The Furnished Room by O. Henry

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July 27, 2016

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A Clinton Finds a Changing Democratic Party

  The Democratic Party that is set to nominate Hillary Clinton for president is not the same party that twice nominated her husband, Bill Clinton, for president. The party’s 2016 platform -- or statement of positions on major issues -- is the most progressive in the party’s history, according to Senator Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton, who defeated Sanders for the Democratic nomination, is backing key parts of the platform. She is expected to accept the Democratic nomination on Thursday, the last day of the four-day convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 2016 platform is more liberal than the positions Bill Clinton campaigned on and supported during his two terms as president from 1993 to 2001. Bill Clinton’s positions Clinton vowed to “end welfare as we know it,” and signed a 1996 bill that put time limits and work requirements on welfare recipients. He signed the “Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as a union of one man and one woman. The Supreme Court in effect ended the law when it ruled last year that same sex couples can marry. Bill Clinton also negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Hillary Clinton now says did not do what many had hoped” in creating jobs for Americans. In 1992, when Clinton accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, he spoke about what government should and should not do. He promised a “government that is leaner, not meaner; a government that expands opportunity, not bureaucracy; a government that understands that jobs must come from growth” under a free enterprise system.     Changing times Brian Brox is a political science professor at Tulane University in the southern state of Louisiana. He said some of the policies Bill Clinton championed in the 1990s came from a group called the Democratic Leadership Council, or DLC, which he helped lead. The DLC called for new “centrist” policies after the party lost three straight presidential elections from 1980-1988 with candidates considered too liberal, Brox said. John Breaux is a former Democratic senator from Louisiana. He replaced Clinton as DLC chairman after Clinton was elected president. “It is a different time now with different issues,” Breaux said.     Brox agrees. He said: “America has changed in the 16 years since his presidency ended, and the current platform reflects how the country has changed after wars and an economic crisis, as well as how the country is demographically different than it was when he was president.”  Breaux said Clinton carried southern states when he ran for president. Those states are now solidly Republican in national races. That means Democrats do not feel the need to support centrist proposals that appeal to Southern voters, he said. The new Democrats The 2016 Democratic Party has gone further than the party led by Bill Clinton in the 1990s. For example, Bill Clinton supported and won passage of a bill requiring most companies to offer family leave so a worker could deal with an emergency. Now, Democrats and Hillary Clinton propose that the law do more. For example, they want companies to continue paying employees for up to 12 weeks if they have to take care of a sick child or parent. Bill Clinton appears comfortable with the more liberal agenda proposed by his wife and the Democratic Party, said Tulane University’s Brox. “He might very well have pushed for a more progressive agenda had the voters wanted it,” Brox said. “But ultimately he wanted to win then, just as he wants his wife to win now.” As president, Clinton balanced his centrist proposals with some liberal bills. He proposed a bill, which his wife pushed in Congress, to provide health insurance for all Americans. He also proposed a crime bill with a five-day waiting period for handgun purchases and higher taxes on wealthy Americans to lower the deficit. The crime and tax bills passed. The health care legislation did not. Clinton has mostly managed to get favorable ratings from a majority of Americans despite continued controversy. In 1998, a majority of voters held a favorable view of Clinton, even as Republicans tried unsuccessfully to remove him from office for his sexual relationship with a White House intern. Last month, Clinton was criticized for meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch at an airport. The meeting occurred just days before she said the government would not prosecute Hillary Clinton for using a private email server as secretary of state. But Democrats said there are few people better able to tell Americans why they should elect Hillary Clinton, over her Republican opponent, businessman Donald Trump. “No one can do a better job talking about the things that Hillary has done, the fights she's taken on," said Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager.   Bruce Alpert reported this story for VOA Learning English.  Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   welfare -- n. a government program for poor or unemployed people that helps pay for their food, housing, medical costs, etc. leaner -- adj. thinner, smaller bureaucracy -- n. a large group of people who are involved in running a government but who are not elected free enterprise -- n. a system in which private businesses are able to compete with each other with little control by the government centrist -- adj. moderate positions on issues, not overly liberal or conservative replace -- v. to do the job or duty of another person demographically -- adv. qualities such as age, sex, and, income, ethnic background of people prosecute -- v. to charge a person with a crime and move to prove guilt email server -- n. a system used to transmit messages through computers controversy -- n. strong disagreement about something among a large group of people

