Friday 4th July 2025. France Shein fine. Russian general hit. US Diddy trial. Colombia-US spat. Indonesia ferry. Emojis are (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)
08:36 Share

Let's go!

or the versatile Niro Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or EV. All of our vehicles are backed by a 10-year, 100,000-mile limited powertrain warranty. So visit your local Kia dealer today. Kia. Movement that inspires. Call 800-333-4KIA for details. Always drive safely. Sale applies to purchase of specially tagged 2025 vehicles only. Event N7725. See dealer for warranty details.

Hi, this is Stephen. If you would like to ask me any question at all for the next Ask Me Anything episode, then today is the last day you can send a question. If you are a Send7 supporter, then I guarantee I will answer your question, and if you are not, then I will try to answer your question if there is time.

If you are feeling brave, you can send a voice message that will be played in the episode. Send your question at send7.org. Good morning, this is Send7 World News in 7 minutes. I'm Stephen Devon-Chenzi. Today is Friday the 4th of July 2025.

Starting in Europe today, France has fined the Chinese fashion company Shein 40 million euros for misleading customers.

France's antitrust regulator said that Cheyenne broke rules on how discounts can be labelled, for example, by not basing discounts on the lowest previous price offered in the last 30 days, or by raising prices in order to then lower them to show a discount.

The regulator's investigation said that 57% of labelled discounts on Cheyenne were not actually discounts, and 11% were actually showing prices higher than were previously available. Ukraine has killed the deputy commander of Russia's navy, Major General Mikhail Gudkov, Russia has confirmed.

Unofficial Russian sources have said that over 10 other military personnel were killed when four Ukrainian missiles hit a military base in Russia's Kursk region. In Ukraine yesterday, Russian drone, missile and artillery fire killed Ukrainian civilians in the western region of Zhitomir, the southern regions of Odessa and Kherson,

the central regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava, and in the eastern region of Donetsk. On Greece's island of Crete, forest fires have forced over a thousand people to evacuate,

In Turkey, there are continuing fires in the Izmir region, with many people evacuated. In the United Kingdom, a 92-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for a rape and murder committed 52 years ago. Ryland Headley was found guilty of killing Louisa Dunn in 1967.

Luisa Dunn was born in 1892. Headley was found because of DNA testing from the crime scene, which wasn't available in the past. In Spain, the Portugal and Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota has died in a car crash, along with his brother.

Americas. In the United States, Sean Combs, the rapper and music producer known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, has been found guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution, but not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking. Combs has already been in prison since September and must stay there until he is sentenced because he was denied bail.

Combs has already admitted to domestic violence but denied other crimes. Combs could go to prison for 20 years for the crime of transporting two of his former girlfriends for prostitution, but some analysts have said that it will probably be less. Diddy's lawyer, Mark Agnifilo, has said that the result was a victory. Today's a great victory.

It's a great victory for Sean Combs. It's a great victory for the jury system. And we had a wonderful jury. They listened to every word and they got the situation right, or certainly right enough. In El Salvador, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was tortured in prison, according to a court filing against the United States government

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian citizen who the U.S. government admitted was accidentally deported to El Salvador in March, despite a court order from 2019 saying that he should not be deported. He was returned to the U.S. last month. However, the new court case says that in prison in El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was beaten, not allowed to sleep, and psychologically tortured.

Colombia and the United States recalled ambassadors from each other's countries yesterday. The United States took this action first, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that it was because of, quote, "...baseless and reprehensible statements from senior Colombian government officials," end quote.

Some reports say that Rubio is talking about Colombian officials suggesting that the US was involved in a planned coup against the Colombian government. In Argentina, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with former Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner yesterday at her home where she is serving a six-year prison sentence under house arrest.

Africa. Rwanda has commanded and controlled the M23 rebel group, which has captured parts of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a United Nations report.

Previous reports from the UN have said that Rwanda supported M23. However, this report goes much further, saying that Rwanda trains M23 and has provided it with specialist equipment which makes it better armed than the Congolese army. It also says that Rwanda's support for the M23 group is focused on conquering new territory.

M23 now controls two large cities in eastern DRC, Goma and Bukavu. In Zambia, two tourists have been killed by an elephant, according to police. One woman from the United Kingdom and one woman from New Zealand were attacked by the female elephant that was with a baby during a walking safari.

Asia. Iran's nuclear program has been pushed back by up to two years by US strikes two weeks ago, according to the US Defense Ministry. In Indonesia, rescue efforts were continuing yesterday where a ferry sank on Wednesday night between the islands of Java and Bali. 65 people were on the boat and 30 have been rescued, with the other 35 either dead or missing.

And adding an emoji to the end of your message makes you seem more attentive and caring. According to a new study, the study from the University of Barcelona found that people who regularly use emojis when sending text messages are seen by others as being more responsive and have more satisfying relationships.

The study also found that the exact emoji chosen doesn't matter. A big thank you to Daniel in Israel and Martina in Italy for becoming our newest supporters. If you enjoy this podcast and you'd like to have access to all of our transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets, and world news quizzes, you can become a Sense7 supporter at sense7.org.

We give 10% of our profit to highly effective charities. Have a great weekend and we will see you on Monday.