A Century Later, Statue of Liberty Still Attracts Millions

From VOA Learning English, welcome to This is America. I'm Steve Ember.

Today we tell about the Statue of Liberty. The huge, green statue celebrates American freedom. It has served as the guardian of New York Harbor for more than a century.

Come along with us, as we visit “Lady Liberty.”

The Statue of Liberty may be one of the most often photographed works of art in the world. A French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, designed the statue in the late 1800s. Today the monument continues to present a beautiful sight on the New York skyline. But it came close to never arriving in the United States.

The materials required for building the Statue of Liberty were almost lost at sea. In 1885, the ship carrying those materials almost sank in stormy seas. Bartholdi’s dream of a huge sculpture might never have been fulfilled.

Luckily, the ship survived the rough seas. It arrived safely in June of 1885. By the next year, the Statue of Liberty had arisen on what was then called Bedloe’s Island. The statue was officially opened that year. Many years later, the island was given a new name: Liberty Island.

She's a Survivor

The Statue of Liberty has survived damage caused by time, visits by millions of people and the weather. It stood firm during a destructive storm, Hurricane Sandy, which struck the East Coast in October of 2012. But Liberty Island suffered damage, requiring major repairs.

“Lady Liberty”, as many people call the statue, was a gift from the people of France. Its full name is “Liberty Enlightening the World.”

The United States and France have been friends and allies since the American Revolution. France helped the American colonial armies defeat British forces. The war officially ended in 1783. A few years later, the French rebelled against their king.

A French historian and political leader, Edouard-Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye, had the idea for the statue. In 1865, he suggested that the French and the Americans build a monument together to celebrate freedom. Bartholdi agreed to design it.

In 1875, the French established an organization to raise money for Bartholdi’s creation. Two years later, an American group was formed to raise money to pay for a pedestal. American architect Richard Morris Hunt was chosen to design this support structure. The pedestal would stand 47 meters high.

In France, Bartholdi designed a model of the Statue of Liberty. Then he built a series of larger copies of the very small model statue. Workers created a wooden form covered with plaster for each part. They placed 300 pieces of copper on the forms. The copper skin was about two and one half millimeters thick, the same as two American pennies placed back-to-back.

The statue also needed a structure that could hold its weight -- more than 200 tons. French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel created the new technology. Later, he designed the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Eiffel and others worked in Paris to produce a strong support system for the statue. The design also had to have the ability to move a little in strong winds. Lady Liberty has continued to stand during many a storm, including Hurricane Sandy.

​​France had wanted to give the statue to the United States on the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence -- July fourth, 1876. But technical problems and lack of money delayed the project. France finally officially presented the statue to the United States in Paris in 1884. But the pedestal being built in New York was not finished. Not enough money had been donated to complete the project.

The publisher of the “New York World” newspaper came to the rescue. Joseph Pulitzer used his newspaper to persuade Americans to give more money to finish the pedestal. His efforts brought in another $100,000. And the pedestal was finished.

In France, workers separated the statue into 350 pieces, put them on a ship and sent them across the ocean. After surviving the rough seas, the statue arrived in New York in more than 200 wooden boxes. It took workers four months to build the statue on the pedestal.

On October 28th, 1886, President Grover Cleveland accepted the statue in a ceremony. He said: “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.”

Throughout history, the idea of liberty has often been represented by images of a woman. Historians say the statue’s face was created to look like Bartholdi’s mother. Her right arm holds a torch high in the air. Her left arm holds a tablet with the date of America’s Declaration of Independence -- July fourth, 1776.

On her head, the Statue of Liberty wears a crown with seven points. Each point is meant to represent the light of freedom as it shines on the seven seas and seven continents of the world. The 25 windows in the crown represent gemstones found on Earth. A chain that represents oppression lies broken at her feet.

