French Baker Fined For Working 7 Days a Week

  This is What’s Trending Today… Cedric Vaivre owns a bakery in the small French village of Lusigny-sur-Barse.  Last summer, Vaivre decided to keep his business open every day of the week to serve visitors to the area. That decision may cost him. The French department of Aube has fined the 41-year-old baker 3,000 euros, or about $3,600. Aube officials say he violated a local employment law. The law says bakeries cannot be open seven days a week. Instead, bakers must take one day of rest. European media reports say Vaivre is refusing to pay the fine. And many in his community are on his side. About 2,000 people have signed an official message of support for Vaivre. Lusigny-sur-Barse sits near several beautiful lakes, as well as a protected park area. In fact, Vaivre’s calls his bakery “La Boulangerie du Lac,” or “Bakery of the Lake.” Travelers from across France visit the area during summer months. The Guardian newspaper reported that, until 2016, local officials had permitted Vaivre’s shop to stay open every day of the week during the summer.  However, officials refused Vaivre’s request to do the same last summer. He stayed open anyway. Eric Scherrer is an official with the French retail union CLIP-P.  He explained that the law for bakers and others in the food industry is meant to protect people from working too much. Scherrer told France’s The Local news site, “It’s an artisanal trade where people can work a lot, much more than the legal limits.” But the town’s mayor, Christian Branle, is supporting Vaivre. Branle told L’Est Eclair newspaper, “In a tourist area, it seems essential that a business can open every day during the summer. There’s nothing worse than closed shops when there are tourists.” And that’s What’s Trending Today. I’m Phil Dierking. Ashley Thompson wrote this article based on reports by The Guardian and French media. Caty Weaver was the editor.  _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   bakery - n. a place where bread, cakes, cookies, and other baked foods are made or sold retail - n. the business of selling things directly to customers for their own use artisanal - adj. relating to making things by hand tourist - n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure essential - adj. extremely important and necessary

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"Just Drive" - Emma G

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March 15, 2018

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

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March 14, 2018

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

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Study: False News Spreads Faster and Farther than Truth

  A study has found that false news stories posted on Twitter travel much faster and reach far more people than true ones. The new research also showed that people – not automated robots sometimes called “bots” - were mostly responsible for spreading false news. The study was done by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Media Lab. Results were reported in the publication Science. It was one of the biggest efforts yet to study the effects of social media on the spread of real and false news. Twitter cooperated with the study. The company gave the MIT Media Lab access to its data and provided money for the project.  The team researched stories posted on Twitter since the service began in 2006. It identified and examined more than 126,000 stories tweeted by about 3 million people through the end of 2016. The stories chosen had been investigated by various independent fact-checking organizations to decide whether they were true, false, or a mix of both. Nearly two-thirds of stories were found to be false, while about one-fifth were true. The rest were mixed. The researchers compared the speed and reach of stories found to be false to those verified as true.    Soroush Vosoughi is a data scientist with MIT’s Media Lab who helped lead the project. “What we found was that false news spreads further, faster and broader than true news in every category of information.” Vosoughi said the three false stories that traveled the farthest and fastest were about a Muslim guard called a hero in the 2015 Paris bombings; an Iraq war veteran finishing as runner-up to Caitlyn Jenner for a courage award ; and a show of “The Simpsons” with a story line back in 2000 about a Trump presidency. The study showed that the average false story took about 10 hours to reach 1,500 Twitter users, compared to about 60 hours for the truth. False information was found to reach 35 percent more people than true news. While true stories almost never got retweeted to more than 1,000 people, the top 1 percent of false ones reached as many as 100,000 people. Vosoughi said the speed and reach of false news stories was especially intense when related to politics. False political news spread faster and to more people than stories about terrorism, natural disasters, science and other subjects, the study found. The researchers noted increases in false political stories during the 2012 and 2016 American presidential races. Social media networks under pressure Twitter, Facebook and other social media companies have come under pressure from U.S. lawmakers and international regulators to do more to prevent the spread of false news. U.S. officials have accused Russia of using social media to affect public opinion on issues and trying to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election. The use of automated robots to post on Twitter and other services is one area that has received heavy criticism. In a tweet sent March 1, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey admitted widespread misuse of the service by both robots and humans. “We aren’t proud of how people have taken advantage of our service, or our inability to address it fast enough,” he wrote. Twitter says it has sought help from outside experts to better deal with the problem. Dorsey personally promised “to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress.” Social media companies have also experimented with computer programs and hired more humans in an effort to identify and remove false stories. Vosoughi said the study found that robot-linked accounts pushed out true and false stories equally. This means human users were more directly responsible for sharing false news. “One reason false news might be more surprising is, it goes against people’s expectations of the world,” he said. “If someone makes up a rumor that goes against what they expected, you are more likely to pass it forward.” Study co-author Deb Roy is a former media scientist at Twitter who now runs MIT’s Laboratory for Social Machines. He says the study proves that false news is clearly still winning out over truth on Twitter. He added that the results raise many questions about what methods should be used to help prevent the problem in the future. Roy believes this will likely involve combined efforts between social media companies, news publishers and users themselves to fight false news. “Let’s not take it as our destiny, that we have entered into a post-truth world from which we will not emerge,” he said. I’m Bryan Lynn. And I'm Alice Bryant.   Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from the Associated Press, Reuters and other sources. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Quiz ​_______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   automated – adj. done automatically by a machine or system, not done by a person verified – v. proven to be true broad – adj. including or involving many things or people category – n. different kinds of similarly grouped things regulator – n. person or government agency that controls a public activity by making and enforcing rules advantage – n. something good about a situation that is helpful accountable – adj. required to explain one’s actions or decisions rumor – n. information or a story that is passed from person to person but has not been proven to be true destiny – n. things that will happen to someone in the future emerge – v. to become known  

