Nuclear war and malicious use of AI threaten end of humanity by 2100, says Lancet assessment

Nuclear war and malicious use of AI threaten end of humanity by 2100, says Lancet assessment

The Guardian

Kat Lay

Sun 11 Oct 2026 00.01 BST

Newly established commission identifies 17 catastrophic threats to human health but says ‘realistic route to act’ on each exists

Humans could become extinct by the year 2100 due to malicious use of AI or nuclear conflict, according to a new global risk assessment.

They top a list of 17 major threats to human health over the next 75 years, which also includes cuts to aid spending by wealthy countries, the climate crisis and childhood malnutrition.

The experts behind The Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Threats to Health said all the threats interact, meaning they must be addressed together – but stressed that there was “a realistic route to act” on each.

“Decisions made by leaders today will shape the health and wellbeing of the next generation,” said Prof Christopher Murray, commission co-chair and the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington.

To create its list, the commission modelled how many years in good health might be lost due to sickness, disability or early deaths due to each threat, based on current trajectories – a measure known as disability-adjusted life years (Dalys).

“Malicious use of AI, including bioweapons, and nuclear conflict with nuclear famine carry risks of extinction in the next 75 years,” the report said, adding that while their likelihood remained low, they had the potential to end humanity in the case of nuclear conflict by injecting enough particles into the upper atmosphere to block sunlight and cause famine, or via AI-created biological weapons. An accompanying Lancet editorial, published alongside the report, warned: “The scale of harm, should they be realised, would inflict an apocalypse on humanity.”

Other risks that could cause more than 1bn cumulative Dalys, and therefore deemed “major catastrophic threats”, included air pollution, antimicrobial resistance, childhood malnutrition and climate breakdown, as well as conventional conflict, declining overseas aid, high alcohol use, high blood pressure, income inequality, low educational attainment, naturally occurring pandemics, obesity, poor mental health, smoking and unhealthy ageing.

To be included on the list, threats not only had to potentially cause a high number of lost healthy years, but also to have potential solutions.

Ibrahim Abubakar, commission member and professor of infectious disease epidemiology at UCL, said: “We are not starting from a point of view of ‘oh look, we want to scare you – we’ve got X many threats facing humanity’. We’re starting from the premise that if you are a policymaker today, whether at the global multilateral level or at the national level, these are the potential threats that you could face, and this is the magnitude by which, if you act, you can actually make a difference.”

Action to limit global heating to about 1.8C (3.2F) rather than letting it reach 4.4C could prevent 1.89bn years of healthy life being lost, according to the report, which modelled best and worst case scenarios for each threat.

In higher income regions, non-communicable diseases such as obesity and poor mental health were the dominant threats, while in lower income regions health loss was driven by issues such as low educational attainment.

Many major donor nations, including the US and UK, have announced large cuts to aid spending over the past year. The potential collapse of, or steep reduction in, international health aid could cause up to 1.5bn Dalys before 2100, the commission found, nearly 70% of which would be in sub-Saharan Africa. The region also bears the brunt of child malnutrition.

The commission was made up of 35 experts, and its findings will be shared on Sunday at the World Health Summit in Berlin, Germany. Their assessment will be updated annually to re-evaluate the 17 threats identified, incorporating new data and any emerging hazards.

The authors urged leaders to address the risks before they escalated into crises, including via investment in technological innovations and by strengthening health systems.

“We started this process three years ago, thinking that there were three big threats: conflict, climate, and pandemics,” said Murray. “There’s a much larger number of threats that we need to worry about, and governments really need to dedicate some money and staff to the task of anticipation, prevention and preparation for this more diverse set of threats.”

Task 1. Read the headline to consider the topic of the article. Consider the key word.

Task 2. Read the article, write out words and phrases in bold. Look up the meaning. Explain the meaning in English and give Russian equivalents.

Task 3. Read the article again and consider logical division.

Task 4. Give a summary of the article.

Task 5. Think of the author’s idea in presenting this article. Render the article.

Andy Burnham does not rule out Brexit reversal being in next Labour manifesto

Andy Burnham does not rule out Brexit reversal being in next Labour manifesto

PM says immediate focus is on rebuilding bridges with EU as he prepares for first meeting with Ursula von der Leyen

Pippa Crerar Political editor

Tue 22 Sep 2026 09.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/

Andy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies.

The prime minister, who will hold his first meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday, did not rule out including reversing Brexit in Labour’s next manifesto – but suggested the country should focus on securing closer trading ties first.

Ministers have expressed fears privately that the EU reset has lost significant momentum since Burnham became prime minister, and a summit on the issue is likely to be delayed again unless the bloc agrees to discuss legislation that could lock British business out of parts of EU industry.

Burnham has said he will stick to Keir Starmer’s red lines this side of an election, but he is under pressure from Labour MPs who opposed Brexit to change tack, in part because of the potential boost to growth, even though his own seat of Makerfield voted to leave.

Asked by reporters on his flight to New York on Monday for the UN general assembly whether he could rule out a reversal of Brexit being in the next Labour manifesto, he said: “Our focus at the moment is on a UK/EU summit which we hope will take place later this year.

“My immediate priority is to build on the good work that Keir did in rebuilding bridges. Because those bridges were broken in the early part of this decade. And Keir did a good job in re-establishing that relationship.

“What we have got to do now is go to the next level in terms of reaching practical agreement that will further boost the British economy. And those issues are the substance of the summit alongside EU requests around youth mobility.”

