Report: Poor Conditions, Low Wages in Chinese Toy Factories

  China Labor Watch (CLW) is an activist group based in New York. The group studies labor conditions in China’s toy industry. In a recent report, the group wrote: “The world of toys is a heaven for children, but (it) may be a world of misery for toy factory workers.” China Labor Watch released the report this month. It tells about working conditions in four toy factories in southern China’s Guangdong Province. Investigators say the workers are paid wages of $300 or less per month for 174 hours of work. They say the workers make toys such as Barbie, Thomas the Tank Engine and Hot Wheels. These products are sold by Mattel, Hasbro, Disney, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart and other large American companies. China Labor Watch says the employees often work in dangerous conditions and are not well-trained. The group says, “the average working hours in these four factories are 11 hours a day, with more than 50 overtime hours a month.” Overtime is time worked in addition to regular working hours. The group said overtime totals were as high as 130 hours in some factories. The group said its information came from people who worked at the factories. These workers were secretly gathering information for the group at what researchers call “relatively well-managed” factories. Chinese laws say employees may not work more than 8 hours a day. The laws permit work hours to be extended in some cases, but employers must be sure the workers do not become tired. The report says employees sometimes worked 11 hours in a day with only a 40-to 60-minute lunch break. It said this is a clear “violation of the right of workers to have adequate rest.” The report says factory managers regularly asked workers to sign “voluntary overtime agreements.” These agreements permit the factory to violate labor laws and regulations without fear they will be punished. Wages too low to live on Because the pay is so poor, almost all of the employees volunteer to work additional hours. Worker Li Jintao told VOA: “the wages are too low. My monthly salary is $360, but after deductions for social security, I make only a little more than $292 per month.” Workers pay a part of their wages into a social security fund, which is used to support older people when they cannot work anymore. Chinese laws require companies that have foreign investors to pay social security taxes for their workers. But the CLW report says none of the factories closely followed the laws. It said one factory did not pay into the social insurance or the housing fund for the workers. Another factory paid only a part of the money to some workers. The report said some factories even forced the workers to agree to give up their right to receive social insurance and housing funds. Li left his home village at the age of 14 to work in the city. He says his monthly salary includes payment for two to three hours of overtime every day. The 2016 minimum wage in the cities of Dongguan and Foshan is $223 per month, while the minimum wage in Shenzhen is $300 per month. The four factories examined by China Labor Watch are in those cities. Workers at the factories earn about five percent more than the minimum wage. But Li says that is still not enough. He plans to leave his job and return to his family home. No safety training The report said the four factories did not give safety training to workers before they began their job. And it said they failed to give the workers safety equipment. The report said almost all of the workers live and eat in the factories where they work. Some of the workers complained about poor-quality food. They said their sleeping areas are old and dirty and often have uncovered electrical wires. Like many toy exporters in China, the factories China Labor Watch investigated have been examined by the International Toy Association. They are part of a program called ICTI Care, a 10-year-old program that says its goal is to protect toy factory workers. Employers: “Conditions better than ever” Mark Robinson is a spokesman for ICTI Care. He said the project does most of its work in China. He said it has examined more than 1,200 toy factories in the country. The project also operates in Vietnam, India and other countries. Robinson said it represents 66 million workers. He says conditions in the factories are better than they have ever been. He adds that Chinese factories that are part of the program are increasing wages. But the China Labor Watch report said the ICTI standards violate China’s own labor rules. Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, told VOA that ICTI is “an association backed by Mattel, Disney and Hasbro, which (permits) factory workers to work 72 hours a week, and even 78 hours while the factory has to fill an order.” CLW sees no improvement Li began investigating southern China’s toy factories as an undercover laborer in 1999. He said there have been small improvements but the “overall environment for the toy industry has not improved.” Li said when he was working undercover, “we worked more than 10 hours a day, and it was like a prison. Now, workers still work more than 10 hours a day.” China Labor Watch researchers say companies that operate the factories can raise wages and improve conditions and still be profitable. But they say most companies choose not to do so. Disney, Mattel, and Wal-Mart did not answer VOA’s requests to give a reaction to the report. Disney released a statement. It said, “these issues have been investigated and resolved. Disney will continue to encourage and rely on factory owners, business associates and governments to promote safe, inclusive and respectful workplaces where Disney-brand products are made.” I’m Anna Mateo. And I'm Jonathan Evans.   Correspondent Xiao Yu of VOA’s Mandarin service reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report 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 misery – n. extreme suffering or unhappiness assembly line – n. a line of machines, equipment, workers, etc., in a factory that builds a product by passing work from one station to the next until the product is finished adequate – adj. enough for some need or requirement; good enough; of a quality that is good or acceptable deduction – n. something (such as an amount of money) that is or can be subtracted from a total social security fund – n. a fund created to pay workers when they are too old to work or are injured and cannot work undercover – adj. done or working in a secret way in order to catch criminals or collect information adjust – v. to change in order to work or do better in a new situation brand – n. a category of products that are all made by a particular company and all have a particular name

