Closed captions transcript:

00:00:00
And hockey say seasons have been halted
indefinitely baseball is postponing its

00:00:04
March 26th opening day for 2 weeks u.s.

00:00:07
Vice president Mike Pence says Americans
returning from Europe must self quarantine

00:00:11
for 14 days the United States has banned
non American travel from Europe for

00:00:16
a month Iran's foreign ministers
of on Zarif has appealed to u.n.

00:00:19
Secretary General Antonio
guitarists to demand an end to u.s.

00:00:24
Led sanctions saying they're hurting
Iranian efforts to fight the coronavirus

00:00:28
Tehran is reporting more than $10000.00
confirmed Kovan $1000.00 cases nationwide

00:00:33
and at least $429.00 deaths here in the
United States and around the world there is

00:00:38
special concern being voiced for the elderly
and especially vulnerable coronavirus

00:00:43
population we get a report from the a.p.

00:00:46
Is Jackie Quinn global health experts
have determined the new coronavirus is

00:00:50
especially dangerous for older people and
the infirm starting around age 50 and

00:00:55
getting incrementally higher so Georgia
Governor Brian Kemp says it's important to

00:01:00
make sure the elderly have food and
medicine so they don't have to go out I've

00:01:04
already had this conversation with my
mother to keep her safe and plan how we can

00:01:10
get her what she needs in the weeks ahead
in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says no

00:01:15
visitors at nursing homes if
you care about someone in

00:01:18
a nursing home the last thing you want is
to endanger that person I'm Jackie Quinn

00:01:24
Asian markets are taking another deep dive
today stock indexes in Japan Thailand

00:01:28
and India dropped as much as 10 percent at
one point this will be the day after on

00:01:32
Wall Street which yesterday suffered its
worst day of losses since the Black Monday

00:01:36
crash of 1907 here's the if he's Mike
Russia the Dow Jones Industrials lost 10

00:01:41
percent of value falling $2300.00 points
to close at 21 $1200.00 the s. And p.

00:01:46
$500.00 gave up 9.51 percent dropping
$260.00 points to $248064.00 the

00:01:53
Nasdaq composite lost $750.00 points
or 9.43 percent to 7201 stuff. It's

00:02:00
went on the downturn from the
opening bell plunging so fast that

00:02:03
a 15 minute trading halt was triggered for
the 2nd time this week I Mike Rossiya

00:02:08
the u.s.

00:02:08
General in charge of American forces in
Afghanistan says while the United States is

00:02:12
not ready to abandon its agreement with
the Taliban he is pessimistic about the

00:02:16
deal holding up Gene
Randall feel when you.

00:02:37
Right here the only one.

00:02:56
6

00:03:18
I.

00:08:04
Shut up.

00:08:35
Shut.

00:08:43
Up. Shut the gate.

00:09:27
The. Music right here.

00:09:52
And try to. Imagine

00:09:58
a. Jass.

00:10:07
Is a bowl. Of bands because of

00:10:13
a 6th floor new.

00:10:25
Band in England.

00:10:34
But they all.

00:10:42
Know.

00:11:32
To go.

00:11:39
Just. Bang. Bang.

00:11:54
Bang bang bang. Bang.

00:12:03
Good. Job it when.

00:12:11
They.

00:13:01
Were in stores and. Told them.

00:19:30
This music.

00:20:21
I'm

00:20:22
a. Long

00:20:46
.

00:24:04
Sounds.

00:24:34
Like the.

00:24:43
System legit.

00:24:50
Think again.

00:27:09
Like the bottom.

00:27:36
Welcome to learning English

00:27:38
a daily 30 minute program from the Voice
of America Jonathan Abbott and I'm

00:27:45
Ashley Thompson this program is aimed
at English learners so we speak

00:27:51
a little slower and we use words and phrases
especially written for people learning

00:27:58
English. Today on the program

00:28:05
you will hear from Katie Weaver Brian Lan
and John Russell later Steve Amber will

00:28:11
present our American history
series The Making of

00:28:15
a nation but 1st. The United States
is accusing author Terry and

00:28:22
governments around the world of severe
human rights violations and abuses

00:28:29
secretary of state Mike Pompei 0 spoke this
week at the release of the 2019 country

00:28:36
reports on human rights practices
he told reporters experience

00:28:43
teaches that government officials who
oppress are also responsible for creating

00:28:49
social environments that encourage
corruption violent conflict and terrorism

