Name: 2025: The year’s big news stories: BBC Learning English from the News
Uploaded: 2026-01-12T17:22:22.000Z
Duration: 8 min 31 s
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This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this program, we're looking at some of the big stories of 2025.

In this program, we look at the biggest news stories in the world and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand them.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode on our website, bbclearningenglish.com so, Pippa, what news stories dominated the headlines in 2025?

Well, in January this year, President Donald Trump returned to the White House after winning the 2024 US election.

President Trump has made lots of headlines this year, both for his policies in the US and his foreign policy.

But the biggest learning English from the news story of the year was back in February when President Trump announced tariffs on imports to the US from around the world.

Tariffs make imports more expensive, a cost which is often passed on to consumers who then have to pay more for imported products.

Trump first talked about imposing tariffs on other countries in his election campaign, and

Beth and I looked at a headline about that in this clip.

As Trump's tariff pledge comes due, he vows to follow through on key campaign promise.

This headline is talking about Trump's election campaign promise to impose tariffs.

He said he's going to do it and now he is doing it.

If you follow through on something, you do something until it's completed.

For example, if you promise to help someone and you follow through on your promise, then you help until your help isn't needed anymore.

Now, follow through on is most commonly used with promises or things you say you're going to do.

For example, my manager has said I might get a pay rise soon and I hope she follows through on it.

It's also possible to change on for, with or to drop the preposition completely if it's obvious what you are following through on.

So you promised to make me a cake and I hope you follow through.

Now, Neil, this is a serious story about economic tariffs and you're talking about cake.

Imposing tariffs and making cake are quite different things.

it demonstrates how we can use follow through for everyday things as well as serious topics like tariffs.

So the vocabulary Beth and I looked at was follow through on, which means to fulfil a promise to do what you say you're going to do.

For example, he said he'll give me his prawn curry recipe.

Today we're talking about some of the big stories from 2025.

This year on Learning English from the News, we've covered some of the wars and conflicts in the world, such as the war in Ukraine and the Israel Gaza war.

And in April 2025, we talked about the war in Sudan, which charities and humanitarian organizations called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

When we reported on the story in April, 12 million people had been forced to leave their homes because of the war.

And and charities said 30 million people in the country needed aid, such as food and medication.

And Neil, you and I discussed a headline about the crisis in the country.

Two Years of War in Sudan, a devastating combination of record displacement and dwindling aid.

That's from the unhcr, the UN refugee agency.

That headline again from the unhcr, Two Years of War in Sudan, A devastating combination of record displacement and dwindling aid.

This headline is about the problems impacting people living in Sudan because of the war, such as displacement, which is where people are forced to leave their homes.

So what does it mean if something is dwindling?

Well, if something is dwindling, it's gradually becoming smaller or less frequently.

So the headline is talking about dwindling aid.

This means the amount of money and help for Sudan is gradually getting smaller.

Here, dwindling is an adjective, but we can also use the verb dwindle.

For example, you could say letter writing is dwindling.

We often hear the word dwindling in news stories when we're talking about something that is getting less attention.

For example, you might hear about dwindling support for a politician or dwindling hopes of finding survivors after a natural disaster.

So we had dwindling, which means gradually getting smaller.

For example, the company's dwindling profits are worrying for investors.

This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.

We're looking back at some of the big stories from 2025.

Another news story that made global headlines this year was a break in at one of the most famous museums in the world, the Louvre in Paris.

In October 2025, thieves broke into the museum and stole eight extremely valuable items of jewellery.

The robbery at the Louvre happened on a Sunday morning just after the museum opened.

The thieves escaped on scooters and took items, including tiaras and necklaces, that belonged to French royalty or imperial rulers.

The entire break in took about seven minutes.

Since the robbery happened, some people have been arrested and charged, but

Pippa, you looked at the headlines from this story with Phil?

Here's a clip of us discussing a headline about the search for the thieves and the stolen jewellery.

Race against time as police try to recover priceless jewels from Louvre as authorities reveal details of daring raid.

This headline describes the search for the stolen jewels as a race against time.

What do we mean by a race against time, Phil?

Well, race against time is an expression which means that there's only a short amount of time left to do something.

In this story, police think that the thieves will quickly break apart the jewels they've stolen and sell them.

So police want to find the thieves quickly before they have a chance to do this.

We commonly hear this expression in stories about crime and policing, but

we might also hear it used to describe any situation where there's a time pressure.

For example, after a natural disaster like a flood and emergency services are in a race against time to rescue survivors.

Using this phrase, you can describe a situation as a race against time, or someone can be in a race against time.

So Phil and I discuss the expression race against time, which refers to a situation where there is only a limited amount of time to do something.

For example, the town only has a few hours to prepare for the big storm.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back in the new year to bring you the big stories of 2026.

If you like learning from the news, try our new documentary, Our World in English, which brings you the best stories from around the BBC.

The first episode is called Love in a War Zone.