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The Making of a Nation: Louisiana Purchase

The U.S. was not always this big. A series of unexpected events transformed the U.S. from a small nation along the Atlantic Ocean into a large country that stretched across most of North America. This video tells the story of the Louisiana Purchase.

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‘President Trump’ Worries Some International Students

  Hussain Saeed Alnahdi was one of the almost 400 international students attending the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Twenty-four-year-old Alnahdi was from Saudi Arabia. He began his studies at the school in the Midwestern part of the United States last year. But early on the morning of October 30, Alnahdi’s experience as an international student came to a violent end. An unnamed attacker beat him until he died outside a restaurant in the city of Menomonie. A few weeks later, police announced they had arrested a suspect. They said they do not believe the attack was a hate crime, or a crime influenced by race. But events like the attack in Wisconsin have raised concerns for many international students living and studying in the U.S. Study in the U.S.A. is a company that supports international students who want to study at American colleges and universities. A few days before the U.S. presidential election, the company released the results of an opinion study of 1,000 international students from 130 countries. Over 65 percent of the students said they would be less likely to study in the U.S. if Donald Trump were elected president. FPP EDU Media also works with international students. The company released its own survey of 40,000 students in June. Those results suggested 60 percent of their students felt the same way. During his campaign, President-elect Trump made statements about Mexican people that many critics called racist. At one point, he called for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a civil rights group based in Montgomery, Alabama. The group says it has received 437 reports of incidents of intimidation and harassment in the six days following the election. Renait Stephens is the chief executive officer of Study in the U.S.A. She says international students and their parents are worried. However, she is also hopeful. She argues that what a politician says during a campaign and what they do once they are in power are two different things. Stephens says international students will have to wait and see what happens. "It’s early days. And until we know something more about any policy changes, then I think we just have to really emphasize that and hope that our education system will continue to be how it is right now. So right now we’re just trying to reassure students that nothing has changed. U.S. campuses are still safe. They’re still open. They’re still diverse. And you still get a fantastic education." Other experts say there has never been any real threat to international education. The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a nonprofit organization that studies and supports international student exchanges. Together with the U.S. Department of State, the IIE releases a report every year on the number of international students in the U.S. The 2016 Open Doors report says about 1,044,000 international students attended American colleges and universities last year. That is a record number. Peggy Blumenthal is an official with the IIE. She says the organization has been recording international student numbers for over 90 years. She says international students are mostly concerned with the quality of the education they can get in the U.S. The rest of the world still values the strength of the American higher education system above almost any other country, she adds. Blumenthal points to historical examples. When the U.S. accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in the capital of Serbia in 1999, major protests took place at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. But, she says, shortly after the protests, Chinese students were complaining the American embassy was not processing their visas fast enough. Blumenthal says this shows world events do not easily affect international student exchanges. "International students really value their opportunity to study in the United States. And throughout the whole history of our collecting data, there has almost never been a drop in the number of international students coming to the United States. There have been many important changes in American policy, in international circumstances, in the economy. But the numbers of international students pretty much continues to rise regardless of what’s going on elsewhere around them." Blumenthal admits there may be a small decrease in the number of Muslim students coming to U.S. schools. That also happened after the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11th, 2001. But she says a decrease in students from one country is often balanced by an increase in students from other countries. Foreign students bring a lot to the economies of many towns and cities across the U.S. The U.S. Department of Commerce says international students added about $30 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015. Blumenthal argues that no politician is willing to risk losing that. However, Philip Altbach remains worried. Altbach is the director of the Center for International Higher Education. The center works through Boston College to research and support international study. Altbach says there are examples of decreases in international study in other countries. He notes the major decrease of Indian students studying in Australia after several Indians were attacked there in 2009 and 2010. He also says the language Trump and his supporters used during the campaign has lowered the world’s opinion of the U.S. "I think that the toxic discourse of the campaign and of what Mr. Trump has said for a long time actually is extraordinarily damaging for the image of the United States in general and in the thinking of students and faculty members overseas who may be considering studying in the United States or coming here as professors. Because the choice of where to study in the world depends very significantly on the comfort that students and their families will feel about the country to which they are planning to go." Altbach says international students and professors bring different perspectives to the universities where they study or teach. Losing them would cost the American students a lot -- educationally and financially. He says international graduate students and professors are involved in much of the research done at most U.S. universities. Also, decreases in international student numbers may not affect large, well-known universities, he says. But many others need international students to pay the full price to attend. Having international students pay more makes it possible for schools to let American students attend at reduced cost, he says. Altbach admits there is no way to know what will happen until the new administration takes office. But until then, universities must make clear public statements saying they will support and protect international students. If not, Altbach says, America may no longer be the first choice for people seeking the best education in the world. I’m Pete Musto.   Pete Musto reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. How would Donald Trump being president affect your decision to study in America? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   hate crime – n. a crime influenced by an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex or religion, typically involving violence influence(d) – v. to affect or change someone or something in an indirect but usually important way survey – n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something racist – adj. showing belief that some races of people are better than others intimidation – n. enforcing agreement by making someone afraid or using violence harassment – n. constant or repeated action causing someone to feel slightly angry or troubled, worried, or concerned emphasize – v. to give special attention to something reassure – v. to make someone feel less afraid, upset, or doubtful diverse – adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other toxic – adj. very unpleasant discourse – n. the use of words to exchange thoughts and ideas perspective(s) – n. a way of thinking about and understanding something, such as a particular issue or life in general graduate student(s) – n. a person who is working on a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university after earning a bachelor's degree or other first degree