00:28:57
the Us report examines the Iranian
government's reaction to widespread protests

00:29:03
that began last November after
an increase in fuel prices

00:29:10
Iranian security forces killed
nearly $1500.00 people and detained

00:29:16
$8600.00 others reported
international media at the time

00:29:23
there is no evidence that government agencies
were seeking independent or impartial

00:29:28
investigations into protester deaths
the report said the government blocked

00:29:35
almost all international and local
Internet connections for most of

00:29:40
a week the Us report noted
the report provides an ugly

00:29:47
picture of conditions in Iran
it described executions for

00:29:53
crimes that failed to meet international
legal standards and without fair trials of

00:30:00
individuals. The State Department said
Iranian officials were responsible

00:30:07
for human rights abuses in
Syria Iraq and Yemen it

00:30:14
criticized Iran's military support for
Syrian President Bashar Asad and pro

00:30:21
Iran militia groups the Us Human
Rights Report also looked at China and

00:30:28
its mass detention of members of Muslim
minority groups in the sheen jungle weaker

00:30:34
autonomous region China is imprisoning
religious minorities in internment

00:30:40
camps part of its historic antipathy
to religious believers pump aoe told

00:30:46
reporters in Washington the Us
report says Chinese officials

00:30:53
reportedly have detained more than
$1000000.00 Muslims in efforts to remove

00:30:59
religious and ethnic identity as the
report said that human rights in

00:31:05
China include unlawful killings forced
disappearances and the tension by the

00:31:12
government it noted life threatening
prison and detention conditions physical

00:31:19
attacks on and criminal prosecution of
journalists lawyers writers and others as

00:31:26
well as their family members and it
noted that China's forcible return of

00:31:33
asylum seekers to North Korea the
Us report expressed concerns

00:31:40
about the openness of the Saudi government
about the 2018 killing of journalist

00:31:46
Jamal could show by Saudi officials
in Turkey however the report

00:31:53
did not detail the observations of u.s.

00:31:56
Embassy officials who attended the
suspects trial in Saudi Arabia.

00:32:04
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi wasn't an
acceptable cry we have spoken with the

00:32:10
Saudi leadership from the king down about
our concerns the position that we have

00:32:16
taken hasn't changed said Assistant
Secretary of State Robert Destro

00:32:23
the Us report said the Saudi government
in several cases did not punish officials

00:32:30
accused of human rights abuses which
created an environment of lawlessness.

00:32:48
The spread of the new coronavirus
is affecting the work and pay of

00:32:55
people around the world a guy at

00:33:00
a popular tourist area in eastern
China has not earned any money for 2

00:33:07
months as tourists are nowhere to be found

00:33:12
a delivery driver in Britain worries about
getting sick from the people who signed

00:33:18
for their purchases each
day and a server at

00:33:24
a restaurant in the American state of
Missouri washes his hands more often and

00:33:31
simply hopes for the best some
professionals can work from home

00:33:38
or call in sick if they experience
signs of coded 19 the disease the

00:33:45
virus causes but that is not
possible for service workers

00:33:52
who often come into contact with the
public their situation is made worse

00:33:59
by limited or non-existent sick
leave and health insurance.

00:34:06
The recommendations on what people should
be doing to protect themselves really

00:34:12
gives

00:34:13
a sharp indication of the divide between
white collar and blue collar workers

00:34:20
said Shannon lists Rearden

00:34:22
a workers' rights lawyer in Boston
Massachusetts white collar jobs are those

00:34:29
that take place in an office or other
professional environment blue collar

00:34:36
jobs are those that require

00:34:38
a person to perform more physical
labor of some kind in the

00:34:45
United States about 27 percent of
non-government workers do not get

00:34:52
paid sick leave the Bureau of
Labor Statistics says there is

00:34:59
no federal sick leave policy in the
United States but 12 of the 50

00:35:05
states as well as Washington d.c.

