Learn English With Slow News: Police Dog Pensions Ep 813
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Hi there. I know most of you love it when we do slow news. I cover current news stories from the UK and around the world, and I explain any difficult vocabulary so that it's easy to understand. I haven't done slow news in a while.

So let's do that today. This is four news stories from around the world in under 13 minutes. This is so that you can practice your English language understanding on interesting, current and relevant topics.

And today, listen right until the end if you have a family member who raids the fridge, as we say, who goes to get food from the fridge when it's not mealtimes. You'll feel better about that problem when you've listened to this podcast. Hello, I'm Hilary and you're listening to Adept English. Adept English.

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News story number one. This was on the BBC News website Thursday 5th of June and has the headline, First bacteria we ever meet can keep us out of hospital. This article talks about how our microbiome, that's the natural bacteria that we carry in our bodies from the moment we're born, how this microbiome can mean that we don't get sick.

We don't become ill and it can prevent us needing to go to hospital. That's what the headline means. So vocabulary here, bacteria, B-A-C-T-E-R-I-A, are all those little tiny microorganisms that live inside us. There are harmful bacteria which make us ill, but there are lots of good bacteria.

which keep us healthy and well. These bacteria not only help our immunity to disease, but they are essential to life. And the word microbiome, that's M-I-C-R-O-B-I-O-M-E, the microbiome refers to the collection of bacteria which each of us carry with us, on our skin, in our ears, inside our mouths, and of course, in our digestive system.

the system of the body which processes the food that we eat. But babies inside their mother's wombs, that's W-O-M-B, babies are in a sterile environment, S-T-E-R-I-L-E. That means no bacteria. So as soon as newborn babies come into the world, as soon as they're born, they start to collect the bacteria which will form their microbiome.

probably for most of their lives. This happens during the process of being born and in their first few days of life.

So what bacteria babies are introduced to in these early days forms their microbiome and determines their health to some extent. The BBC News article discusses recent research where scientists took samples of newborn babies' microbiomes and then followed each baby's progress to see which babies got sick and

and which were healthy. The conclusion of the research? Well, what bacteria we are introduced to in the first few days of our lives really matters. A quote from the article, the first bacteria our bodies meet in the hours after we're born could protect us from dangerous infections. For example, having a

good microbiome bacteria halves the chances of being admitted to hospital for lung problems for young children. Cuts it by half. That's amazing. Your lungs, L-U-N-G-S, are what you use to breathe. This research was done by University College London and the Sanger Institute. They collected stool samples from babies. That means they're poo in UK English or poop.

in US English. They did this for 1,082 newborn babies in the first week of their lives. They analysed what types of bacteria were present and then tracked what happened to those babies using hospital data for the next two years.

And the results showed massive health differences between babies with good bacteria and babies with bad bacteria. So much so, it's believed that this may affect the development of babies' immune systems. That's I-M-M-U-N-E. So on the back of this, what if we were able to influence the bacteria that babies were exposed to in the first week of life? Make sure that they get the good ones, in other words.

This could have a massive impact on their overall health. I'm sure there'll be more research into this. New story two. There was a call this week for retiring police dogs to be given a pension. Vocabulary here. If you retire...

that's the verb to retire, R-E-T-I-R-E, that means you stop work. That's usually because you're old and it's time to wind down work and enjoy yourself while you still can. That's retirement. And if you're retired and lucky, you have a good payment from your pension that comes in every month. That's

pension, P-E-N-S-I-O-N. And generally, we think of human beings, people, as having a pension. Book calls this week for retiring police dogs to be given police pensions. So these are dogs which have served on the UK police force. There is a charity in the UK called the Thin Blue Paw. A

A paw, P-A-W, is an animal's foot. Dogs have paws, four of them. Why is it called the thin blue paw? Well, it refers to an expression sometimes used to describe the police as the thin blue line.

that protects our community. The Thin Blue Paw is a charity for retired police dogs and it finds homes for them once they finish their service. Apparently every year 50 to 70 police dogs are retired and new homes are found for them, sometimes with their handlers, the people who work with them in their police job or just simply members of the public that take these dogs in.

What a nice idea, adopting an old police dog. I might quite like that. But why the suggestion that they need a pension? Well, the reality is that some of the retiring police dogs are actually quite young. They have to retire because they've been injured while doing their work, in the line of duty, as we say.

Sometimes these injuries mean that the dogs come to their new owners with a need for vet bills every month. A vet or veterinarian is an animal doctor, of course. So there can be the need for frequent medical treatment, which of course costs money. Hence the need for a police dog pension. Seems pretty reasonable to me. If police officers get a pension, then perhaps also...

so should police dogs, especially the ones who need medical treatment. News story number three. You may have noticed that the case of Madeleine McCann is back in the news again. This was the British three-year-old girl who disappeared from her holiday accommodation while sleeping one evening in the town of Praia da Luz in the Algarve in Portugal. Her parents,

Kate and Jerry McCann campaigned to keep the news story in the headlines in the hope that their missing daughter would be found. But 18 years later, and this case is still unsolved. No one has ever been charged with taking Madeleine McCann, and there's no new evidence since the investigation. So why is this story back in the news again? Well, the main suspect,

that's S-U-S-P-E-C-T suspect, the person suspected of committing the crime, is a man called Christian Bruckner. He's been serving a prison sentence. That means he's been imprisoned, P-R-I-S-O-N, in Germany for rape. And his sentence is due to come to an end this September. So he will be released.

So after that, he will be a free man and it's possible he will disappear. So at the point of making this podcast, German police are in Portugal searching land around the resort to see if they can find new evidence. As ever with news stories,

The situation could change over the weekend before this podcast goes live. But as I'm making it, I think there is no new evidence. This must be really difficult for the parents, Kate and Jerry McCann. I know that they will live each day with what happened, but this must bring it all back to them once again.

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Fourth and last news story. If you've ever had a complaint that your teenager, your husband or your wife raids the fridge, that means they take food from the fridge when it's not actually a mealtime, but rather when they feel a bit hungry, then spare a thought for the owners of a shop in Thailand, in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

Kamploi Kaikau is the owner of a shop and she posted a video online of an elephant who visited her shop. The elephant came from nearby Kewa,

Khao Yai National Park in northeastern Thailand. Kamploi Kakao said the elephant simply wandered into the shop and ate about nine bags of sweet rice crackers, a sandwich and some dried bananas, which she bought that morning. He is the most enormous elephant and he did no damage to the shop other than the roof, which was damaged simply because he could only just fit underneath it.

When he'd finished snacking, the elephant simply reversed out of the shop, rather like a car going backwards, still with bags of snacks held in his mouth. Off he went and simply got on with his day. So a damaged roof and a bit of mud on the floor was all that was left behind.

I do wonder whether he might be back for more. There is video footage if you follow the link in the transcript, if you're interested to see that one. So there you have it, my quick news roundup to help your English language learning for new stories from around the world. Use this podcast to practice your understanding and listen a number of times to work on any English words that you don't already know. If you like our channel, don't forget to subscribe.

And let us know of any interesting or unusual news stories in your country. Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye.