CEFR (Multi level) with Mr Pro
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πŸ”˜ War in Ukraine reaches its 100th day on Friday; Russia controls 20% of Ukrainian territory (audio + text)

As the war in Ukraine continues some 20-percent of its territory is now in the hands of Russia. Thousands of civilians have died. Millions have been displaced... with no end yet in sight. Choi Min-jung has the latest. A hundred days of war in Ukraine,... and now, a fifth of the country's land is under Russian control. This is according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday,... who added that the Donbas region is "almost entirely destroyed." β€œAs of now, nearly 20 per cent of our territory is under the control of occupiers, almost 125-thousand square kilometers.... Nearly 12 million Ukrainians became internally displaced people, including more than five million, mainly women and children, who went abroad.” According to the latest report published by the United Nations, more than 91-hundred civilian casualties have been confirmed since the onset of war in February. Of them, 41-hundred people have been killed. The UN says that most of the casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons. The damage has been severe for children too. According to Ukraine’s education ministry,... at least 18-hundred schools have been damaged or destroyed. Save the Children says that more schools have been damaged or destroyed in the past 100 days than in the first seven years after fighting broke out in 2014. This has disrupted education for some 7-point 5 million children living in Ukraine. Meanwhile, after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden,... NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the allies are not expecting this war to end so soon. "Wars are, by nature unpredictable, and therefore we just have to be prepared for the long haul because what we see is that this war has now become a war of attrition..." With the war ongoing, Zelenskyy has called for continued global attention on the Ukrainian crisis as the world's interest on the matter on social media has shown to be waning.

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πŸ”˜ U.S., European stocks plummet on Thursday over fear of potential recession following interest ... (audio + text)

Global stock markets plummeted again on Thursday,... as recession concerns continue to grow. The massive sell off follows interest rates hikes in the U.S. and Europe,... as central banks race to stifle soaring inflation and slow economic growth. Choi Min-jung reports. Just a day after a historic rate hike by the Federal Reserve.. U.S. stocks tumbled. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below the 30-thousand level for the first time in 17 months. The S&P 500 dropped 3-point-2 percent,.. and the Nasdaq edged down by 4-point-1 percent. Markets had initially rallied on Wednesday,.. after the Fed announced it would raise its key interest rate by 75 basis points,... the largest hike since 1994. However, the figures were reversed as investors feared that the Fed's aggressive monetary policy to curb inflation could potentially result in a recession. And those concerns spread among traders as markets suffered a steep decline from all-time highs. The S&P 500 dropped by roughly a quarter,.. the Nasdaq was down by more than a third,... while the Dow was almost 20 percent below its all-time intraday high in January. Stocks in Europe also fell significantly on Thursday. The Stoxx50, a European stock index, dropped by nearly 3-percent. Indices in the UK, Germany, and France also saw around a 2 to 3 percent slide. The decline came after the Swiss National Bank raised interest rates for the first time in 15 years with a 50 basis points increase. Meanwhile, the Bank of England also announced a 25 basis point hike. The aggressive monetary policy from central banks comes as global economies tackle soaring inflation,.. a measure that’s fueling recession concerns.

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πŸ”˜ World News: Sri Lanka's lawmakers to elect new president on July 20th (audio + text)

Let's take a look at what's going on in 'The World Now'. In Sri Lanka the president has fled the country.According to local officials, Sri Lanka's president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has flown out of the country, and is heading to the Maldives. The 73-year-old leader had been forced to announce his resignation amid protests,... on the back of the country's worst economic situation since its independence, marked by food and fuel shortages... Rajapaksa was reportedly joined by three passengers including his wife and bodyguard on a military plane on Tuesday,... after unsuccessfully trying to leave on two flights from Bandaranaike International Airport. The development comes as Rajapaksa planned to resign on Wednesday,... Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's parliament is set to reassemble on July 15th and will select the new president on July 20th. In the UK eight Conservatives are set to face off for the country's leadership position. The Conservative Party's 1922 Committee announced the nominated candidates on Tuesday ahead of the first round of voting on Wednesday.
. The eight candidates set out their cases to fellow Conservative MPs in a closed session on Tuesday night, with the key issues likely to be tax cuts, serious government and honesty. A poll for the Conservative Home website found that former defence minister Penny Mordaunt is most popular with members,... while bookmakers have former finance minister Rishi Sunak as the lead candidate. The new British prime minister is set to be announced on September 5th. In the first six months of 2022, deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest reached a record high. Data from the Brazilian Space Agency shows roughly 3-thousand-800 square kilometers of the rainforest have disappeared. This is the greatest loss since 2016 and is a size five times greater than New York City. Further data reveals that Amazon wildfires in June were the highest in 15 years and came earlier than the usual fire season in August and September. Greenpeace Brazil has blamed the destruction of the forest on agribusiness clearing land to grow crops. Continued burning and clear-cutting is also hampering the Amazon's ability to recycle rainwater, increasing the risk of drought and tree die-offs. Scientists say that over the last century 17-percent of the rainforest has been lost.
There may be a new way to clean up microplastics from our oceans... using mini robot fish. Made by a team of Chinese scientists from Sichuan University, the soft robot fish is just 1.3-centimeters in size. They aim to have the fish collect microplastics while providing data on real time marine pollution. The fish is controlled and powered by light, and can be safely ingested by other fish due to its biocompatible polyurethane makeup. It can even self-heal when damaged. The fish also outswims the competition, able to move at 2.76 body lengths per second.

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πŸ”˜ Kremlin-backed republics in Ukraine to hold referendums on joining Russia from Friday (audio + text)

Two Russian-backed regions in eastern Ukraine have revealed they'll hold a referendum on whether to split from Ukraine and join Russia. Some international watchers claim the five-day referendum could result in Moscow claiming Ukraine was responsible for bringing war onto itself. Lee Seung-jae has more. Two Russian-backed regions in eastern Ukraine,... the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics announced on Tuesday they will hold a five-day referendum on joining Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,... said the upcoming referendum was a decision of great importance for the people who live in the region. However,... the referendum could result in claims by Russia that Ukraine had brought the war into its own territory. The latest announcement comes as the course of Russia's war in Ukraine shifted dramatically in Ukraine's favor, as a successful counterattack recaptured thousands of square kilometers of territory around the eastern city of Kharkiv. The counter-offensives threaten the supply lines of Russia's troops in Donetsk, Luhansk and further to the west and south. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that Russian troops "appear on the ropes" in Ukraine and that the Kremlin's actions, such as the call for a referendum were a desperate move by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to MSNBC,... Sherman said there are concerns that Putin "will use kinds of weapons of war that he should not," noting he had already weaponized food. She added that Putin could possibly use chemical or nuclear weapons to turn the tide on Ukraine. Previously,... a referendum on Crimea joining Russia was held in March 2014,... after Russian forces took control of the region. Crimea's leaders declared that 97 percent of voters chose to secede from Ukraine at the time.

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