00:35:09
Require employers to offer
paid sick leave and

00:35:15
employers with 50 or more employees are
required to offer health insurance

00:35:23
that protection is not extended to
part time or independent workers

00:35:31
some Democratic lawmakers have proposed
legislation to deal with the issue

00:35:39
it would require employers to let
workers earn 7 days of paid sick leave

00:35:46
it would also provide an additional 14
days of paid sick leave in the event

00:35:53
of

00:35:54
a public health emergency including
the current one the new virus

00:36:01
spread has shown huge holes
in health care coverage at

00:36:06
a time when people may need it
most. Most European countries

00:36:13
and Canada have universal health
care systems but the United

00:36:20
States has

00:36:21
a mix of public and private
insurance in France

00:36:27
people have the right not to work and get
full pay when they consider their work

00:36:34
places to be dangerous some service
workers there have stayed home

00:36:41
for

00:36:41
a short period because of infection
concerns workers at the Louvre

00:36:48
Museum in Paris refused
to work for 2 days they

00:36:54
returned to work only after officials
there announced new virus fighting

00:37:01
measures. Brian Lamb I'm Katie Weaver.

00:37:17
Blinding Lights Canadian performer the
weekend is one of the most popular

00:37:24
songs in the world as of early
March blinding lights is

00:37:30
top of music service shows am
global top 200 list of popular

00:37:37
songs it is also on the
top hits 2020 list of

00:37:43
Spotify another view set service
today on every day grammar We will

00:37:50
explain the grammar behind the name
of the song and some of its lyrics.

00:38:06
Let us begin by examining the song's
title blinding lights. The most

00:38:13
important word is Lights It is the
plural form of the noun light

00:38:20
in English only certain kinds of
words come before noun. Often

00:38:27
the word that comes before

00:38:29
a noun is an adjective the word
blinding is an adjective it helps

00:38:36
modify or change the meaning of
the noun lites the grammatical

00:38:42
pattern we find in the song's title would
be the same if the adjective changed

00:38:49
in other words the pattern would
still be adjective plus noun the

00:38:56
title could have been flashing lights
blinking lights or bright lights

00:39:03
but those titles are not nearly
as strong as blinding lights this

00:39:09
term suggests that the lights overpower

00:39:13
a person blinding means
so bright or strong that

00:39:18
a person cannot see this
idea is important in

00:39:23
a song that talks about strong
feelings of loneliness and sadness

00:39:30
it is also an important idea for
a song set in Las Vegas Nevada

00:39:36
a city known for strong lights and
all kinds of nightlife we know

00:39:43
the song takes place in Las Vegas because
the singer uses another name for the

00:39:49
city Sin City the term
appears in the song.

00:40:00
Now let's listen to more of the song.

00:40:09
The words I've been trying to call are

00:40:13
a kind of informal speech the
statement might become clearer with

00:40:19
a few more words I have been
trying to call this is an

00:40:25
example of what English teachers call
the present perfect progress of the

00:40:32
singer suggests that an Advent

00:40:35
a telephone call took place in the
past the weekend suggests he has

00:40:41
tried calling many other times up until
just recently often when English

00:40:48
speakers use the present perfect progressive
They also say an amount of time that

00:40:55
they have been doing that activity for
example you might hear someone say

00:41:02
Tom has been dancing for 2 hours
this suggests that Tom began dancing

00:41:09
2 hours ago and continues dancing in
the present note that in blinding

00:41:16
lights the singer did not give

00:41:18
a specific amount of time he suggests
that he has been trying to call

00:41:25
a person he does not say for how long
perhaps hours days or even weeks

00:41:32
now let's compare the 2 lines.

00:41:40
I have been trying to call in the
song The word have is missing the

00:41:47
weekend also come binds the
words trying to so I have been

00:41:53
becomes I been and trying to
becomes trying or you will

00:42:00
hear this manner of speaking in all kinds
of popular culture songs films and so

00:42:06
on. You might also occasionally see it
in nonfiction writing that has reported

00:42:13
speech but

00:42:15
a word of warning you should not use some
of the ideas that we discussed today

00:42:22
on an English exam for example
teachers and test graders want to

00:42:29
see the words trying to instead
of trying or however if you

00:42:35
like listening to music or watching films
in English you should learn to understand

00:42:42
how some speakers use different
kinds of English we will end with

00:42:48
a few words from the song.

00:43:03
I'm John Russell.

00:43:17
Welcome to the making of a
nation American history in v o

00:43:22
a special English I'm Steve vendors.