Lady Liberty's message of hope

In 1903, a bronze plaque was placed on the inner wall of the statue’s pedestal. On it are words from the poem “The New Colossus,” written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. The marker represents the statue’s message of hope for people seeking freedom. One memorable line reads “I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

​​Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

​​Lady Liberty was officially named a National Monument in 1924. The Statue of Liberty monument now includes nearby Ellis Island, the former federal immigration processing center. Millions of immigrants, after their ships passed the Statue of Liberty, were examined on Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924. ​​[Tour boat announcement]

"This view is similar to the one seen by immigrants as they entered the US by steamship. When the ships neared New York, the shining torch of the Statue of Liberty rose from the bay. Shouts and cries of joy would erupt from the steamer decks. For many, Liberty Enlightening the World, as the Statue is officially titled, symbolized the freedom and opportunity that awaited them in their new land."

More than 40 percent of Americans have at least one ancestor who passed through the processing center. Through the years, many of these people have continued to visit the Statue of Liberty. Some people say a trip to New York City does not seem complete without it.
​​
By the 1980’s, however, the statue was old and becoming dangerous for visitors. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan asked businessman Lee Iacocca to lead a campaign to repair it.

The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation raised about 100 million dollars in private donations to do the work. The repairs included replacing the torch and covering it with 24 carat gold. On July fourth, 1986, New York City and the nation celebrated a restored and re-opened Statue of Liberty.

New York was one of the targets of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. The statue remained closed for security reasons until August 2004. At that time, officials limited visits to the pedestal and lower observation area. But that fact did not seem to keep too many people away. The statue continued to attract visitors -- more than three million a year.

Finally, in 2009, the statue above the pedestal re-opened. Limited groups of energetic people climbed the many steps leading to Lady Liberty’s crown.

On October 29th, 2011, the Statue again closed the inside of the pedestal for restoration purposes. It opened on October 28th a year later -- for exactly one day. The next day, Hurricane Sandy struck.

About 75 percent of the island was under water during the storm. Flood waters entered the administration building and a structure filled with electrical equipment. The waters came close to the bottom of the statue, yet did not touch it. Trees fell and waste cans flew from one side of the island to the other. Bricks broke away from walkways. But hundreds of Park Service employees worked hard to help re-build the island.

Today, people can again explore Lady Liberty. But as usual, she is extremely popular. Sometimes crowds wait for hours to get on a boat to visit America’s big copper statue honoring freedom.

This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for another This is America program from VOA Learning English.

North Korea for Your Next Vacation?

Are you tired of all the talk of seaside getaways and European travel packages? Are you looking for a different place to go for your next trip? A place some would describe as “off the beaten path”?

Well, a camping trip in North Korea might be just what you are looking for.

North Korea is known for being closed off from the rest of the world. For many years, it has kept foreigners from entering the country.

But earlier this year, everything changed.

North Korea lets foreigners go on camping trips in the picturesque mountains of Myohyang and Kumgang.

Koryo Tours is a touring company based in Beijing, China. The company says it can “take you to the most mysterious country on the planet.”

Koryo Tours organized the first 10-day camping trip to North Korea earlier this year. It claims this is the first time anyone has been given permission to set up a tent and stay in the mountains of North Korea.

The website for Koryo Tours reads, “This was as much a treat for the guides as they had never done this before either.”

Ten westerners went on the trip. They walked 79 kilometers during their three-day visit. That is about 28 kilometers a day! The tourists also visited places of interest in both mountains, such as Kumgang Waterfall and Lake Sam Il Po.

​​The reason for the increase in tourism is simple -- money. More foreign tourists equal more money for North Korea.

The South Korean company Hyundai Asan first offered trips to the famed Mt. Kumgang. But Hyundai Asan suspended tours in the Mt. Kumgamg Tourist Region in 2008. North Korea used what was left behind to start its own tourism business in that area.

Koryo Tours is not alone in giving travelers one-of-a-kind camping trips to North Korea's mountains.