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Legendary Physicist Stephen Hawking Dies at 76

  Stephen Hawking, the most famous physicist of his time, has died at the age of 76. A family spokesman said Hawking, who was British, died peacefully early Wednesday at his home in Cambridge, England. Hawking was a theoretical physicist. He was known worldwide for working to explain subjects like the beginnings of the universe and the complexities of black holes. He was diagnosed with a disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, at age 21. At the time, doctors predicted he would only live a few years. But he proved them wrong by surviving for more than 50 years more and continuing his scientific work. The disease eventually put him in a wheelchair and took away his ability to speak. For many years, Hawking communicated by using a voice synthesizer. In his 2013 book, “My Brief History,” Hawking wrote about first learning of the illness: “I felt it was very unfair - why should this happen to me?” He added: “At the time, I thought my life was over and that I would never realize the potential I felt I had.” “But now, 50 years later, I can be quietly satisfied with my life,” he wrote. Hawking was one of Sir Isaac Newton’s successors as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. In this role, he was involved in the search for one of the great goals of physics – to find a “unified theory.” He studied Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which describes the movement of large objects. He sought to connect that theory with the Theory of Quantum Mechanics, which deals with subatomic particles. "My goal is simple,” Hawking once said. “It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all." His 1988 book "A Brief History of Time" became an international bestseller and brought him widespread fame. Hawking was also recognized for his successful research on black holes. He was able to prove that small amounts of radiation could escape black hole gravitational pull. His work led the discovery to become known as Hawking radiation. A sign of his great popularity came in October 2017, when Cambridge put Hawking's 1966 thesis on the internet for the first time. Demand for the thesis was so high that it caused the university's website to go down. Hawking said belief in a God who intervenes in the universe “to make sure the good guys win or get rewarded in the next life” was wishful thinking. “But one can’t help asking the question: Why does the universe exist?” he said in 1991. “I don’t know an operational way to give the question or the answer, if there is one, a meaning. But it bothers me.” Hawking was a big supporter of human space travel to the Moon and Mars. He said such missions would help unite humanity in a shared purpose of spreading the human race beyond Earth. "We are running out of space and the only places to go to are other worlds. It is time to explore other solar systems. Spreading out may be the only thing that saves us from ourselves. I am convinced that humans need to leave the Earth," he said last year. I’m Bryan Lynn.   Bryan Lynn wrote this story for 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   synthesizer – n. electronic machine that produces and controls sound and can be used for reproducing speech potential – n. the unrealized possibility of doing something or reaching some goal particles – n. very small pieces of something radiation – n. type of dangerous and powerful energy produced by radioactive substances thesis – n. a long piece of writing completed as part of an advanced university course bother – v. cause (someone) to feel troubled, worried, or concerned convinced – adj. completely sure about something  

