3 in recent days the 6.4 magnitude quake was located near the southern coastal city of Ponce according to the u.s. Geological Survey revising its initial the initial reading of 6.6 magnitude the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert immediately after the quake was reported but it was later canceled former White House national security adviser John Bolton says he's prepared to testify at President Trump's impeachment trial if the Senate issues a subpoena a.p. Washington correspondent cigar McGonagall reports from the White House Bolton's testimony would give a highly anticipated firsthand account from a top advisor who was in the room for moments all the reserve already described and it's unclear whether that would help the president or hurt him Senate g.o.p. Chief Mitch McConnell wants a fast trial and has resisted calling new witnesses the Democrats want to hear from Bolton and others who did not appear during the House inquiry House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate while pushing for that testimony if she does in the coming days the Senate trial could start as soon as this week solder mag on the at the White House then a swale an opposition leader one wydow entered the country's legislative building Tuesday 2 days after the ruling Socialist Party and stalled its own parliament Terry leadership the latest development in an effort to gain control of minutes waiting Venezuela's the last democratic institution why go on a handful of opposition lawmakers force their way into the national assembly after a standoff with President Nicolas Maduro security forces and Michele a prevented them from entering after the half hour confrontation with troops widened made his way toward his seat and led lawmakers in the singing of the national anthem shortly there after the electricity went out dimming the building and rendering microphones unusable. I'm Laurel Denman for v.o.a. News. Today is Tuesday January 7th and this is Vo ways international edition I'm Steve Miller in Washington coming up Iran's parliament has passed an urgent builder clearing the u.s. Military's command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf are terrorists subject to Iranian sanctions. In general yeah because the line is a. Totally stalled. Bus will troops stay or leave Iraq while the latest from the Pentagon those stories and more are all coming up next on today's international edition. A warning from the u.s. Maritime Administration to ships crossing Mid East waterways Mike. Mike hempen starts us off. The warning says there is still possibility ever Ronnie an action against u.s. Maritime interests in the Mideast it has been issued to ships crucial to global energy supplies insights rising threats after an American drone strike in Baghdad killed a top Iranian general oil tankers were targeted in mine attacks last year that the Us blamed on Iran Tehran denied being responsible but it did seize all oil tankers around the crucial Strait of Hormuz m my camp and Iran's Fars News Agency science and emergency services officials saying that a stampede among mourners during the funeral ceremony for Commander Assam So the money has reached at least 40 and 213 others were wounded in addition Iran's parliament as passed an urgent build a clearing the u.s. Military's command at the Pentagon in those acting on its behalf are terrorists subject to Iranian sanctions the measure appears to mirror a decision by u.s. President Donald Trump and able to declare Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization the u.s. Defense Department use the guard's designation to support the strike that killed top general money who was viewed by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the guard's expeditionary curds forces codes forces this comes as the semiofficial Fars news agency reports Iran has been considering 13 revenge scenarios as a target Tel atory measure and after a u.s. Official speaking to Reuters News said the United States tonight a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that would have allowed him to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Thursday speaking to reporters today u.s. Secretary of state Mike Pompei o said that any action the United States takes against Iran would be within the guidelines set by international law that question came after President Trump indicated that he may target Iranian cultural sites which would be a war crime let me tell you who's done damage to the Persian culture. It's not the United States of America it's the ayatollah if you want to look at who has denied religious freedom if you want to know who has denied the Persian culture is rich and Steve in history and intellect and they've denied the capacity for that culture to continue if you go back and look at the holidays around Cyrus in a ruse they were not permitted people to celebrate they've not allowed people that they've killed that Qassam. They've not allowed them to go mourn their family members the real risk to Persian culture does not come from United States of America that there is there is no mistake about it. Joining us now to discuss the further implications of rising tensions in the region is Eric Brewer he is the deputy director and fellow for the project on nuclear issues an International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Eric welcome to the program thanks for having me as we see developments continue between Tehran and