Exercise 2. Fill in the gaps.

1. The Gaddafi regime’s claims to have retaken Zawiya, 50 km west of Tripoli, were backed _____ by reporters Bill Neely from the UK’s ITV network and Deborah Haynes from the Times newspaper.

2. Freddie Mac was bailed _____ by the US government last year.

3. Egyptians complained that Twitter and Facebook accounts have been _____ for the last two days, but many accessed them via proxies.

4. Lawmakers in the capital Bissau observed a moment of silence for President Vieira who was killed by soldiers in an apparent tit-for-tat attack and for the army chief-of-staff General Tagme Na Waie who was blown _____ in his headquarters hours earlier.

5. Communal violence in Nigeria is complex, but it is often boils _____ _____ competition for resources such as land between those that see themselves as indigenous versus the more recent settlers.

6. Tunisia’s army chief warned that a ‘power vacuum’ could bring _____ the dictatorship, as pressure continues to mount on the interim government.

7. Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the relations between the parties had broken _____ and called for elections to be held.

8. Opposition parties say the fund will bring _____ too little money and have dismissed the plan as a political gambit ahead of an important regional election.

9. The protests in Cairo continued late into the early hours of Thursday morning- small groups were reported to be breaking _____ from the main demonstrations, throwing stones at police who responded with tear gas.

10. The current concern is that a spark in Crimea could touch off a violent confrontation or even the kind of fighting that broke _____ between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia.

Exercise 3. Match the beginning of each sentence with its suitable ending.

1. Police fear that two of the bombers might have blown up …

2. Two Tupolev airlines that took off from Domodedovo were blown up …

3. A bomb blew up …

4. Two suicide bombers killed at least 11 people and wounded scores when they blew themselves up …

5. The bombers blew themselves up …

6. While Mr. King said the Bank of England was committed to bringing inflation back …

7. Police units were asked to bring in …

8. US state department spokesman PJ Crowley said: “If we have a meeting, we’re going to bring up …

9. Corruption is bound up with …

10. They are reported to both be building up …

a) … in mid-air .

b) … in mid-air by suicide bombers.

c) … in a busy market in the oil hub of Basra, killing further seven people, and wounding 18.

d) … their forces ahead of a referendum on independence.

e) … the Moscow trains.

f) … towards the government’s 2% target, he more than hinted that there would be no rate rises for the foreseeable future.

g) … water cannons, normally used in riot control, to spray water on the fuel.

h) … the nuclear issue, and we’ll see how Iran responds to that”.

i) … the personal animosities and shadowy connections with Russian interests that bedevil Ukraine’s political scene.

j) … in a crowded market.