Have closed some border crossings with mainland China over fears of contagion of the deadly corona virus which has killed more than 100 people in China infections have been found in more than a dozen countries Joe Davies has more checkpoints nice to rhyme China's lockdown area and to nearly 16000000 people and the epicenter of the coronaviruses Broad's and global health concerns every driver and passenger the process in fact if you buy a province here is tested and he would fine with a high temperature is told to go to hospital immediately 3 Russian regions have not close the borders of China and Hong Kong has suspended its high speed rail and ferry services to the mainland leave the car alarms all residents of the city currently on the mainland to return soon as possible and stay home for 2 weeks telling that everyone at a news conference was wearing a protective mask including the leader has self acquired in Japan the government is sending a chartered flight to would harm to evacuate to citizens France the u.s. Germany and Spain are among other countries doing the same as writers Joe Davies reporting lawyers for u.s. President Donald Trump wrapped up their defense Tuesday at his Senate impeachment trial strongly rebuffing claims in the withdrawal withheld military aid to Ukraine to benefit himself politically Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow told the 100 senators who are acting as jurors we are clear in our position there was no quid pro quo the case in question happened last July when the United States withheld military aid from Ukraine at the same time President Trump was requesting that request Ukraine's president investigate a trump political rival the arguments came on the 3rd and last day of the president's defense and that he should be acquitted of 2 articles of impeachment of using the power of the presidency and obstructing congressional efforts to investigate his actions in Ukraine. From Washington d.c. You're listening to news. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was formally indicted in court on Tuesday on corruption charges after he withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution Sara Lee has more Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now formally been indicted on corruption charges off to withdrawing his bid for parliamentary immunity he said in a statement that immunity proceedings would have been a quote so the case now moves towards trial a process which could take months or years Netanyahu is accused of wrongfully accepting $264000.00 worth of gifts from tycoons and of dispensing favors an alleged basis for improved coverage by Israel's biggest selling newspaper who denies old wrongdoing Sierra Leone reporting authorities in the western African nation of say as many as 30 people were killed in an attack on a village by suspected Islamic extremists late last week the impoverished country has been plagued by attacks by militia forces from neighboring Mali and since 2015 . Attacks have left hundreds dead and displaced more than 500000 civilians despite a large presence of French and u.s. Forces as well as a 13000 strong United Nations peacekeeping force. Officials in Afghanistan say a pre-dawn Taliban attack in northern Afghanistan has killed at least 13 policeman The attack comes as the insurgent group is engaged in days of talks with the United States on a possible reduction in hostilities to advance their stalled peace process a police spokesman contrived to v.o.a. The attack left the Post Commander dead and both sides suffered heavy casualties and so in clashes. The record holder for the longest space flight by a woman Christina Cook is getting ready to go home a piece at Donohue has more after more than 300 days in orbit Cook says if visitors were allowed she would stay it's been a long time since I've seen my friends and family so for their sake I think that it's probably time to head home cook told the a.p. Adapting to life without gravity was an easy I really actually miss chips and salsa the most her highlight the opportunity to do the 1st all female space walk with Jessica Mir which she feels could be an inspiration to future space walkers when Christina Cook is back on Earth what will she do 1st Hands down it's going to be going for a swim in the Gulf of Mexico I do live next to the ocean there cooks 320 a day mission will be the 2nd longest by an American trailing Scott Kelly slight by 12 days I'm a Donahue and Istanbul court has defied the European Court of Human Rights ruling in favor of the continued detention of prominent philanthropist Osman Qabala in December the European court demanded the immediate release of who's on trial for sedition I'm Melissa Melton this is the news. The center of the problem is and who Bay province which is key to the Chinese. What is China's coronavirus doing to the economy we'll take a closer look at that this is Wednesday January 29th and this is video Asia I'm I remembered in Washington also ahead that corona virus is spreading with many more infected and dead you will hear the personal story of someone caught in the China shut down from Washington the conclusion of another phase of the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump all of that and much more on today's v.o.a. Asia. Just a few weeks ago the trade war between the United States and China seemed to be easing theys one deal was announced by the world's 2 largest economies financial markets worldwide for the most part we're in an upturn but then came a mysterious virus in the Chinese city of who han that buyer is has now spread to other nations with the death toll in China at 106 more than 4500 cases of the virus have been confirmed in China the effect on world markets is being closely watched Jeff moon is the former assistant trade representative for China in the Obama administration I asked him about the negative effect of the virus outbreak on world markets. Well the problem