Washington I want to get your take on what you believe is the most important thing to look at as these events continue to unfold Well I think a couple of things right I think for one you know all those things are escalating where we're not at war 3 yet and where it we're not likely to be right now because of the strike against Soleimani there is pressure on Iran for Tally 8 and the government has said that it's going to do so but I think we can expect Iran also to retaliate on its own time scale it's going to take its time it's going to want to respond in a way that it's back but also in a way that's proportional that doesn't push the u.s. Too far even escalate further and so there's you know the u.s. Strikes certainly down some gasoline on the fire in the Middle East and right now things are pretty tense but Iran says certainly trying to balance competing objectives because it knows it's going to lose in any major conventional war with the United States but again it does have to respond speaking of responding and you mentioned it would most certainly possibly. Losing the conventional war type situation with the United States has been can some concern about interactions in maritime waters as well as cyber strikes you forsee Tehran possibly responding in those types of arenas where than directly confronting the United States I think it's hard to predict exactly what Iran's response will be it certainly has capabilities across all those areas and has quite a significant reach in the Middle East and the ability to target u.s. Forces and facilities over there it also has a range of asymmetric responses including cyber including attacks on shipping which we've seen over the course of. This past 6 and 6 or 7 months so it certainly has the ability to respond there and so I think all of those are certainly possible it's probably going to want to probably choose a mix of responses right it's going to need because of the public posture that it's taken it's going to need to respond in a way that is subtly attributable to Iran but it can also make such responses up and respond in other ways that hide Iran's hand a lot more turning to the discussion on nuclear development in Iran where do you see things going from here now that Tehran is that it's pulling back from the 2015 accord even though some world powers are still trying to salvage the deal so I think that Iran one thing to clarify or Ron actually is not leaving the deal and it's not abandoning all of its commitments this was reported initially out there and that's that's a little bit incorrect what are on actually announced is that it's no longer going to abide by one of the restrictions in the deal that limits the number of centrifuges that Iran can can happen use at its nuclear facilities and so that move sort of builds on a lot of steps that Iran has taken since since May have 2019 to slowly roll back its commitments you may remember our Iran talked about every 60 days it was going to make a new announcement and so Iran has mostly announced that it's not abiding by some of the major restrictions that limit it's an. Richmond program you know a key aspect of what could shorten its timeline to a nuclear device right so maybe as announcements they're quite provocative and quite frankly they're intended to be provocative and headline grabbing but actually Iran has been quite slow to implement any changes for example at a band in one of the restrictions on the level of enrichment that it can that it can go to it was 3.67 percent under deal it's only gone to just under 5 percent right so that's a very gradual increase and it's nowhere near the 90 percent level that you would need for a nuclear weapon so it is it is sort of simply swung the door open to make nuclear progress and to to more quickly shorten its breakout time line to nuclear weapon but it is very tentatively and cautiously walking through that door Eric Brewer is the deputy director and fellow for the project on nuclear issues and International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Eric thank you very much for joining us today thanks for having me periodically may hear some bumps in the road today as we're having some technical problems here in the studio we do appreciate you understanding as we bring you today's news Rexx parliament urged the government to expel 5200 American troops from the country the move was to protest a u.s. Drone strike that killed General Salim many in in the Baghdad airport the Shiite majority in the parliament voted for the resolution calling on the caretaker government to in the bilateral agreements with the u.s. Led coalition to station troops on Iraqi soil caretaker Prime Minister Abdullah meant a earlier urge parliament to take urgent measures and in the presence of foreign troops as soon as possible but he said any decision on u.s. Troops must make sure that Iraq's national interests and security are not damaged senior analyst Muhammad Ali discussed the different aspects of u.s. Presence in Iraq with former Iraqi Defense Attache Ismail Donny Actually I think you should. And episode the current tit for tat lation between Iran and the United States so initially and subsidy plucked have opted. For the view of my prospective been up to date on. Motivation to contact the u.s. Forces action as well as well pushed by Iranian action or you tell us what happened on Friday and it is it did come up with concrete picking and consideration the