00:43:29
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in
December of 1941 was one of the most

00:43:36
successful and surprise attacks in the
history of modern warfare Japanese

00:43:43
warships including several aircraft carriers
crossed the Western Pacific to Hawaii

00:43:50
without being seen they
launched their planes on

00:43:54
a quiet Sunday morning and attack they say
you Jim Merrick and naval and the air

00:44:00
base at Pearl Harbor. Up the program
to Billy with the world full of who

00:44:07
got the world of the book well how about

00:44:09
a light by the by the book Double up along
the Atlantic Connally was made on all

00:44:14
naval and military activity on

00:44:16
a little island on the off of
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

00:44:21
a little with me. Many of the American
military personnel were asleep or at the

00:44:28
church they were totally unprepared
for the attack in fact some people

00:44:34
outside the base thought the Japanese planes
must be new types of American aircraft

00:44:41
on training flights the sounds of guns
and bombs soon showed how wrong they

00:44:48
were. The Japanese planes sank 4 seriously

00:44:55
damaged 6 powerful American
battleships in just

00:44:59
a few minutes they killed more than
3000 sailors they destroyed. Or

00:45:06
damaged half the American airplanes
in Hawaii. American forces caught

00:45:13
by surprise were unable to offer much of

00:45:16
a fight Japanese losses were very low
there was so much destruction at

00:45:23
Pearl Harbor that officials in Washington
did not immediately revealed before

00:45:29
details to the public they were afraid
that Americans might panic if they learned

00:45:36
the truth about the loss of so much military
Pollard but following day President

00:45:43
Franklin Roosevelt went
to Congress to ask for

00:45:46
a declaration of war against Japan
the vice president. To speak of

00:45:53
members of the Senate of the House of
Representatives yesterday because some by 7.

00:46:00
1941. A date which will live in infamy

00:46:07
United States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked by naval forces

00:46:14
of the Empire of Japan
the United States was

00:46:18
a peace with that nation. At
the solace it takes and Japan.

00:46:26
Was in conversation with its
government and its emperor.

00:46:33
Looking at the maintenance of peace
in the Pacific. No long it may

00:46:39
take us well but combis premeditated
invasion the American people and

00:46:46
just might will when. They

00:46:53
will not only defend.
But will make it such.

00:47:00
That this picture. Endangering.

00:47:13
The congress. But since the unprovoked.

00:47:20
Attack. On Sunday. About

00:47:26
$719.00 but it was. A state.

00:47:33
Existence between the United
States and the Japanese Empire.

00:47:41
The Senate approved President Roosevelt's
request without any opposition in the

00:47:47
House of Representatives only one congressman
objected to the declaration of war

00:47:53
against Japan.

00:48:03
3 days later Germany and Italy
declared war on the United States

00:48:09
Congress reacted by declaring war on
those 2 countries. The Japanese attack

00:48:16
on Pearl Harbor ended the long American
debate over whether to become involved in

00:48:23
the 2nd World War American politicians
and citizens had argued for

00:48:29
years about whether to remain neutral or
to fight to help Britain and France and

00:48:36
other friends. Japan's aggressive
attack at Pearl Harbor united Americans

00:48:43
in

00:48:43
a common desire for military victory it
made Americans willing to do what ever

00:48:50
was necessary to win the war
and it pushed America into

00:48:56
a kind of world leadership that its
people had never known before President

00:49:03
Roosevelt and his advisors had to make an
important decision about how to fight the

00:49:09
war with the United States fight
Japan 1st or Germany or both After

00:49:16
same time Japan's attack had brought
America into the war and it had

00:49:22
severely damaged American military power
but Roosevelt decided not to strike

00:49:29
back at Japan immediately he would use
most of his forces to fight Germany

00:49:37
there were several reasons for Roosevelt's
decision 1st Germany already controlled

00:49:44
much of Europe as well as much of the
Atlantic Ocean Roosevelt considered this

00:49:51
a direct threat and he worried about
possible German intervention in Latin

00:49:57
America 2nd Germany was an
advanced industrial nation it

00:50:04
had many scientists and engineers
its factories where modern

00:50:11
Roosevelt was concerned that Germany might
be able to develop deadly new weapons

00:50:17
such as an atomic bomb if it
was not stopped quickly 3rd

00:50:24
Britain historically was one of America's
closest allies and the British people

00:50:30
were united and fighting for their lives
against Germany. This was not true in

00:50:37
Asia Japan's most important opponent
was China but China's fighting

00:50:43
forces were weak and divided and could not
offers strong opposition to the Japanese

00:50:50
.

