English Listening Practice — October 11, 2026

🏛️ Pakistan: President puts Khan stronghold province under emergency rule

Pakistani President Zardari has placed the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under emergency rule.

Prompted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the executive order officially suspends the regional administration.

The central government invoked sweeping constitutional powers, citing regional failure to curb Islamist violence.

The drastic intervention follows surging unrest from supporters of jailed former leader Imran Khan.

Thousands of demonstrators recently mobilized from the stronghold toward Islamabad to demand his release.

Protest organizers had aimed to rally hundreds of thousands more along the way.

🏛️ Poland probes suspected assassination attempts on PM, defence minister

Polish authorities have launched an investigation into suspected assassination plots targeting two of the nation's top officials.

On Sunday, the interior ministry disclosed that Prime Minister Donald Tusk may have been targeted.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz was also identified as a target.

Interior spokeswoman Karolina Galecka confirmed the threat report at a press briefing.

She stated that the State Protection Service flagged the danger and transmitted the report directly to the police.

⚔️ Ukraine strikes Russian data centre again despite Trump warning

Russian technology giant Yandex has suspended operations at a data center in Vladimir following a Ukrainian drone strike.

The facility, located east of Moscow, sustained damage that triggered service disruptions for users.

No injuries were reported on site.

This incident marks the third strike against Yandex infrastructure within a single week.

The firm is now struggling to maintain uptime, with three of its five data centers compromised by recent attacks.

⚡ Developing nations face triple shock from energy crisis, El Niño and borrowing costs, UN warns

Developing nations face a severe triple shock that threatens to plunge tens to hundreds of millions back into poverty, the UN has warned.

Ahead of IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, UNDP administrator Alexander De Croo called for urgent global solidarity.

A new report outlines compounding headwinds from El Niño disruptions, surging borrowing costs, and crude oil climbing above $100 a barrel.

Without swift international intervention, these overlapping crises will leave developing economies under intense financial and structural strain.

🛒 After France, is Italy next? Goldman Sachs flags bond risks as Rome's deficit widens

Goldman Sachs is warning of heightened pressure on Italian government bonds following Rome’s contentious new spending plans.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s administration recently greenlit an extra €28 billion in borrowing for defense and energy.

Consequently, the projected deficit will widen to 3.4% of GDP in 2027 and 3.2% in 2028.

These figures outpace earlier April forecasts of 2.8% and 2.5%.

Goldman analysts caution that the fiscal expansion could soon propel Italy’s debt-to-GDP ratio to the highest in Europe.

These measures arrive as investor jitters mount over runaway borrowing across the continent.

🏛️ Trump announces deal for Russian diesel as Zelensky calls it a gift to Putin

Donald Trump announced an agreement to import Russian diesel into the United States.

Under the arrangement, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to release an initial 300,000 tonnes immediately.

Deliveries were set to scale up with 500,000 tonnes in November and an additional one million tonnes thereafter.

To facilitate the trade, the US Treasury suspended sanctions on Russian diesel exports through April 7.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky swiftly denounced the deal as a boon for Moscow, warning that it actively finances the ongoing war.

European allies quickly echoed his condemnation.

📰 Scientists build a nuclear clock that could make atomic clocks obsolete

Researchers in Vienna have unveiled the world’s first self-stabilizing nuclear clock, marking a major milestone in metrology.

The breakthrough harnesses an unusually small energy gap in thorium nuclei, making laser-driven transitions between states possible.

Unlike earlier prototypes, the new device operates autonomously for more than 24 hours without support from conventional atomic clocks.

By using atomic nuclei as exceptionally stable references, this system unlocks unprecedented precision.

It could eventually surpass today’s most advanced atomic standards to measure time and other physical quantities.

⚡ Scientists may have found a shortcut to fusion energy

Physicists at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have uncovered a far more efficient pathway to fusion ignition.

Researchers Luis Delgado-Aparicio, Masayuki Ono, and Jonathan Menard refined the seven-decade-old Lawson criterion.

Their upgraded equation incorporates four additional operational variables.

Their calculations demonstrate that reordering how plasma is heated and compressed significantly lowers the energy threshold needed for a self-sustaining reaction.

Published in Physical Review Letters, the findings outline a promising shortcut toward practical fusion energy.

By curbing the input energy required for ignition, this revised framework could expedite commercial fusion reactor designs.

🩺 A plastic once thought harmless may be fueling fatty liver disease

Researchers at Texas A&M University have uncovered a troubling health risk linked to polyethylene.

Polyethylene microplastics constitute roughly one-third of global plastic manufacturing.

According to Dr. Adi Joshi, the compound’s physiological impact on the liver has long been overlooked.

Now, new findings suggest these ubiquitous particles may actively fuel fatty liver disease.

The risk appears particularly pronounced when microplastic exposure coincides with an unhealthy diet.

🏅 Kipchoge, 41, breaks course record at Melbourne Marathon

Forty-one-year-old Eliud Kipchoge has triumphed at the Melbourne Marathon, shattering the event’s course record.

The two-time Olympic champion crossed the line in two hours, nine minutes, and ten seconds.

This performance secured the Kenyan athlete's seventeenth career marathon victory.

It also marks his first win over the distance since the 2023 Berlin Marathon.

The race route traversed Albert Park and concluded inside the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

🏅 Bezzecchi wins as Martin retakes championship lead

Marco Bezzecchi seized victory at the Indonesian Grand Prix after overtaking pole-sitter Raul Fernandez with nine laps remaining.

Fernandez secured second place despite nursing a fractured index finger.

Jorge Martin crossed the line in third.

This podium finish propelled Martin back to the top of the MotoGP standings.

Marc Marquez dropped to sixth place, relinquishing the championship lead he had captured just one day prior.

Together, Fernandez and Martin locked out the remaining podium spots for Aprilia at a sweltering Mandalika circuit.

📰 Sunday Puzzle: Back to school

This week’s word puzzle challenge comes courtesy of Nancy Taubenslag of Scarsdale, New York.

Participants must identify a well-known transportation company.

Shift its first two letters to the end, then reverse the entire sequence.

Next, embed the name of an international tourist destination.

This manipulation yields the name of a transportation-themed game.

Submissions are due by Thursday, October 15, at 3 p.m.

Eastern Time.

Entrants must include a contact telephone number.

Selected listeners will win an opportunity to play the on-air puzzle.