here from a business perspective is uncertainty that due to the uncertainty that's been created created by this fire is businesses can't move forward trade is completely interrupted and this has short and long term effects it's not clear in the short term where we're going the number of cases is rising quickly but we really don't know what's a long term trajectory is because it's unclear. What that whether patients are going to be contagious or not because they don't present symptoms necessarily this comes at a particularly difficult time because all of China traditionally is traveling during this period during their equivalent of Christmas during the Spring Festival and in the short term this is causing shortages of basic supplies like food and it will reduce consumption in China at a time when the Chinese economy economy is too solid reading it really needs consumers to fuel economic activity the most immediate signals that we're seeing are in the stock market as you suggested there was a sharp drop today there has been some recovery but that the sock market is watching very closely what's going to happen here other short and long term implications include whether companies where individuals will make purchases whether they want to vest whether Neuf you know ventures will go on hold there are lots of the just to quote disruptions here there are travel restrictions that are being imposed by the Chinese and other governments foreigners foreigners are being evacuated shipping is being interrupted the railways between Hong Kong and the mainland have been interrupted in the air industry there are more screenings of the passengers and fewer routes that are out there and then there are some industries that are immediately impact by this like tourism gaming but we don't know the longer term implications for industries like manufacturing for example the center of the problem is and who be a province which is key to the Chinese watching Fox Conn serves Apple and many other tech companies so this could in the longer term cause supply chain. To diversify further away from China and further push decoupling if you're looking for any kind of silver lining in this picture the the One small positive aspect of this is that this country to those who want to push decoupling this shows the importance of international cooperation this problem can't be solved on cooperation between China the United States the w.h.o. And all of our global partners and this is a very graphic representation station on ports that international cooperation is there have been concerns that the virus outbreak could lead to a worldwide recession mooned says that is possible it really depends on the longer term effects how serious the disruptions will be relooked back to SARS when the weather warmed up a few months from now the problem was dissipated so that would that would minimize the problem to a certain extent but as I said China is already a salary doing in terms of its economy it does not need a hit to consumption and the Phase one trade deal actually relies on Chinese purchases of American goods if there are problems in the supply chain and production of goods then theoretically if this goes on long enough there could be some impact on China's ability to fulfill those terms and that would be that would be a major problem too Jeff moon is the former assistant trade representative for China in the Obama administration he spoke with us via Skype. These are among the top Asia headlines you'll find right now at v.o.a. News dot com u.s. Forces working at a mostly Taliban controlled region of Afghanistan have recovered the remains of 2 military personnel killed when their plane crashed in the country's Gosney province the us government Tuesday charged the Harvard university department chair at a Boston University employee with failing to disclose their dealings with Chinese research agencies while receiving federal research funding a division of the World Bank has just made its 1st so-called green loan to a bank in Vietnam meant for businesses to help with environmental problems in a nation that has one of the world's highest the mission's rates relative to its economy China has agreed that the World Health Organization will say in international experts they are as soon as possible. V.o.a. Asia continues now the World Health Organization warns the evacuation of nationals from China to their home countries carries the risk of spreading the deadly corona virus the w.h.o. Reports $4428.00 cases of the disease in China that includes $106.00 deaths another $45.00 cases are confirmed in 13 countries Lisa reports from w.h.o. Headquarters in Geneva. W.h.o. Chief Tadros I don't know I'm gay priests This is wrapping up several days of talks with China's president Xi Jinping and other high level officials in Beijing they have been discussing measures to protect the health of Chinese citizens and foreigners during the corona virus outbreak w.h.o. Spokesman Christian Lindenmayer says officials also have considered possible alternatives to the evacuation of foreigners from China to ensure no infections are imported back to their home countries he calls that a real possibility as the incubation period of the corona virus is between one and 14 days that means people can transmit the virus during that period there are possibilities that also some to match the people so people showing no symptoms at all. Could be infectious are definitely interesting and concerning and have to be closer looked at that's all I can say so far is one of the big unknown about this virus which have to be solved Linda Martellus we await that the w.h.o. Does not yet have a position on the pros and cons of quarantining nationals upon their return he says the w.h.o. Is waiting for clarification on the dangers of transmitting the disease during the incorporation period before issuing advice closely monitoring or even isolating people who have who are coming back