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Solar-Powered Plane Completes Trip Around the World

For the first time, a solar-powered airplane has completed a trip around the world. The Solar Impulse 2 landed in Abu Dhabi before sunrise on Tuesday, after a trip that took 17 months and covered more than 42,000 kilometers. Although poor weather conditions delayed the flight many times, energy from the sun provided all of the power required for the long and difficult journey. Solar Impulse chairman Bertrand Piccard flew the plane during the final hours of the flight. Fellow pilot Andre Borschberg joined him in Abu Dhabi. The Swiss explorers hugged in excitement on completing the journey. Piccard spoke to reporters after landing the plane. His words pointed not so much to the accomplishment of the long-distance flight, but to the future of the technologies involved. “The future is clean. The future is you. The future is now. Let’s take it further,” Piccard told a crowd. From the beginning, the project was meant to bring attention to clean energy and the technologies it requires. In a statement, Picard said, “Our mission now is to continue to motivate people, corporations and government to use these same solutions on the ground wherever they make sense.” He also spoke about the need to create an international agency for clean technologies. He said such a group could bring together policymakers and companies that develop solar, wind and fuel cell technologies. The around-the-world flight was divided into 17 parts. The longest and most difficult part was from Nagoya, Japan, to Kalaeloa, in the American state of Hawaii. That trip took nearly five days. Co-pilot Borschberg set a world record for an uninterrupted flight alone. A trip that was part exploration part, part technology test The Solar Impulse 2 brings together several technologies that researchers are working to improve. The plane’s body is made of very light, but strong carbon fiber. The carbon design keeps the weight of the plane low. The whole aircraft weighs about as much as a car. Yet, its wingspan is huge, measuring 72 meters from wing tip to wing tip. That is greater than a 747 passenger Jet. Most of the Solar Impulse 2’s wings and body are covered with more than 17,000 photovoltaic cells. Four batteries keep the plane’s four engines operating for nighttime flight. The plane set several records for distance and time in the air. However, traveling at 45 to 90 kilometers an hour, the aircraft is anything but fast. The flight began in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates, on March 9, 2015. But the effort started more than 10 years earlier. The first test flight took place in 2009. Since then, there have been several versions of the Solar Impulse plane. Piccard and his team faced many technical problems, especially with the design of the batteries. The batteries permit energy to be stored when the sun is not shining. Growing costs also threatened the project. Last year, Picard told the Guardian newspaper that the solar plane project cost about $170 million dollars. The project showed many of the difficulties facing solar flight. Weather and equipment failures kept the plane grounded for long periods of time. Some experts believe these problems can be solved with further research. Ron Bishop is an aviation expert with Central Queensland University in Australia. He told VOA’s Victor Beattie that there were ways to design solar airplanes to overcome the technical problems. One way might be to use hybrid technology. Hybrid means bringing two power sources into one system. “What we could probably see is a hybrid, so possibly an aircraft that takes off with a jet engine and then once it gets to altitude it can run on the solar or on batteries.” Earlier this week, co-pilot Andre Borschberg said the flight had already proven that long distance air travel is possible without creating pollution. "By flying around the world thanks to renewable energy and clean technologies, we have demonstrated that we can now make our world more energy efficient,'' he said. I’m Mario Ritter.   This story is based on reporting by Smita Nordall of VOA News and other materials. Mario Ritter adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   journey –n. a trip, to travel from one place to another accomplishment –n. to have reached a goal, to have accomplished something motivate –v. to give a reason to do something photovoltaic –adj. related to making electricity from light aviation –n. related to flying devices hybrid –adj. something formed by combining two or more things

