And China's growing influence the agreement between Seoul and Tokyo was set to expire this weekend China's president says he wants to work for a trade deal with Washington but is not afraid to fight back to protect his country's interests here is a p correspondent Charles Dillard asthma in London. Has told a visiting u.s. Business delegation the China holds a positive attitude towards the trade talks she said witnesses say China will fight back but officials working actively to try to don't have a trade war the latest flare up in trade tensions came of the president from the imposed punitive tariffs last year of billions of dollars worth of Chinese exports to the us once again he's in Chinese trade and investment policy and shows that with as much Hong Kong police commissioner Tang pink young today appealed to the remaining protesters occupying the city's Polytechnic University to leave peacefully the siege of the campus appears to be nearing an end with a number of protesters join a ling to a few dozen days after some of the worst violence since anti-government demonstrations in the Chinese semi-autonomous territory escalated in June Cindy warm beer is the mother of former u.s. Hostage auto warm beer he died after being released from North Korea in a coma and 27 seen in South Korea with her husband Ms warm beer says they are committed to finding and shutting down illicit North Korean business assets around the world their aim she says is to put the focus on junk gangs human rights abuses we cannot get can't get that. We have to buy. All of our power but u.s. Federal court has ordered North Korea to pay $500000000.00 to the war in beers and a wrongful death suit. 3 of the 4 ethnic based parties and Ethiopia's ruling coalition have voted to become a single party the creation of the prosperity party comes just months ahead of the general election Prime Minister Abi and Ali In a statement claim that prosperity is committed to strengthening and applying a true federal system which recognizes the diversity and contributions of all Ethiopians they to grand People's Liberation Front refused to take part in Thursday's vote calling it a total sham which it said would lead to Ethiopia's integration one of the Islamic states most feared affiliate says apparently suffered a big setback although u.s. Officials caution reports the terror group was obliterated are overblown More news at the OAS The News dot com Gene Randall The owing to. His In war the. Best music. T.v. . He. Didn't want to. Put on. He. Didn't want to. Put a. Bridge . Franklin. He. Didn't want to. Put. Some live. Sleep. Some discipline some. Spam. Spam. Stuff. So. I've. Lived I've. I've. Lived. To. Be away one of the heads Travis got highest in of the row My name is the Nicky strong How are you doing Papa Ja Ja in gonna recently write my paper thank you as I am and i k k I s t r o n g I am make you strong Thanks papa for connecting and for listening to v.o.a. One the. It. live. The only one they had so little nonsense with honey we also had me goes bad in boozy and Calvin Harris with Sam Smith promise is my name is Nikki strong and I promise to always bring you some of the best pop music on the planet right here on v.o.a. One of the hits. Welcome to my. Learning English a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America I'm Jonathan evidence and I'm Ashley Thompson this program is aimed at English learners so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English. Today on the program you will hear from Brian Lynn and ball John Russell and Alice Bryant later we will present our American history series The Making of a nation but 1st here is Brian with. The Japanese prime minister she. Has made history by becoming the country's longest serving political leader Abbay broke the record this week by serving 2887 days in office the next longest serving leader was Toro cut Sora he led Japan 3 different times between 1000 no 119-1365 year old Abbay is also the 2nd longest serving leader of the group of 7 major economies only German chancellor Americal in office since 2005 has served longer. 3rd Term is expected to end in September 2021 he has said he does not plan to seek a 4th term. First term lasted just one year from 2006 to 2007. He returned to office in 2012 and has since led his ruling coalition to 6 national election victories. Spoke to reporters about reaching the new record day by day I have made efforts to achieve the policies that I have promised he said and because of these daily efforts I'm here to mark this day. Main goals in office have centered on attempts to strengthen Japan's economy and defense he has long called for a constitutional change to permit the creation of a full Japanese military force that change has not happened Abbay seeks to amend the Constitution Article 9 which was added after Japan was defeated in World War 2 The article states that the country surrenders its right to establish armed forces for war any constitutional change must win the approval of 2 thirds of both Houses of Parliament plus a majority in a national referendum. Campaign has struggled to get support among the public more concerned with economic issues and the country's Social Security system the long serving prime minister has become identified with Abi nomics a set of policies aimed at speeding up economic growth. Plan for the government to buy securities and spend more while keeping interest rates low has created growth but it has been slower than promised. Speaking to reporters repeated his plans to spend his remaining time in office trying to improve the economy serve Japan's aging population and