Let's Learn English Lessons 25-29 Review - Bloopers

These are some of the mistakes we made while filming the Let's Learn English series.

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1300 UTC Newscast for September 21

From Washington, this is VOA News. I’m Ira Mellman. The U.S. President lays out the immigrant crisis to the United Nations: President Barack Obama hosted the world's first ever Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in New York City Tuesday, saying the world is facing a crisis of epic proportions. VOA's Cindy Saine reports. “President Obama came straight to the point about the situation millions of refugees are facing. ‘We are here because, right now in crowded camps in cities around the world, there are families from Darfur and Chad, Palestinians in Lebanon, Afghans in Pakistan, Colombians in Ecuador, who’ve endured years -- in some cases, decades -- as refugees.’ The plight of so many displaced people moved the United States, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and the leaders from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden to pledge to either take in greater numbers of refugees or provide more financial assistance. Cindy Saine, VOA News, New York.” An airstrike in northern Syria that killed five members of medical staff hit a mobile emergency unit and not a medical facility, a relief organization says today. The mobile medical team was hit while responding to an earlier airstrike targeting militants from the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front. We got that according to Dr. Oubaida Al Moufti, the vice president of the International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations. The organization had initially said Tuesday the strike leveled a medical triage point. This is VOA News. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

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President Obama's Last Speech to the United Nations General Assembly

Barack Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly at their annual meeting in New York. It was his last time as President of the United States. Here, he reflects on war, the next generation and his beliefs.

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September 20, 2016

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

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Economic Numbers Improve, But Some Americans Feel 'Left Behind'

  Americans are still frustrated with the economy although new economic information suggests people are working and pay is higher. Many people say the economic recovery has left them behind. They say they plan to voice their frustrations when they vote in the presidential election in November. Denise Alber from Stafford County in the state of Virginia is one of those people. She has two college degrees. She has decided not to work and to help her 98-year-old mother. Together, they receive a fixed income of nearly $25,000 a year. That total is just above the poverty rate for a family of two. She says the price for food, gasoline and electricity have increased, but her family’s income has not gone up. "It's been very, very difficult to maintain that same standard of living, we have not maintained it.” Alber believes that the middle class is not being treated fairly. Economic numbers show improvement New government data show that family incomes rose over five percent in 2015. That is the largest increase since 2007. That increase is another indication that the U.S. recovery continues. However, economists say incomes remain nearly two percent below levels in 2007, before the start of the Great Recession. Maya MacGuineas is the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She understands why many Americans feel like the recovery has left them behind. She said Americans once took a job and the salary grew until retirement. “I don't think it feels like that anymore.” Economists say it is that sense of betrayal that is driving much of the anger during this election season. Some dissatisfaction is caused by a feeling that middle class incomes have remained the same while wealthy families have prospered. Elise Gould is senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. She says the difference between the highest and lowest earners has increased since the recession. “The top five percent is still the only group that has completely returned back to their 2000 levels. So they’ve made up lost ground. There’s inequality across the income distribution.” Some economists blame the lack of an economic recovery for all on political disagreements in Washington. That is one of the reasons Denise Alper says the next election is so important. But, she is not hopeful that the leading candidates will be able to provide results. "In terms of the economy or politics, I'm very despondent in that regard. I don't think either candidate will help the middle class." I’m Jonathan Evans. Mil Arcega at VOA News wrote this story. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter 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   frustrate – v. to cause someone to feel angry, discouraged or upset because of not being able to do something Great Recession – n. a sharp decline in economic activity during the late 2000s betrayal – n. to hurt someone by not giving help or by doing something morally wrong prosper – v. to become very successful usually by making a lot of money recession – n. a period of time in which there is a decrease in economic activity and many people do not have jobs despondent – adj. very sad and without hope

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US Rushes to Admit Refugees Before End of September