The prime minister admitted he had concerns about the bloc’s “made in Europe” legislation, which is designed to curb China’s increasing presence but could also affect British industry and supply chains.

He said he would share those concerns “in a constructive spirit” with von der Leyen. “The other issues you discuss, they are for another day,” he said of rejoining the bloc.

Burnham said the UK had considerable support among EU member states for its position on the “made in Europe” legislation, which threatens to scupper ongoing negotiations about the reset.

“Europe’s argument is not with us. We both suffer the same effects as other countries, particularly steel,” he said.

“We are making the argument we are not your enemies here ... we are not the problem. ‘Made in Europe’ is dealing with a different problem.”

He also said delicate UK/Ireland supply chains could end up being “collateral damage” of any disagreement with the EU.

“Let’s work towards a trusted partner approach that doesn’t cause a problem where there wasn’t a problem and where we have common cause,” he said.

In his speech to the UN on Tuesday night, Burnham will reflect on the 10 years since Brexit and say the UK needs to be more clear-eyed about the risks to its democratic system.

“I’m reflecting on that last decade,” he told reporters on his plane. “What we’ve experienced is when that turbulence comes, when outside actors seek to manipulate, to distort facts, influence the British democratic process.

“Going into the next decade we need to be clear-eyed about that and become stronger and more on the front foot about challenging that.

“Perhaps Britain can say we have experienced some of the turbulence before others in terms of the politics of recent times. We need to be clearer where outside forces, our enemies, are trying to manipulate that opinion and feeling to serve their interests, not ours.”

 

Task 1. Read the headline to consider the topic of the article.

Task 2. Read the article, write out words and phrases in bold.

Look up the meaning. Explain the meaning in English and give Russian equivalents.

Task 3. Read the article again and consider logical division.

Task 4. Give a summary of the article.

Task 5. Render the article.

Trump renames places and poses as superhero in bizarre social media blitz

 

Trump renames places and poses as superhero in bizarre social media blitz

 

Trump passed the long weekend posting a torrent of memes and musings on his Truth Social platform

The long weekend may have proved too long for Donald Trump, who passed the time by musing about annexing other countries, unilaterally renaming places he’s not allowed to rename and turning himself into a superhero.

Amid the torrent of memes and posts by the president on his Truth Social platform over the Labor Day holiday weekend was a bizarre AI-generated video depicting Trump as the Green Lantern DC superhero, wielding a glowing green power ring to erect his border wall, illuminate an “American manufacturing” scene, and command a fleet of warplanes and warships behind him.

Trump’s controversial forays into AI-generated images have seen him depict himself as a Christ-like figure, the pope, Atlas from Greek mythology, as Superman, and many others.

Over the weekend he also shared a map with a US flag emblazoned over most of North America and several countries in Central America, as well as Greenland, Iceland and many islands in the Caribbean. Iceland has summoned its US ambassador over the post. Trump also separately claimed the moon.

The president has spent much of his second term taunting Canada repeatedly with the suggestion of making it a 51st US state with “economic force”, and aggressively pushing for the annexation of Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, which has sparked a major geopolitical row. He has also threatened military action in Mexico, Cuba and Colombia, threatened to seize the Panama Canal, and casually mused about taking over other countries including Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.

Also in the flurry of Labor Day posts was a map of the US state of New Mexico with the word “Mexico” crossed out and replaced with “America”. A few hours later, he posted what seems to be an AI video of him sticking an “America” label over the word “Mexico” on a “Welcome to New Mexico” road sign.

Trump’s suggestion that New Mexico should be renamed to “New America” comes as tense trade negotiations ⁠with Mexico ramp up. It also comes hot on the heels of Trump signing an order directing the federal government to change Lake Ontario’s name to “Lake America” amid his escalating trade war with Canada after negotiations last month failed to produce a deal.

He has also joked about renaming either the Atlantic or Pacific oceans, along with the strait of Hormuz, which has been central to his disastrous war against Iran, to “Trump strait”. He declined to elaborate on that latter idea when asked by a reporter in the Oval Office last week.

In the case of New Mexico, whose name predates the founding of the United States and is explicitly enshrined in its constitution, Trump has no legal authority to rename it – or indeed any US state. Any change to its name would have to come from the state itself and would require a formal constitutional amendment.

While his “Lake America” order directs federal agencies to adopt the name-change on US maps, documents and databases, Trump has no authority to rename Canada’s portion of the lake, nor to compel Canada, international legal bodies, international mapmakers or the rest of the world to adopt a new name.

 

Task 1. Read the headline to consider the topic of the article.

Task 2. Read the article, write out words and phrases in bold. Look up the meaning.

Task 3. Read the article again and consider logical division.

Task 4. Give a summary of the article.

Task 5. Render the article.

BBC to cut almost one in 10 staff to make £500m savings

BBC to cut almost one in 10 staff to make £500m savings

Paul GlynnandIan Youngs,Culture reporters

The BBC has announced it will cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs - or almost one in 10 - in an attempt to tackle "significant financial pressures".

The broadcaster needs to make £500m savings over the next two years, and interim director general Rhodri Talfan Davies did not rule out axing entire channels or services.

"We need to look at everything, and at a scale of £500m inevitably there are going to be some big and some difficult choices, but we do need to step through this carefully," he told BBC Radio 4's Media Show.

He said the corporation would give more details later this year about how its services would be affected.

"For audiences, the job in hand now over the next three or four months is to work through how we make those changes without damaging the services that we know are critical to the BBC across radio and television and online," he said.

He also acknowledged that the job cuts would be "really difficult news" for staff.

