Japan Plans to Increase Coast Guard Forces in East China Sea

  Japan says it will increase coast guard resources in the East China Sea to help defend islands it controls that are also claimed by China. The government plans to raise overall coast guard spending to a record $1.8 billion starting in fiscal year 2017. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe outlined the plans during a recent meeting with government ministers. Abe said Japan had an “urgent” need to "substantially strengthen the structure and capabilities" of the coast guard. Eight new ships will be added: five to conduct patrols and surveillance and three for research. In addition, more than 200 new law enforcement officials will be added to the coast guard. Japan and China both claim a group of islands in the East China Sea. Japan controls the disputed islands, which are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The area is a popular spot for Chinese fishing boats and is believed to hold natural gas. Coast guard ships from both countries regularly patrol the area. This has raised concerns that an accidental crash could lead to a clash between Japanese and Chinese forces.    “Since the fall of 2012, Chinese government vessels have sailed near the Senkaku islands almost daily, and have entered Japan's territorial waters around the islands a few times a month,” Abe told the ministers. Aircraft have also been sent to the area to observe activity in the territory. In September, China sent about 40 military airplanes over the Miyako Strait, just east of the disputed islands. Japanese officials said the aircraft did not violate Japanese airspace. But it was the first time Chinese fighter jets had flown over the strait. Japan has warned China not to send its fighter jets to the disputed territory. Abe's cabinet is expected to approve a new defense budget reaching $44 billion. This would be Japan’s highest level of military spending since Abe took office in 2012, according to Japanese media. Reports say improved missile defense systems, new submarines and other upgrades are the reasons for the increase. I’m Bryan Lynn. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, with additional material 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   substantially – adv. by a very large amount capability – n. ability or power to do something patrol –n. a group of people, vehicles, etc., that go through an area to make sure that it is safe​ vessel – n. a ship or large boat upgrade – n. when a thing is replaced by something newer, better, etc.  

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English in a Minute: Golden Opportunity

Have you had a "golden opportunity" recently? Learn about this phrase in this week's English in a Minute!

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Suspect in Berlin Truck Attack Shot by Police in Italy

  The suspected driver in the deadly truck attack at a Christmas market in Germany was shot and killed Friday by police in Italy. The 24-year-old Tunisian man, Anis Amri, was killed during a shootout with two police officers in Milan. Amri pulled out a gun and shot one officer in the arm after he was asked to show identification papers during a normal patrol. German officials said they had confirmed through fingerprints that the man killed in Milan was the suspect in Monday’s truck attack. Amri is suspected of hijacking the truck and killing its driver before driving into a Christmas market in central Berlin. The attack killed 12 people and injured more than 50 others.  Police said they found documents belonging to Amri inside the truck. Before Amri was identified as the main suspect, police detained a Pakistani man for possible involvement in the attack. He was later cleared and released. Germany's head prosecutor told reporters the investigation is continuing. He added that it is not yet known whether other suspects might have helped carry out the attack. The Islamic State (IS) said the attacker was inspired by its call for people to strike members of a coalition fighting the militant group in Syria and Iraq. In a video posted by IS's Amaq news agency, Amri pledged his allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He also urged others to carry out attacks on "Crusaders who are striking Muslims daily.” He added: “I swear to God that we will come to slaughter you, you pigs." Officials say Amri arrived in Germany in July 2015, after serving time in jail in Italy for setting fire to a refugee shelter. He sought asylum in Germany but the request was denied. Authorities said he could not be sent back to Tunisia because he had no passport and that country had refused to accept him.   German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered an investigation into the policies that resulted in Amri staying in the country so long. Merkel is facing increasing political pressure in Germany to take a stronger position on immigration and asylum policies. Her popularity has dropped since Germany opened its border to accept about one million refugees.   I’m John Russell. Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, with material from VOA News, the Associated Press and Reuters. Ashley Thompson 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   patrol – ​n. the act of walking or going around or through an area, building, etc., in order to make sure that it is safe​ prosecutor – n. lawyer who press the government’s case against someone accused of a crime inspire – v. make someone want to do something allegiance – n. loyalty to a person, country, group slaughter – v. to kill a lot of people in a violent way 

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December 23, 2016

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

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Obama Bans Future Oil Leases in Much of Arctic and Atlantic

The oil drilling rig Polar Pioneer is towed toward a dock in Elliott Bay in Seattle, May 14, 2015. The rig was the first of two drilling rigs Royal Dutch Shell was outfitting for Arctic oil exploration.

