Session 2 - News Review
at the heart of
at the centre of
leak
(here) sharing of secret information with the public
blacklisted
put on a blacklist: a list of people, countries, organisations etc who are not approved of and blocked from doing certain things
sanctions
(here) official orders to stop a country or organisation from trading or communication
links
connections
bombshell
(here) piece of unexpected and shocking news
Session 3 - Lingohack
prominent
important, well known
prompted
brought about, caused
honoured
publicly praised for doing something good
Session 5 - The White Elephant
top-notch
high quality
pull all the stops out
make a big effort so that something is very successful
excel at
do something very well
first-class
best quality
gone above and beyond
done more than was expected
blown right out of the water
shown to be false