Philippa Childs, head of broadcasting union Bectu, warned that "cuts of this magnitude" would be "devastating for the workforce and to the BBC as a whole".

The BBC currently has about 21,500 full time equivalent employees.

In an email to staff on Wednesday, Talfan Davies said: "As you know, the BBC is facing significant financial pressures, which we need to respond to with pace.

"Put simply, the gap between our costs and our income is growing. This is being driven by a number of factors: production inflation remains very high; our licence fee and commercial income is under pressure; and the global economy remains turbulent."

He also imposed tighter controls on spending on recruitment, travel, management consultancies, and attendance at conferences, awards and events.

'Difficult decisions'

The BBC is currently negotiating with the government about its future, and that of the licence fee, ahead of the renewal of its royal charter at the end of 2027.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the BBC, "like every institution", has to make "difficult decisions".

"That is something that I know the leadership of the BBC take very seriously, including exploring commercial options and other revenue raisers that can help to sustain the BBC's finances," she told Radio 4's World at One programme shortly before the announcement.

The news of the cuts comes in advance of the arrival of a new BBC director general, former Google executive Matt Brittin, who will officially succeed the recently departed Tim Davie on 18 May.

'Death by a thousand cuts'

Childs said BBC staff were "already under significant pressure after previous redundancy rounds", and further cuts "will inevitably damage its ability to deliver on its public mission".

She continued: "At a time of fake news and an industry that is becoming more concentrated in the hands of a few multinational corporations, the UK needs a confident, ambitious and sustainably-funded BBC more than ever.

"The government must ensure that Charter Renewal puts the BBC's funding on a more secure, long-term pathway and prevent our national broadcaster facing death by a thousand cuts."

Laura Davison, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said the plans for "more brutal job cuts are wrong, damaging and will cause uncertainty and distress for workers at the BBC".

She said: "These cuts severely undermine the BBC's ability to fulfil its purposes: providing quality journalism and programming that informs, educates, and entertains.

"Plans for further cuts follow years of real-terms budget reductions and relentless cost-saving measures which have impacted core parts of the corporation. This can't go on. The BBC cannot provide quality journalism without the talented and experienced workers who make it possible."

WHY AMERICAN WOMEN ARE DELAYING MOTHERHOOD

Reviews/ film review

Read a sample and use it for writing your own film review.

Audio of TREE MEN IN A BOAT by J.K.Jerome

Text 1. Three men in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome.

Go through the link and listen to the episode to be ready with test reading of the extract pages 9-11.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-men-in-a-boat-to-say-nothing-of-the-dog-by/id740743008

Listen to the audio

From 3.04 to 7.34

Art for heart's sake / text 5 + audio

https://e-repa.ru/files/lessons-with-laughter/93-hobbyist/art-for-hearts-sake.html

Text 5. "Art for heart's sake" by Rube Goldberg

"Here, take your pineapple juice," gently persuaded Koppel, the male nurse.

"Nope!" grunted Collis P.Ellsworth.

"But it's good for you, sir."

"Nope!"

"It's doctor's orders."

"Nope!"

Koppel heard the front door bell and was glad to leave the room. He found Doctor Caswell in the hall downstairs. "I can't do a thing with him," he told the doctor. "He won't take his pineapple juice. He doesn't want me to read to him. He hates the radio. He doesn't like anything!"

Doctor Caswell received the information with his usual professional calm. He had done some constructive thinking since his last visit. This was no ordinary case. The old gentleman was in pretty good shape for a man of seventy-six. But he had to be kept from buying things. He had suffered his last heart attack after his disastrous purchase of that jerkwater railroad out in Iowa. All his purchases of recent years had to be liquidated at a great sacrifice both to his health and his pocketbook.

The doctor drew up a chair and sat down close to the old man. "I've got a proposition for you," he said quietly.

Old Ellsworth looked suspiciously over his spectacles.

"How'd you like to take up art?" The doctor had his stethoscope ready in case the abruptness of the suggestion proved too much for the patient's heart.

But the old gentleman's answer was a vigorous "Rot!"

"I don't mean seriously," said the doctor, relieved that disaster had been averted. "Just fool around with chalk and crayons. It'll be fun."

"Bosh!"

"All right." The doctor stood up. "I just suggested it, that's all."

"But, Caswell, how do I start playing with the chalk - that is, if I'm foolish enough to start?"

"I've thought of that, too. I can get a student from one of the art schools to come here once a week and show you."

Doctor Caswell went to his friend, Judson Livingston, head of the Atlantic Art Institute, and explained the situation. Livingston had just the young man - Frank Swain, eighteen years old and a promising student. He needed the money. Ran an elevator at night to pay tuition. How much would he get? Five dollars a visit. Fine.

Next afternoon young Swain was shown into the big living room. Collis P. Ellsworth looked at him appraisingly.

"Sir, I'm not an artist yet," answered the young man.

"Umph?"

Swain arranged some paper and crayons on the table. "Let's try and draw that vase over there on the mantelpiece," he suggested. "Try it, Mister Ellsworth, please."

"Umph!" The old man took a piece of crayon in a shaky hand and made a scrawl. He made another scrawl and connected the two with a couple of crude lines. "There it is, young man," he snapped with a grunt of satisfaction. "Such foolishness. Poppycock!"

Frank Swain was patient. He needed the five dollars. "If you want to draw you will have to look at what you're drawing, sir."

Old Ellsworth squinted and looked. "By gum, it's kinda pretty, I never noticed it before."

When the art student came the following week there was a drawing on the table that had a slight resemblance to the vase.