might be a measure yet if we see symptoms monitoring closely monitoring or as some countries refer to isolating them even for a certain amount of time is a measure possible it could help the scenario it could help prevent the further spread of the virus the good news is Lindenmayer is that there has not been any major spread of the infection outside of China the w h O's latest risk assessment of the corona virus rates the regional and global risk level is high and that of China as very high well. The virus is not rapidly spreading outside of China the Guardian Rachel urges countries to remain vigilant and be prepared Lisa shrine for v.o.a. News Geneva at least 5 people in Australia have tested positive for the corona virus the latest is a young Chinese student diagnosed in Sydney Australia is increasing its border and bio security measures from Sydney Film Mercer has more medical authorities a warning it's likely there will be more confirmed cases in Australia of the potentially deadly coronavirus schoolchildren in New South Wales states have been told to stay away from class for 2 weeks if they've been in contact with a confirmed case of the disease the symptoms of the virus include fever difficulty breathing and coughing the coronavirus causes severe a spirit tree infection and there is no cure or vaccine most of the deaths have been of those with preexisting respect problems well the elderly doctors in Australia are being urged to wear protective face masks when seeing patients who potentially carry the corona virus it's thought to have originated in the Chinese city of hand the capital of hoop a province Australia's chief medical officer is Professor Brendan Murphy we are starting to look at people who've come from parts of China rather than here by as potentially at risk if I can still run mines on that Hugh by province of China which is the a.p. Censure and which is the only place where human to human transmission has been identified Australia is also bracing for a slump in visitors from China its biggest international tourist markets because of restrictions put in place to try to stop the spread of the disease the Australian Government doesn't know how many of its citizens a port in the vast quarantine lock down area. Imposed by all Florence's in China reports have suggested that $100.00 Australians including children could be unable to leave corona virus cases have also been confirmed in central countries including Germany Japan South Korea the United States and Canada film Assefa v.o.a. News Sydney Japan and the United States Wednesday geared up to airlift 100 to their citizens from ground 0 of China's deadly virus epidemic Han up next on the away Asia you'll hear from a woman in Beijing who is desperately trying to visit her 103 year old grandmother elsewhere in China but she cannot. Happening now in Asia news Britain will allow China is while way technologies to help build the country's next generation cellular network giving a blow do we us campaign to launch over world wide boycott of the telecom equipment giant say up to date we'd be away this is the only Asia. More than 50000000 people have been locked down in and around with the central industrial city where the outbreak 1st began in a bid by authorities to stop an infection that has since spread to more than 15 countries thousands of foreigners are among those effectively trapped in the area and numerous countries are devising plans to evacuate their nationals middling who is Beijing resident who was looking forward to travelling to judging province to visit her elderly grandmother for the holiday she spoke with the always that Myra for an end is about her situation at 1st I didn't believe it because I was so excited to go back home Thank You see my grandmother who is over 100 years old so that meant more important and more special for me. Unfortunately at the time the ride was already spreading very fast and people advised me not to go and my family was very concerned of course and very worried and. I was calling with my sister and she told me to cancel the flight because we can both not risk to travel at a time where so many people are traveling over a 1000000000 people are traveling around these time a year being in such a massive crowd and exposed basically our own health to such a virus that is so unknown and so because it's unknown it's it's experts scary by the way it weighs your grandma leaving. So she lives in eastern China it's about a 6 hour drive from Shanghai and it is actually the problem is that is. Severely affected personally I have tried to look at it. As rational as I can because I do not believe that. Panicking helps in this situation but to be very honest with you today and yesterday were very challenging for me not to stress and not to feel overwhelmed by the news and how fast it's spreading and people are scared. Streets are empty indeed in you do see some people. Still walking maybe maybe walking their dog or some shops are still open to some supermarkets open but most of what you can see in the. Say most of the storage is is either empty or they have difficulty. For supplies of mass of detergent of disinfectants of. All the things that you need to be super clean. Lacking in most of the shops and pharmacies right now. To get you to share my personal experience with you the day before yesterday I went out to get more mass and I was checking 6 pharmacies and 3 very big supermarkets to find any but without any luck so must very trustful sold out my score thought out and and shops have difficulty. Resupplying them because people are buying them online people are stacking basically stacking boxes of those every time it gets resupplied all there is a lot of demand for that and just supplies at the moment. Is not enough you would think that way your grandmother lives. Most affected areas you talk to your family every day you shacking up checking on them. Yes we're staying in touch and how she's