enormous challenges and consequence of Iraq what kind of economically politically and security Iraqi parliament speaker Mohamad has Boosie noted that he meant cannot beat them unaided without it when they speak why then the parliament to take such a vote what kind of usual technically binding What be dedicated to the next government authority to implement it in fact there are a number of arguments over to legal crap war in which the United States forces have been productive than Iraq but the fact is that k. Iraqi government should use the primitive channel to negotiate with the Us forces to schedule the timeline to leave so the one year equation period off. So they would be talking counting from that point you know 6 of those they might explain this deal is forces will be expelled telling folks Neela's. They and I keep people we want the United States to remain with his assessment while I partially agree with. Iraqi people would welcome the united forces that did not make Iraq a battlefield for any conflict between the United States and your lot and Iraq if the project was. Not capable to peel such a complex. That would be harming Iraqi people and interests Iraqis are against any foreign influence whether you're a white man all or from the United States that's what the situation so the u.s. Forces are crucial and fundamentally important too just in Iraq and Iraqis do not want to be monopoly to be. Conflict but could the. Security vacuum in Iraq no one can deny its frontal contribution all for u.s. Forces in defeating and they were crucial in providing Air Force support through to stick training intelligence and the support and although I thought it had brought its local support and significant capabilities in Iraq they still post threat in different areas and not and with your rock and that same time Iraqi forces are missing meaningful and difficult October's to get late on themselves so I think that that is going to be challenging and any pullout you Rocky will be concerned about $24980.00 would be repeated so that's why I'm saying that there are huge challenges and consequences but due to dead pull out from Iraq and Iraqis should take into consideration what will happen and how Iraqis will be containing these kind of contracts said. Iraq. Pays the bills in Iraq you know not only that Iraq is actually fronts and money and budgets ours protected by the Us administration and there's a presidential executive orders issued every year to that protection and Iraqi government armament your occupation should take into consideration that would be hard when you figure out. Interest you if you are the factors that would be consequences on Iraq on a specially article and that was former Iraqi Defense Attache Dhani speaking to v.o.a. a Senior analyst Mohamad. View a Pentagon correspondent Carla bad recently asked General Mark Miley the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about the withdrawal I think he is leaving Iraq at this time writing that letter is a draft it was a mistake it was unsigned should not have been released and poorly worded implies withdrawal that is not what's happening and joining us now live from the Pentagon is v.o.a. Correspondent Carla bad thank you for joining us glad to be here so can you explain more about the confusion over what has been reported in multiple media outlets about whether or not u.s. Troops are in fact leaving Iraq Ok so the confusion started yesterday when this letters began circulating on social media it was an unsigned letter from General Seeley one of the commanders in Iraq it was basically saying that the United States was going to be doing some onward movement that was the terminology that was used in the letter and it sounded like the u.s. Was getting out of Iraq what was actually happening is that the United States forces are moving around a lot more because they're changing their posture so they can be more defensive and to protect their own troops and so the helicopter movement in Baghdad in Taji which is just a few kilometers away and then in and out of Kuwait in Iraq so with all that happening they wanted to properly inform their Iraqi counterparts they were sending a letter to some of their rocky kind of parts to look at the language and help with the language and somehow that letter was leaked and the letter was a draft I've been told directly as you heard from General Milley it was a draft it was unsigned it should have never been leaked it should never gotten out and the bottom line is the United States is not leaving Iraq at this time. And they are protecting their forces in Iraq at this time especially with the threat of Iranian backed forces and speaking of the threat of Iranian forces has there been any discussions about either changing troop deployment in the region or adding additional troops to come back any perceived threats Well things began changing every morning that I walked into the Pentagon it feels like where we are now is that we've added additional 14000 troops from May to late December to the Middle East region after the attack on the embassy we added an additional 4000 troops from North Carolina brigade went into Kuwait I have heard this morning I have been able to confirm that there are some b. 52 bombers that are in the area just on standby and there may be some further deployments in the coming days none of them have been announced at this time. Carl is here you know if you can share with us about