The wrinkles deepened at the corners of the old gentleman's eyes as he asked elfishly, "Well, what do you think of it?"

"Not bad, sir," answered Swain. "But it's a bit lopsided."

"By gum," Old Ellsworth chuckled. "I see. The halves don't match." He added a few lines with a palsied hand and colored the open spaces blue like a child playing with a picture book. Then he looked towards the door. "Listen, young man," he whispered, "I want to ask you something before old pineapple juice comes back."

"Yes, sir," responded Swain respectively.

"I was thinking could you spare the time to come twice a week or perhaps three times?"

"Sure, Mister Ellsworth."

"Good. Let's make it Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Four o'clock."

As the weeks went by Swain's visits grew more frequent. He brought the old man a box of water-colors and some tubes of oils.

When Doctor Caswell called Ellsworth would talk about the graceful lines of the andirons. He would dwell on the rich variety of color in a bowl of fruit. He proudly displayed the variegated smears of paint on his heavy silk dressing gown. He would not allow his valet to send it to the cleaner's. He wanted to show the doctor how hard he'd been working.

The treatment was working perfectly. No more trips downtown to become involved in purchases of enterprises of doubtful solvency.

The doctor thought it safe to allow Ellsworth to visit the Metropolitan, the Museum of Modern Art 13 and other exhibits with Swain. An entirely new world opened up its charming mysteries. The old man displayed an insatiable curiosity about the galleries and the painters who exhibited in them. How were the galleries run? Who selected the canvases for the exhibitions? An idea was forming in his brain.

When the late spring sun began to cloak the fields and gardens with color, Ellsworth executed a god-awful smudge which he called "Trees Dressed in White". Then he made a startling announcement. He was going to exhibit it in the Summer show at the Lathrop Gallery!

For the Summer show at the Lathrop Gallery was the biggest art exhibit of the year in quality, if not in size. The lifetime dream of every mature artist in the United States was a Lathrop prize. Upon this distinguished group Ellsworth was going to foist his "Trees Dressed in White", which resembled a gob of salad dressing thrown violently up against the side of a house!

"If the papers get hold of this, Mister Ellsworth will become a laughing-stock. We've got to stop him," groaned Koppel.

"No," admonished the doctor. "We can't interfere with him now and take a chance of spoiling all the good work that we've accomplished."

To the utter astonishment of all three and especially Swain "Trees Dressed in White" was accepted for the Lathrop show.

Fortunately, the painting was hung in an inconspicuous place where it could not excite any noticeable comment. Young Swain sneaked into the Gallery one afternoon and blushed to the top of his ears when he saw "Trees Dressed in White", a loud, raucous splash on the wall. As two giggling students stopped

before the strange anomaly Swain fled in terror. He could not bear to hear what they had to say.

During the course of the exhibition the old man kept on taking his lessons, seldom mentioning his entry in the exhibit. He was unusually cheerful.

Two days before the close of the exhibition a special messenger brought a long official-looking envelope to Mister Ellsworth while Swain, Koppel and the doctor were in the room. "Read it to me," requested the old man. "My eyes are tired from painting."

"It gives the Lathrop Gallery pleasure to announce that the First Landscape Prize of $1,000 has been awarded to Collis P.Ellsworth - for his painting, "Trees Dressed in White"."

Swain and Koppel uttered a series of inarticulate gurgles. Doctor Caswell, exercising his professional self-control with a supreme effort, said: "Congratulations, Mister Ellsworth. Fine, fine ... See, see ... Of course, I didn't expect such great news. But, but - well, now, you'll have to admit that art is much more satisfying than business."

"Art's nothing," snapped the old man. "I bought the Lathrop Gallery last month."

EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. jerkwater (Am. colloq.): small, unimportant.

2. railroad (Am.): railway. The lexical differences between the British and American English are not great in number but they are considerable enough to make the mixture of the two variants sound strange and unnatural. A student of English should bear in mind that different words are used for the same objects, such as can, candy, truck, mailbox, subway instead of tin, sweets, lorry, pillar-box (or letter-box), underground.

3. Iowa [ ˈaɪ�™w�™ ]: a north central state of the USA. The noun is derived from the name of an Indian tribe. Quite a number of states, towns, rivers and the like in America are named by Indian words, e. g. Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan.

4. rot (sl.): foolish remarks or ideas.

5. bosh (sl.): empty talk, nonsense.

6. umph: an interjection expressing uncertainty or suspicion.

7. poppycock: foolish nonsense.

8. by gum (dial.): by God.

9. kinda: the spelling fixes contraction of the preposition of and its assimilation with the preceding noun which is a characteristic trait of American pronunciation.

10. elfish: (becoming rare) (of people or behaviour) having the quality or habit of playing tricks on people like an elf; mischievous.

11. colored: the American spelling is somewhat simpler than its British counterpart. The suffix -our is spelled -or.

12. the Metropolitan Museum of Art: the leading museum in America, was founded in 1870. Its collections cover a period of 5,000 years, representing the cultures of the Ancient world and Near and Far East as well as the arts of Europe and America. Among the collections are the paintings, which include oils, pastels, water-colours, miniatures and drawings. There are over 5,000 exhibits, among which are the works of Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Flemish, German, French , English and American artists.

13. the Museum of Modem Art: a repository of art peculiar to the twentieth century, was opened in 1929. It has several departments among which are the department of architecture and design, the department of painting and sculpture, the department of photography.

14. gob (si.); a mass of smth. sticky.

15. admonish: to scold or warn gently.