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Group Works to Reduce Holiday Trash, Clean Environment

  The Alice Ferguson Foundation is a non-profit group that works to improve the environment by building relationships between people and nature. The foundation is based in the state of Maryland. It was created more than 50 years ago. It teaches people ways to protect the environment. At the end of the year, it designs events to help children celebrate Christmas without increasing the amount of waste they create. Hanna Seligmann works for the foundation. VOA joined Seligmann recently during one of her talks. “So let’s figure out what is in our bag of trash.” She shows adults and children how to reduce waste during the holiday gift-giving season. “You can sort it as a cardboard item or you can sort it as a plastic item.” Seligmann works with volunteers. “We encourage using things that are already in your house like newspaper, old magazines, using a gift within a gift. You can wrap something in a reusable napkin, wrap something in a scarf, or a shawl or even a reusable tote bag.” Urging people to recycle is important in the Washington, D.C., area. It is home to the Potomac River, one of the most famous rivers in the country. The river is 652 kilometers long. It begins in the mountains of West Virginia, goes through Maryland and Virginia and ends in the Chesapeake Bay. About 5 million people live near the river. That means a lot of waste can enter the river and the bay, which is important to fisheries. Seligmann says the amount of waste created increases during the holidays. “We found out that from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s day, the household trash increases by 25 percent.” Many young people do not know how much waste enters the river until they help to clean it up. Lori Arguelles is the executive director for environmental education at the Alice Ferguson Foundation. “Over time we realized that really just doing trash cleanups was the symptom of the problem, not getting to the root cause. And so it was just a little over a decade ago that we started the initiative itself.” The Trash Free Potomac Watershed Initiative is an effort by the Alice Ferguson Foundation to support clean agricultural methods. It includes educational programs at an environmental center on the foundation’s farm. Programs teach children about the kinds of pollution that can enter the watershed. These include plant and farm waste and trash from homes. One activity is called the Trash Timeline Game. It teaches children that the things they throw away do not decompose, or break down, at the same rate. For example, paper dissolves in about four weeks. An apple core takes two months to break down. A metal can takes up to 100 years. Some things that become trash take a very long time to break down. A plastic bag will not decompose for 450 years. Glass takes 1,000 years. And, they say, Styrofoam never dissolves.  Hanna Seligmann says Styrofoam is banned because of its ability to hold toxic, or poisonous substances. “This is the most toxic form of plastic. And the reason why it's so dangerous is ‘cause when it's out floating in the water it absorbs all the other toxins in the water. So now what we’ve done to prevent that is the Anacostia River Watershed has banned Styrofoam.” Young people taking part in the program learn that reducing waste is important not just during the holidays, but every day of the year. I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise. VOA Correspondent Faiza Elmasry reported this story from Accokeek, Maryland. 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   sort – v. to separate and put (people or things) in a particular order encourage – v. to make (something) more appealing or more likely to happen scarf – m. a long piece of cloth that is worn on your shoulders, around your neck, or over your head shawl – n. a piece of cloth that is used especially by women as a covering for the head or shoulders tote bag – n. a large bag used for carrying things symptom – n. a change which shows that something bad exists; a sign of something bad root cause – n. the cause or source of something decade – n. a ten-year period initiative – n. a plan or program that is intended to solve a problem watershed – n. a line of hills or mountains from which rivers drain; a ridge between two rivers decompose – v. to cause something (such as dead plants and the bodies of dead animals) to be slowly destroyed and broken down by natural processes, chemicals, etc. rate – n. the speed at which something happens over a particular period of time Styrofoam – n. trademarked name used for a type of light and usually white plastic toxin – n. a poisonous substance, especially one that is produced by a living thing

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There's Something for Everyone at Olympic National Park

Hurricane Ridge, in the north section of Olympic National Park, WA

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Let's Learn English Holiday Greeting

At this time of year, the team at Let's Learn English is spending time with their families and friends. We share the holiday traditions with you in this video.