what's going on at the Pentagon regarding the tension in the Middle East well one thing that officials here have stressed while they have not provided any evidence or any intelligence on this attack and why they took counsel money they have pointed to the evidence that they say will they think tell us that the evidence that they had would have made them culpable and negligent to the American people had they not taken out so money they point to the fact that he has killed hundreds of Americans since he has been the commander of the clits force that's the elite force of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that does the external operations in countries across the region and they want to stress that they felt that it was a necessary move a lot of Democrats as you have heard Chuck Schumer in the Senate has said there's no plan here and we need to know a plan but I think this will be hashed out in the coming days I know that General Milley and Secretary Asper have been trying to brief people on the Hill to make sure that they are aware of what's going on and at the same time this building is going to planning for dozens of scenarios in the coming days early bad as Vili's Pentagon correspondent thank you very much for your time thank you and you're listening to v.o.a. News. This is in a minute. That's it cold on Dr Steffen mall a medical expert from the University of North Carolina to help treat astronauts aboard the International Space Station the astronaut had developed a deep vein thrombosis or blood clot in his juggler vein the biggest concern of this condition is that part of the clot could break off and travel to the longsword could cause a pulmonary embolism since it wasn't possible to send Dr bald through the eye assess treat the person people get his evaluation and treatment procedure from his office at u.n.c. Dr mall and then ask the doctors decided the best way to treat their pay. Was with a regimen of blood thinning drugs while the supply of these drugs aboard the I assessed was limited it was enough to treat the astronaut until a supply ship delivered by the Cajuns recommended by Dr ma that would successfully complete the treatment and be a ways Rick Panta Layo. V.o.a. As international edition continues I'm Steve Miller we appreciate you understanding if you hear a few audio glitches today as we are having some technical difficulties bring you today's news but as well as opposition leader won why doto took his place in the parliament speaker seat after a standoff with the armed forces who initially prevented him from entering Congress was barred from entering the building by the National Guard for around a half an hour his rival claimant to the speaker position Luis Posada occupy the chair but time by Joe was allowed in alongside allied deputies had left both men claimed on Sunday they had support of enough deputies to be elected president of the legislature support mainly comes from deputies loyal to President close my door while the opposition holds 112 of the 167 seats in the Assembly said 100 deputies voted for him to claim the support of only $81.00 lawmakers the National Assembly is the only branch of the government in opposition hands a $6.00 magnitude earthquake has struck Puerto Rico the largest in a series of quakes have struck the u.s. Territory in recent days the ab's area Shaklee has more teams that are already out assessing the situation the mayor of Nelson tourists in Jordan said emergency services were looking for anyone injured in the quake Puerto Rico's Power Authority said on Twitter that one of the country's main power plants which sits near the epicenter had been damaged but officials expect to restore power to the island later to say the u.s. Geological Service said the quake hit at 4 24 am just south of the island that's a shallow depth of 6.2 miles he said the quake was followed by a string of off the shocks from 5.6 to 4.5 in magnitude I'm sorry Ashoke fires have burned through more than 8600000 hectares of land across Australia killing. Least $25.00 people and destroying or damaging thousands of homes mostly in the southeastern region dead birds and burn leaves lay scattered across sands of the once picturesque fishing village of Eden and Australia's southeast coast the town is known for having one of the best whale watching sponson the coast however these days that cruise boats in the harbor and boats there are barely visible due to thick smoke and settled in the area businesses usually booming at this time of year as tourists flock to the beaches during the summer season giving local businesses the income they need to survive in the quieter winter season or no longer their local resident Rachel Clarke shares and she's never been more afraid in her life. Had such high anxiety levels barely been elbow to get out of my own high school we had to evacuate at 4 o'clock in the morning on Sunday from the property that was I for the right from us that was cleaned Fama and. It was a focal moment to draw I done to the one before. I know it's never been safe skate in my life I couldn't see the smoke was so I think there was a rule or a far out all the residents of Eden can do now is wait for the visitors to return. Paris will commemorate the 5th anniversary on Tuesday of the attack on the French the terrible magazine Charlie Abdo known for publishing satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in that attack 12 people were killed