London schools face cuts to staff and budgets as pupil numbers fall

 London schools face cuts to staff and budgets as pupil numbers fall

Demand for year 7 pupi

ls is expected to fall by 7.6% over the next four years, with similar numbers expected in primary schools 

Sally Weale

Mon 2 Feb 2026 18.36 GMT

Schools in London could lose £45m in funding over the next four years as pupil numbers continue to fall, a report has warned, with secondary schools facing staff and curriculum cuts as budgets dwindle.

Until now, primary schools in the capital have been worst hit by falling birthrates, leading to about 90 school closures or mergers in the past five years. But the crisis is now spreading to secondary schools, which are expected to see steep declines in pupil numbers.

A report by London Councils warns that inner London schools face the sharpest drop. Demand for year 7 places is expected to fall by 7.6% over the next four years, while reception places are forecast to decline by 6.4%.

Schools are funded on a per pupil basis, so falling numbers mean less funding. The problem is particularly acute in the capital, but is affecting schools across the country, raising fears education standards could be put at risk.

Councillor Ian Edwards, London Councils’ executive member for children and young people, said: “Maintaining high education standards is the absolute priority for London’s boroughs, but falling pupil numbers are putting real pressure on school budgets.

“Boroughs are doing all they can locally to manage this whilst ensuring London’s education estate is protected, so school sites can continue to meet future need – particularly given the capital’s acute housing pressures and ambitious targets for housing growth.

“Without action to reflect London’s circumstances, schools risk having to narrow the curriculum and reduce vital support for pupils.”

The report estimates that the forecast decline in demand for school places equates to £15m in funding cuts for primary school budgets and £30m for secondary schools in the capital.

There are concerns that children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) could be affected if support staff are cut. Schools may also be forced to reduce GCSE options, enrichment activities and school trips to save money.

“Although pupil numbers are decreasing, the need for additional support continues to rise,” the report said. “Schools are seeing increased demand for mental health and wellbeing support, higher levels of school avoidance and persistent absence, and growing numbers of children with Send.

“At the same time, schools experiencing falling rolls face diminishing budgets to meet these rising needs. Attainment gaps relating to ethnicity, Send and socioeconomic disadvantage also persist, placing further strain on schools’ ability to deliver equitable outcomes.”

London Councils’ analysis of school place projections for all 32 London boroughs for the next four years indicates a 2.5% reduction in demand for reception and a 3.8% decline for year 7. A small number of boroughs could buck the trend and are predicting growth.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the school leaders’ union, NAHT, said: “What we need now is an approach to school funding that protects and supports those schools experiencing falling rolls and recognises that trends can change over time.

“Rather than cutting funding, we urge the government to protect it to allow schools to maintain existing staffing levels. This would also help schools to offer smaller classes, deliver more targeted help for pupils who need it, and reduce unsustainable levels of workload for staff.”

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “At a time of rising pupil need and record class sizes in both primary and secondary schools, government should embrace the opportunity to cut class sizes and improve education quality.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said the government was backing schools with record investment but it recognised the pressures caused by demographic changes that schools across the country are facing.

“Where areas are seeing a reduction in pupil numbers, we are investing £37m so schools can repurpose their spare space to deliver over 5,000 new childcare places as part of our school-based nurseries rollout, giving more children the best start in life,” the spokesperson said.

Part I

1.         Read the article, write out words in bold, be ready to explain the meaning and give examples of your own with these words.

2.        Divide the text of the article into logical parts and write down the sentence that best expresses the very thought of each logical part. Make up a question to each logical part.

3.        Think of the rubric the information comes from and the author’s intention to inform the reader. Mind the key words.

4.        Study the plan of rendering and provide a rendering of the article.

5.        Learn by heart the new vocabulary.

Why is Donald Trump suing the BBC?

Why is Donald Trump suing the BBC?

BBC news

16 December 2025

Ian Aikman

US President Donald Trump has filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against the BBC.

He has accused the corporation of defamation over an edit of his speech before the US Capitol riot in a Panorama documentary.

The lawsuit, which has been filed in Florida, demands $5bn (£3.7) and accuses the BBC of "intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring" Trump's speech.

The BBC has said it will defend the case.

It previously apologised to Trump for the edit, but disagreed there was a basis for a defamation claim.

What was in the BBC's Trump documentary?

The Panorama documentary, called Trump: A Second Chance?, was broadcast on 28 October 2024, just days before the US presidential election.

In his speech on 6 January 2021, Trump told a Washington DC crowd: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."

More than 50 minutes later in the same speech, he said: "And we fight. We fight like hell."

In the Panorama programme, a clip showed him as saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."

Criticism of the edit emerged more than a year later when a leaked internal memo was published by the Telegraph newspaper.

This led to the resignations of the BBC's director general , Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness.

BBC chairman Samir Shah apologised for the edit, which he described as an "error of judgement".

Trump's lawyers sent a letter to the BBC in November, demanding that it immediately retract the documentary, issue an apology, and compensate him. The BBC was given a deadline of 14 November to respond.

The letter added that if the BBC did not comply, the president might file legal action.

Before that deadline, the BBC apologised to Trump and confirmed the programme was not scheduled to be re-broadcast and would not be broadcast again in that form on any BBC platform, but rejected his demands for compensation.

A month later, on 15 December, Trump's legal team filed a lawsuit in Florida.

The filing alleges that the BBC:

defamed Trump "intentionally, with actual malice" by the edit of his speech for the Panorama documentary violated a Florida trade practices law by engaging in "deceptive acts" in editing the speech.