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'The Gift of the Magi,' by O. Henry

    Editor's Note: We are pleased to share a traditional holiday story with you, The Gift of the Magi. You can read along and listen or watch the video.  One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it in the smallest pieces of money - pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by negotiating with the men at the market who sold vegetables and meat. Negotiating until one's face burned with the silent knowledge of being poor. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but sit down and cry. So Della cried. Which led to the thought that life is made up of little cries and smiles, with more little cries than smiles. Della finished her crying and dried her face. She stood by the window and looked out unhappily at a gray cat walking along a gray fence in a gray back yard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy her husband Jim a gift. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Jim earned twenty dollars a week, which does not go far. Expenses had been greater than she had expected. They always are. Many a happy hour she had spent planning to buy something nice for him. Something fine and rare -- something close to being worthy of the honor of belonging to Jim. There was a tall glass mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly Della turned from the window and stood before the glass mirror and looked at herself. Her eyes were shining, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. Now, Mr. and Mrs. James Dillingham Young had two possessions which they valued. One was Jim's gold time piece, the watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in their building, Della would have let her hair hang out the window to dry just to reduce the value of the queen's jewels. So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, shining like a brown waterfall. It reached below her knees and made itself almost like a covering for her. And then quickly she put it up again. She stood still while a few tears fell on the floor. She put on her coat and her old brown hat. With a quick motion and brightness still in her eyes, she danced out the door and down the street. Where she stopped the sign read: "Madame Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." Della ran up the steps to the shop, out of breath. "Will you buy my hair?" asked Della. "I buy hair," said Madame. "Take your hat off and let us have a look at it." Down came the beautiful brown waterfall of hair. "Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the hair with an experienced hand. "Give it to me quick," said Della. The next two hours went by as if they had wings. Della looked in all the stores to choose a gift for Jim. She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. It was a chain -- simple round rings of silver. It was perfect for Jim's gold watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be for him. It was like him. Quiet and with great value. She gave the shopkeeper twenty-one dollars and she hurried home with the eighty-seven cents that was left. When Della arrived home she began to repair what was left of her hair. The hair had been ruined by her love and her desire to give a special gift. Repairing the damage was a very big job. Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny round curls of hair that made her look wonderfully like a schoolboy. She looked at herself in the glass mirror long and carefully. "If Jim does not kill me before he takes a second look at me," she said to herself, "he'll say I look like a song girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?" At seven o'clock that night the coffee was made and the pan on the back of the stove was hot and ready to cook the meat. Jim was never late coming home from work. Della held the silver chain in her hand and sat near the door. Then she heard his step and she turned white for just a minute. She had a way of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please God, make him think I am still pretty." The door opened and Jim stepped in. He looked thin and very serious. Poor man, he was only twenty-two and he had to care for a wife. He needed a new coat and gloves to keep his hands warm. Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a dog smelling a bird. His eyes were fixed upon Della. There was an expression in them that she could not read, and it frightened her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor fear, nor any of the feelings that she had been prepared for. He simply looked at her with a strange expression on his face. Della went to him. "Jim, my love," she cried, "do not look at me that way. I had my hair cut and sold because I could not have lived through Christmas without giving you a gift. My hair will grow out again. I just had to do it. My hair grows very fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let us be happy. You do not know what a nice-- what a beautiful, nice gift I have for you." "You have cut off your hair?" asked Jim, slowly, as if he had not accepted the information even after his mind worked very hard. "Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Do you not like me just as well? I am the same person without my hair, right? Jim looked about the room as if he were looking for something. "You say your hair is gone?" he asked. "You need not look for it," said Della. "It is sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It is Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it was cut for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the meat on, Jim?" Jim seemed to awaken quickly and put his arms around Della. Then he took a package from his coat and threw it on the table. "Do not make any mistake about me, Dell," he said. "I do not think there is any haircut that could make me like my girl any less. But if you will open that package you may see why you had me frightened at first." White fingers quickly tore at the string and paper. There was a scream of joy; and then, alas! a change to tears and cries, requiring the man of the house to use all his skill to calm his wife. For there were the combs -- the special set of objects to hold her hair that Della had wanted ever since she saw them in a shop window. Beautiful combs, made of shells, with jewels at the edge --just the color to wear in the beautiful hair that was no longer hers. They cost a lot of money, she knew, and her heart had wanted them without ever hoping to have them. And now, the beautiful combs were hers, but the hair that should have touched them was gone. But she held the combs to herself, and soon she was able to look up with a smile and say, "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" Then Della jumped up like a little burned cat and cried, "Oh, oh!" Jim had not yet seen his beautiful gift. She happily held it out to him in her open hands. The silver chain seemed so bright. "Isn't it wonderful, Jim? I looked all over town to find it. You will have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it." Instead of obeying, Jim fell on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled. "Dell," said he, "let us put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They are too nice to use just right now. I sold my gold watch to get the money to buy the set of combs for your hair. And now, why not put the meat on." The magi were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. They invented the art of giving Christmas gifts. Being wise, their gifts were wise ones. And here I have told you the story of two young people who most unwisely gave for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi. Karen Leggett wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Your storyteller was Shep O'Neal. The producer was Lawan Davis. Now it's your turn. Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page about a very special gift you received ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   negotiate - v. to discuss something formally in order to make an agreement immovable - adj. not able to be moved : firmly fixed in place expression - n.  the way someone's face looks that shows emotions and feelings magi - n. the wise men, generally assumed to be three in number, who paid homage to the infant Jesus. Matt. 2:1–12.