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Olive Trees Survive Islamic State Occupation

  The Iraqi government campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State, or IS, militants has resulted in major damage to nearby towns and villages. But the fighting has not stopped sales of a local food product: olives. Issa, a 24 year old Iraqi man, points to a group of olive trees at the base of a nearby mountain. "For two years I couldn't get to those trees," he says. "But now I water them and they will come back. Olives are strong." Peshmerga forces controlled the mountains while IS forces held his village. Issa says the militants would not let local people get too close, for fear they might escape.   Two weeks ago, Peshmerga forces captured the town of Bashiqa after a three-day battle. Homes and some streets are still being cleared of bombs. But along the roads, people like Issa sell olives and olive oil to travelers – mostly soldiers. The olive trade appears to be the only business that has survived in the area to the north and northwest of Mosul. When the Islamic State had control of the area, the locals sold olives to IS militants. They were the only people who had money to buy food. Even then, militants paid much less than the normal price. Samer is an olive seller who operates a stand near the village of Khorsebad. "When IS was here, we were selling these (olives) for 500 to 600 Iraqi dinars (about 50 American cents) a kilo. Now we sell the same for 6,000 dinars (about 5 dollars)." Historically, olive trees have been a sign of peace, civilization, and honesty. For the farmers, the trees now represent something much more important: a chance to rebuild their lives. Today most of the buyers of olives are Peshmerga and Iraqi soldiers going to and from Mosul, about 30 minutes away by car. Most civilians are not permitted to pass through military checkpoints. The area is still considered a war zone. "All the people in my village depend only on this business," says Issa. He supports his wife and four children by selling olives. "And the Peshmerga soldiers all know we have the best olives." Gosum owns a shop near Bashiqa. His business was badly damaged. He says it usually takes three years for neglected olive trees to produce fruit if they regularly get water. Once a well-known fruit farmer, he now sells olives in small plastic bags to feed his 13 children. In and around Bashiqa, the local population is also trying to recover from the physical and mental damage. Gosum tells of the fear the villagers felt when the fighting reached his village. "It was very dangerous because we were in the middle of it," he says.   A few kilometers away, Issa climbs the stairs of a building once used by IS gunmen. Below, one farm was completely burnt. The farmer was a Peshmerga fighter who left IS territory as soon as he could. "If you left the area," Issa says, "IS took everything." In the building next door, the saying "Long Live the Islamic State" can still be seen on a wall. Issa tells of the fear villagers felt during IS rule. "They would listen at our door to see if we were talking on mobile phones. If you saw an IS militant, you would be terrified." I’m John Russell. Heather Murdock wrote this story for VOA News. John Russell adapted this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story checkpoint – n. a place where people, cars, etc., are searched by someone (such as a police officer) before being allowed to continue neglected – adj. not given enough attention or care shop – n. a small business or store mobile – adj. of or related to being moved or transported