by Islamist gunmen the killing spree shocked the world and prompted a series of gatherings in support of the newspaper and its staff culminating in the March through the streets of Paris attended by several world. Leaders on the eve of the anniversary of the attack Charlie Hebdo lawyer Richard Mollica said the journalists were still receiving threats but were not giving up their work 5 years after the attack Reporters Without Borders is calling on international institutions to protect journalists against religious intolerance denouncing its rise the sentiment was echoed by Ahmed Shah he the United Nations Special Report or on freedom of religion or belief what's happened to free of expression in the past 5 years you see that more and more author is prepared to step back from offensive speech people must have sensed that in themselves the plain fact of ecology is that you know there should be a stepping back from speech that is offensive to religious establishment so that means that those who attacked Ali Abdul have won because that's what they want to do people to have tens or not criticize with agent or to step back from from a speech that is a bust so if we keep on regarding you know also 1000 able to expose ourselves then he has one. Reporters Without Borders called the deep penalization of blasphemy adding that blasphemy is still sanctioned by the death penalty and 6 countries in the world Tokyo prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant Tuesday for former Nissan chairman Carlos Goans wife on suspicion of perjury adding to the couple's legal troubles in a country where he once was revered as a star executive the move against. Carol go on who is not in Japan follow her husband's flight to Lebanon last week while he was out on bail awaiting trial for alleged financial miss contact and that's going to do it for day for today we thank you for joining us as well as understanding that we've had some technical difficulties you've been listening to the international edition of On The Voice of a great day. Welcome to 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 the word. Birds and phrases especially written for people learning English. Today on the program you will hear from Brian land. Ellie Gene Kelly and Alice Bryant later we will present our American history series The Making of a nation but 1st here is Brian with. India has announced plans to land and unpiloted space vehicle on the moon in 2020 the plans mark a continuation of India's drive to expand its space program the head of India's Space Research Organization case Yvonne made the announcement on January 1st the planned mission called Chandrayaan 3 aims to land an exploration vehicle on the moon's surface Trondra is the Sanskrit word for Moon vehicle savant recently told reporters that mission planning had progressed smoothly so far we are targeting the launch for this year but it may spill over to next year Savan said Indian sources told the French news agency a.f.p. That officials had set November as a target launch date India is seeking to become only the 4th nation to land on the moon's surface after Russia the United States and China Israel made an unsuccessful attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon last April India has worked to establish itself as a low cost satellite launcher. It is seeking to become a world space power however the country's space program suffered a failed moon landing attempt last September that mission Chandrayaan 2 ended with the lander spacecraft crashing on the moon's surface Chandrayaan 2 had aimed to land on the south pole of the moon where no other lunar mission had gone before the area is believed to contain water because it is largely unaffected by the high temperatures of the sun Chandrayaan threes Explorer vehicle hopes to confirm the presence of water in the form of lunar ice which it 1st discovered during a mission in 2008 Sivana said the new unpiloted mission is expected to cost about 35000000 dollars with additional launch costs Sivan also announced that India had chosen for candidate astronauts to take part in the country's 1st planned to pilot admission into orbit that mission is set for late 2021 at the earliest the 4 candidates are expected to start training in Russia later this month up to 3 astronauts are to take part in the flight. The piloted mission is one of India's main planned projects to mark the 75th anniversary of India's independence from British rule. I am Brian Lennon was. In 2013 doctors expected. To live only a few more years he was only 26 years old at the time cancer was destroying his body after 6 months of an ending pain says a doctor at the Sunday at Sun University Cancer Center and one Joe China tried to make him feel better the doctor gave Will a note permitting him to take a drug called Oxycontin oxycontin is a painkiller created to help people like Woo cancer patients in the final months of life but those who take Oxy cotton risk becoming addicted to it in the United States about 400000 people have died from taking too much of the drug they died after taking increasing amounts of it to be able to feel its effect. Said no one in China warned him about addiction risks he said his doctor told him to take as much Oxycontin as he wanted so he did and it worked the drug brought him relief from his pain 6 years later Whew was still alive the cancer was no longer in his body and the pain was under control. But he was