Uri Tours is a tour company based in the United States. It has announced plans for a 13-day trip to a number of mountains, including Mt. Kumgang and Mt. Myohyang. The company hopes to get at least seven tourists together later in the year.

The Japanese newspaper Chosun Shinbo says the North Korean government is trying to get more visitors by offering many tourism products.

The usual tourist trips include picking fruit at local farms and long train rides through the country. One North Korean tourist package offers travelers the chance to compete with North Korean athletes in the traditional martial arts of Taekwondo.

The chance to visit a country that has been closed for so long could be a huge draw for travelers seeking a very different kind of summer.

This report was produced with the help of the VOA Korean Service.

I’m Anna Matteo.

Mainstream Republicans Defeat Tea Party, For Now

Mainstream Republicans claimed a victory recently in their political battle with activists from the conservative Tea Party movement. Thad Cochran represents the southern state of Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. He is considered a traditional -- or “establishment” -- Republican. Mr. Cochran has served in the Senate for six six-year terms. But he had been targeted for defeat this year by Tea Party activists.

Last week, Senator Cochran defeated his opponent for the Republican nomination, but the vote was very close. In an earlier primary election, Mr. Cochran received fewer votes than his Tea Party-supported opponent -- state legislator Chris McDaniel. But neither candidate received at least 50 percent of the votes. This forced the two men into a second, or run-off, election.

Mr. McDaniel lost the runoff election. But he received money and other help from national Tea Party organizations. They have been fighting establishment Republicans for control of the party.

VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has been reporting on the Tea Party movement for the past few years. We asked him to tell us what the group wants.

“Their main goal is to reduce the size of government, but, politically, they want to push Republicans away from the idea of negotiating or compromising with Democrats -- especially with President Obama. They find him sort of an opponent in terms of the size of government and in the direction the country is headed, so over the past several years we have seen a number of primary battles within the Republican Party where Tea Party challengers have taken on established Republican figures. They’ve had some success, they’ve had some setbacks. The race in Mississippi -- this latest example -- was a setback for the Tea Party, but the Tea Party will live on and this battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party will continue indefinitely.”

Jim Malone says the Tea Party movement gained strength because of the policies of President Obama. But he says the group’s members oppose government spending and tax increases -- whether proposed by Republicans or Democrats.

“The rise of the Tea Party was, in part, not just against Barack Obama but against the policies of, say, George W. Bush, who was also a heavy spender -- some of it military spending. And this sort of divide in the Republican Party that we see on display in these primary elections is very much alive because the Tea Party is committed to reducing the size of government. They also want a different approach to American politics -- they do not like the compromises that we’ve seen in the past between Democrats and Republicans to keep the government moving. And the great example of that in recent times was last October’s government shutdown -- which was led by Tea Party supporters in the Congress.”

The battle between mainstream Republicans and Tea Party supporters will continue in the 2016 congressional elections. Experts believe Republicans will keep control of the House of Representatives and may take control of the Senate away from Democrats.

Tea Party supporters will be working to make the House more conservative. They also want Republicans in the Senate to support more-conservative policies. The two sides will also fight over who will be the Republican presidential candidate in 2016. Already, each side has its favorites.

This story is based on a report by VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone

A Fight Over Immigration in the Republican Party

Traditional and conservative members of the Republican party differ on immigration policies. The two sides had strong differences even before large numbers of Central American children began entering the United States illegally over the past few months.

Experts believe there are about 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States now. Last year, the Democratic-controlled Senate approved legislation that would, over many years, permit many of them to become U.S. citizens. But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has yet to act on the bill. And House leaders say they have no plans to do so.

VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has been reporting on U.S. immigration policies for many years. He says the differences between Democrats and Republicans mean Congress is unlikely to approve a new immigration law anytime soon.

“We’re at the point now where it looks as though any efforts to enact sweeping immigration reform -- where we talk about a path to citizenship for the 11 million or so estimated illegals in the country now -- that looks to be dead for this political year.”