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Monday-Morning Quarterbacking: Expressions of Looking Back

  Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories. Each week we take a closer look at words and expressions commonly used in American English. We explain how to use them in conversation. We also explore their origins and histories. For that part, we need to look back. And that is the topic of today’s program: looking back. When you look back you are remembering the past. The past is where we keep our memories, our mistakes and our successes. We begin with an expression about the past: What is old is new again. This expression means that trends popular decades ago often become popular again. Younger generations “rediscover” past trends and make them new again. This expression brings us to a word that is very popular today – retro. Retro describes clothes, furniture, music and pop culture from an earlier time that are in fashion again. Retro is Latin for “back,” “behind” or “backward.” Here is a short dialogue using the word “retro.” Wow! I love the way you’ve decorated your living room. It looks like the 1960s in here. The furniture is so retro! Is that a real turntable? And are those actual albums?! Yep. I brought them from my parents’ house. They were up in the attic just collecting dust. I can’t believe people used to listen to music with this equipment. It’s so … complicated. I know. But I love the retro look and they actually sound great. Turn it up! “I think to myself what a wonderful world.” (Louis Armstrong sings “What a Wonderful World.”) “Retro” is also the first part of another useful word in American English: retrospect. “To retrospect” is to review or consider past events. A retrospective is a display of an artist’s entire body of work. And in conversation, when you want to say that you have been thinking about the past, you can begin with “in retrospect.” For example, “In retrospect, I should’ve saved more money for my house. Now, all I can afford is a very small condo.” Or, “In retrospect, he should’ve studied something different at college. It is not easy to find a well-paying job in ancient basket weaving.” When we look back at past events, we are also using our hindsight. Hindsight is knowledge and understanding we have about an event only after it has happened. We can say “in hindsight” to express that we should have known something was going to happen. For example, “In hindsight, I should have known that the party was going to be terrible. Everyone there had been working on the losing political campaign. It was no party at all. It was more like a funeral!” That example brings us to another “looking back” expression: Hindsight is 20/20. The saying may only be three words. But it is loaded with meaning. First, let’s explain 20/20. If your eyesight is perfect, you have 20/20 vision. So, if something has already happened you can, of course, see it clearly. We often say “hindsight is 20/20” in a sarcastic way. It means a person is unfairly judging the wisdom of someone else’s decision using information that was only available later. You can also use this expression in a kind way. For example, “If I had known that I love teaching English so much, I would have started sooner. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.” Used this way, you can forgive yourself or others for a misguided decision in the past. We have another expression with a similar meaning: Monday-morning quarterbacking. To understand this expression, you first need to know that during American football season many American football teams play on Sundays. So, when Monday morning around, sports commentators and football fans discuss what happened the day before. You also need to know the job of the quarterback. The quarterback leads the team. He talks to the team on the field and decides what actions the players will take to win the game.   So, Monday-morning quarterbacks are people who are not actually quarterbacks – they are not even players. But after the game is over, they say what the team should have done, especially if the team lost. In other words, Monday-morning quarterbacks analyze the mistakes others have made after everyone knows the results. Monday-morning quarterbacks have a bad reputation because they present themselves as having better solutions, even though it is impossible to know what they would have done in the same situation. The term “Monday-morning quarterbacking” is not limited to American football, or even sports. We use this expression after any competition, such as military battles or political elections. After the 2016 presidential election in the United States, talking heads, or commentators, filled the news with their Monday-morning quarterbacking. They debated about which side lost or won and why. However, while the campaigns were actually happening, many of these same commentators said things that were quite different. In retrospect, perhaps the public should not have paid so much attention to them. But then again, hindsight is 20/20. And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories. I’m Anna Matteo.  "Midnight, Turn your face to the moonlight, Let your memory lead you, open up, enter in. If you find there the meaning of what happiness is -- then the new life will begin." Anna Matteo wrote this for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   sarcasm – n. the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny : sarcastic – adj. commentator – n. a person who discusses important people and events on television reputation – n. the common opinion that people have about someone or something : the way in which people think of someone or something talking head – n. informal : a person who gives information or opinions on a television show and whose head and shoulders are shown on the television screen

