Thursday 8th October 2026. African Union credit. Eritrean soldiers. North Korea criticises. India Kumar sit-in. Israel memorial. Russia...
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Thursday 8th October 2026. African Union credit. Eritrean soldiers. North Korea criticises. India Kumar sit-in. Israel memorial. Russia...

B2Upper-intermediateOctober 7, 20267 min
  • News bulletin
  • Politics

World news in 7 minutes. Thursday 8th October 2026. Today: African Union credit. Eritrean soldiers. North Korea criticises. India Kumar sit-in. Israel memorial. Russia plague laboratory. Spain unions strike. Ukraine damage. Belgium protests. Canada Boots. And Argentina Messi retires. With Ben Mallett Become a SEND7 supporter ! Ad-free listeningBonus quiz episode every FridayDaily transcripts (written by us, not AI!)Vocabulary listsWednesday worksheetsAsk questions in Ask Me Anything episodes10% of our profit goes to Effective Altruism charities.You can become a supporter at send7.supercast.com<b...

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Sentence 4 of 12 · 0:21

Starting in Africa.

agencies. The credit agency AFKRA will be based in Mauritius and is expected to provide

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B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 22%A2 48%B1 26%B2 4%C1 0%
  • 96% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 103 words a minute: slow, clear speech.
  • 30 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

Good morning, this is CEN 7, world news in 7 minutes. I'm Ben Mallett, today is Thursday, the 8th of October, 2026. Starting in Africa. The African Union will launch a credit rating agency to challenge the Big 3 global rating

0:29

agencies. The credit agency AFKRA will be based in Mauritius and is expected to provide ratings to 23 African countries that do not have a credit rating from a major agency. Many African leaders have said that their countries are treated unfairly by existing credit agencies. African countries currently owe $163 billion in external debt.

1:03

Eritrean soldiers have been seen in Ethiopia's Tigray region, according to eyewitnesses reported by Reuters. Eritrea and Ethiopia cut diplomatic ties last week following the closure of Eritrea's embassy in Ethiopia. Ethiopia has previously accused Eritrea of supporting Tigrayan rebels who are currently in conflict with the army of the Ethiopian government.

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