Jim Malone says Tea Party supporters so strongly oppose letting illegal immigrants stay in this country that they will try to defeat anyone who disagrees. Recently, a little-known Tea Party candidate who opposes citizenship for illegal immigrants defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a primary election in Virginia. It was the first time in American history that a House majority leader had been defeated in a primary election.

“You know when you see that, that makes a politician revert to, kinda one word, which is ‘fear,’ and it’s gonna cause them to really be very careful in what they support.”

This story was based on reports by VOA reporters Ken Bredemeier and Kenneth Schwartz

Companies Make Gas from Garbage

The future in energy production is here. And some of the materials used to supply the energy may surprise you! Companies have developed a way to turn plant wastes and other garbage into fuel. It has been called one of the most promising technologies in alternative energy. And the process is expected to become more common this year.

The American-based company Fiberight is taking the lead in this new form of energy production. Truck loads of garbage are sent to Fiberight’s test plant in southern Virginia. Randy Garrett heads the plant. He says old vegetables, cardboard boxes and other wastes become something much more valuable through the work done at the factory.

“What we’re doing is taking a, that (what was) originally headed for a landfill, half of this material is going to be processed for the conversion of biofuel such as ethanol.”

Ethanol makes up about 10 percent of America’s fuel supply. Nearly all of it comes from corn, the food known as maize in some countries. Critics say this creates competition between food and fuel, and raises food prices.

Environmentalists say farmers are using more land to plant corn crops. They also say farmers are using more fertilizers and products for killing insects. They say this creates more pollution.

But Fiberight does not depend on corn to produce fuel. Randy Garrett says the garbage is loaded into a huge pressure cooker.

“That converts your paper, your cardboard, banana peels, any organic fibers, it converts it to a pulp. That pulp is what we’re after for our energy-fuel conversion.”

The material that comes out of the cooker is mostly cellulose, a substance that can be made into sugar. The sugar can then be turned into ethanol.

In 2007, President George W. Bush signed a law that required increasing amounts of ethanol in U.S. gasoline. One goal of the law was to support production of new kinds of fuel. The energy created from plant material would produce fewer environmentally harmful gases than those from oil-based fuels.

This year, several other fuel production plants are expected to start making ethanol from the cellulose in corn stalks, wheat straw and other plant material.

Madhu Khanna is an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois. She says making cellulosic ethanol turned out to be harder than expected.

“We know how to do that in a lab. The main problem is doing that in a continuous way, cost-effectively on a large scale.”

Ethanol production from cellulose has yet to meet expectations. However, this year could be the turning point. But Madhu Khanna says our cars may limit how much the industry can grow.

“Even if we can begin to produce this cost-effectively, we need to be able to consume it as well.”

Only a few models of automobiles can operate on high-ethanol fuel. Without more of them, there is only so much gas from garbage that will sell.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Critic Rates the Songs of Springsteen in New Book

(Download MP3) Welcome to American Mosaic from VOA Learning English. I'm Caty Weaver.

On the show today, it's all about "The Boss" Bruce Springsteen.

Musician, singer, songwriter Bruce Springsteen is one of the world's best-selling artists, with a career that covers 40 years. In a new book, “Counting Down Bruce Springsteen,” writer and music critic Jim Beviglia rates Springsteen’s songs. The rating is based partly on how powerfully the words express people’s fears, hopes and dreams. Christopher Cruise reports.

Bruce Springsteen is known for his poetic songs that deal with social and political issues, as well as more personal subjects. His energetic live performances are also famous. Music journalist Jim Beviglia says the artist’s childhood in a New Jersey working class family was a major influence on his music.

“The social and the political issues, Springsteen’s never been shy about writing about those. They sort of started to come into play with an album called, ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town,’ where he started to look at small town lives and how people are just sort of doing the same things their parents did, and couldn't get out of that."

Mr. Beviglia says the music grew even darker in the 1982 album “Nebraska.” He says those songs show people pushed to the edge of poverty and criminal activity.