still taking Oxycontin when he tried to stop using it he found that he could not do it this drug is addictive Ruth said 100 percent addictive who fell into drug abuse the same way many Americans do through a doctor's prescription but while the u.s. Is battling its prescription drug crisis China appears to be ignoring the rise in the use of painkillers there the country are 1st few treatment choices for addicts and it does not count prescription drug addiction in its official count of drug abuse how way is president of the Chinese Association of Drug Abuse Prevention and treatment he said he believes abuse of prescription drugs is limited in China but he adds that official data largely over looks set Chinese officials say the situation in the United States is different than the situation in China in the u.s. They say the painkiller addiction epidemic comes from the large number of people who are asking for the drugs they also say use of the drugs is not well controlled in China strict laws and policies govern where and how painkillers can be given but more painkillers may be available in China than officials admit addicts can turn to on line black markets for oxy cotton and other prescription drugs. Will he says his parents locked away his painkillers after that he was one of the people looking for the drugs on the Internet he joined an online group of abusers and dealers they connected with grieving family members who were trying to give away leftover pain medicine after a loved one had died by then woo was trying hard to limit the number of pills he used every day in April 29th teen he ran out of money and was forced to stop taking oxycontin completely quitting the drug was extremely difficult however he was not able to sleep for 4 days finally a doctor gave him sleeping pills and a warning do not take more than 3 at a time whoa took 15 for weeks visited a number of doctors to get more sleeping pills he took so many that the pills stunned him he did not sleep instead he would fall down unconscious it's good I didn't die he said doctors finally sent him to a hospital for the mentally ill but would did not believe he had a mental problem he told doctors he was going through withdrawal the painful process when someone stops using an addictive drug a.p. Reporters later called the mental hospital the man who picked up the phone said the place does not have an addiction treatment program and he said doctors had never dealt with prescription pill abuse. In time whose withdrawal symptoms eased without medical help. I'm Kelly Gene Kelly and I'm on I'm a Teo. A google artificial intelligence system was as good as expert radiologists at discovering which women had breast cancer in a new study the system made the findings from thousands of mammogram and midges researchers in the United States and Britain reported this is the newest study to show that artificial intelligence or a I may improve the accuracy of mammograms breast cancer affects one in 8 women around the world the study was published in the journal Nature the American Cancer Society says radiologists miss about 20 percent of breast cancers and mammograms and many women who get the tests have a false positive result at some point a false positive result shows a woman with cancer even though she does not have it the findings of the study were developed with deep mind Ai which joined with Google Health in September the study results represent a big step toward the possibility of early breast cancer detection said Mazi our Edom Adi he is one of the study writers and based at Northwestern medicine in Chicago. The team included researchers at Imperial College London and Britain's National Health Service together they trained the ai system to identify breast cancers on tens of thousands of mammograms they then compared the ai systems performance with the actual results from a set of 25856 mammograms in the United Kingdom and 3097 from the United States the study showed the ai system could identify cancers with a similar level of accuracy to expert radiologists at the same time it reduced the number of false positive results by 5.7 percent in the American patients and 1.2 percent in the British patients It also cut the number of false negatives were tests are wrongly listed as normal by 9.4 percent in the American group and 2.7 percent in the British group these results show differences and how memory grams are read in the us only one radiologist reads the results and the tests are done every one to 2 years in Britain the tests are done every 3 years and each is read by 2 radiologists when they disagree a 3rd radiologist reads it in a separate test the researchers put the ai system against 6 radiologists and found it performed better at correctly detecting breast cancers. Conny Lehmann is chief of the breast imaging department at Harvard's Massachusetts General Hospital she said the results agree with findings from many groups using ai to improve cancer detection and mammograms including her own work the idea of using computers to improve cancer detection has been around for years and computer aided detection or cad systems are common in memory graphy health centers but cad has not improved performance and health practice the issue Leaman said is that current cad programs were trained to identify things human radiologists can see but with Ai computers learn to find cancers based on the actual results of thousands of mammograms so Ai has