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Kenyan Runners Find Place on US Olympic Team

Three Kenya-born long-distance runners will be competing at the Rio Olympics this August for Team USA. Paul Chelimo, Shadrack Kipchirchir and Leonard Korir will be wearing the USA uniform in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Because they are soldiers in the U.S. Army, the runners were able to apply for and receive U.S. citizenship without waiting the usual three or five years. Chelimo will compete in the 5-kilometer race in Rio de Janeiro. Kipchirchir and Korir will run in the 10-kilometer race. All of the runners competed at the recent Olympic Trials in the state of Oregon. They made the team by finishing in the top three in their events. The Kenya-born athletes had attended universities in the U.S. and were members of their school’s track and field teams. Kipchirchir went to Oklahoma State University. Korir went to Iona College outside of New York City. Chelimo went to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. When it came time to decide what they would do after school, enlisting in the U.S. Army seemed like a good idea. Dan Browne is a former Olympic athlete. He coaches the runners in the Army’s World Class Athlete Program. Browne said top athletes who are looking to stay in the U.S. enlist in the military because they can become citizens sooner. Korir said people in Kenya love to run. So it made sense that he and his countrymen would try to continue their careers. “In Kenya, running is like soccer in Brazil,” he said. Chelimo, 25, joined the Army in 2014. He is a water treatment specialist. Korir will turn 30 later this year. He is a motor transport operator. Kipchirchir is 27. He is a financial management technician. Browne says the athletes can be paid, perform their military duties and also prepare for major competitions like the Olympics. All of the athletes in the program are great ambassadors for the Army, Browne said. "They represent sacrifice, determination, loyalty, commitment - all of our ethos." Some members of the international track and field community are concerned about how easy it is for athletes to change countries. Sebastian Coe, a famous British runner, is the president of the organization that governs international track and field. He and other track and field leaders will meet during the Rio Games to discuss whether it is too easy for athletes to change their citizenship. The Kenyan-American runners believe they have worked hard to represent the U.S. After he qualified for the Olympics, Kipchirchir said he still performed duties like other soldiers in the U.S. Army. Kipchirchir and some of the other runners live in Beaverton, Oregon. Beaverton is home to the athletic company Nike. They will often train with athletes who are paid to represent Nike. “Their job is just running,” Kipchirchir said. "They concentrate on just running.” But Kipchirchir says he is a soldier, first. In all, there will be 10 athletes at the Rio Games who are serving in the Army. Another runner, a race walker, four shooters and a modern pentathlon competitor will join the three runners from Kenya for the games. I’m Dan Friedell.   Tom Banse wrote this story for VOANews.com Dan Friedell adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. What do you think of the path the Kenyan runners took to the Olympics? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   trial – n. a test of the ability of an athlete to perform in a competition enlist – v. to sign up (a person) for duty in the army, navy, etc. determination – n. a quality that makes you continue trying to do or achieve something that is difficult ethos – n. the guiding beliefs of a person, group, or organization

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Report: Vietnam Among Biggest Illegal Ivory Markets

