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1. Hundreds of Iraqi police and army troops fanned out across Baghdad， setting up checkpoints and fortifying polling stations ahead of a historic constitutional referendum.
2. Thousands of birds were culled in Romania after poultry in the Danube delta tested positive for bird flu this week.
3. Russian security forces try to clear out the last pockets of rebel resistance after more than a day of fighting that killed at least a hundred and eight people.
4. Pakistan called off the search for survivors of last week's devastating earthquake to concentrate on helping the millions left homeless.
5. And Daniel Craig was introduced as the first blond James Bond and only the second Englishman to star as 007 in the film series.
WORDS IN THE NEWS
1. fan out
1 fan out fans out; fanning out; fanned out
If a group of people or things fan out, they move forwards away from a particular point in different directions.
The main body of British, American, and French troops had fanned out to the west.
We fanned out from the farmhouse in twos and threes.
PHR-V
= spread out
2. fortify
1 fortify fortifies fortifying fortified
To fortify a place means to make it stronger and more difficult to attack, often by building a wall or ditch round it.
...British soldiers working to fortify an airbase in Bahrain.
VB
fortified
He remains barricaded inside his heavily-fortified mansion.
...fortified castles and villages.
ADJ-GRADED
3. cull
2 cull culls culling culled
To cull animals means to kill the weaker animals in a group in order to reduce their numbers.
To save remaining herds and habitat, the national parks department is planning to cull 2000 elephants.
VB
+ cull culls
Also a noun.
In the reserves of Zimbabwe and South Africa, annual culls are already routine.
N-COUNT
culling
The culling of seal cubs has led to an outcry from environmental groups.
N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp
4. delta
delta deltas
A delta is an area of low, flat land shaped like a triangle, where a river splits and spreads out into several branches before entering the sea.
...the Mississippi delta.
N-COUNT: oft n N
5. pocket
4 pocket pockets
A pocket of something is a small area where something is happening, or a small area which has a particular quality, and which is different from the other areas around it.
Trapped in a pocket of air, they had only 40 minutes before the tide flooded the chamber.
The newly established government controls the bulk of the city apart from a few pockets of resistance.
N-COUNT: usu N of n |