  The month of September has been one of the busiest months for the arrival of refugees in the United States.   Almost 79,000 refugees from 78 countries have come to the U.S. since October of last year. That is the largest number of refugees coming to America in 17 years, according to official data. The effort to bring more Syrians fleeing violence in their country has made September the busiest month for arrivals in 10 years. The U.S. refugee program is operated by several federal agencies. These agencies still expect that 85,000 refugees will arrive by the end of September. Lots of airplane tickets bought Michel Tonneau is a staff member with the U.S. refugee program at the International Organization for Migration’s Washington office. He said his agency had bought enough airplane tickets for the targeted number of refugees to reach the U.S. by the end of the month. He said September is usually a busy time for the arrival of refugees. The refugee program tries to get close to the target number without exceeding it. The actual number of refugees often falls a little short of the target. That happened last year. President Barack Obama and the State Department decided 70,000 refugees would be allowed into the U.S., and the country admitted 69,933. European countries struggled to process hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum-seekers in 2015. President Obama announced an increase in the number of refugees the U.S. would accept for resettlement this year. The number rose to 85,000 from 70,000. The decision included the goal of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees.   'Crazy' months for admitting refugees The summer months saw a sharp increase in arrivals. The numbers increased because many Syrian families quickly came from Jordan. “July and August were so crazy. We definitely felt the push,” said Aerlande Wontamo, regional director for Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area. The social services group finds immediate housing for families of refugees. Someone from the service provides transportation, helps enroll children in school and provides support in a new country. Lutheran Social Services and other groups say they can meet the demand of even more refugees. The groups say they could assist 200,000 more refugees. The government set a goal of 100,000 for the coming fiscal year.  The fiscal, or financial year, begins October 1. Media reports this week have suggested that Obama will raise that target to 110,000 refugees. “We’re excited to hear more refugees are going to be coming,” said Wontamo. “That’s a great need.” The U.N. refugee agency registered 16.1 million refugees in 2015. Only about 107,000 of those individuals were relocated to countries that volunteer to take displaced persons. These countries include the U.S., Canada and Australia. Bill Canny heads migration and refugee services for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He said the current effort is not good enough. “Those figures are incredibly low…,” Canny said. “We can all do better, including the United States.” I’m Dorothy Gundy. Victoria Macchi at VOA News wrote this story. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter 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   enroll – v. to enter someone as a member of or participant in something  figures –n. numbers incredibly – adj. difficult or impossible to believe

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Twitter Changes its Character Limit

  This is What’s Trending Today... Twitter has officially changed its 140 character limit.   But, that does not exactly mean you can start writing a 1,000-character Twitter message. The change only means that links and pictures will not be counted toward the limit. A report in May suggested that the social media company was considering making the changes. Later, Twitter confirmed the news and Monday the company announced the changes were taking effect. ​Twitter recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. It has been trying to grow its number of users and find ways to make money. The company reportedly lost over 2 million users in the last part of 2015. Jack Dorsey founded Twitter and then left. He came back to the company last year to try to improve its business. Dorsey said at the time that he was “not going to be shy about building more utility and power into Twitter for people.” Like Facebook, Twitter has been urging followers to use media such as photos and videos. It recently added a polling feature. The company also made changes to its timeline, permitting users to see so-called “best” tweets first. The company has also announced that it reached a $10 million deal with the National Football League. Twitter will stream 10 Thursday night games during the American football season. And that’s What’s Trending Today. VOA News reported and wrote this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.  ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   character - n. a symbol (such as a letter or number) that is used in writing or printing shy - adj. to try to avoid (something) because of nervousness, fear, dislike, etc. utility - n. the quality or state of being useful poll - n. an activity in which several or many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to get information about what most people think about something

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Indonesia Strikes Down Plans for Development in Rainforest

  Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem is one of the few places where tigers, orangutans, elephants and rhinoceros all live in the wild. But there has been talk of possible development of the area for geothermal energy -- heat that comes from the Earth. Wildlife activists are worried about the plan. Rudi Putra is an adviser at the Leuser Conservation Forum. He asked, “Why do they want to build it inside Aceh’s best remaining forest?” He believes that if the plan is approved, the area “will lose many, many animals.” The Leuser ecosystem is in Aceh, Indonesia’s westernmost province. Last month, the provincial governor asked the central government to change zoning laws for 8,000 hectares of the ecosystem to permit geothermal exploration. Under the plan, a Turkish company would explore part of the 800,000 hectare Gunnung Leuser National Park. The United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared the park a World Heritage site. The re-zoning request was structured to help Indonesian President Joko Widodo. He has promised to add 35,000 Megawatts (MW) of electricity to Indonesia’s energy grid by 2020. The plan is designed to increase renewable energy production. But environmentalists worry that such a development would start a series of events leading to Leuser’s collapse. Once the destruction is started, they say, officials would be powerless to stop it. Farwiza Farhan leads a group called Forest, Nature and Environment of Aceh. She says “anywhere you put roads, destruction follows.” She says timber companies and small farmers used the roads to gain entry to forests, leading to environmental destruction. “Right now it is geothermal, but what’s next? Even now they can’t protect Leuser,” she said. Federal laws for protecting wildlife are in place. But in recent years, illegal development and logging has been a problem. Some observers say the ecosystem is shrinking by about 5,500 hectares a year. In Sumatra, logging and land development for farming has destroyed almost one fourth of the forests since 2000. Recently, the Indonesian environment ministry ruled on the Aceh provincial government’s plan. The environmental group Mongabay says the ministry denied the request. The group said it learned about the decision last week during a meeting of the International Union for Conservation and Natural Resources (IUCN) in Hawaii. The minister’s director for protected areas told Mongabay that the minister received the proposal. But “the result was disagreement with the rezoning, so that’s that. [The plan] stops there,” he said. I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.   Cory Rogers in Indonesia reported this story for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow 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   ecosystem – n. everything that exists in a particular environment, including living things -- such as plants and animals -- and things that are not living -- such as rocks, soil, sunlight and water geothermal – adj. of, relating to, or using the natural heat produced inside the Earth zoning – n. a system of rules used to control where businesses and homes are built in a city or town site – n. the place where something (such as a building) is, was or will be located grid – n. a network of electrical wires and equipment that supplies electricity to a large area timber – n. trees that are grown in order to produce wood log – v. to cut down trees in an area for wood