doing and how everyone is doing. Mi Ling who was a Beijing Richard into was looking forward to travelling to j.j. Proppants to visit her elderly grandmother for the holiday she spoke with be always Myra Fernandes coming up the u.s. President's lawyers state his case will take you to Capitol Hill you're listening to v.o.a. Asia. Away Asia is on Twitter follow was the v.o.a. Asia for developing stories in Asia perhaps close to you our Twitter feed also has updates on programmes you can hear and see with links to easily find out would be a way Asia also follow radio program hosts peel away Stevenson and Away moment v.o.a. Asia Twitter We're always online for you. Be away Asia continues. Rashmi Saad Twyla never expected to start working at the age of 59 let alone join India's Diggs economy now she's part of an army of housewives turning their homes into cloud kitchens to feed type starved millennialists the so-called Cloud kitchens restaurants that have no physical presence and a delivery only model are rising in popularity as there is a boom in food delivery absentia sweet tea and the model although Indian women have long battled praxis through education and employment opportunities the biggest hurdle for many is convincing conservative families to let them leave home but new apps like curry full home foodie and not the guide are tapping the skills of housewives to slice dice and prepare meals for one hungry urbanites from the comfort of their homes so. Obviously it just looks like the name because even as they. Go easy outside and well one of the 1st housewives to join Curry folate Nov 28th teen shortly after its launch 500 while I was initially apprehensive despite having 4 decades of experience in the kitchen since then she's undergone a crash course in how to run a business from creating weekly menus supplying supplies from wholesale markets to cut costs to. Businesses in the Philippines take a taste say the popular tourist destination which borders the rest the volcano are opening back up despite central government warnings that they stay closed all the erupted over a week ago and local authorities have since enforced the 14 kilometer exclusion zone around the volcano which continues to keep a back he waited locals away from their abandoned pets the Department of Interior and loafing. The government has officially advised all businesses along with zone to stay closed but now open signs are creeping back across much of the ash covered tank a day but we still Karami to subtotal once a bread shop just outside the exclusion zone has kept this establishment open since the day of the eruption he and his wife continue to prepare bread by candlelight on a daily basis despite the lack of electricity and water I realize at 1st establishment people would probably open would be me so we decided to open it we have to stop and it's because of it but I had so what we decided to do offer them some but I had to see if they would buy it and so be it I don't need and not what he did for me more than $100000.00 people had to abandon their homes around the ball came only after it spewed smoke and ash on Jan you were a child disaster authorities have deemed the danger level to 4 out of a possible 5 that means that a hazardous explosive eruption is possible within hours to days for business scene I'm Ira Mehlman. This news break from be away Asia a wildfire sparked by a military helicopter helping firefighting efforts with blazing out of control and threatening homes on the outskirts of Australia's capital Wednesday despite your danger escalated across the country southeast fire spread over 9500 hectares since it was started by a transport helicopter landing light that ignited grass in the area. We continue on v.o.a. Asian lawyers for u.s. President Donald Trump wrapped up their defense Tuesday at his Senate impeachment trial strongly rebutting claims that he withheld military aid to Ukraine to benefit himself politically Joining us is be away Congressional Correspondent Catherine just said this is not the end of the impeachment hearing I take it right now not at all tell us more shorter So basically what happened today is that the 1st phase of the trial came to a close and that was the opening arguments phase with both sides presenting their teeth as were their prosecution then what happens next is that senators get to ask a series of written questions to each side alter the Democrats and Republicans well that could take until how long I don't know how much of it depends on whether or not witnesses are permitted Well the next question phase we know for certain will take 16 hours bring it out over 2 days when say you know Thursday which would be that the witness issue would come up for the 1st time on Friday. The law still has that Republicans are meeting right now p.r. Is it likely to scuffing the strategy square that went into boat and how that is all going to go down on Friday explain as simply as you can for an international audience why all of a sudden that witnesses or possible. Right so over the weekend a New York Times report reveals that former national security bastard John Bolton is due to publish a book in that book he says that he had personal conversations with President Trump in which trump holding him that the Ukraine aid was conditioned on the a desiccation wanted it to do with political violence this bombshell revelation really pushed forward the witness discussion here on Capitol Hill never to be a trial which up until that moment had been a little bit up at the air Republicans did not want to call witnesses there was some talk up until I read that but the trial with the sun on Friday that McConnell would move very quickly towards that issuing those off with that vote on the president's Bill Dal it's really hard for Republicans to turn away from that with the ball to do so reopening this whole discussion about a call needed not just Goldman but a whole slew of witness of what is