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English @ the Movies: 'There's Something Off About Them'

On English @ the Movies today, we teach you about the saying "there's something off about them." It is from the funny movie "Keeping up with the Joneses." The story is about two spies who move into a neighborhood. Watch our video to find out if you know what "there's something off about them" means!

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Kenyan Government Stops US-Funded Election Education Program

  The government of Kenya has ended operations of a United States-funded program aimed at educating Kenyans about voting. The Kenyan government action comes just months before the East African country holds its next presidential election. Last week, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta claimed money entering the country through the program is an attempt to influence the election. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) operated the $20 million program. The IFES is a non-governmental organization, an NGO, which supports free and fair elections around the world. The NGO receives funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State. Fazul Mohamed is the executive director of the NGO Coordination Board. This is the state-run corporation responsible for regulating NGOs in Kenya. Mohamed wrote in a letter to the IFES that the Board was stopping the program. The reason he gave was the IFES is not a registered NGO and all its foreign workers are operating illegally. U.S. ambassador to Kenya Robert F. Godec said “the attempt to discredit the United States' efforts to assist Kenyans in the conduct of free, fair, peaceful and credible elections in 2017” disappointed him. Godec added the Kenyan government and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had requested U.S. assistance. The IEBC is an independent Kenyan organization that supervises elections. Godec added that the program operated under their “careful oversight.” Also, the IFES is registered under a Kenyan law called the Companies Act, the ambassador said. This means the organization is legally able to run programs in the country. In a separate statement, the U.S. and 11 other countries said they do not provide help to one candidate or political party over another. The statement said, "the Kenyan people alone have the sovereign right to choose their leaders, and we fully respect this right.” Kenyatta is running for re-election next year. He has accused opposition leader Raila Odinga of secretly working with foreign countries to remove him from power. Kenyatta entered his office in 2013. He gained support from people who were angry over what they considered attempts by Western countries to influence Kenya’s elections. At that time, the International Criminal Court (ICC) charged Kenyatta and fellow politician William Ruto with crimes against humanity. The court in The Netherlands said the two men organized violence following the troubled elections in December 2007. Former President Mwai Kibaki claimed victory over Raila Odinga in that election. More than 1,000 people died and 600,000 lost their homes in the election violence. Kenyatta and Ruto were on different sides of the conflict but became allies after the ICC named them as suspects. They then said that the ICC charges were an attempt to help Odinga. The ICC later dropped the charges because of lack of evidence. However, the top ICC lawyer in the case said witnesses were interfered with and faced threats. I’m Pete Musto.   Tom Odula reported this story for the Associated Press news agency. Pete Musto adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. How do NGOs and other countries’ governments try to effect elections in your country? What protections do elections in your country have? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   fund(ed) – v. to provide money for something regulating – v. making rules or laws that control something credible – adj. reasonable to trust or believe disappoint(ed) –v. to make someone unhappy by not being as good as expected or by not doing something that was hoped for or expected oversight – n. the act or job of directing work that is being done sovereign – adj. having independent authority and the right to govern itself

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