US & UK strike Houthis: BBC News Review

US and UK launch new airstrikes on Houthi targets.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English,

where we help you understand news headlines in English. I'm Beth,

and I'm Georgie. Make sure your watch

to the end to learn the vocabulary

you need to talk about this story.

And remember to subscribe to our channel to learn more English

from the headlines. Now

today's story.

The US and UK

have launched more airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The Houthis have been attacking ships

they say are linked to Israel and the West

as they travel through the Red Sea trade route.

The UK and US said that they were trying to protect the

free flow of commerce.

You've been looking at the headlines.

What's the vocabulary that people need to understand this story?

We have 'fresh', 'deal another blow',

  and 'send a clear message'.

This is News Review

from BBC Learning English.

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This one's from the BBC. US and UK launch

fresh strikes on Houthis in Yemen.

This headline tells us that the UK and US have launched strikes,

which means they have started an attack on the Houthis,

but this isn't their first attack on the Houthis. So we need to look

at the word 'fresh'. Now,

Georgie, this word always makes me think of food.

So why is it being used here?

Yes, it's true that 'fresh' is usually used to describe food

that is recently produced.

So fresh fruit is fruit that has just been picked, fresh bread has just come

out of the oven. Here, though,

'fresh' is another way of saying that the strikes on the Houthis

are new.

OK, so the US and UK have sent strikes before,

but these ones are new.

They are fresh.

Can you give us some other examples of when

we can use 'fresh' with this meaning? Yes, sure.

So you could say that the lawyers brought fresh evidence

to the court, which means that they brought new evidence that

no-one had seen before.

If a company hires someone, they usually want someone with a fresh perspective.

Someone with new and innovative idea.

That's right.

OK, let's look at that one more time.

Let's have our next headline.

And this one's from the Evening Standard.

Fresh UK and US air strikes on Houthi targets

deal another blow to militants.

  This headline gives us a quote

from the UK's Defence Secretary

Grant Shapps, who says that the strikes deal

another blow to the Houthis. Now 'deal

a blow' is the expression

we are looking at. Georgie,

can you break this down for us?

Yes, well, it has two parts.

We have 'deal' and 'blow'.

So 'deal' in this sense is another way of saying 'give out' or 'distribute',

so imagine in a card game,

we deal cards to the other players. 'Blow' in this sense is another word

for a big hit or a sudden impact.

Right, so 'deal

a blow' in this case

sounds very literal

because the US and UK have given

- that's 'deal' -

the Houthis a big hit - and that is the 'blow' - because of these air strikes. Now,

I'm guessing that this has a metaphorical meaning as well.

That's right. And I think both are relevant here.

So in a metaphorical sense,

it can be used when something causes a significant problem or setback.

So in this story,

the purpose of the strikes was to cause problems for the Houthis

so that they would be weaker and less able to attack ships in the Red Sea.

Can you give us another example?

Yep, so we can say that the pandemic dealt an enormous blow to the economy.

It damaged it. Notice here

how the past form of 'deal' is 'dealt', which has a different pronunciation.

So we're going from the sound

/i:/ to the sound

/e/, we have 'deal' and 'dealt'.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This one's from the Guardian.

Fresh US/UK airstrikes

send clear message to Houthis, says Cameron.

Now, this time we're hearing from the UK's Foreign Secretary, David Cameron,

and we're looking at his phrase, 'send a clear message'.

Now, when I hear 'a clear message',

it makes me think about something spoken

or written that is really easy to understand.

Like a very clear email or something.

Yes, but in this story, the US

and UK governments say they are sending a clear message to the Houthis

with air strikes. And the message here,

according to Cameron, is that if the UK gives a warning,

then it will do what it says. Now, we hear

this phrase a lot in a very literal sense. This morning

I sent a clear message or text message to my mum,

but can you give us an example of how it's used in this headline?

Yes, so imagine a company decides to remove all single-use plastic

from its packaging.

You might say that this sends a very clear message

that it cares about the environment and sustainability.

Yes, that's right.

OK, let's have a look at that one more time.

We've had 'fresh'-

it's new. 'deal another blow' - cause more harm. And

'send a clear message' - communicates something with an action

that is easy to understand'.

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Thank you for joining us. Bye. Bye.