M: Yeah, so IELTS people love these topics about news. So they can ask you topics in general about news, or news online, reading news online. So just like online news, and also newspapers versus online news. So yeah, all this jazz. And Rory has used our favorite expression. I try to stay abreast of current events.
R: Like stay abreast of current events - stay up to date with things that are happening in the world. If you imagine like abreast is like to your site, then the news is next to you. So you have the most recent news. That is my explanation. Deal with it.
M: What else can I use it with? Like to stay abreast of news? To stay abreast of, I don't know, my friends?
R: No, to stay abreast of current events to stay abreast of, to stay abreast of what's happening? What's going down? What's on?
M: Yeah. Yeah. I tried to stay abreast of what's on in my town or in my country. Yeah. And then we get the news from the internet. So the internet and on the internet. I read the news online or on the internet. Okay? And then we use this current events or current news. Current. Can I say actual news?
R: No, even though I think the word actual in Russian does mean current or something happening now. And probably in some other languages too.
M: So should I say current events or current news or what? Urgent news? Hot news?
R: The news.
M: The News. Yeah. Also you can say like, it's easier to stay up to date with the news. When you read it online. Yeah, it. The news is it okay? News is on the internet. So I read it online. Careful. What did you mean by the state-run news? The state-run news?
R: Oh, I think just about every country has this. So the state-run news company or news service. It just means that it it's owned by the state. So in the United Kingdom, that's the BBC. And in Russia, I think Russia today is owned at least in part by the state.
M: Yeah. And also you can say, I read news about my region. So your region or my city, my place and then we can also comment on unbiased. So the news being biased or unbiased.
R: Unbiased means neutral, and biased means not neutral. It favors a certain point of view.
M: Yeah. So usually, if you read the news by the state, it can be biased. From independent sources, it's unbiased. But again, it's up to you what to believe. So, yeah. Also, you can say like, I also like looking at the recent invents, page on and then you can mention the website. On Wikipedia? Really? So Wikipedia does some news pages?
R: Well, it's not intended as a news page. It's sort of an aggregate of different news pages. But it's just like, here's the stuff that's happening, or like, here's the big event, and then different details about it. Oh, wow, that's interesting. But sometimes, it's funny because of course, like, Wikipedia, is open to being edited by anybody. So sometimes you get like, people just write really crazy things there. It doesn't happen very often. But when it does happen, it's quite funny.
M: Okay, cool. And do you use any apps to read the news? Or it's like Wikipedia? So you just like...
R: No, I don't. Lot's of people have like apps on their phone that inform them what's happening.
M: And do you read the BBC, Rory?
R: Sometimes, I guess. But we're like, I mean, there are 3 million different kinds of BBC News. Because there's one for Scotland. There's one for Wales. There's one for the United Kingdom. I imagine there's probably one for Irish.
M: Yeah, do you watch the Scottish BBC?
R: Yeah.