  The conservation group Save the Elephants says Vietnam has become one of the world’s biggest illegal ivory markets. It also says that 75 percent of ivory buyers in Vietnam come from China. The group recently published a report called “Vietnam’s Illicit Ivory Trade.” The report found that more than 16,000 ivory items were for sale in over 240 stores across several Vietnamese cities. In a similar report in 2008, 2,400 products were for sale in the same places. Esmond Martin is a researcher at Save the Elephants. He says most of the ivory tusks sold in Vietnam come from African ports on the Indian Ocean. He says that two-thirds of the ivory that leaves Africa goes to China and Vietnam. And, while the Chinese ivory market has decreased in recent years, Vietnam’s ivory market has increased greatly, Martin says. “The big difference between (the Chinese) and Vietnamese market is (that) the China market on the retail, legal side and perhaps on the illegal retail side has been going down but the Vietnam market has been absolutely booming.” The investigators said the ivory trade had increased in Vietnam because of corruption, a lack of law enforcement and an increase in travelers in Asia. The Chinese government has in the past few years strengthened its efforts to end the illegal elephant ivory trade. Researcher Lucy Vigne says that lower ivory prices have caused Chinese ivory buyers to cross the border into Vietnam. "Prices in China are far higher than in Vietnam. That is why Vietnam is a major place for mainland Chinese to come down and buy ivory out of their country illegally.” The report notes that prices for comparable ivory items cost three times more in Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai than they do in Vietnamese cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Iain Douglas-Hamilton is the founder and head of the Save the Elephants conservation group. He said it is important to close new ivory markets that are opening in Asia. He calls the recent study “a warning that when you think you are on the verge of solving a problem, it may shift across…the borders of other states. “In this case, the problem now of illegal ivory-trading has shifted across the border with Vietnam.” Experts estimate that 100,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory tusks between 2010 and 2012. I’m Dorothy Gundy.   Mohammed Yusuf reported this story from Nairobi. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   illicit – adj. not allowed by law; unlawful or illegal tusk – n. a very long, large tooth that sticks out of the mouth of an animal (such as an elephant, walrus or boar)

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AIDS Conference Closes, But Hard Work Begins

  Health officials, experts, advocates, researchers and many others gathered in South Africa last week for the 2016 International AIDS Conference. AIDS is short for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. As the conference was ending, organizers told delegates to go back home and start the hard work toward an ambitious goal. The goal is to end the threat from the disease by the year 2030. The five-day conference offered delegates a chance to hear about ways to stop new infections from HIV, the virus responsible for the disease. They also could attend discussions on treatment for those infected and efforts to develop a vaccine for AIDS. The first International AIDS Conference was held 21 years ago. Since then, health officials and researchers have made progress against the disease. Yet HIV/AIDS has killed tens of millions of people, infected tens of millions and continues to infect many more. More than 1 million AIDS-related deaths were recorded last year. Seventeen million infected people are receiving antiretroviral drugs. But 20 million others have yet to be treated. This led conference organizers to appeal to all nations and their citizens to do what is necessary to stop these numbers from increasing. Olive Shisana was a co-chair of the conference this year. “We need to heed the call to start a social justice movement that aims to reinvigorate the HIV response similar to the global anti-apartheid movement that we had.” Apartheid was a system of racial separation in South Africa. It ended in the 1990s. At the conference, the South African health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, called on young people to launch a campaign to bring about a new generation free from HIV.  “A global campaign led by young people is urgent. If we don’t we will not be able to achieve a generation free of HIV/AIDS by 2030.” Linda-Gail Bekker is the incoming president of the International AIDS Society. She made an emotional appeal to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The fund collects donations and provides financing to prevent and treat those diseases. “Whether people live or die in many countries will depend on how donors respond to the Global Fund’s call to action. Lives depend on the Global Fund.” The message to all delegates was simple and clear; the conference might have ended, but the hard work has just begun. I’m Anna Matteo.               Thuso Khumalo reported this story for VOA News from Durban, South Africa. Anna Matteo adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. ____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   advocate – n. a person who argues for or supports a cause or policy : a person who works for a cause or group ambitious – n. having ambition : having a desire to be successful, powerful, or famous antiretroviral – n. medical : acting, used, or effective against retroviruses invigorate – v. to give life and energy to (someone) : reinvigorate to put life and energy back into (someone) apartheid – n. a former social system in South Africa in which black people and people from other racial groups did not have the same political and economic rights as white people and were forced to live separately from white people call to action – n. something such as a speech, piece of writing, or act that encourages people to take action about a problem

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Michelle Obama Gives Powerful Speech at Democratic Convention