The introduction to the lawsuit says the Panorama edit was a "brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the [2024] election's outcome to President Trump's detriment ".

He is seeking $5bn (£3.7m) in damages.

After Trump filed the lawsuit, a BBC spokesperson said: "As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings."

Previously, the broadcaster said "we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim".

In its apology to Trump in November, the BBC said the edit resulted in "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action".

BBC chairman Samir Shah separately sent a personal letter to the White House, making clear to Trump that he and the corporation were sorry.

However, the corporation rejected Trump's demands for compensation and set out five main arguments for why it did not think it had a case to answer.

Those arguments were:

The BBC did not have the rights to, and did not, distribute the Panorama episode on its US channels, and it was geographically restricted to viewers in the UK when it was on iPlayer

The documentary did not cause Trump harm as he was re-elected

The clip was not designed to mislead, but just to shorten a long speech, and the edit was not done with malice

The clip was never meant to be considered in isolation; rather, it was 12 seconds within an hour-long programme, which also contained many voices in support of Trump

An opinion on a matter of public concern and political speech is heavily protected under defamation laws in the US.The BBC has said it will defend the case.

Some US news organisations that Trump has sued recently paid multi-million dollar settlements to the president.

Before the case reaches trial, it could be dismissed by a judge. In September, a US federal judge dismissed Trump's $15bn defamation lawsuit against the New York Times because it was submitted with an "improper and impermissible" form, but allowed Trump to refile a shorter complaint.

Legal experts have said arguments over jurisdiction could play a central role, with the case hinging on whether anyone in Florida saw the documentary. The filing says the episode may have been available to viewers in Florida using a VPN or via the BritBox streaming service.

If it does go to trial, the US Constitution's First Amendment gives significant protection to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

Trump would need to prove three major components - that the content published was factually false in a way that was defamatory; that he suffered harm due to the false and defamatory coverage; and that the media organisation knew it was false and acted with "actual malice".

Chris Ruddy, founder of conservative media outlet Newsmax, and an ally of Trump, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that it was hard to win a defamation suit in the US because "the bar is very high".

But he said the litigation process could be damaging to the BBC's reputation and expensive, with costs possibly reaching between $50m (£37m) and $100m (£74m).

It is unclear when, or if, the case could go to trial, and how much it could cost the BBC.

Former BBC Radio controller Mark Damazer said it would be "extremely damaging to the BBC's reputation not to fight the case", arguing that the case was "about the BBC's independence".

Task 1. Read the article.

Task 2. Write out and transcribe unknown words.

Task 3. Be ready to explain the meaning of key vocabulary reated to the topic of the article.

Task 4. Think of the gist of the article.

Task 5. Name the topic/sphere the problem comes.

Types of tones

🟢 Tone can be: formal, informal, optimistic, pessimistic, assertive, encouraging, cheerful, hopeful, humourous, sympathetic, comical, critical, mournful, official, elavated, dramatic, tragic etc.

🟢 The author's tone is the attitude of the author or the person speaking.

🟢 Mood is how the work makes the reader feel.

Proposed UK Islamophobia definition allows for right to criticise religion, source says

Proposed UK Islamophobia definition allows for right to criticise religion, source says

Source says working group stuck to requirement that definition must not interfere with freedom of speech

Chris Osuh Community affairs correspondent

Mon 20 Oct 2025 16.11 BST 

A new definition of Islamophobia being considered by UK ministers is expected to protect the freedom to criticise Islam, the Guardian understands.

The government launched a working group in February to “define unacceptable treatment, prejudice, discrimination and hate targeting Muslims or anyone who is perceived to be Muslim.”

It is understood the working group submitted its report this month to the communities secretary, Steve Reed, laying out a non-statutory definition of Islamophobia.

The report is private and the government may choose not to publish it or to drop the project entirely. If it goes ahead, the proposed definition is expected to be put to a consultation.

Critics have raised concerns that the definition could limit freedom of speech and the ability to criticise Islam.

In 2019, the Labour party adopted a working definition of Islamophobia from the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on British Muslims, which included the statement: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”

More than 50 English councils also adopted the APPG’s definition, research by the thinktank Civitas found, but the then Conservative government did not.

A source with knowledge of the matter said the 2019 definition “could be interpreted as being a mechanism by which freedom of expression to criticise Islam could be closed down” and that the working group knew it “must avoid” that.

The source said the working group stuck to its terms of reference that “any proposed definition must be compatible with the unchanging right of British citizens to exercise freedom of speech and expression – which includes the right to criticise, express dislike of or insult religions and/or the beliefs and practices of adherents”.

Chaired by the eminent barrister Dominic Grieve KC, who served as attorney general for England and Wales between 2010 and 2014, the working group on anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia definition comprises Muslim community representatives, experts and academics, including the crossbench peer Shaista Gohir and Akeela Ahmed, a co-chair of the British Muslim Network.

A source said: “This is a non-statutory definition and anybody who bothers to look at the terms of reference will that see that it is explicitly made clear that it must not interfere with freedom of expression and that it must not be a blasphemy law through the back door.”

Data released by the government this month showed hate crimes against Muslims had increased by nearly a fifth. In England and Wales, where 3.9 million people identify as Muslim, anti-Muslim hate crime rose to 3,199 offences in the 12 months to March 2025, from 2,690 offences in the previous year.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks. The department is carefully considering the independent Working Group’s advice on a definition of anti-Muslim hatred/Islamophobia, and no government decisions have been made.