Thirteen years later Springsteen released “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” Mr. Beviglia says the album was a direct discussion of issues like immigration, hunger and poverty.

Then in 2012, in the album “Wrecking Ball,” the critic says Springsteen found people to blame for some of those social problems.

“‘Wrecking Ball’ really pointed at that sort of financial leaders and the powers that allowed that dichotomy between the rich and the poor.”

One of Springsteen's best-known songs, “Born in the USA”, is nine on Beviglia's list.

“It’s an amazingly complex song, it's got this really rousing music, very patriotic, big drums, it's used in fireworks displays. But when you get to the lyrics, it’s a very sharp criticism of the way America treated its Vietnam vets upon returning home.”

The song was released in 1984 as President Ronald Reagan was running for re-election. Jim Beviglia says that conservative politicians and observers misunderstood the song.

“It came out in 1984 and a couple of conservative politicians sort of picked up on the song. They talked about how Springsteen sort of reflected the American values and Springsteen, when he found about that, quickly pulled back and he said ‘wait a second here, they’re mistaking this song here, this is more of a criticism and maybe their values don’t coincide with my values.”

Springsteen also wrote about personal relationships. Mr. Beviglia places “Brilliant Disguise,” in fifth place on his list of Springsteen’s 100 finest songs. The song is from the 1987 album “Tunnel of Love.”

“It’s basically a couple who are putting on disguises for each other because they don’t reveal their true selves. And there’s mistrust and the relationship is kind of crumbling."

Mr. Beviglia says that was the state of Springsteen's marriage at the time. He and his first wife divorced shortly after.

"Born to Run" tops Beviglia's list.

He says Springsteen’s album company was thinking of ending business with him after poor sales of his first two albums. But then “Born to Run” hit the stores and airwaves in 1975. It saved Springsteen’s career.

“The lyrics, they leave you breathless, this idea of, you know, maybe we never can actually get free from our pasts, from our home towns, and things like that, but you have to give it a shot, and take your chance. You know it cost a lot of money to produce. He used all these instruments. Had it failed, I mean, we might not be talking about Bruce Springsteen today."

But we are - talking about him, and listening to him. Jim Beviglia says the musician’s ability to stay true to himself and express the concerns and hopes of ordinary people is what has made him a living legend.

I'm Caty Weaver. Join us again next week for American Mosaic from VOA Learning English.

Thailand's Military Rulers Want to Soften Image after Coup

Earlier this week, the head of Thailand’s army gave orders to some of the country’s top diplomats. General Prayuth Chan-ocha told them to seek international understanding for the military’s ouster of the government. The general organized the military overthrow, or coup, last month. He now holds all administrative and legislative power in Thailand.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha met on Wednesday with 23 of Thailand’s ambassadors and general consuls working in 21 countries. The general told the diplomats that they have a duty to create international understanding about the coup last month. Thai military and foreign ministry officials reported his comments.

Thailand’s military rulers have set up a group called the National Council for Peace and Order to govern the country. The military has detained several hundred people, including politicians, activists and members of the media. Many have been released after being held for a week or two in military camps. Some of those targeted have disobeyed orders to surrender. Among them are Thais living overseas.

As the general met with diplomats, a number of Thai military commanders were on their way to China. They were to meet with top-level Chinese army officials. The two countries have held joint exercises in the past.

Thailand’s military rulers say China has been supportive of the coup. But Western nations, including the United States, have been critical of the government’s ouster. The U.S. military suspended training operations with Thailand’s forces in answer to the coup.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun is an associate professor with Kyoto University in Japan. He describes relations between Thailand and China after the coup as a win-win situation. He notes the physical closeness of the two countries and their growing economic ties.

“The pressure from Western countries, the United States and Australia, could have played a role in pushing Thailand a little bit closer to China and knowing that there would be a lot of interest in doing so anyway.”

China is already Thailand’s biggest trading partner. Trade between the countries is expected to reach $100 billion next year.

