English Listening Practice — October 9, 2026

📰 South African human rights lawyer Navi Pillay wins the Nobel Peace Prize

South African jurist Navi Pillay has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her steadfast commitment to international law.

At a ceremony in Oslo on Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized the former UN human rights chief.

Committee Chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes lauded Pillay as one of the era’s most courageous legal figures.

He highlighted her pivotal career milestones.

These spanned from defending Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists on Robben Island to presiding over landmark cases in global courts.

🏛️ New U.S. indictment charges former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with torture

U.S. prosecutors have expanded their case against ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, adding torture charges to existing drug trafficking counts.

The indictment accuses Maduro of personally authorizing brutal tactics, including electric shocks, beatings, and asphyxiation.

It alleges he tracked victims' treatment, reviewed a forced confession on video, and threatened a detainee’s child.

Flores, a former attorney general, allegedly helped build this repressive apparatus and ordered specific acts of torture.

Maduro's lawyer did not immediately comment, while counsel for Flores stated he had not yet reviewed the allegations.

📰 Firing squad execution to be livestreamed, Pentagon says

The Pentagon plans to publicly livestream the execution of former US Army Major Nidal Hasan.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the decision to broadcast the proceedings.

Hasan faces a firing squad for fatally shooting 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009.

If carried out, this will mark the first public execution in the United States in nearly a century.

Hegseth underscored that the public must grasp the grave consequences of such actions.

🏛️ Oil prices fall as Trump pauses Iran attacks, China restarts fuel exports – business live

Data storage firm Snowflake has clarified that a recent cyber incident at Asos was not caused by any platform vulnerability or misconfiguration.

An internal investigation by Asos revealed that an unauthorized party compromised an employee account by impersonating a trusted contact.

The threat actor then leveraged these stolen credentials to access data on third-party platforms.

Snowflake emphasized that its own environment remains entirely uncompromised.

Consequently, no remediation is required for its customer base.

Asos users are advised to stay vigilant against unsolicited communications requesting sensitive information.

📱 Exclusive: Apple cuts iPhone 18 Pro orders due to soft demand

Apple has instructed suppliers to pare back component production for its newly launched iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.

This retrenchment follows a sharp escalation in memory chip costs.

Those soaring input expenses forced price increases across the flagship lineup.

In turn, higher price tags have dampened consumer appetite for the devices.

Facing sluggish demand, the company is now curtailing upstream orders to realign output with current market realities.

🏛️ Malaysia cuts income tax and raises wage floors as election approaches

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced plans to cut income taxes for individuals and smaller businesses next year.

The prime minister shared the details on Friday before departing the Finance Ministry in Putrajaya to table the national budget.

This fiscal relief specifically targets mounting cost-of-living pressures felt across the country.

Alongside these tax reductions, the administration also plans to raise wage floors.

These key economic measures arrive as the government prepares for the upcoming general election.

🚀 NASA astronauts splash down after 100 million miles in space

Four astronauts safely splashed down off the Los Angeles coast on Thursday, concluding NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 mission.

The international crew comprised NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

Over a 237-day orbital tenure aboard the International Space Station, the team logged more than 100 million miles.

They also executed thousands of Earth orbits while spearheading crucial scientific research.

NASA will hold a press conference at Houston’s Johnson Space Center to debrief the mission and review their findings.

⚔️ Russia's internet giant Yandex halts operations at major data center after drone attack

Russian tech giant Yandex has halted operations at a key data center in Sasovo, Ryazan.

The shutdown follows a Thursday drone strike that triggered a fire and damaged on-site infrastructure.

The facility is currently completely offline, potentially causing service disruptions for users.

Yandex reported no casualties, and emergency crews are managing the fallout.

Engineers are still assessing the destruction.

The company noted it is too early to determine whether the compromised hardware can be salvaged.

🏛️ OpenAI and Anthropic poach Trump officials as industry fights for Washington’s trust

OpenAI and Anthropic are actively recruiting former Trump administration officials to fortify their influence in Washington.

Anthropic has recently appointed at least two former officials.

One joined its board, while the other leads its frontier compute strategy.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has brought on at least three alumni from the administration to spearhead strategy and special projects.

Both AI frontrunners are racing to cultivate political goodwill as regulatory scrutiny mounts.

They view these strategic hires as crucial for navigating federal oversight, supply-chain controls, and national security concerns.

🎨 Two Renoir paintings stolen from French museum are recovered

French authorities have successfully recovered two Auguste Renoir masterworks stolen last month from the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer.

The recovered pieces are the 1910 Portrait of Madame Colonna Romano and the 1886 canvas Jeune fille au puits.

Thieves made off with the impressionist paintings on 8 September after breaching a perimeter fence and shattering a window.

According to the town hall, police have taken six suspects into custody in connection with the heist.

📰 Fury-Joshua tickets priced up to £13,000 sell out in one hour

Tickets for the heavyweight clash between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium sold out in a single hour.

Around 80,000 passes went on sale at noon on Friday.

Within minutes, over 500,000 prospective buyers flooded the digital queue.

Standard prices ranged from £88.50 to £13,128 including fees.

Premium ringside passes surfaced almost immediately on secondary markets for £73,645.

Upper-tier options commanded £425.

The blockbuster all-British showdown will stream worldwide on Netflix, with the headliners expected to enter the ring early on 12 December.

📰 'Misty Green' squanders its potential

Chris Rock has directed Misty Green, his first feature film since 2014’s Top Five.

The Hollywood dramedy stars Rosalind Eleazar as an actress nearing forty whose career has reached a nadir.

Ostracized after burning numerous industry bridges, her character must navigate the selective nature of forgiveness.

Rock also cast himself in a secondary lead role.

While the film introduces a compelling premise about accountability, critics conclude that it ultimately squanders its potential through well-worn sensibilities.