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Britain Expels 23 Russian Diplomats

Britain will expel 23 Russian diplomats in answer to a chemical attack on a Russian double agent and his daughter in the city of Salisbury, England. Prime Minister Theresa May announced the expulsion decision Wednesday. May said the attack was an unlawful use of force by Russia against Britain. She also said Britain would suspend high-level talks with the Russian Federation and withdraw an invitation to the Russian foreign minister to visit the country. And, she said, no government ministers or members of the British royal family would attend World Cup games this summer in Russia. These and other measures are designed to strengthen British defenses against a hostile state, May said. Russian officials have denied that Russia was involved in the chemical attack. A spokesperson called Britain’s actions “unacceptable, unjustified, and shortsighted.” The spokesperson warned Britain to expect the Russian government to answer with measures of its own. ​Why the restrictions? Britain’s restrictions against Russia come after an attack earlier this month on Sergei Skripal, age 66, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia. Sergei Skripal is a former Russian military intelligence official. In the 1990s, he secretly told the British government about Russian spies working in Europe. In 2004, Russia charged Skripal with treason and put him in jail. But he was freed in a spy exchange deal in 2010. Skripal settled in Britain. His daughter was visiting him there.    On March 4, the Skripals were found at a shopping center in the southern English city of Salisbury. They could not be woken. The father and daughter were taken to the hospital. They remain there in serious condition. A police officer was also harmed in the attack. He is also in the hospital in serious condition. May has said the Skripals were poisoned with a nerve agent Russia developed in the 1980s. The chemical was designed to be used in bombs during military operations.   The prime minister asked Russian officials to explain if they were responsible for the attack, or if they had lost control of the poison. But, May said, Russian officials did not take her question seriously. May said the 23 expelled Russian diplomats must leave Britain within one week. And, she said, British officials will closely watch for travelers to Britain who might be a threat.  May also spoke about taking action against “serious criminals and corrupt elites.” She said, “There is no place for these people, or their money, in our country.” I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.   Reuters reported this story. Kelly Jean Kelly adapted it for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   royal – adj. of or relating to a king or queen unjustified – adj. unnecessary and not right or fair shortsighted – adj. not considering what will or might happen in the future elite – n.  the people who have the most wealth and status in a society: the most successful or powerful group of people

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New CIA Chief Likely to Face Questions on Torture