General Prayuth has expressed a need to return “happiness” to the Thai people after a long period of political unrest. Another Thai military official spoke to VOA after the coup. He said a goal of the ouster of the civilian caretaker government is to permanently end the political influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He was overthrown when the military ousted the government in 2005. But the party he supported won the elections in 2011, and his sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, later became prime minister.

US Election Result Could Imperil Immigration Reform

American political experts say it will be difficult to change the country’s immigration laws after the unexpected defeat of a top Republican in a primary election this week.

Eric Cantor is the majority leader of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. He had supported legislation that would have permitted the children of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States and one day become citizens.

But Tuesday he was defeated for the party’s nomination by a college professor named David Brat. Mr. Brat had claimed that Mr. Cantor’s beliefs on immigration would permit people who entered the country illegally to stay.

Even though Mr. Cantor had strongly opposed the policies of President Obama, Mr. Brat said he was more conservative than Mr. Cantor.

Mr. Cantor spent fifty times the amount of money Mr. Brat spent in the primary election in the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia. But Mr. Brat told his supporters that money was not important.

“The reason we won this campaign -- if there’s just one reason -- and that’s because dollars do not vote -- you do. This campaign was about just basic American values and virtues right from the beginning. And the basic premise is power belongs to the people and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Conservative Republicans strongly oppose changes in immigration laws supported by Mr. Obama. Last year, the Democrat-controlled Senate approved major changes to the country’s immigration laws. But the Republican-controlled House has not taken action on the changes.

Some experts believed the House might approve an immigration bill in the next two months. With Cantor’s defeat, they now said conservative lawmakers would be even more strongly opposed to changes in the immigration laws. One of the changes would have given citizenship to the estimated 11 million people now living in the United States illegally.

There are many differences between Republicans and Democrats over immigration, and the disputes are often angry. Experts believe Mr. Obama was re-elected in 2012 in part because he received many votes from Hispanics. The experts say Hispanics’ strong and deep support for Democrats could help the party’s candidates succeed in future national elections.

Most conservative Republicans say the United States should first make it impossible for people to enter the country illegally from Mexico. They believe that only then should the country make changes to its immigration laws.

I’m Christopher Cruise

American Slaves Resist, Rebel, Escape

From VOA Learning English, welcome to The Making of a Nation, our weekly program of American history for people learning American English. I’m Steve Ember in Washington.

We have been talking about the Compromise of 1850. In September of that year, the United States Congress passed five bills that sought to settle the issue of slavery. All five became law after the president signed them.

Owning another human being was legal in many parts of the U.S. at that time. Most American slaves or their ancestors originally came from Africa. Many slaves worked for white landowners in cotton or tobacco fields. Some, like Phoebe Boyd of Virginia, worked in the family’s home.

“Had to clean up, and set the table, tote in the eating.”

That recording comes from the Voices from the Days of Slavery Project at the U.S. Library of Congress. Ms. Boyd was speaking in 1935, remembering her childhood as a slave. She said she had to clean up, set the table, carry the food, and, afterwards, prepare the bed.

Harriet Smith of Texas was another former slave. She said in a 1941 recording that she did not go to school.

“Nuh huh. Uh, uh, they didn't know nothing about reading and writing. All that I knowed they teach you is mind your master and your mistress.”

Aunt Harriet, as she was called, said she did not know anything about reading or writing. She said she was taught only to obey the slave owners.

Slaves were considered property, like farm animals or furniture. Slave owners could do anything they wanted with their slaves — including separate them from their families, sexually abuse them, hurt or even kill them.

Harriet Smith said her owners treated her well. But she heard about slaves who were mistreated.

“Yes, I know of times they, when, when they mistreated people, they did, and I hear our folks talk, you know, about them whipping, you know, till they had to grease their back to take the holes from the, the back.”

Some slaves were beaten so badly, she said, they had to repair the holes in the their backs with grease.

