Wednesday 15th November 2023. World News. Today: Gaza rain. India tunnel. Myanmar fighting. Ukraine update. Iceland eruption? Biden Xi meet.

World News in 7 minutes. Wednesday 15th November 2023.

With Stephen Devincenzi.

Today: Gaza rain. India tunnel. Myanmar fighting. Ukraine update. Iceland eruption? Biden Xi meeting today. Mexico murder? Somalia shortages. Kenya plastic hope.

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SEND7 (Simple English News Daily in 7 minutes) tells the most important world news stories in intermediate English. Every day, listen to the most important stories from every part of the world in slow, clear English. Whether you are an intermediate learner trying to improve your advanced, technical and business English, or if you are a native speaker who just wants to hear a summary of world news as fast as possible, join Stephen Devincenzi, Ben Mallett and Juliet Martin every morning. Transcripts can be found at send7.org/transcripts. Simple English News Daily is the perfect way to start your day, by practising your listening skills and understanding complicated stories in a simple way. It is also highly valuable for IELTS and TOEFL students. Students, teachers, and people with English as a second language, tell us that they listen to SEND7 because they can learn English through hard topics, but simple grammar. We believe that the best way to improve your spoken English is to immerse yourself in real-life content, such as what our podcast provides. SEND7 covers all news including politics, business, natural events and human rights. Whether it is happening in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas or Oceania, you will hear it on SEND7, and you will understand it.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning. This is seven WorldNews in seven minutes. I'm Stephen Devinchenzi.
Today is Wednesday, the fifteenth ofNovember twenty twenty three. Starting in
Asia. Today in Gaza, itis reigning for the first time since the

(00:24):
war between Israel and Hamas started lastmonth. Most of Gaza's population has been
displaced and many Palestinians are living intents in North Gaza. Staff at the
Al Shifa Hospital have said that theyare digging a mass grave for people who
have died in the hospital recently.Fighting is continuing in the streets around the

(00:48):
hospital between Israel's army and Hamas andother armed groups. Israel's army says that
it has captured Hamas buildings in GazaCity and found many weapons arsenals, including
one underwater in the Mediterranean Sea.The IDF has confirmed the death of Noah
Marciano, a nineteen year old Israelisoldier who was taken hostage by Hamas on

(01:14):
the seventh of October. Hamas andother groups are believed to still hold around
two hundred and forty hostages, mostof whom are civilians and around thirty are
children. Many hostages are foreigners,with around twenty from Thailand. Yesterday,
United States Security Chief John Kirby saidthat the US has its own intelligence that

(01:38):
confirms that Hamas has a base underthe Al Shifa Hospital. Kirby described this
as a war crime. He alsosaid that the US does not support Israel's
striking hospitals. Tom Potoka, asurgeon with the Red Cross, released a
video yesterday from his hospital in usCan't Unice in the south of Gaza,

(02:02):
saying that the situation is relentless.Putoka described trying to save a man who
was covered in burns. The youngman lost all his family burns with some
huge shapes. If we don't doan operation, then he will die from

(02:23):
the septus. If we do doan operation, he may die from problems
with blood mass, with ongoing woundinfection, hypertension, et cetera. There's
no blood in the hospital to givehim, which is what he needs,
so we can just do the bestwe can. Really. In India,

(02:46):
forty workers are trapped in a tunnelthree days after parts of the tunnel collapsed.
Rescuers are digging through forty meters ofrock and materials, and small holes
have been made to allow oxygen andfood packets to be passed inside. In
Myanmar, groups fighting against the militarydictatorship say that they have captured territory around

(03:12):
the border with India. Miyanmar hasbeen in a state of civil war since
twenty twenty one, when the militaryremoved the government in a coup. Many
ethnic groups and pro democracy groups havejoined forces to fight against the military Europe.
In Ukraine, andre Yermak, thechief of staff to the President,

(03:36):
has confirmed that the Ukrainian army isholding some land on the eastern part of
the Dinipur River in Hursan Region.There have been reports of Ukraine's army crossing
and holding territory on this side ofthe river over the last few weeks,
but this is the first time thatit has been acknowledged by a Ukrainian official.

(03:59):
Since a Ukrainian counter offensive last year, Hirson Region has been divided into
a Ukrainian held part to the westof the river and a Russian occupied area
to the east. The United KingdomArmed Forces Minister James Hippi has said that
UK intelligence estimates that three hundred andtwo thousand Russian soldiers have been lost in

(04:20):
Ukraine, including dead, injured andcaptured. This is a similar number to
what Ukraine says. Hippe also saidthat the number three hundred thousand does not
include Russian soldiers who have deserted,meaning run away from the fighting, which
he estimated to be tens of thousands, and it also does not include thousands

(04:43):
of Russians who have been killed fightingfor non government groups such as the Wagner
private military company. Most estimates suggestthat Ukraine has lost about half as many
soldiers as Russia. However, Ukrainehas lost a bigger proportion of its population
in this war because Russia's population isaround four times the size of Ukraine's.

(05:06):
In Iceland, people from the townof Grindovic have been allowed to return home
to get some of their belongings,but not to stay as a volcano could
be about to erupt. Around fourthousand people have been evacuated from Grindovic.
There have been thousands of small earthquakes, Smoke was rising from the ground yesterday,

(05:30):
and some roads were cracked open.Scientists said that conditions suggest an eruption
at any time Americas. In theUnited States, President Joe Biden will meet
with Chinese President Shijingping today. Thiswill be only the second time that the

(05:50):
leaders of the world's two largest economiesmeet since Biden became president in twenty twenty
one. Yesterday, Biden said thathe wanted to change the relationship between the
US and China for the better.We're not trying to decouple from China.
Well, we're What we're trying todo is change a relationship for the better.

(06:15):
Mexico's first non binary magistrate has beenfound dead at their house. Cressus
Bayena, who was also an LGBTactivist, died along with their partner in
the central city of Aguas Calienthis.Local media says that there was no clear
sign of murder. However, investigationsare continuing. Africa, in Somalia,

(06:41):
there are shortages of food and fuelbecause of recent floods that have affected one
point six million people. The UnitedNations has described the flooding in Somalia,
Kenya and Tanzania as a once ina century event, and Kenya's President William
Ruto has said that he has faithin world leaders to agree to a plastic

(07:05):
treaty. This week, talking tointernational representatives, Rutteau said that the world
was watching them. I reiterate myconfidence in your ability to get this done
to repay the faith humanity has placedon you to deliver this moment in history.
A big thank you to Rossa inSpain for becoming our newest supporter.

(07:29):
If you would like to help,you support us, have access to the
transcripts of every episode and play ourweekly news quiz, then you can become
a supporter at senseven dot org.I'm Stephen Devinchenzie. Tomorrow you will be
with Ben Mallett. Have a greatday.