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An American National, But Not a Citizen

  The United States is made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia and 16 territories. Five of these territories are permanently inhabited. They are the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa. More than four million people live in them. Except for American Samoa, people born in these territories automatically become U.S. citizens. They have many of the same rights as other U.S. citizens; however, they may not vote for president, and they do not pay federal taxes. People who live in American Samoa are U.S. nationals but are not automatically given birthright citizenship. In other words, they do not automatically become U.S. citizens at birth. American Samoans can apply to become naturalized citizens, but the process is lengthy and costly. In addition, they must live in the U.S. for three months before they can apply. Then they must stay in the U.S. for months or even years while their application is being processed. During that time, they may not hold a job that requires U.S. citizenship. A debate about citizenship Some American Samoans believe the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution already gives them citizenship. Section 1 of the Amendment says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” In 2013, some American Samoans used the amendment to argue for citizenship. They asked a federal district court judge to order that they be given birthright citizenship. But the judge refused. They appealed the decision. But, a three-judge federal appeals court panel also refused to grant American Samoans birthright citizenship. The panel said only Congress, not the courts, had the power to make rules for territories. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of that ruling. It did not say why. But the justices seemed to be saying a ruling the Supreme Court made in 1901 should not be changed. At that time, the Supreme Court considered a series of cases about how the territories won by the United States in the Spanish-American War should be governed. It ruled 5-4 that people in those territories did not have full constitutional rights, even if they are U.S. citizens. The majority said only Congress -- not courts or even the Constitution -- could give people in the territories full rights. Since then, Congress has given birthright citizenship to people born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. Many writers, professors and constitutional law professors disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year not to hear the appeal. They said people should not be governed unless they can fully take part in the decisions of a government. And many said the 1901 Supreme Court decision, which spoke about “savages” and “alien” and “uncivilized” races, is both embarrassing and racist. They believe American Samoans, like people born in the other four populated territories, should be given automatic citizenship. What does American Samoa say? The government of American Samoa disagreed with those who wanted birthright citizenship. It said it did not want any change to be made in the current policy. It said "the people of Samoa are happy with this situation.” One reason the government of American Samoa is not seeking birthright U.S. citizenship is because of land ownership. It told the Supreme Court that if the U.S. Constitution applied fully to the territory, laws that stop non-Samoans from buying land could be threatened. Currently, more than 90 percent of the territory’s land is owned communally.   Some legal experts disagreed with the territorial government. They said land ownership rights were separate from citizenship rights. In any case, the territorial government believes American Samoans should decide for themselves in a referendum whether they want to automatically become U.S. citizens. It says if they do, they should then ask Congress to change the law. I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise. (You can learn more about the case here.) VOA Correspondent Christopher Jones-Cruise reported this story from Washington and wrote it in VOA Special English. Kelly Jean Kelly 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   inhabited – adj. occupied or lived in by someone or something automatically – adv. always happening because of a rule, law, previous agreement, etc. naturalize – v. to permit (someone who was born in a different country) to become a new citizen panel – n. a small group of judges chosen from a larger court to hear a case and make a decision communally – adj. shared or used by members of a group or community

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English in a Minute: Switch Gears

Switching - or changing - gears on a machine makes it change speed. But what happens when a person "switches gears?" Find out in this week's English in a Minute!

