Ceasefire rejections.
Overlooked elections.

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

(A) a system of governance based on small, powerful regions
(B) not immediately obvious, understated, hidden
(C) useless, ineffective, producing no positive result
(D) done without permission or approval

​
(answer at bottom of email)

3 big stories…

1. Lebanon

Israel and Hezbollah are continuing to fire at each other, and Israel is continuing to push its soldiers north. US President Trump announced a ceasefire earlier this week, but Hezbollah dismissed this on Thursday. More detail in Wednesday's and today's episodes.

2. UK protests

In the UK, police released bodycam footage showing the police putting handcuffs and attempting to arrest an 18-year-old who was dying of stab wounds. The police had been called by a Sikh man, who said that Henry Nawak had racially assaulted him, although the Sikh man was found to have lied and was sentenced to life in prison this week after he was found to have stabbed Nawak. There were protests after the video was released, with people accusing the police of "two-tier" policing - favouring non-white people.

3. Kenya quarantine centre

Kenyan President William Ruto attempted to persuade people that a planned US Ebola quarantine centre would be beneficial for Kenyans. There have been violent protests over the last week, as Kenyans criticise the decision to open the Ebola quarantine centre on an air base, for US citizens exposed to Ebola, despite Kenya not having any recorded cases of Ebola.

… and one you might have missed.

Ukraine used drones to hit targets in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on the opening day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, sometimes known as "Putin's Davos". Ukrainian drones hit a Russian warship in the St Petersburg navy port, and an oil refinery, which caused thick black smoke that could be seen from the forum building.

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

Graph of the week

SpaceX is expected to have the world's biggest ever Initial Public Offering (IPO) when it becomes a publicly traded company, probably in mid-June. Elon Musk's company is aiming to raise $75 billion on a valuation of $1.75 trillion. The chart below shows some other famous IPOs, with the y-axis showing total revenue, the x-axis showing profitability and the size of the bubble showing the valuation (or estimated valuation, for SpaceX). The bubble for SpaceX shows that it is losing around 5 billion dollars a year, but it has a projected value of $1.75 trillion, suggesting investors expect it to grow substantially.

🌍 World news question:​
​
Which three countries are hosting the football World Cup, which starts on Thursday?

Quote of the week:

- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he says that the two should meet and should end the war.

SEND7 Supporter's corner:

• Read today's podcast transcript and vocabulary list
• Play today's world news quiz ​
• Use Wednesday's worksheet​

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to have access to all of our transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets, world news quizzes and more, you can become a supporter at send7.org/support. We give 10% of our profit to highly effective charities.

Stephen’s view:

2024 was called the "super year of elections", with over half the world's population voting, including in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico, The UK, France, and, the one that the whole world pays attention to - the presidential election in the United States.

This Sunday, there are three much less observed elections happening, that I hope I can spark your interest in.

In Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is attempting to keep his centrist 'Civil Contract' party in power. A Reuters investigation has found that Russia has a massive influence campaign ongoing in order to prevent Pashinyan from retaining power, and promoting pro-Russian candidates.

Kosovo is holding its third parliamentary election since February last year, because one of the jobs of new parliaments is that they have to elect a president - and the previous two parliaments have failed to reach an agreement. In the last election Prime Minister Albin Kurti's party received 57 seats - just 4 short of a majority in the 120-member parliament. 10 seats are reserved for the Serbian minority, and 10 seats for other minorities combined. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, although Serbia still recognizes it as its territory.

Also on Sunday, Peru holds the second round of its presidential election, in which right-wing Keiko Fujimori has a slight lead over left-wing Roberto Sanchez, according to opinion polls. What is surprising about this race, is that it could bring to power Fujimori, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, president from 1990 to 2000, who was often described as a dictator, and was jailed for human rights abuses while president. However, what is perhaps more surprising, is that Keiko Fujimori hasn't been elected president yet. In the last three presidential elections, she has come extremely close to winning, but hasn't quite made it. In 2011, she received 48.55% of votes. She came even closer in 2016, with 49.88%, and in 2021, she got 49.87%.

No matter what you think of her politics, she clearly has patience!

Have a great weekend.
Stephen

P.S. Is there something you'd like me to comment on in a future "Stephen's view"? Let me know by replying to this email.

ANSWERS
​

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

​
🧠 VOCABULARY CHALLENGE : (C) Futile means "useless, ineffective, producing no positive result".

​
🔍 Find the synonym : A synonym for "benefiting" is "favouring" (in the UK paragraph)

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🌍 World News question : The United States, Mexico and Canada.

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