the possibility of going beyond human ability to identify small signs the human eye and brain cannot mozzie are at a Mahdi added that the study has shown in tens of thousands of mammograms that Ai can make a very well informed decision the study has some limitations most of the tests were done using the same type of imaging equipment and the Us group had a lot of patients with confirmed breast cancers importantly the team has not yet shown that the tool improves patient care said Dr Lisa Watanabe. She is chief medical officer of cure metrics a company whose Ai mammogram program won u.s. Approval last year she noted that Ai is only helpful if it creates noticeable progress for a radiologist at a Madi agreed that those studies are needed as is regulatory approval a process that could take many years I'm Alice Bryant. Welcome to the making of a nation American history in v.o.a. Special English. President James Garfield was shot and seriously wounded in the summer of 1881. And the man who shot him said he supported the political group that supported vice president Chester Arthur. The gunman was found to be insane but some people were ready to believe the worst about Vice President Arthur. They knew that many of the vice president's political allies disliked President Garfield. They thought the vice president might have helped the gunman in some way Harry Monroe and Cagle and tell what happened after President Garfield was shot for a time it seemed the president might get better but the bullet wound became infected he died of the infection 2 months after he was shot. Vice President Arthur took the oath of office a few hours after the president's death Chester Arthur had been a successful lawyer he had worked in politics for a number of years but he had never before held an elected office many Americans questioned his ability to serve in the White House one person put it this way Chet Arthur president of the United States Good God almost everyone feared Arthur would be a tool of a Republican Party Leader in New York Roscoe Conkling they were sure Conkling would be the real power in Arthur's administration they were wrong Chester Arthur surprised everyone he broke all his ties with the Conkling political machine he remained independent of any party group Arthur asked Garfield's cabinet to resign he chose new men for all but one department in his 1st message to Congress President Arthur asked for changes in the way government jobs were filled he proposed a new civil service system that would let ability not to politics decide who got to government jobs Republican Party leaders opposed the proposals the civil service system would stop limb from giving federal jobs to their supporters it would destroy a much of their power. These Republican leaders controlled the Congress they refused to act on the civil service proposals civil service reform however was an important issue President Garfield had been assassinated by a man who believed he should have gotten a government job because of his politics also new cases of dishonesty had been discovered in the Post Office Department the public began to demand laws to clean up the civil service in $882.00 a new Congress was elected the new Congress was controlled by the Democratic Party President Arthur again appealed for civil service reform this time he got results the new Congress passed a civil service bill that required 10 percent of all federal jobs to be filled through competitive examinations this 10 percent included half the officials in the Post Office Department it included most workers at federal customs houses the bill also said it was illegal for politicians to ask government employees for campaign money and it set up a Civil Service Committee to enforce the new law President Arthur also found himself face to with an on usual problem the government was earning more money than it needed most of the money came from tariffs taxes on imports. Each year tariffs brought in $100000000.00 more than the government needed the import taxes had been set high to protect American industries from foreign competition President Arthur wanted to reduce the tariffs Congress wanted to keep them high industrial leaders wanted to keep them high too they did not want to compete with low priced foreign products Congress saw no problem with the extra money Broady and buy high tariffs it found many ways to spend it for example Congress raised payments to soldiers who had fought in the Civil War during the 860 s. It also approved money to build roads bridges and waterways throughout the country many of these things were not needed they were approved for political purposes they put government money into the home areas of powerful congressman in $882.00 Congress passed the rivers and harbors bill the bill would cost almost $19000000.00 President Arthur vetoed the bill he said it would waste too much money but Congress passed the bill into law over his veto next President Arthur urged Congress to form a committee to find a way to reduce tariffs Congress formed the committee the committee proposed that tariffs be reduced by 20 percent. But Congress did not consider the proposal when it began debating a new tariff bill President Arthur was more successful in getting Congress to reduce the public debt during his term the debt was cut by more than 400 $1000000.00 Chester Arthur is efforts for honest government and lower taxes won him much support among the people but