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Former Cuban President Fidel Castro Dies at 90

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro is dead at the age of 90, his brother, Cuban President Raul Castro announced.  Fidel Castro’s communist government survived a U.S.-backed invasion of Cuban exiles, a superpower missile crisis, assassination plots and decades of U.S. economic sanctions. But Castro lived long enough to see Washington announce the re-establishment of full diplomatic relations with Havana and the subsequent visit by a U.S. president to the island in March 2016.  He will be cremated Saturday.  Fidel Castro Ruz was born August 13, 1926, and grew up to become one of the leaders of the movement against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. He led a guerrilla force that eventually routed Batista’s army and took over the island in 1959. Triumph and Communism His victory and triumphant entry into Havana captured the world’s attention. But he soon steered the country toward Communism and the orbit of the Soviet Union. “He is a man who made a lot of promises to the Cuban people,” said Cuban democracy activist Frank Calzon. “Cubans were going to have freedom. They were going to have honest government. They were going to have a return to the constitution. Instead what he gave them was a Stalinist type of government.” The United States mounted an invasion of Cuba by a group of Cuban exiles in 1961. But Castro’s forces crushed the invaders at the Bay of Pigs. One year later, Cuba was at the center of a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the placement of nuclear missiles on the island. A nuclear war was narrowly averted. As a close ally of Moscow, Castro deployed Cuban troops to various Cold War hot spots, such as Angola. His policies turned Cuba into an international player, according to Cuba expert Wayne Smith.   “I think he will be remembered as the leader who put Cuba on the world map,” Smith said. “Before Castro, Cuba was considered something of a banana republic. It did not count for anything in world politics. Castro certainly changed all that, and suddenly Cuba was playing a major role on the world stage, in Africa as an ally of the Soviet Union, in Asia, and certainly in Latin America.” Democracy a casualty  At home, universal education and health care were accomplishments that came at the cost of human rights and democracy. Dissidents were thrown in jail and their relatives who protested were often intimidated by pro-government mobs. “Fidel Castro kept power through fear, through the use of the secret police, through manipulating political forces — just like Stalin did or just like Hitler did,” Calzon said. Castro frequently denounced the United States, often staging mass rallies to protest the U.S. economic embargo against his country. Despite decades of U.S. pressure, he managed to stay in power until being sidelined by intestinal surgery in July 2006. The ailing leader formally relinquished the presidency in 2008 to his younger brother Raul, in a transfer of power endorsed in a pro-forma election by Cuba’s National Assembly. Yet he maintained a role in public life as Cuba’s state-run newspaper published his thoughts on various subjects, including a critique of President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba that underscored the normalization of ties.He also occasionally received visiting foreign dignitaries. Large historical figure  His continued presence on the world stage made him unique, says Cuba specialist Phil Peters.  “I think all admit he was a very large historical figure who won a very impressive military victory in the Cuban revolution, who maneuvered through very difficult circumstances in the international sphere,” Peters, of the Lexington Institute, said. “He put Cuba on the map, in many ways, far beyond its importance in history, far beyond its economic capabilities.”   But the Cuban people paid a heavy price, Calzon, the democracy activist said. “Whatever good he did, the cost that the Cuban people have had to pay in lives, in suffering, in torture far exceeds whatever positive could be said about him,” Calzon said. Tyrant or revolutionary, Fidel Castro remained at the center of the world’s media spotlight until the end — an object of fascination for some and repudiation for others. 

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Calls for US Vote Recount Grow, but Trump’s Win Likely Will Stand