seek the constitutional change Abbay has survived several scandals including his own and other ones involving government ministers the most recent involved his yearly Cherry Blossom viewing party. Has been accused of using taxpayer money to hold a gathering of political supporters the night before the party I'm Brian Lamb. China showed off its Mars spacecraft during a landing test last week in the northern province of good day China is planning to send a lander and rover to Mars next year to explore parts of the Red Planet the United States and European Space Agency are also sending rovers to the planet in 2020 and the United Arab Emirates plans to launch an orbiter. Zhong crew Jan is head of the China National Space Administration before the landing test he told foreign diplomats and the media that China's Mars mission is on schedule officials say the Mars Lander successfully passed a hovering and obstacle avoidance test the landing area had small piles of rocks on the ground similar to what the an even surface on Mars is like the lander will have to move around on this kind of surface when it gets to the planet in 2016 China officially began the Mars exploration mission work Jiang said and currently all of the different development work is progressing smoothly China has developed a powerful rocket the Long March 5 to send the spacecraft to Mars in 2020 Jiang wrong shall is chief designer of the Mars mission he said the trip to the planet will last about 7 months but landing on it will take only about 7 minutes the landing will be the most difficult part of the spaceflight he said many spacecraft sent to Mars have been lost or destroyed over the years only the u.s. Space agency NASA has been successful with 8 landings. China's space program plans to use a long March 5 rocket to send a spacecraft to the moon by the end of this year or early next year the Chuang of 5 spacecraft will bring back pieces of rock from the moon's surface last January a chunk of 4 probe successfully touched down on the far side of the moon while NASA sent humans to the moon this was the 1st time for a probe to touchdown on the lesser known far side the landing was a major success for China's space program China 1st landed a spacecraft on the moon in 2013 the u.s. Government has barred most space cooperation with China out of security concerns the ban has kept China from sending crews to the International Space Station or I s s in 2003 China became the 3rd nation to put a human in space with its own rocket the former Soviet Union and the United States were the 1st since then China has been racing to catch up with the 2 countries. It hopes to become a major space power by 2030. And ball. And. The hour today on every day grammar we will explore 2 relatively new methods of communicating text messages and Internet forums we will talk about 2 common expressions you might see l.o.l. And I know right these expressions carry much more meaning than you might expect as we will see we start with the term l o l l o l is short for laughing out loud as in I am laughing out loud the subject I and the b. Verb am have been left out basically l.o.l. Expresses a person's opinion about something you might think that is the end of the story but it is not the term l.o.l. Has a much richer meaning than what we just told you we will talk more about it later our 2nd term I know right seems like a simple statement the words I know are the subject and verb. The word right is a kind of tag question a word that is connected to the expression but I know write like l o l has a much more interesting story than you might expect John McWhorter is an expert on languages in the book words on the move he notes that l.o.l. Serves a purpose in written communication easing by easing recorder means actions that people do to show they are feeling at ease or trying to be nice for example in real life people often laugh or smile they do this to show that they are at ease and that the situation is not too serious l.o.l. McWhorter says serves that same purpose in written communication English speakers use l.o.l. At the beginning middle or end of a sentence in many cases they use a well to soften language or bad news here is an example a person borrowed a friend's car to run a brief errand the borrower wrote the friend the following text message l.o.l. Your car started to overheat just as I pulled into the driveway in this case the person writing the text eases the news of the car overheating by starting the sentence with l.o.l. The writer also could have written the statement with l.o.l. At the end of the sentence as in your car started to overheat just as I pulled into the driveway l o l. A person might use a well in the middle of a statement as in bad news l.o.l. Your car started to overheat in any case the basic idea is that l.o.l. Helps make language gentler it means far more than laughing out loud in fact it does not really relate to laughing at all anyone who used l.o.l. To signal actual laughter would now be misunderstood it would be quite simply a mistake McWhorter writes in writing other acronyms have taken the place of l.o.l. To show actual laughter our 2nd expression today I know right is like l.o.l. It also serves the purpose of easing but as McWhorter notes the words I know write show agreement in an indirect way instead of writing I agree or I know many times on internet forums or texts many people use i know right it has a casual pleasant sound it is a nice way to agree with someone so you might see something like the following exchange on an internet discussion board Wow That cat looks like Simba from The Lion King I