he could not win the support of his Republican Party Arthur wanted to serve another 4 years in the White House his name was put before the Republican nominating convention in 1884 the name of Senator James Blaine of Maine also was put before the convention on the 1st ballot Blaine received 334 votes Arthur got only 2783 ballots later Blaine won the presidential nomination however many Republicans refused to support Blaine they accused him of being dishonest they said he was controlled by powerful politicians the Democratic Party chose New York governor Grover Cleveland as its presidential candidate like Chester Arthur at the national level Grover Cleveland was known for fighting dishonesty in government at the local level he began as mayor of the city of Buffalo New York. He cleaned up the city government and saved the taxpayers much money next he was elected governor of New York State there too he helped end the dishonesty in government Cleveland refused to give jobs to Democrats because of their political ties Instead he filled a state jobs with men of ability this early success helped him win the Democratic presidential nomination the campaign of 1884 between Republican Blaine and Democrat Cleveland was one of the most bitter in American political history a group of Republicans who opposed Blaine published letters to prove he was dishonest Blaine had written the letters several years earlier during a shameful incident concerning the sale of railroad stock now he was forced to defend himself against those old charges Blaine's supporters fought back by discovering a scandal in Cleveland's past Grover Cleveland had never married but more than 10 years earlier he had been involved with a young woman the woman gave birth to a boy Cleveland was not sure the boy was his son but he accepted the responsibility for the child he sent to money to help care for him. A Republican newspaper published the story soon Republican crowds were shouting a joke about it ma ma Where's my pa gone to the White House. Are both candidates campaigned hard it was clear to everyone that the vote would be close election day was cold and rainy early results showed the 2 candidates with almost the same number of electoral votes the winner would be the one who captured a majority of the popular votes in New York State that candidate would then get all of New York's electoral votes it was not until 3 days after the voting that election officials announced Cleveland had won his victories set off wild celebrations among Democrats across the country Grover Cleveland really was going to the White House hahaha his election what brings some important changes to the country. And that's our program for today listen again tomorrow to learn English 3 stories from around the world I'm Jonathan Evans and I'm Ashley Thompson. This is the news I'm ricin Melton Iranian state media reported Tuesday a stampede at the funeral for a top military commander Qassam solo money killed at least 32 people and injured 190 others tens of thousands of people had gathered to honor Soleimani in his hometown of comment before his burial following similar ceremonies this week in Tehran and other cities the state media reports said the burial was postponed following the stampede Solmonese killing last week in a u.s. Airstrike has sparked fears of a wider conflict as the United States and Iran threatened strong responses to each other's actions Robert O'Brian is the White House national security adviser as long as are bad actors in the world there are always threats to Americans and the Iranians have been making many many threats to the United States over the past several days where do we take those seriously and are watching a moderate defense secretary Mark esper said Monday that the United States is not withdrawing troops from Iraq the top military officer has explained in a letter from a senior military officer that explained that appeared to suggest withdrawal was a poorly worded mistake a piece Jackie Quinn has more Pentagon officials are now saying it was a mistake that a draft of a letter was released that discussed a u.s. Troop departure from Iraq Defense Department officials were scrambling to do damage control Monday and Joint Chiefs chairman Mark Milley says quote Nobody is leaving there's no n word movement honest mistake the draft addressed to an official at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said u.s. Troops would be repositioning forces to prepare for an Word movement adding We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure defense secretary Marc as per says the u.s. Has been repositioning troops because of the increased threats from Iran and that letter was meant to coordinate with the Iraqi military Jackie Quinn Washington you're listening to news. Firefighters in Australia are taking advantage of a change of weather to shore up defenses against the massive bushfires that have burned millions of hectares for over 3 months southeastern Australia is due for cooler temperatures and rainfall throughout this week giving firefighters time to bolster containment lines but the current rainfall is not enough to extinguish the hundreds of fires Prime Minister Scott Morrison The Commonwealth is committing an additional and initial $2000000000.00 either the next calendar year starting right now to support all of the efforts of recovery right across the country.

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