  Calls for a recount of ballots in the American presidential election grew louder this week as Hillary Clinton increased her lead in the popular vote.   News media say Clinton, the candidate of the Democratic Party, lost the election to businessman Donald Trump, the Republican candidate. They say he will win more electoral votes than the former Secretary of State.   Trump is busy forming a new government. Political experts say a vote recount is unlikely to keep him from being sworn-in as president on January 20th, 2017. Clinton won the popular vote – winning more than 2 million more votes than Trump, according to the Cook Political Report. But in the United States, the candidate who wins the most votes does not always win the presidency. If Trump wins, as appears likely, he would be the fifth person to become president after losing the popular vote. Electoral College Decides The 538-member Electoral College decides the presidential election, not the popular vote. Electoral College members are chosen state-by-state -- based on which candidates win the most votes in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As of this week, Trump has 306 Electoral College votes, while Clinton has 232. Trump’s number had been 290 until Michigan election officials announced on Friday that he won the state by 10,704 votes. That was the closest presidential election in Michigan’s history. More than 4.7 million people there marked ballots in the November 8 vote. Experts Speak to Clinton Campaign Last week, Clinton campaign head John Podesta spoke with lawyers and computer scientists who urged him to ask for a recount in three states: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They said it is possible that voting machines could have been attacked to affect the results. Trump’s lead in the three states was 1.2 percent, according to The New York Times newspaper. If Clinton, instead of Trump, won those three states, she would end up with 274 Electoral College votes, enough to win the presidency. The experts, mentioned in a New York Magazine story, said their findings show Clinton’s support dropped seven points in areas that used electronic voting machines. Those machines, the experts said, are more open to hacking. So far, the Clinton campaign has not reacted to calls for a vote recount. But another presidential candidate, Jill Stein, began raising money required to finance recounts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. As of Friday, she had raised $5 million. That is enough, the Stein campaign said, to start recounts in all three states. Stein, the Green Party candidate, won a little more than one percent of the popular vote. A statement on her website said the recount is not meant to help Clinton, whom Stein criticized during the election. It is “about protecting our democracy,” the Stein campaign said. Still, it is very unlikely her recount efforts will keep Trump from winning the presidency, according to Nate Silver, a political expert. He operates the website FiveThirtyEight. Silver told VOA it is unlikely unlawful activities affected the election results. He said the differences between districts using electronic voting machines in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin could be explained by race and education levels. He said they are the two factors that most closely predicted voting in the 2016 presidential election. Two Democratic Electoral Collect Members Say Vote Conscience The 538 members of the Electoral College are set to officially choose the next president on December 19. Two Democratic members of the Electoral College called on members to vote their conscience, even if that means going against the wishes of voters in the states they represent. They said that Trump lacks the skills necessary to serve as president. But so far, there are no signs enough Electoral College members will change their votes to keep Trump from winning. Before Election Day, Clinton, who had been expected to win, promised to accept the election results. Trump, who had said he thought cheating might affect the results, refused to make such a promise. “We are a country based on laws, and we’ve had hot, contested elections going back to the very beginning,” Clinton said, before the voting. “But one of our hallmarks has always been that we accept the outcomes of our election.” The last person to lose the popular vote but win the presidential election was Republican George W. Bush in 2000. He lost to Democrat Al Gore that year by 547,000 votes. I’m Bruce Alpert.   Joshua Fatzick reported on this story for VOANews.com. Bruce Alpert adapted his story for Learning English. George Grow 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   mention - v. to talk about, write about, or refer to hack - v. to secretly get access to the files on a computer or network in order to get information, cause damage or change results conscience - n. the part of the mind that makes you aware of your actions as being either morally right or wrong contest - v. to challenge hallmark - n. an important tradition