know right it's incredible imagine a change in the wording as in Wow That cat looks like Simba from The Lion King I know such a statement is more abrupt and far less conversational. The exchange between the 2 writers probably would not continue for much longer the point of our report today was to show you how English speakers use some terms or expressions that have more meaning than you might expect understanding details like these will help you when you communicate or read in casual situations and some of the details we talked about the place whole for example are true of other kinds of words in English adverbs are one example the next time you read internet forums or send text messages try to find other examples of words or expressions that native speakers use we will be back next week with another every day grammar l.o.l. That was a long report I know right but hopefully it was fun and helpful for the listeners I'm John Russell and I'm Alice Bryant. Welcome to the making of a nation American history in v.o.a. Special English by February 1st $186017.00 Southern states had withdrawn from the United States of America they created their own independent nation the Confederate States of America the South seceded because Abraham Lincoln a Republican had been elected president. Southerners believed he would support a constitutional ban on slavery they were afraid their way of life would soon end Cagle lat ad Harry Monroe discuss the beginning of Abraham Lincoln's presidency President elect Lincoln traveled by train from his home in Illinois to Washington d.c. Along the way he stopped to make speeches as he got closer to Washington he was warned that a mob was planning to attack the train he had to continue his trip in secret Lincoln arrived in Washington 9 days before his inauguration it was a busy time he talked with many people including delegates to a peace convention every state was represented at the convention except the states that had seceded the delegates urged Lincoln to support slavery they urged him not to go to war over the issue Lincoln said only that he would faithfully execute the duties of president of all the United States he said he would protect and defend the American Constitution while Lincoln waited for inauguration day he chose the members of his cabinet he wanted man representing all opposing groups in the Republican Party he hoped this would unite the party and give him support in the difficult years ahead. Lincoln chose William Seward as secretary of state Salmon Chase as treasury secretary Gideon well as Navy secretary and Montgomery Blair as postmaster general Seward did not like Chase Wells or Blair he told Lincoln that he could not serve in the cabinet with them he said they would never be able to work together Lincoln answered that he would be happy to make Seward ambassador to Britain instead of Secretary of State Seward gave up the argument and agreed to join the Cabinet Inauguration Day was the 4th of March president elect Lincoln rode to the ceremony with outgoing President James Buchanan Buchanan was ready to give up his power he told Lincoln if you are as happy to get into the White House as I am to get out of it you must be the happiest man alive. The inaugural ceremony took place outside the Capitol Building Lincoln was to give his inaugural speech before being sworn in he had worked hard on the speech he wanted to say clearly what his policy would be on slavery and secession these were the issues which divided the country these were the issues which were leading the country to civil war this is what Lincoln said. There seems to be some fear among the people of the Southern states that because a Republican administration is coming to power their property and their peace and personal security are threatened there has never been any reasonable cause for such fears in fact much evidence to the contrary has existed open to their inspection it is found in nearly all my published speeches in one of those speeches I declared that I had no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists I said I believe that I had no legal right to do so and no wish to do so this statement is still true I can only say that the property peace and security of no part of the country are to be in any way endangered by the incoming administration Lincoln noted that 72 years had passed since the 1st president was inaugurated Since then he said 15 men had led the nation through many dangers generally with great success he went on. I know begin the same job under great difficulty. The breaking up of the Federal Union before only threatened now is attempted I believe that under universal law and under the Constitution the union of these states is permanent This is shown by the history of the union itself the union is much older than the Constitution it was formed in fact by the Articles of Association in $1774.00 it was continued by the Declaration of Independence in $1776.00 it grew further under the Articles of Confederation in 1778 and finally you know 17871 of the declared reasons for establishing the Constitution of the United States was to form a more perfect union I therefore believe that in view of the Constitution and the laws the union is not broken I shall make sure as the Constitution orders me to do that the laws of the Union are obeyed in all the states in doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national government the power given to me will be used to hold occupy and process the property and places belonging to the government and to collect the taxes. But beyond what is necessary for these purposes there will be no invasion