Ted: And we’re back with another episode of Babbel News – English Only, where you can learn about what’s going on in the world while improving your English.

As you probably know by now, my name is Ted and I’m the English language expert here at Babbel, here to guide you through today’s episode!

We’ve got two great news stories for you today – sourced directly from Reuters. The first story highlights the challenges and successes of a Somali newsroom committed to centering women’s issues, while the second story takes us to Thailand, where rising sea temperatures are causing damage to plant and animal life in the ocean.

And remember, you can find a transcript of the episode by following the link in the episode description.

Let’s start by taking a closer look at some of the important words and phrases from the first piece of news. First off, in the context of the story, “to illuminate” means to make things clearer and easier to understand. Imagine shining a bright light on something. The next word is “shame”, a feeling of being embarrassed and guilty, usually because you or your behavior are seen as not normal or are seen as something that should be hidden. You'll also hear the adjective form "shameful" in the story. Keep your ears open for it. And then we have “adolescence”, the stage in life where you develop from a child into an adult. Next, we have “period” and “menstruation”, which are both used to describe the monthly blood flow experienced by people with uteruses. And an “advocacy campaign” is an organized effort to publicly support and inform about an idea or cause to make positive change happen. Finally, we have “to prompt”, to cause something or make somebody decide to do something.

And with that, let’s listen to the news clip.

Reuters: People often laugh when Fathi Mohamed Ahmed tells them she runs the first and only all-female newsroom in Somalia. The East African country is one of the most dangerous places on the planet to be a reporter.
 
Ahmed works as a chief editor of the media house called Bilan.
In its almost 18 months of operation, Bilan has overcome many challenges to illuminate some of the most taboo subjects in Somalia, including a female drug epidemic, women living with HIV, and period shame.
 
"We chose the topic we are focusing on today because we know Somalis. For them, things related to feminine issues are shameful. They do not want to talk about girls’ issues, for example signs and symptoms of adolescence like menstruation. Girls are not taught about normal symptoms of womanhood. We teach them so that they do not have to wonder or fear when they experience such changes. This is not taught at schools and mothers do not give this chance to their daughters."
 
A story about the stigma surrounding menstruation became one of Bilan's most viral when it was broadcast earlier this year.

It made a real impact on 19-year-old student Maria Abdullahi Jama.
 
"At first, I felt fear when I wanted to share my problems with the teacher and I failed to express my problem. Then I went to her and told her. After that, the information went to the principal. And thus, issues got solved."
 
The story also prompted the Ministry of Women to offer to work together on an advocacy campaign and it has won over at least one Islamic cleric, a group that often holds the most conservative views in Somali society.
 
Although Bilan is supported by the United Nations Development Programme, success has not come easy or risk-free for Ahmed and her team. Somalia is the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa, with more than 50 journalists killed since 2010. That's according to Reporters Without Borders.

Ahmed says that as a deeply patriarchal society, some Somalians find it difficult to discuss women's issues publicly. But she and her team remain undeterred.

Ted: That’s the end of the first clip. Were you able to follow the story well? Did you recognize some of the vocabulary we looked at in our previous episodes?

Ok, let’s move on to the vocab from the second clip. We’ll start with “plankton”, the topic of today’s story, which is a general term for tiny plants or animals that live in water. You'll also hear about a "plankton bloom". In this case, a bloom is an extremely fast increase in the population of plankton. Next, when something is “overwhelming”, it is so powerful or large in number that it becomes very difficult to deal with. And “harmful” is another way of describing something that causes hurt or damage. Next, “to deprive” is to take away something important or necessary. The next word is “to thrive”, meaning to grow very well or to be healthy and strong. And lastly, a “threat”, in the context of this story, is something that is likely to cause problems or negative effects.

All right, let’s play the clip!

Reuters: This patch of ocean, off the eastern coast of Thailand, has been dubbed a "dead zone." According to scientists, no animals can survive here due to the growth of plankton.
 
While normal amounts of the plant can be beneficial, the overwhelming bloom has reached harmful levels, depriving marine life of food and oxygen and turning the seawater green for as far as the eye can see.

Tanuspong Pokavanich is a marine scientist from Kasetsart University. He and a team of scientists have been collecting water samples to see what type of plankton has been growing.
 
Plankton covers a quarter of the Gulf of Thailand. Half of it is green where the plant is thriving, while the other half, closer to the shore, has turned brown, or even darker from pollution and dead plankton.

For local fishermen, the loss of marine life is a threat to their livelihoods. There are more than 260 mussel-farming plots along this coastline. More than 80 percent have been severely impacted by the plankton, according to the Chonburi Fisheries Association.

Suchat Buawat is one of those to have been affected. In the business for more than 20 years, he owns about ten farming plots, and says he's seen losses of more than $14,000 since the start of the year.
 
“The damage appears to be 100 percent. See, they just fall off when you shake it. There are no live ones left. They're all dead, including the oysters. Normally, they would cling on here as well."
 
Back in the lab, Tanuspong’s team has discovered the current plankton bloom is of the Noctiluca species. That's the same species that bloomed in 2020 – the last time the region saw the El Niño effect.

The climate pattern causes, amongst other things, warmer sea temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Tanuspong wants to study whether the two are linked. In August, the global ocean saw the warmest daily surface temperature on record, and had its warmest month overall.
 
While the cause of the intense plankton bloom remains unclear, scientists believe pollution and the intense heat caused by climate change are to blame.

Ted: And we’ve reached the end of another episode! Thanks for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed the news stories we picked out for you this week.

While listening, it can be helpful to not focus too much on individual words. See if you can get the overall message of the story and guess the meaning of any unfamiliar words from the context. Remember, there’s always the option to replay the episode at a slower speed or read the transcript while listening. You can always “go through with a fine-tooth comb” later. Can you figure out what that expression means from the context I’ve given you?

Before I sign off for today, I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be taking another break next week. The next episode of Babbel News – English Only will be out in two weeks. See you then!