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September 19, 2016

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

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'Game of Thrones' Breaks Emmy Award Record

  This is What’s Trending Today. Hollywood honored its televisions stars Sunday night in Los Angeles. Actors, directors, writers and others gathered at the Microsoft Theater for the 68th Emmy Awards ceremony. The biggest winner was the HBO fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” It received 12 Emmy awards this year. The show has won 38 Emmys since its first season aired in 2011. It also broke a record set by the comedy show “Frasier” for the most prime-time series Emmy awards. Thousands posted congratulations to the show on Twitter. Many also commented on the show’s stars. The Curly Critic praised British actress Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, the mother of dragons, on the show. “Emilia Clarke was an absolute Queen at the Emmys,” the Curly Critic tweeted. Another noted how normal and likable the actress appears. There were also lots of social media posts about matching tattoos on “Game of Thrones” cast members Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams. The two play sisters Sansa and Arya Stark on the show. But they like each other in real life! Their tattoos record the date in 2009 they found out they were cast in “Game of Thrones.” Characters do not always last very long on “Game of Thrones.” So, Turner said, “we were like let’s get these before anyone kills us.” And that’s What’s Trending Today.  I’m Dorothy Gundy. Caty Weaver wrote this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________ Words in This Story fantasy – n. an imaginary story that is far from normal or reality prime-time – n. usually the period between 8pm and 11pm when many people watch television dragon – n. a large, fierce imaginary animal with scales, wings often breathing fire tattoo – n. permanent ink drawing on the skin

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Bombing Suspect Captured After Shootout with Police

The suspect in two bombings Saturday in New York City and New Jersey has been captured after being wounded in a gun battle with police. The 28-year-old suspect was identified as Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan. News video showed Rahami being placed into an ambulance Monday in the New Jersey town of Linden, about 32 kilometers from New York City. The suspect’s arm was bloody and bandaged and officials said he underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg. Local officials said two police officers were also injured during the operation. Chelsea blast The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Rahami was wanted for questioning in an explosion Saturday evening in the Chelsea area of New York City that wounded 29 people. The explosion went off in or near a trash container in a busy area of the neighborhood. The blast sent glass and debris flying into the air. All 29 people wounded were treated and released from the hospital. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described the Chelsea bombing as "obviously an act of terrorism." Rahami is also a suspect in another bombing that happened hours earlier in Seaside Park, New Jersey, about 135 kilometers south of New York City. Police said a pipe bomb exploded before the start of a charity race to help U.S. Marines. No one was wounded. Possible links to other devices The FBI and New York police have also been searching for possible links between the Chelsea bombing and another explosive device found a few blocks away that did not go off. That bomb was recovered shortly after the first one exploded. Police safely removed it from the area and set it off in a controlled explosion. Also, five explosive devices were discovered Sunday in a trash can at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, just outside New York City. One of the devices exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it, but no one was hurt. The bombings happened as leaders from around the world were gathering in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. A U.N. spokesman told VOA that officials evaluate the security needs each day inside the U.N. complex. I’m Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story VOA Learning English, based on reports from VOA News, the Associated Press and Reuters. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story bandage – n. a piece of cloth put on injured parts of the body debris – n. pieces left over after something has been destroyed pipe bomb – n. – a homemade bomb made with a pipe to hold explosives evaluate – v. to consider or study something carefully  

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