no using of force against or among the people anywhere Lincoln then repeated some statements he had made during his campaign for president he used them to explain the differences between north and south one part of the country he said believes slavery is right and should be extended the other part believes slavery is wrong and should not be extended this he said was the only important dispute Lincoln admitted that even if the dispute could be settled peacefully there were those who wanted to see the Union destroyed he said his words were not meant for them. They were meant only for those people who really love the Union he said Physically speaking we cannot separate we cannot remove our sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between them a husband and wife may be divorced and go away from more out of the reach of each other but the different parts of our country cannot do this they must remain face to face and relations friendly or hostile must continue between them is it possible to make those relations better after separation than before can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws. Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can be enforced among friends my country among one and all think calmly and well upon this subject nothing valuable can be lost by taking time in your hands my dissatisfied fellow countryman and not in mine is the great issue of civil war the government will not attack you you can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors we are not enemies but friends we must not be enemies though emotion may have damaged them it must not break our ties of love Abraham Lincoln then placed his hand on the Christian holy book the Bible the chief justice of the United States then spoke the presidential oath Lincoln repeated the words and the United States had a new President Lincoln's 1st crisis came quickly it was a problem left unsolved by the outgoing President Lincoln had to decide immediately what to do about the federal fort in the harbor of Charleston South Carolina Fort Sumter the fort was surrounded by Southern artillery Southern gunboat guarded the harbor. The federal troops inside Fort Sumter were getting dangerously low on food but any attempt to send more men or supplies would be seen as an act of war civil war. And that's our program for today listen again tomorrow to learn English 3 stories from around the world Jonathan Evans and I'm Ashley Thompson. This is below News I'm Gene Randall South Korea says it's decided to continue a 2016 military intelligence sharing agreement with Japan which it had threatened to terminate amid ongoing disputes over wartime history in trade today's announcement follows a strong American push to save the Accord which has been a major symbol of security cooperation in the face of North Korea's nuclear threat and China's growing influence the agreement between Seoul and Tokyo was set to expire this weekend the big question hanging over Israeli politics today is what next it is prompted by the legal plight of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he's been indicted by the country's top prosecutor on charges of bribery fraud and breach of trust White House correspondent Matthew Lara time to reports the prime minister is accused of wrongfully accepting $264000.00 in gifts from business tycoons and giving favors in return for favorable media coverage you could face up to 10 years in prison. Or no legal obligation to resign at this point and he's always denied any wrongdoing but it comes as the country is already facing the prospect of its 3rd election in less than a year. Because Netanyahu wasn't able to form a coalition government and then his main rival Benny Gantz also failed to do so that was Matthew elaborate sound of Reuters 3 of the 4 ethnic based parties and Ethiopia's ruling coalition have voted to become a single party the creation of a prosperity party comes just months ahead of the general election Prime Minister Abi Ahmed Ali In a statement claimed that prosperity is committed to strengthening and applying a true federal system which recognizes the diversity and contributions of all Ethiopians they take Ryan People's Liberation Front refused to take part in Thursday's vote calling it a total sham which it said would lead to Ethiopia's disintegration More news at v.o.a. News dot com from Washington this is news. Sydney Australia remains blanketed in a smoky haze for a 3rd straight day the landmarks and beaches in one of Australia's largest cities are shrouded with heavy smoke from wildfires burning north of the city local media reports say the air quality has been deemed hazardous and hazy conditions are set to linger for days there are more than 50 fires burning across New South Wales here in Washington the House Intelligence Committee has wound up its public impeachment hearings Democrats argue they boast of the case against President Donald Trump Republicans insist that is just not so here's a piece that Donahue former National Security Council adviser Fiona Hill says Bassett or Gordon's son was operating outside official diplomatic channels in Ukraine and was involved in a domestic political errand for President Trump I did says to him to Saul and Dalton I think this is all going to blow up and here we are Ohio Republican Jim Jordan says the testimony doesn't change the fact that the facts are on the present side the truth is on the president's Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff says he could resist no more going down the path of impeachment this president believes he is above the law beyond accountability and Donna.