President Donald Trump has nominated Gina Haspel to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). After dismissing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Trump nominated CIA chief Mike Pompeo to take the position of the nation’s top diplomat. Haspel is currently serving as the Deputy Director of the CIA. Both nominations must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Haspel would be the first woman to lead the spy agency in its history. However, the 61-year-old career officer is expected to face difficult questions before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Questions will likely include ones aimed at accusations that the agency used torture to get information from terror suspects in the early 2000s. Between 2003 and 2005, Haspel supervised a secret CIA prison in Thailand. The prison held terrorism suspects including Abu Zubaydah and Abd al Rahim al-Nashri. Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said that a method called “waterboarding” was used on them. The method makes suspects feel like they are drowning. The method was used under the administration of then president George W. Bush. Reports say Haspel helped carry out an order to destroy videos of waterboarding. The Justice Department investigated the order but it ended without anyone being charged with a crime. Arizona Senator John McCain has often spoken against torture. He said Haspel must explain her part in the CIA’s interrogation program. McCain said, “Current U.S. law is clear in banning enhanced interrogation techniques.” He went on to say that any nominee for the position of director of the CIA must promise “without reservation” to observe that ban. President Trump has in the past voiced approval of enhanced interrogation methods including waterboarding. Former CIA Director John Brennan has not said what part Haspel played in the interrogation program. However, Brennan said Haspel had a “lot of integrity” and had carried out her duties “when asked to do difficult things in challenging times.” The former director said he expects lawmakers to fully question her but said he believes she will be confirmed. “Gina is a very competent professional who I think deserves the chance to take the seat,” he said. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina is chairman of the Senate committee holding the hearing. He said Haspel has the “right skill set, experience and judgment” to lead the CIA. Human rights activists have voiced opposition to the nomination. Raha Wala is with the group Human Rights First. He said, “No one who had a hand in torturing individuals deserves to ever hold public office again, let alone lead an agency.” Haspel faced some scrutiny from rights groups in the past after she was named deputy CIA director. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, based in Berlin, called on German government lawyers to issue an arrest warrant for her. German federal officials did not act on the request because the case lacked a connection to Germany. Last year, lawyers for three men in a civil legal case in Spokane, Washington wanted to speak with Haspel and other CIA officials. The men who brought the case said they had been tortured under the CIA program. However, a federal judge told the lawyers that the documents related to the program and the officials are protected. Reports say that in April 2009 the administration of President Barack Obama gave U.S. officials involved in the interrogation program protection from legal action. Haspel has spent her career working for government intelligence agencies in foreign posts and in Washington. Currently, she works with the director to oversee intelligence collection, analysis, cooperation with foreign intelligence groups and other activities. I’m Mario Ritter.   Mario Ritter adapted this Associated Press story for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   interrogation –n. questioning someone sometimes harshly enhanced –adj. increased in intensity, improved reservation –n. expressing doubts, not fully convinced competent –adj. having the necessary skills and abilities warrant –n. a legal document from a court permitting police to do something analysis –n. the careful, methodical study of something not easy to understand We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Finland Named World’s Happiest Country

  This is What’s Trending Today…. Finland is the world’s happiest country. The World Happiness Report, published Wednesday, studied the happiness levels of 156 countries. It considered factors such as life expectancy, social support and corruption in its examination. Finland pushed last year’s happiest country, Norway, to second place. The other three Nordic countries, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland also made the top ten. They are joined by Switzerland, The Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia complete. The United States fell to 18th place. It came in 14th in the 2017 report. For the first time, the report also ranked 117 countries by the happiness and well-being of their foreign-born immigrants. Finland placed first in that group, as well. In fact, the study found that highly ranked countries in overall happiness had similarly happy immigrant populations. John Helliwell is an editor of the 2018 World Happiness Report. He said the study shows that a population’s happiness seems contagious. In other words, it spreads. He called that the “most striking finding” of the report. “Those who move to happier countries gain, while those who move to less happy countries lose,” Helliwell said. Finland is a nation of 5.5 million people. It has about 300,000 foreigners. Its largest immigrant groups come from other European countries. But there are also small communities from Afghanistan, China, Iraq and Somalia. Meik Wiking is chief of the Happiness Research Institute, based in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen. He said that Nordic countries almost always rank near the top of the happiness report. He said they are, in his word, “doing something right in terms of creating good conditions for good lives.” He said the findings on the happiness of immigrants, “shows the conditions that we live under matter greatly to our quality of life, that happiness is not only a matter of choice.” The United States ranked 11th in the first World Happiness report, released in 2012. It has never been in the top 10. The report noted several reasons for its falling position. It said the United States is in the middle of “a complex and worsening public health crisis, involving...obesity, opioid addiction and major depressive disorder.” It added that the “sociopolitical system” in the U.S. produces more income inequality -- a major reason for unhappiness -- than other countries with similarly high-income levels. And that’s What’s Trending Today. I’m Ashley Thompson.   Ashley Thompson adapted this report based on Associated Press and Reuters articles. Caty Weaver was the editor. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   factor - n. something that helps produce or influence a result editor - n. a person whose job is to edit something rank - v. to place (someone or something) in a particular position among a group of people or things that are being judged according to quality, ability, size, etc. contagious  - adj. capable of being easily spread to others Nordic - adj. of or relating to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and sometimes Finland and Iceland, or to the people who live there obesity - n. the condition of being fat in a way that is unhealthy opioid - n. a class of drugs that are recommended to reduce pain income - n. money that is earned from work, investments, business, etc.