“We will always defend freedom of speech, including fiercely protecting the right to criticise, express dislike of, or insult religions and the beliefs and practices of those who follow them. This will remain at the front of our minds as we review the definition.”

Discussion part

1.      Read the article, write out words in bold, be ready to explain the meaning and give examples of your own with these words.

2.      Divide the text of the article into logical parts and write down the sentence that best expresses the very thought of each logical part. Make up a question to each logical part.

3.      Think of the rubric the information comes from and the author’s intention to inform the reader. Mind the key words.

4.      Study the plan of rendering and provide a rendering of the article.

5.      Learn by heart the new vocabulary.

Аббревиатуры и сокращения в английском языке

n. (noun) — cуществительное
v. (verb) — глагол
adj. (adjective) — прилагательное
adv. (adverb) — наречие
prep. (preposition) — предлог
conj. (conjunction) — союз
e.g. (for example — от лат. exempli gratia) — например
p. (page) — страница
pp. (pages) — страницы
p.t.o. (please turn over) — перелистните, смотрите на обороте
par. (paragraph) — параграф, раздел
etc (от лат. etcetera) — и так далее
arr. (arrival) — прибытие
dep. (departure) — отбытие
Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, Jun., Jul., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. — месяцы
Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., Sun. — дни недели
in. (inch) — дюйм
sec. (second) — секунда
gm. (gram) — грамм
cm. (centimetre) — сантиметр
qt (quart) — кварта
cc (cubic centimetre) — кубический сантиметр
m.p.h. (miles per hour) — миль в час
kph (kilometres per hour) — км/ч
ft. (foot) — фут (30 см 48 мм)
lb (libra) — либра (400 гр)
oz (ounce) — унция (28 гр)
Tel. (telephone) — телефон
No., no. (number) — номер
a.m. (от лат. ante meridiem) — до полудня, в утренние часы
p.m. (от лат. post meridiem) — после полудня, пополудни
i.e. (от лат. id est) — то есть
A.D. (от лат. Anno Domini) — нашей эры, после Рождества Христова
B.C. (от лат. before Christ) — до нашей эры, до Рождества Христова
AC (alternating current) — переменный ток
DC (direct current) — постоянный ток
A 1 — первоклассный
a/c (account current) — текущий счет
ad (advertisement) — объявление
app. (от лат. appendix) — приложение
Co. (company) — компания, общество; (county) — округ, графство
Ltd. (limited) — компания с ограниченной ответственностью
C.O.D. (cash on delivery) — наложенным платежом
deg. (degree) — степень
Dept. (department) — отдел; управление
Ed. (editor) — редактор; (edition) — издание
esp. (especially) — особенно
F.A.P. (First Aid Post) — пункт первой помощи
hr (hour) — час
Hy (heavy) — тяжелый
ib.; ibid. (от лат. ibidem) — там же
id. (от лат. idem) — то же самое
IOU (I owe you) — долговая расписка
ital. (italics) — курсив
N.S. (new style) — новый стиль
obs. (obsolete) — устаревший
p.c. (per cent) — процент %
pl. (plural) — множественное число
quot. (quotation) — цитата
S.O.S. (save our souls) — международный радиосигнал бедствия
Sr. (senior) — старший
Jr. (junior) — младший
vy (very) — очень
wt (weight) — вес
attract. (attractive) — привлекательный
corresp. (correspondent) — ведущий переписку
div. (divorced) — разведен(а)
f'ship (friendship) — дружба
gd-lkng (good-looking) — привлекательный
gent (gentleman) — мужчина
gfrnd (girlfriend) — подруга
GP (general practitioner) — практикующий врач
med (medium) — среднего роста
mting (meeting) — встреча
N/D (no-drinker) — непьющий
N/S (no-smoker) — некурящий
pls (please) — пожалуйста
poss. (possible) — возможно
U (you) — ты
LTR (long-term relationship) — длительные отношения
WLTM (would like to meet) — хотел(а) бы встретиться
yr (years) — год, годы
sis (sister) — сестра
Dr., doc (doctor) — доктор
telly (television) — телевизор
phone (telephone) — телефон
vator (elevator) — лифт
zine (magazine) — журнал
specs (spectacles) — очки
fridge (refrigeration) — холодильник
flu (influenza) — грипп
comfy (comfortable) — удобный
imposs (impossible) — невозможный
mizzy (miserable) — жалкий
St (Street) — улица
Rd (Road) — дорога
c/o (care of) — заботиться о
Mr (Mister) — обращение к мужчине
Mrs (Mistres) — обращение к замужней женщине
Ms (Miss) — обращение к девушке
Pref. (preface) — предисловие
P.S. (от лат. post scriptum) — послесловие, постскриптум
w/o (without) — без
w/ (with) - с 

https://skillset.ru/abbreviaturyi-i-sokrashheniya-v-angliyskom-yazyike

Prince Harry says ‘sources intent on sabotage’ behind reports of strained meeting with King

Prince Harry says ‘sources intent on sabotage’ behind reports of strained meeting with King

Spokesperson says claims Harry felt like an ‘official visitor’ were fabricated as duke seeks reconciliation with father

Kyriakos Petrakos

Sat 27 Sep 2025 17.15 BST

Prince Harry has suggested that people are seeking to sabotage his reconciliation with King Charles as he hit back at “invention fed” media reports on the pair’s recent meeting. Harry met the king for the first time in almost two years at Clarence House in London on 10 September.

The Sun reported on Saturday that the meeting was “distinctly formal”, claiming that Harry joked he felt more like an “official visitor” rather than a member of the royal family.

