

My view, this Friday, is that I have no idea what is going to happen with Iran.

When talking about negotiations with Iran, US President Donald Trump likes to say that the US "has all the cards". But this clearly isn't true, as Iran has been playing its major 'card' - the Strait of Hormuz - since the first day of this war. The closure of the Strait has had profound effects on the world's economy.

The fact that the US military is the strongest in the world isn't stopping Iran from keeping the Strait closed. In fact, it only needs the threat of a possible attack using a long-range drone or small weapons on a speedboat to effectively make passing through the Strait of Hormuz too dangerous for commercial ships.

It's not clear that the US could change this situation, even if it started bombing again.

President Trump clearly wants this war to end as soon as possible. He probably thought that this war wasn't going to go as it has done - that it was going to be more of a Venezuela-style situation of immediate leadership change and a compliant new regime, but it hasn't gone that way. Trump's approval ratings are at their lowest levels ever, and many of his previous supporters are complaining that he lied when he said he wasn't going to start any wars.

I think that Trump and the leadership of Iran (although it isn't exactly clear who that is) both want to save face.

Saving face means attempting to retain your dignity and respect through a situation - in this case, peace negotiations.

But the reason that I say that I have no idea how this is going to end, is that in attempting to save face, the Trump administration and the Islamic Republic of Iran have opposing goals.

Trump wants to show that he won the war, that it was worth it, and that any deal that is agreed is better than the Obama-era nuclear deal that Trump cancelled during his first term. Iran's new leaders will want a deal that ensures that the US and Israel will not start bombing again whenever they want, an end to sanctions, and, either no nuclear deal at all, or one very similar to the Obama deal.

I can't see how these two sides can reconcile.

Have a great weekend.
Stephen

P.S. Send me a sentence with "save face" and I'll tell you if it's right!

ANSWERS

(don't look until you've answered all three questions!)

🧠 VOCABULARY CHALLENGE : (D) Intercept means "to stop or catch something before it reaches its destination".

🔍 Find the synonym : A synonym for "string" is "series" (in the UK antisemitism paragraph)

🌍 World News question : Venezuela.

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