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November 25, 2016

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

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Glacier Bay: A Land Reborn

  This week in our travels through America’s national parks, we revisit the state of Alaska. The northernmost state is home to eight major national parks. Today, we visit one of its most famous parks – Glacier Bay. This huge park in the southeastern part of the state covers more than 1 million hectares of Alaskan wilderness. It includes mountains, glaciers, fjords, and even rainforests. Glacier Bay supports hundreds of kinds of animals, including many species of birds, fish, bears, whales and sea lions. As its name suggests, much of Glacier Bay National Park is covered by glaciers. A glacier is a large area of ice that moves slowly down a slope or valley, or over a wide area of land. Glaciers cover more than 5,000 square kilometers of the park. Glacial ice has shaped the land over the last seven million years. The glaciers found in the park today are what remains from an ice advance known as the Little Ice Age. That period began about 4,000 years ago.   A land reborn During the Little Ice Age, the cold weather caused the ice to grow and advance. That growth continued until the 1700s, when the climate began to warm. The hotter temperatures caused the ice to start melting. That melting led the huge glacier to separate into more than 1,000 different glaciers. The extremely tall and jagged mountains seen in Glacier Bay National Park were formed by the ice advancing and then melting over time.  The melting of the ice also created water that filled in and created the many fjords within the park. Fjords are narrow parts of the ocean that sit between cliffs or mountains. The huge amounts of water from the melted ice killed off many kinds of plants. Vegetation returned to the area over the next 200 years. The regrowth in plants also brought back many animals to the land. This return of life to Glacier Bay is why it is sometimes called “a land reborn.” A people of tradition There is evidence that people have lived in the area for several thousands of years.  Glacier Bay is the homeland of the Huna Tlingit people.  The Tlingit are an Alaskan Native tribe. They live throughout southeastern Alaska.  They began settling in the Glacier Bay area after the last ice age, once the glaciers began to retreat.  Today, the Tlingit people live a modern life. But they also practice traditions unique to their culture.  In the past, the Huna Tlingit harvested gull eggs every year. Gulls are large gray and white birds that live near the ocean. Gull eggs are an important type of food for the Huna Tlingit. Family harvest trips served as a way to keep ties with their homeland and to pass on stories, moral codes, and cultural traditions to the younger generation. In the 1960s, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act forced them to stop collecting gull eggs.  Together with the National Park Service, however, they have worked to create a sustainable way for them to continue practicing this tradition. Discovery and protection One of the first major expeditions to the area took place in 1794. Lieutenant Joseph Whidbey arrived near Glacier Bay aboard the HMS Discovery, a British Royal Navy ship. The expedition was led by Captain George Vancouver. At that time, the bay was still almost completely filled with ice.  The crew described the scene as “a compact sheet of ice as far as the eye could distinguish.” In 1879 the naturalist John Muir visited the area to do research.  He found that glacial ice had melted back almost 50 kilometers, and had formed a bay. After his visit, Muir and other conservationists urged Congress to protect this special area.  In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge made Glacier Bay a national monument. It did not become an official national park, however, until 1980. In 1992, Glacier Bay became part of a huge World Heritage Site along the border of Canada and the United States.  The 9.7 million-hectare site is the largest internationally protected area in the world. Coastal wildlife One-fifth of Glacier Bay National park is ocean water. And, no point within the park is more than 50 kilometers from the coast. Most animals living here depend on the water or shoreline. Glacier Bay is home to brown bears and black bears.  They are found in the forests, as well as along the coastline.  They feed on berries and plants found in the woods. They also feed on the fish found in the waters. Humpback whales also feed on fish in Glacier Bay’s waters. Whales are large mammals that live in the ocean. Humpbacks can weigh more than 35,000 kilograms.  They come to Glacier Bay every summer for one main reason: food.  They feed on small fish in the water.  They eat more than 450 kilograms of food each day.  They remain in Glacier Bay for about five months each year. There are also 281 species of birds in Glacier Bay.  These include gulls, guillemots, puffins, murrelets, and cormorants. Many of these birds make nests on cliffs. They eat small fish and other sea life. Other animals found in the park include moose, mountain goats, Stellar sea lions, Harbor seals, Harbor porpoises, and sea otters. Exploring the Park Glacier Bay is a popular place for people searching for adventure.  Some visitors choose to explore the park by kayak. The small, narrow boats offer visitors a chance to experience the park’s many fjords and its hundreds of kilometers of coastline. Hiking and camping are also popular activities in the park. But, hikers and campers must have respect for the harsh and remote environment.  Weather and water conditions can be extreme.  Food can also be limited in this area.  There is only one official campground, located in Bartlett Cove.  But camping is permitted along any of the shores or forests found in the park. This kind of camping is called backcountry camping. Another popular way to visit the park is by boat or ship. Cruise ships and tour boats make regular trips into the park. Passengers are able to see the park’s glaciers up close. These glaciers are always changing. Visitors may witness huge pieces of ice breaking apart from the glacier. This is known as “calving.” When the ice falls into the water, it creates a loud, thunder-like noise. From glacial fjords to mountain peaks, Glacier Bay holds some of the continent’s most awe-inspiring natural wonders. It is a land reborn, and a place that continues to change with time. I’m Phil Dierking. and I’m Ashley Thompson Phil Dierking wrote this report for Learning English, with materials from the National Park Service. ­­­­­Ashley Thompson was the editor. Who do you think should control public lands? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________ Words in This Story bay – n. a large area of water that is part of an ocean or lake and partly surrounded by land compact – adj. closely or firmly packed or joined together fjord  - n. a narrow part of the ocean between cliffs or steep hills or mountains glacier – n. a very large area of ice that moves slowly down a slope or valley or over a wide area of land inspiring – adj. causing people to want to do or create something or to lead better lives jagged – adj. causing people to want to do or create something or to lead better lives kayak – n. a long narrow boat that is pointed at both ends and that is moved by a paddle with two blade naturalist – n. a person who studies plants and animals as they live in nature retreat – v. the act or process of moving away species – n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants unique – adj. something or someone is unlike anything or anyone else vegetation – n.  plants in general

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