By 1804, all Northern states had banned slavery. But northern whites still did not accept blacks as their equals.

And slavery was still legal in Southern states for most of the 1800s. Slave owners there said they needed slaves to work on large farms or for other economic reasons. ​​
But other Americans said slavery was immoral. Or that it gave the South the unfair competitive edge of low-cost labor. The Compromise of 1850, then, attempted to balance the desires of those who supported and those who opposed slavery.

Politicians were not the only ones who struggled with the issue of slavery in the United States. Slaves, for example, had been fighting the system for some time.

Many slaves resisted their owners in small ways. They broke or hid tools. Or they worked slowly or claimed to be sick, even when they were not.

A few answered the violence of slavery with violence. They planned — but rarely succeeded — to kill their masters and escape.

A man named Nat Turner led one of the best known slave rebellions. Turner was born in 1800 in the slave state of Virginia. Unlike most slaves, he could read. He also believed that God had given him a special purpose.

In 1831, Turner saw what he described as a sign from above. The sign told him it was time to rebel against slavery. He gathered several men and, in the middle of the night, killed his master and his master’s family in their beds.

Turner and his men continued to another house, and then another. They killed every white person they found. Other slaves saw what was happening and joined Turner. By the end of the raids, 40 blacks had stabbed, beaten, or shot to death an estimated 55 whites.
​​
A local white militia moved to stop Turner and his group. Almost all the attackers were captured quickly. Some were killed. Others were sold and sent away from their families.

But Nat Turner escaped capture. For a month he hid around his master’s farm. Finally someone found him. Turner was jailed, tried, sentenced, and hanged. After he died, his killers pulled off his skin and removed his head.

The historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. studied Nat Turner’s slave rebellion. He wrote that blacks remembered Turner for his personal war against slavery, his violent methods, and his harsh treatment after death. But whites had a different reaction. Frightened white mobs killed another 200 blacks to answer the rebellion. Most of these blacks had no part in the rebellion.

After Nat Turner’s rebellion the state of Virginia passed stronger laws to control slaves. The legislation included bans on reading, gathering, and traveling.

Even with stronger laws in place, many slaves continued taking huge risks in an effort to win their freedom. From about the end of 1700s to the middle of the 1800s, thousands escaped slavery on what came to be called the "Underground Railroad."

The Underground Railroad was not a real railroad. It was a group of people, both blacks and whites, who secretly helped slaves escape to the North.

Members of the Underground Railroad helped slaves leave the places where they lived and worked. These “conductors” took the escaping slaves to a safe house or business, called a “station.”

“Stationmasters” hid the escaped slave. Then at night, a different conductor took him or her to another hiding place farther north. The process was repeated every day and night until the escaped slave was safe in a free state, or even in Canada.

A black woman named Harriet Tubman was perhaps the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. She had been born a slave around 1820. She worked first in a house, and then in the fields, for an owner in the slave state of Maryland.

Harriet Tubman was known for her bravery. One story people told about her happened when she was a teenage girl. An overseer — someone who controlled the slaves in the field — became angry with another slave. He threatened the man with a heavy weight.

Young Harriet stepped between the overseer and the other slave. The overseer threw the weight. It hit her in the head. For the rest of her life Harriet Tubman suffered from the injury. It caused headaches, strange dreams, and — from time to time — made her fall deeply asleep.

When Tubman was about 29, she suspected her owner would sell her. So she decided to escape instead. One night she secretly walked away. She walked over 200 kilometers, following the North Star. Eventually, she arrived in the city of Philadelphia in the free state of Pennsylvania.
​​A year later, Tubman returned to Maryland. She helped her sister and her sister’s children escape. Then she helped her brother and two other men. She helped her parents, who were over 70 years old. And she helped many others. In all, Tubman made as many as 19 trips to the South. She led about 300 slaves to freedom.

Tubman and her “passengers” were never caught. But if they had been, they would have been severely punished. Former masters were likely to beat, or cut off the hands of, escaped slaves.

