Learning English from the News

Upper intermediate level

2025: The year's big news stories

Episode 251231 / 31 Dec 2025

(Photo credits: Chip Somodevilla, Osman Bakir/Anadolu, and Jerome Gilles/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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The stories

In this special episode, Neil and Pippa look back at some of the big headlines from the year.

In February 2025, US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on countries around the world. 

In April 2025, charities and humanitarian organisations described the war in Sudan as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

And in October 2025, thieves stole expensive jewellery from the Louvre in Paris, the museum that is the famous home of the Mona Lisa painting. 

News headlines

As Trump's tariff pledge comes due, he vows to follow through on key campaign promise
CNN

Two years of war in Sudan: a devastating combination of record displacement and dwindling aid
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency

'Race against time' as police try to recover 'priceless' jewels from Louvre - as authorities reveal details of daring raid
Sky News

Key words and phrases

follow through (on)
fulfil a promise

  • I can't come. I said I'd help my friend move house, so I need to follow through on that promise.

dwindling
gradually getting smaller or less common

  • The company’s dwindling profits are worrying for investors.

race against time
a situation where there is only a limited amount of time to do something

  • The town only has a few hours to prepare for the big storm. It's a race against time.

Next 

Try our new documentary Love in a War Zone, about a woman who moves to Ukraine to be with the man she loves.

Try our podcast The English We Speak to learn more idiomatic language.

የቅርብ Learning English from the News