World News for Students of English

09-05-2023 07:00

Last Wednesday, a 14-year-old boy used his father’s gun to shoot his classmates and teacher at a school in Belgrade, Serbia.

Sadly, eight children and a security guard died. The police arrested the boy straight after the attack. On Thursday, the school opened again, but the government declared three days of mourning. The following day, there was another shooting near a village south of Belgrade. A man randomly shot at people while driving by. He injured at least 14 and killed eight people. Police arrested the man.

Before these events, Serbia was known for its safe schools and low levels of gun crime. But after these incidents, people don’t feel safe anymore. According to a 2018 survey, Serbia has the third-highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world, after Yemen and the United States.

Difficult words: mourning (when a person is sad and crying because someone dies or something terrible happens), civilian (a person who is not a member of the police or army), ownership (when a person or institution owns something).

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