Note that the word 'briton' is almost exclusively found in newspapers

Exercise 1

a) On the left there is a list of headlines. On the right there is a list of news topics. Match the headlines with the appropriate topic as in the example.

1. PM BACKS PEACE PLAN	marriage of famous actress
2. MP SPY DRAMA	royal jewels are stolen
3. SPACE PROBE FAILS	person who saw crime in danger
4. QUEEN'S GEMS RIDDLE	proposal to end war
5. STAR WEDS	satellite is not launched
6. KEY WITNESS DEATH THREAT	politician sells secrets to enemy

b) Explain what the following headlines mean in ordinary English.

Example: SHOP BLAZE 5 DEAD – Five people died in а fire in а shор.

1. MOVE TO CREATE MORE JOBS

2. GO-AHEAD FOR WATER CURBS

3. WOMAN QUITS AFTER JOB ORDEAL

4. POLL PROBES SPENDING HABITS

5. BID TO OUST PM

6. Prince vows to back family

c) The words marked in the above table can be either nouns or verbs. Note that the meaning given is usually in the form of a noun. In the headlines below you have examples of words from the table used as verbs. Look at the underlined verbs and explain what they mean. You may need to use more than one word.

E x a m p l e: PM TO CURB SPENDING – limit

1. BOOK LINKS MIS WITH KGB

2. CHANCELLOR CUTS INTEREST RATES

3. BOMB BLASTS CENTRAL LONDON

4. PM PLEDGES BACKING FOR EUROPE

5. PRESIDENT HEADS PEACE MOVES

Exercise 2

a) Read the headlines and predict what the article is about.

Set 1

1. MPs CRITICISE EU RESEARCH PROGRAMMES

2. LENNON FILM FETCHES £36,000

3. MAN CHARGED OVER SHOT PC

4. CLERK JAILED FOR CHEQUE FRAUD

Set 2

1. PENSION BLOCK

2. AITKEN IN N KOREA RIGHTS PLEA

3. DIARY DATE

4. TOP STUFF FOR 1O LEADERS

5. BAR WARS CASE GOES TO EUROPE

b) Read the articles from ''The Daily Telegraph'' July, 2003 and match the above headlines with the proper article.

Set 1. IN BRIEF

a) European Union research programmes receiving nearly £500 million from British taxpayers every year are cumbersome, tardy and unfocused, say MPs.

Britain seemed to gain more than most countries participating in "EU framework programmes", but that did not necessarily mean value for money, said the House of Commons science and technology committee yesterday. It doubted the European Commission's commitment to cutting bureaucracy.

The report attacked the Treasury for clawing back money won from the EU by British scientists by cutting the national science budget.

b) An accounts clerk was jailed yesterday for four years for stealing more than £400,000 from her City employer.

Natasha Saleh-Niessl, 32, an Austrian living in Market Harborough, Leics, and earning £34,000 a year, started a property portfolio and paid for foreign trips with money taken from the investment bank CAIB with 131 forged cheques, the Old Bailey was told.

c) A teenager appeared in court yesterday charged with the attempted murder of a policeman in Glasgow on Sunday night.

Paul Murray, 19, of Barlanark, Glasgow, is alleged to have shot Pc John Cunningham, 53, a father of two, at Shettleston police station. He was remanded in custody when he appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

d) Two reels of previously unseen soundless film footage depicting John Lennon walking around New York City in 1974 sold for almost £36,000 at Christie's yesterday. The film was made by a young man who approached the former Beetle and asked if he could portray a day in his life. At the same sale in New York, Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the song If You’ve Got Trouble, which did not appear on a Beatles album until 1996, sold for £ 25,500.

Set 2. IN BRIEF

a) TEN leading entrepreneurs have been nominated for a business award – The Entrepreneurs' Entrepreneur – organised by the CBI and Real Business magazine. The winner will be selected by CBI members, readers of the magazine and visitors to the website of the Growing Business Awards, www.growing businessawards.co.uk.

The 10 are Charles Dunstone, Sir Alan Sugar, Selios Haji-loannou, James Dyson, Sir Ken Morrison, Dame Anita Roddick, Sir Richard Branson, Graham Wylie, Sir Tom Farmer and Philip Green.

b) SMALL companies are moving quickly to try to cap pension liabilities, according to survey results. More than two-thirds of defined schemes sponsored by small and medium-sized businesses are closed to new entrants, says Momentum, the independent financial adviser.

c) SMALL businesses are being encouraged to apply for next year's Queen's Awards for Enterprise. The closing date for the three categories, international trade, innovation and sustainable development is October 31. Contact 0870 513 4486 or www.queens awards.org.uk for an entry pack.

d) The former Tory Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken called on North Korea to end its human rights violations and release 100,000 prisoners held in ''barbaric'' camps.

He was speaking as a trustee of the charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide, which fights religious persecution.

Mr. Aitken handed a letter and a banner reading "Respect human rights" and "Allow religious freedom" to a representative of North Korea's embassy in London.

Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, but Mr. Aitken said: "We also need to remember the immense personal suffering over the last 50 years in North Korea."

e) A battle between the confectionery group Nestle and its rival Mars over the use of the term "Have a break" will go to the European Court of Justice, the Court of Appeal in London ruled yesterday.

The dispute is over whether the catchphrase – used by Nestle to promote Kit Kat – is sufficiently distinctive to merit trademark status. Nestle wants to prevent competitors launching a bar named after the term.