the possibility and this is just speculation on your part and what you've heard walking around the Capitol for the past how many years is whether or not there will be a vote for witnesses. The sun so that there is definitely enough food for witnesses . For earth but that also means that Republicans are going to push for what they want to eat too they're looking for a possibly a one got one witness where are the Democrats get to call John and as a witness they get the call of their witnesses that are they want to break the Bidens into the Senate impeachment trial they want former Vice President Joe Biden who got the campaign trail to talk about his son and Ukrainian traffic company pretty well they want actually to call his son Hunter Biden the company how surprised I want to kind of that deal where they get what they want and well Katherine Jepson is our congressional correspondent and she actually gets maybe a few minutes to take a break now and enjoy yourself I try thank you you've been listening to v.o.a. Asia you can get our program on i Tunes and Sound Cloud download our podcast take b.o.h. You with you this interview a News dot com program page on You Tube follow us on b.o.h. And Twitter and we'd like to hear from you would be a way age of Facebook our email be away be away News dot com you will be quizzed on all of this tomorrow thanks for joining us thanks to our director Tracy Carter our engineer Dan crafted our managing editor Diane gal in our team of Jim Stevenson Keith Lane and Doug Bernard I remember the washer didn't have a wonderful day. Welcome to learning English a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America I'm Jonathan Abbott it's and I'm Ashley Thomson 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 Katy Weaver Alice Bryant Susan shad and and ball later we will present our American history series The Making of a nation but 1st here is Katie Weaver. Controversy and sadness were part of this year's Grammy show but for the music awards ceremony even began Sunday host Alicia Keys opened here we are to gather on music's biggest night celebrating the artists that do it best but to be honest with you we are all feeling crazy sadness right now she said she was talking about the tragic news that basketball superstar Kobe Bryant his 13 year old daughter and 7 other people were killed in a helicopter crash Sunday morning the National Recording Academy Awards show was broadcast live from the Staples Center the home court of the Los Angeles Lakers the team Bryant played for all of his 20 year career we are literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built keys said. The controversy clouding the ceremony was the suspension of Debra Dougan as chief of the Recording Academy Doogan took the leadership position in 2019 partly to deal with reports of sexism at the academy she is the 1st woman to head the organization less than 2 weeks ago Duken was suspended the academy said another employee had accused Doogan of hostile behavior to gain a sense taken legal action herself with Equal Opportunity Commission but the sadness and the controversy did not stop the artist Sunday night from producing a major celebration of music singer and flute player Liz started the night's many songs with truth hurts and because I love you the Artist won the best pop solo performance Grammy for Truth hurts the big winners of the night however were 18 year old Billy Eilish and her brother Phineas O'Connell they shared the best album Grammy for when we all fall asleep where do we go Billie Eilish also took home the Best New Artist prize and her song Bad Guy won Best Song and best record Phineas O'Connell won a producer of the year a Grammy and another for Best Engineered album. Together the sister and brother one the last Pop Vocal Album. I'm Katie Weaver. Zachariah Mohammed's living room is filled with things he does not own he pays $200.00 a month for the couch side table bar cart dining table and 4 chairs and his living room the cost is worth it says the 27 year old New Yorker Mohammed has moved to times in the past year that is not unusual in places like New York City if he needs to move again he will not need to carry a couch across the city or worry about whether it will fit in his next apartment Mohammed solution is further a new company that lets renters change furniture whenever they want Mohammed is a social media manager who lives with his partner and their dog he told the Associated Press we don't want to be stuck with a giant couch. Further and other companies aim to rent furniture to young adults who do not want to make big purchases or move heavy furniture it and similar companies are part of a growing rental culture Thomas Robertson is a marketing professor at the war in school of the University of Pennsylvania he told the Associated Press that people who are using furniture rental services likely move and change jobs a lot these companies target people who make good money live in cities and want nice furniture but only temporarily the quality of the furniture is a little higher than that of Swedish brand Ikea I'm 32 years old and have lived in 25 different places 5 different countries 12 different cities says Chan park he helped launch the online furniture rental company Oliver space last year before starting the company Chan often bought and then threw away low cost furniture then he moved to a rental apartment in Singapore that already had furniture in it it was probably the 1st time my adult life that I felt like I was truly at home park says such companies mostly only operate in a few coastal American cities they offer furniture from Crate and Barrel West Elm and smaller brands. Others have begun renting home goods to a high end clothing rental company Rent the Runway recently added West Elm pillows and quilts Ikea is also testing a rental service in several countries including Switzerland and Belgium renting may make sense for a generation that