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Students Walk out Across US to Protest Gun Violence

  From the states of Maine to Hawaii, students walked out of school Wednesday to protest gun violence in the United States. The nationwide demonstration is part of a student movement against gun violence created after last month’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen students and teachers were killed in an attack there on February 14. The event includes about 3,000 protests across the country. Some students planned roadside demonstrations to honor shooting victims and protest violence. Others held demonstrations in school sports centers or on football fields. In the states of Massachusetts, Georgia and Ohio, students went to the statehouses to pressure lawmakers for new and stronger rules on guns. Empower, the youth wing of the Women’s March, loosely organized the activism. The group urged students to leave class at 10 in the morning local time for 17 minutes. Each minute represents one person who died in the recent school shooting in Parkland. The group also called on students to make demands of their lawmakers, including an assault weapons ban. The group said on its website, “Our elected officials must do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to this violence.” Communities shape their own protests Each community was urged to shape its own protest. Parents and teachers in many areas worked together to organize activities that would be right for different ages of students.   At Case Elementary School in Akron, Ohio, a group of 10 and 11-year-olds designed their walkout after youth marches for civil rights in 1963. Case instructors said students lined a sidewalk along a nearby road, carrying posters with the names of Parkland victims. Students in Massachusetts demonstrated outside offices of the gun maker Smith & Wesson. They called on the gun maker to help reduce gun violence. Officials at Boston Public Schools held a whole day of observance Wednesday. They organized several activities “to provide healthy and safe” ways for students to express their opinions and concerns. Several American companies showed support for the walkouts.  Media conglomerate Viacom suspended programming on MTV, BET and all its other networks for 17 minutes during the action.  It also permitted students to temporarily take control of MTV’s social media sites. What do school officials say? But school administrators across the country had mixed reactions to students’ activism. Some have praised students for taking a stand. Others threatened to take measures against students for school absences. Districts in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Maryland’s Harford County drew criticism this week when they said students could face punishment for leaving class. In Pensacola, Florida, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas ordered an in-school gathering instead. He warned students that they could discuss voting and mental health issues, but not guns. He also said political signs would not be permitted. Free speech supporters readied for battle. The American Civil Liberties Union said schools cannot legally punish students for the political nature of their message. In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Texas, some lawyers said they will provide free legal help to students who are punished. The ACLU of Georgia sent guidance letters to districts. The letters said, “The United States Supreme Court has long held that students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’” Many students in and around Atlanta, Georgia ignored threats of punishment for their actions. “Change never happens without backlash,” said Kara Litwin, a final year student at Pope High School in the Cobb County School District. Lian Kleinman is in her third year at Pope High School. She said the possibility of being suspended from school “is overwhelming, and I understand that it’s scary for a lot of students. For me personally this is something I believe in, this is something I will go to the ends of the Earth for.” What’s next More nationwide action is planned for the coming weeks. The March for Our Lives demonstration is expected to draw hundreds of thousands to Washington, DC, on March 24.  Another set of school walkouts is planned for April 20. That date marks the 19th anniversary of the deadly shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. I’m­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Jonathan Evans.   The Associated Press reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   assault - n. a violent physical attack​ response - n.  something that is done as a reaction to something else​ conglomerate - n. a large business that is made of different kinds of companies​ network - n. a group of radio or television stations that usually broadcast the same programs​ shed - v. to lose or drop​ backlash - n.  a strong public reaction against something​  

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March 13, 2018

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

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