00:50:58
Adult Hitler's decision to break his
non-aggression treaty with Soviet leader

00:51:04
Joseph Stalin and attack the Sufi yet
union made Roosevelt's choice final

00:51:11
the American president recognized that the
Germans would have to fight on 2 fronts

00:51:17
in the West against Britain and in the
East against Russia. He decided it

00:51:24
was best to attack Germany while its
forces were divided. So the United States

00:51:31
sent most of its troops and supplies to
Britain to join the fight against Germany

00:51:38
American military leaders hoped to attack
Germany quickly by launching an attack

00:51:45
across the English Channel
stylin also supported this plan

00:51:51
Soviet forces were suffering terrible
losses from the Nazi attack and wanted the

00:51:58
British Shand Americans to fight the
Germans on the west however British Prime

00:52:04
Minister Winston Churchill and the other
leaders opposed launching an invasion

00:52:10
across the English Channel too quickly
they worried that such an invasion might

00:52:17
fail while the Germans were still so
strong and they knew this would mean

00:52:24
disaster. For this reason British
and American forces decided

00:52:30
instead to attack via tally and then
German troops occupying North Africa

00:52:37
British forces had been fighting the good
tally ns and Germans in North Africa

00:52:43
since late 1940 they fought be

00:52:46
a tally and 1st in Egypt and Libya
British forces had successfully pushed

00:52:53
the

00:52:53
a tally ans across Libya they killed more
than 10000 that tally and troops and

00:53:01
captured more than 130000
prisoners. But the British success

00:53:08
did not last long Hitler sent one
of his best commanders General Evan

00:53:14
a woman to take command of the

00:53:16
a tally. Rommel was brave and smart
he pushed the British back from Libya

00:53:23
to the border with Egypt and in

00:53:26
a giant battle at Tobruk he
destroyed or captured more than

00:53:32
a 100 Britons and 900 tanks.
Rumbles progress threatened the

00:53:38
Egypt and the Suez Canal so Britain and
the United States moved quickly to

00:53:45
send more troops and supplies to
stop him slowly British forces

00:53:52
led by General Bernard Montgomery pushed
Rommel Lamba German's back to Tripoli in

00:53:58
Libya in November 1942 Britain
says commanded by General Dr

00:54:05
Eisenhower landed in North West Africa
they planned to attack Rommel from the

00:54:12
West while my gallery attacked him from
the east. But what will New Eisenhower's

00:54:19
troops had done little fighting before
so he attacked them quickly before they

00:54:26
could launch their own attack.
A major battle took place at

00:54:32
Kasserine Pass in western Tunisia
American forces suffered heavy

00:54:39
losses but in the end Rommel's
attack failed 3 months later

00:54:46
American forces.

00:54:55
And with my galleries British troops to
force the Germans in North Africa to

00:55:01
surrender the battle of North Africa
was over the allied forces of

00:55:08
Britain and the United States had regained
control Love the southern Mediterranean

00:55:14
Sea They could now attack Hitler's
forces in Europe from the south

00:55:21
the Allies wasted no
time they landed on the

00:55:25
a tally and island of Sicily and
July of 1943 German tanks fought

00:55:32
back but the British and American
forces moved ahead soon they captured

00:55:38
Sicily's capital Palermo and within weeks
Bay forced the German forces to leave

00:55:45
Sicily for the at talian mainland
in late July Italy's dictator

00:55:51
Benito Mussolini was overthrown and
placed in prison the Germans rescued

00:55:58
him and helped him establish

00:56:01
a new government protected by
German troops but still the allies

00:56:07
attacked they crossed to the Italian
mainland the Germans fought hard

00:56:14
and for some time they prevented the Allied
troops from breaking out of the coastal

00:56:19
areas. The fighting grew bloody game

00:56:24
a fierce battle took place said Montague
seen no thousands of soldiers lost their

00:56:30
lives but slowly the Allies
advanced north through Italy they

00:56:36
captured Rome in June of 1944 and
they forced the Germans back into the

00:56:43
mountains of northern Italy the allies
would not gain complete control of

00:56:50
Adelaide until the end of the war but
they had succeeded in increasing their

00:56:56
control of the Mediterranean and
pushing back the Germans one reason

00:57:02
Hitler's forces were not stronger in
Africa and Italy was because German armies

00:57:10
also were fighting in Russia.
And that's our program for

00:57:17
today listen again tomorrow to learn
English 3 stories from around the world

00:57:24
I'm Jonathan Evans and I'm Ashley Thomson.

00:57:39
This is below news on. The coronavirus
continues its assault on the world in Spain

00:57:46
the government today put 60000 p. .

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