The newspaper also cited sources close to Harry which denied he said he felt like an “official visitor”. A spokesperson for the prince went further, describing the quotes attributed to Harry as “pure invention fed, one can only assume, by sources intent on sabotaging any reconciliation between father and son”.

The spokesperson did not specify who the information might have come from. The Sun said Harry had confirmed parts of its report, telling the Guardian he “was given full right of reply yesterday in advance of publication and opted not to give a response to the Sun’s carefully sourced account of the meeting”.

Harry’s spokesperson also corrected part of the Sun’s report about gifts that had been exchanged between the king and him. The Sun had initially said a framed photograph of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s family was exchanged.

But Harry’s spokesperson denied the claim, saying: “While we would have preferred such details to remain private, for the sake of clarity we can confirm that a framed photograph was handed over, however the image did not contain the duke and duchess.”

The duke carried out several charity events in Nottingham and London during his recent four-day visit to the UK this month. The private tea between Harry and Charles, which lasted 54 minutes, came after the Duke of Sussex told the BBC in May he would “love a reconciliation” with his family.

Harry attended the Invictus reception at the Gherkin in London after the meeting. Asked how his father was during the event, he replied: “Yes, he’s great, thank you.” The pair’s last engagement together took place in February 2024, soon after the king’s cancer diagnosis last year.

Harry, Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, now live in California. The last known meeting between Charles and his grandchildren was at the late Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee in June 2022.

 

Part I

1. Read the article, write out words in bold, be ready to explain the meaning and give examples of your own with these words.

2. Divide the text of the article into logical parts and write down the sentence that best expresses the very thought of each logical part.

3. Think of the rubric the information comes from and the author’s intention to inform the reader.

4. Study the plan of rendering.

Planet names

Functional styles

Genres

UK government urged to introduce GCSE in Ukrainian for child refugees

UK government urged to introduce GCSE in Ukrainian for child refugees

Children’s commissioner joins Kyiv in asking DfE to create new qualification to cope with ‘immense upheaval’ of fleeing war

Matthew Weaver

Thu 22 May 2025 11.00 BST

The children’s commissioner has joined Kyiv in lobbying the UK government to introduce a new GCSE in Ukrainian to help child refugees cope with the “immense upheaval” of fleeing war in their country.

In December, the Guardian revealed that Ukraine was “deeply concerned” to discover many Ukrainian teenagers are being pressed into learning Russian in British schools because no GSCE in Ukrainian is available.

Since then Ukraine’s education minister, Oksen Lisovyi, has met the UK education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to underline his government’s fear that being taught Russian is retraumatising Ukrainian teenagers who have fled Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

Vitalii, now 18, who fled to London from Ukraine in April 2022, said: “Why should I study Russian – I’m Ukrainian and I want to show it. The language is paramount for all us.”

Since the meeting with Lisovyi, Phillipson confirmed on Instagram this week that she has written to exam boards urging them to reintroduce an exam that was scrapped in 1995 owing to a lack of demand. The Department for Education (DfE) has also set up a working group to help implement the move. One of the exam boards, AQA, said it was carefully considering reintroducing the qualification. But education sector insiders are sceptical about the practicalities of the move.

It has also emerged the children’s commissioner, Rachel de Souza, has been urging the government to reintroduce a GCSE in Ukrainain.

She intervened after visiting St Mary’s, a network of 13 Ukrainian language schools in the UK, founded at the trust’s headquarters in west London.

De Souza said: “I’ve seen for myself the great work St Mary’s Ukrainian School is doing with the children who attend. It has become a sanctuary for families, helping displaced children reach their goals and aspirations in spite of the immense upheaval they’ve experienced.

De Souza said she was encouraged by the DfE’s decision to take up the issue with exam boards. She said: “I have long called for the DfE to consider making qualifications available in Ukrainian for these children, who rightly want an opportunity to feel proud of their culture and their language, so I am really pleased to see this.

“Ukrainian children living here in the UK are the future of their country and will play a vital role in its recovery, so we must match their level of ambition and make sure they receive all the support possible to thrive in their education.”

An AQA spokesperson said: “We’ve every sympathy with Ukrainian students who, through no fault of their own, find themselves many miles from home and want to gain formal accreditation of their language.

“As an education charity, we stand ready to do what we can to support Ukrainian students. We have received a letter from the education secretary about developing a GCSE in the Ukrainian language and are considering it carefully.”

But an education industry source said: “Realistically it takes two years to develop a qualification, it takes another two years to teach it. So a GCSE is not going to help students who are currently here who have fled Ukraine.”

St Mary’s has proposed becoming a hub for both GCSE and A-level qualifications in Ukrainian.

In a letter to Phillipson, Ukraine’s ministry of education backed this suggestion. It said: “Establishing a Ukrainian GCSE centre will provide these children with opportunities to take Ukrainian GCSE and A-level exams, supporting their educational and professional goals.”

It also pointed out that demand for the qualification has soared owing to the number of children that have fled to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

It said: “As of now, the number of potential students of Ukrainian descent interested in pursuing Ukrainian GCSE is at an all-time high: about 27,000 displaced Ukrainian children and around 7,000 diaspora children.”

It added: “Maintaining proficiency in Ukrainian is crucial for displaced children’s transition back to Ukraine, especially as many families may decide to reunite when it is safe.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “This government has set out our decisive support for our Ukrainian friends. That’s why we have, last week, asked exam boards to consider introducing a Ukrainian GCSE – giving these young people the chance to celebrate their heritage and their native language.”