sees life as always moving says han a band shocked she is the founder of Gen planet a research and advisory company that studies the generation born between the late 1990 s. And 2016 moving her furniture from New York to Los Angeles would have cost Clarissa Wright $3000.00 Instead she gave away most of what she own and traveled through Europe for 2 months and then rented a couch bed and other furniture in her new place she pays $255.00 a month further delivered the furniture and put all the pieces together in one day Wright is a 28 year old marketing advisor for clothing and beauty brands she says she can change the furniture add more things or move to a new apartment or city but right now she is not sure what her future holds I don't think too far ahead she says that comes at a price critics have called the furniture rental business exploitation of stores like rent a center target poor people who cannot pay full price for furniture or home appliances. And the company charges higher prices overall and competitors for some of the newer furniture rental companies there are membership costs there are also costs if furniture is badly damaged Margot Saunders is with the National Consumer Law Center she said if people think this is the best way to buy a couch they are wrong Saunders added They should recognize that they are paying for the convenience of renting I'm Alice Bryant and I'm Susan Shand. People who work long hours and have long commutes to their jobs may be more likely to have sleep problems and not get enough exercise a new study suggests researchers in Sweden carried out the study they looked at people who work more than 40 hours a week and commute more than half an hour each way on an average day. The researchers found that those people had a 25 percent higher risk for having an in active lifestyle and a 16 percent higher risk of having sleep problems John a whole loan in is the study's lead rider she is with a Stockholm University and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki Finland she said sleep problems may happen from lack of time for stress releasing activities and relaxation She also said people with long work days and a long commute may be too tired to be physically active the study recently appeared in the publication Occupational and Environmental Medicine in the past researchers have linked long work hours to unhealthy behaviors like physical inactivity smoking and poor eating choices however little is known about the combined effects of working long hours and having long commutes over time for this study researchers questioned more than 22000 working age adults at least 2 times between 282018 they asked them about their work and commute hours as well as how much they exercised and slept. The researchers also asked the study subjects how often they smoked and drank alcohol many of those questioned had a usual way of getting to work that remained unchanged during the study period but 14 percent had commute times change once during the study and about 5 percent had commute times change at least twice among people who normally worked less than 40 hours a week the study found that commute time had little effect on habits such as drinking alcohol smoking or exercising the researchers did lack data on how people commuted This makes it unclear if a commuter had an in active method for getting to work like driving a car or if their commute included some form of exercise we know walking and cycling for commuting tend to be associated with better health said all of her mitten he is a researcher at Britain's University of Cambridge and was not involved in the study mitten told Reuters that there is clearly a message here about when choosing a job with a long commute He said that people should think about the effects that their job situation may have on their health. Not everyone has much choice over where they work or the chance to work from home mitten noted but he said that this suggests there is a role for employers and governments to show flexibility to employees needs I mean a on ball. Welcome to the making of a nation American history in v.o.a. Special English the United States did not play a very large part in world events during v 18 hundreds at the beginning of the 1900s However it expanded its interests throughout the world. America's president at that time strongly supported the expansion he was Theodore Roosevelt a distantly related cousin of the future President Franklin Roosevelt surely Griffith and Frank Oliver complete the story of America's 26th president who was also known as Teddy Theodore Roosevelt became president in 19001 after the assassination of President William McKinley He completed the last 3 years of McKinley's term then he was elected in his own right those 4 years are spoken of as Roosevelt's 2nd term. It was during this 2nd term that Roosevelt gained his most important foreign policy success he negotiated an end to a war between Russia and Japan later he was asked to settle another international dispute at issue was Morocco in 1000 all for France and Britain signed an agreement on North Africa the agreement gave Britain control over Egypt it gave France responsibility for security and reforms in Morocco Germany opposed the agreement it felt threatened by any French British alliance and it feared France would block German trade ties with Morocco. Germany demanded an open door policy that would permit all countries to trade freely in Morocco. He had proposed an international conference to settle the dispute. France and Britain rejected the idea. The ruler of Germany Kaiser Vilhelm the 2nd warned that the dispute could lead to war. The Kaiser asked Theodore Roosevelt to intervene President Roosevelt agreed to help some American lawmakers criticized him they said it was an American tradition not to get involved in European disputes but Roosevelt believed peace was more important than tradition. He set out the conference in the