This is What’s Trending Today…. Monday was the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Democratic Party is set to officially name Hillary Clinton as its presidential nominee. The first night of the political meeting included many high-profile speeches in support of Clinton. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was until recently a Democratic presidential candidate himself. In his speech, he spoke directly to his supporters in the audience and across the country. He urged them to now support Hillary Clinton for president.   Elizabeth Warren also spoke. The Massachusetts senator attacked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling him “a man who must never be president of the United States.” But, it was First Lady Michelle Obama who stole the show in Philadelphia. Her powerful and emotional speech is already being called, by some, one of the best speeches in Democratic National Convention history. She spoke as a mother who wishes for the next president to be a role model for her two children and for children across America. She said that, “in this election there is only one person I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton.” She praised Clinton for her record as a public servant and her “lifelong devotion to our nation’s children.” Obama became emotional when she talked about living for the past eight years in the White House, a house, she said "that was built by slaves.” ​ She said that she has watched her children, “two beautiful intelligent black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.” The first lady also said that Hillary Clinton has shown her daughters and children around the country that it is possible for a woman to be president of the United States. ​ Obama did not say Trump’s name once in her 14-minute speech. But, she made remarks clearly directed at him. ​ She said that she wants the next president to be “someone who understands that the issues a president faces are not black and white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.” Trump often makes 140-character statements about his positions on his Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump. And, she told the audience to not “let anyone ever tell you that this country isn’t great, that somehow we need to make it great again.” Trump’s political slogan is “Make America Great Again.” ​ Political observers and people on social media praised the first lady’s speech. Matthew Dowd worked on Republican President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign. He tweeted Monday that Obama’s speech was the “best most effective speech of last two weeks and really the season.” The New York Daily News even decided to quickly change its Tuesday front cover after Obama’s speech. It read: The Lady Is Her Champ.” ​ Last week, Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention was a headline topic, after Melania Trump’s speech included very similar words. But her 2016 speech may go down as one of the most memorable of the entire election season.   And that's What's Trending Today.   What do you think of Michelle Obama's speech? Let us know in the comments section! _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   devotion -- n. the use of time, money, energy, etc., for a particular purpose​ steal the show -- expression. attract the most attention and praise remark - n. something that someone says or writes to express an opinion or idea boil down - phrasal verb. to shorten, simplify or summarize slogan -- n. a word or phrase that is easy to remember and is used by a group or business to attract attention​ champ - n. (short for champion) someone who fights or speaks publicly in support of a person, belief, cause, etc.

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July 26, 2016

A look at the best news photos from around the world.

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July 25, 2016

A look at the best news photos from around the world.

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1400 UTC Newscast in English

From Washington, this is VOA News. I’m Frances Alonzo reporting. The Islamic State group said Tuesday that two assailants who stormed a church in France and killed an elderly priest were its "soldiers," according to an IS-linked news agency report. The claim just came hours after the attack in the Normandy town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray. The two assailants stormed the church during morning mass, taking five people inside hostage and slitting the throat of its priest, who was in his 80s. The attackers were killed by police after they emerged from the church. This is a French Interior spokesman, who says an investigation is being conducted. He says: "The Paris prosecutor has given the investigation to an anti-terrorist unit of the judicial police, and the director-general of interior security." Meanwhile, President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday to wage war against the Islamic State "by every means" within the law after two men were linked to the jihadist group. Japan is in a state of shock over Tuesday's knifing attack in which at least 19 disabled people were murdered and 25 others wounded. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. He described the attack as very tragic and shocking. He is praying for peace for the departed souls and extended condolences to the victims’ families. The suspect is identified as a 26-year old former employee of the facility for the disabled, who allegedly murdered the people as they slept.  He turned himself in at a police station, carrying bloodied knives and admitting to officers that he did it. He has a history of mental illness and had been hospitalized early this year after delivering a letter to parliament, in which he threatened to kill hundreds of the disabled. This is VOA News.   We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

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