Iran's president killed in crash: BBC News Review

Iran's president killed in a helicopter crash.

This is News Review from BBC

Learning English where we help you understand news headlines in English.

I'm Beth. And I'm Phil.

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from the headlines. Now, today's story.

The funeral of the President of Iran, Ebrahaim

Raisi, is taking place after he was killed in a helicopter crash.

The accident happened in bad weather

in a mountainous region in the north west of the country.

Thousands have mourned him in the streets,

but his death has also been celebrated

by his critics on social media. Raisi's record on human rights

has been heavily criticised.

You've been looking at the headlines.

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

We have: furtive, reverberate

and condolences.

This is News Review from BBC

Learning English.  

Let's have our first headline.

This is from Reuters. In divided Iran,

president's death met by muted mourning and furtive celebration.

So, this headline says that Iran is divided. On the one hand,

there is mourning.

Mourning is a period of sadness after someone dies, and mourning

here is being described as muted, which means not so noticeable.

And then on the other side,

we have the celebrations that are described as furtive. Phil,

what can you tell us about furtive?

Well, furtive is an adjective and

it means secret or hidden.

So, if we describe someone as behaving in a furtive way, that means

that they're being secretive or maybe dishonest or suspicious.

So, in the headline,

those who are celebrating are doing it in a furtive way. They are doing it

in a hidden or a secretive way - they don't want people to know necessarily

that they are celebrating. Another way we often use the word

furtive is with words that talk about ways of looking at things.

So you might hear about a furtive glance, a furtive look, a furtive glimpse.

And that's where someone is trying to look at something or someone else,

but not be spotted doing it. Yes, that's right.

And we also have the adverb furtively. If someone acts furtively,

then they act suspiciously.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have a look at our next headline.

This is from The Times of India. Iranian President Ebrahim

Raisi's death: How it may reverberate across the Middle East.

This headline asks about the impact that Raisi's

death will have.

We're looking at the word reverberates. This makes me think of sound.

Well, it can be about sound.

It isn't here, but it can be.

Think about sound as vibration.

Vibrations spread across an area -

that's how sound can reverberate across an area. Here,

it's metaphorical and we're talking about impact.

The impact of something can spread across an area. Maybe

think about a pond.

If you throw a stone into the middle, then the ripples will spread across the pond.

Something reverberating spreads in a

similar way. Exactly.

So, this headline is asking about the reverberations -

the impact across the Middle East - and reverberation is a noun.

It means consequence.

Can you give us some examples of reverberation?

OK, well, any significant event can have reverberations.

So, maybe think about a decision to close a factory – that could have strong

reverberations on the local community and some of those consequences

might be things we didn't expect – you can have unintended consequences.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This is from The Times of Israel.

US offers condolences over Iran chopper crash, blasts Raisi's

human rights record.

So, there are two things happening in this headline.

One is that the US government has blasted –

that means strongly criticised – Raisi's human rights record.

And on the other side,

the US have offered their condolences.

And condolences is what we are looking at.

Yes, so condolences are an expression of sympathy

towards someone when someone has died.

So, the US government has offered sympathy towards the Iranian people,

but they have also criticised Raisi heavily.

Now, when someone dies,

you might use the expression

'My condolences', which is quite formal, but it works here.

We also often talk about 'sincere' or 'heartfelt' condolences and

that just makes them even stronger. Now

there is a verb, condole,

but we probably more often use verbs

like 'offer' as we have in the headline here.

Or you can 'express' condolences or 'extend' your condolences to someone.

OK, let's look at that again.

We've had: furtive – secretive, reverberate – have a

wide impact

and condolences – sympathy.

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