Spanish seaport of Algiers Saurus 12 European nations and the United States attended the conference agreed to an open door trade policy in Morocco it organized an international bank to control Morocco's finances and it gave France and Spain almost complete control over police forces in Morocco's port cities beard or Roosevelt had become a powerful world leader at home however he was losing power one reason was an economic depression business leaders blamed it on Roosevelt they said it was the result of his efforts to gain government control over industry the other reason was one he had created himself at that time there was no law limiting a president's term in office but America's 1st president George Washington had established a tradition of only 2 terms when Theodore Roosevelt won the election of 1904 he announced he would not be a candidate in 100008 he had completed the term of President McKinley he would serve full term of his own that was enough later he said I would be willing to cut off my hand if I could call back that statement. During his last year in office Roosevelt was a lame duck president. Everyone knew he would not be back there was little political reason to support him he think increased opposition from Congress and from his own Republican Party his final message to Congress was extremely bitter President Roosevelt accused Congress and the court system of working only to help rich Americans he called for attacks on earnings he called for legislation to give workers a greater share of the nation's wealth the House of Representatives voted to reject the message it said Roosevelt had failed to show respect for the legislative branch of government Roosevelt refused to give up hope for the policies he believed America needed he would not be able to fight for these policies himself but he could find a presidential candidate who would he was sure the people would vote for his choice. He decided on his close friend Secretary of War William Howard Taft. Taft had spent most of his life in government service he had been a judge in both a state court and a federal court he had been a lawyer in the Justice Department and he had been governor of the Philippines there was one problem however Taft did not want to be president he really wanted to be chief justice of the United States. But there were no immediate openings on the Supreme Court also his wife his brothers and his good friend Theodore Roosevelt urged him to run so Taft agreed to be a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1908 when he won the nomination Taft said Mr Roosevelt led the way to reform my job if I elected will be to complete and perfect his programs the Democratic Party nominated William Jennings Bryan Bryan had been a candidate 2 times before without success. The presidential campaign was not especially exciting William Howard Taft did not like being on the campaign trail he was a big heavy man he did not like to travel Roosevelt urged him to campaign with more energy. Hit hard old man Roosevelt said make the people see the truth let them know that for all your gentleness and kindliness there never existed a man who was a better fighter when the need arose Roosevelt said Vice and strong support helped Taft win a big victory on Election Day. A few weeks after Taft was sworn in as President Roosevelt left on a year long trip overseas he spent most of the time hunting wild animals in Africa. President Taft wrote a warm goodbye letter to his friend he promised to do his best as president but he admitted he could not lead as Roosevelt had done in fact Taft said he was still surprised when anyone called him Mr President each time it happened he turned around to see if Roosevelt was there there was no question that Taft's way of leading was much different from Roosevelt's Taft believed a president should not interfere too deeply in the actions of Congress he also believed a president should not claim special powers or rights. He believed in the Supremes power of the law even if the law did not work very well the progressives who had supported Roosevelt did not support Taft they said he was too friendly with conservatives they said he had surrendered to special interest groups Taff for his part did not like progressives he thought they were too emotional and extreme. Yet tapped worked hard to put into law many parts of Roosevelt's progressive programs he was successful in several areas during his administration for example a separate Department of Labor was established to constitutional amendments one congressional approval and were sent to the states for ratification. One amendment provided for a federal tax on earnings the other provided for direct popular election of senators Taft also worked even harder than Roosevelt to break up companies or trusts that blocked economic competition at the same time Taft failed in several areas he signed legislation that lowered import taxes neither businessman nor progressive Republicans liked it he negotiated a free trade agreement with Canada the Canadian parliament rejected it he believed in protecting America's wilderness areas yet he did not believe existing laws gave him the right to close public lands to private development so he was seen as an enemy of conservation. These struggles and failures made Taft's for years as president the unhappiest of his life. The final blow came in an effort to reduce the powers of the speaker of the House of Representatives the speaker was a conservative Republican progressive Republicans opposed him the issues the party the Adore Roosevelt far from home read about the trouble he had promised to stay out of politics but each of the opposing groups in his party had asked for his support. 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. And this is the news I'm arisen Melton u.s. President Donald Trump's lawyers in the impeachment trial are arguing that the.

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