The Compromise of 1850 made escaping slavery even harder. One of the bills Congress passed was the Fugitive Slave Act. It said anyone who helped a fugitive -- that is, an escaped slave -- would be fined. And, it said fugitive slaves must be returned to their owner, even if they had escaped to a free state.

Fugitive slaves had no right to a trial. Because they could not defend themselves in court, even freed blacks could be kidnapped and enslaved.

In 1852, a white woman published a book about slavery. She called it "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

​​Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the book for one reason. She wanted to show how cruel slavery was. Fugitive slaves also published books about their experiences. The stories painted a picture of slavery that most people in the North had never seen. They were shocked. Public pressure to end slavery grew stronger.

Anti-slavery activists called Abolitionists wanted to free all slaves immediately. But even if that could be done, there was the question of what to do with the freed slaves. In many places, it seemed impossible that blacks and whites could live together peacefully and in freedom. The best answer, some people thought, was to free the slaves and help them return to Africa.

It was not a new idea. In the early 1800s, a group of leading Americans had formed an organization for that purpose. They called it the American Colonization Society.

In 1820, the Society began helping to send blacks to Africa. The blacks formed a government of their own. In 1847, they declared themselves independent. They called their new country, the Republic of Liberia. The country had a constitution like that of the United States.

By 1854, 9,000 blacks from the United States had gone to Liberia. Some had technical skills. They knew how to make iron. They knew how to use steam engines and other machinery. The American Colonization Society hoped they would use their skills to help improve life for the African people.

But it could not be denied that the plan was a way to get black people out of the United States. Many whites refused to accept the fact that most free blacks did not want to go to Africa. They had grown up in the U.S. For better or worse, it was their home.

The continuing struggle over slavery will be our story next week. I’m Steve Ember, inviting you to join us next time for The Making of a Nation — American history from VOA Learning English.

Former President George H.W. Bush Turns 90

George Herbert Walker Bush was born in the eastern state of Massachusetts on June 12, 1924.

During World War II, at the age of 18, George Bush delayed entering college and joined the Navy. He finished his training at the age of 19 and became the youngest Navy pilot in American history.

Mr. Bush was a brave pilot. He was awarded many medals for his service in the Pacific during the war.

In 1945, he married Barbara Pierce. They had six children. One of them, Pauline, died as a child. Their oldest son, George, was elected the 43rd President of the United States. Another son, John -- known as “Jeb” -- was elected governor of Florida.

In the 1950s, George Bush developed a successful oil business in Texas, and decided to enter politics. He became the Republican Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate in 1964, but lost the election. In 1966, he was elected to the House of Representatives. He served four years in Congress.

During the 1970s, Mr. Bush held several major government jobs, including working as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He also served as America’s representative to China and head of the Central Intelligence Agency.
(MUSIC)

In 1980, George Bush sought the Republican presidential nomination. He eventually lost to Ronald Reagan, but was Reagan’s choice for vice-president. Together, they served two four-year terms in office.
In 1988, Mr. Bush was the Republican candidate for president. During the election campaign, he made some promises he would later regret.
“Read my lips. No new taxes!”

Mr. Bush’s presidential campaign was successful. He became the 41st U.S. president.

“And now we will move again for an America that is strong and resolute in the world, strong and big hearted at home and when I said, when I said, ‘I want a kinder, gentler nation,’ I meant it, and I mean it."

Mr. Bush became president during a period of great change in the world. The Soviet Union was dying. The 40-year-long Cold War was ending peacefully. The Berlin Wall would soon fall. The wall had separated West and East Berlin since 1961.

In December of 1989, President Bush ordered thousands of troops into Panama to remove General Manuel Noriega from power. Noriega was later jailed on drug trafficking charges.

Militants in Iraq Seize Tikrit after Mosul

Iraqi officials said Islamic militants pushed southward from the city of Mosul on Wednesday and have taken control of the city of Tikrit. The militants have also reportedly seized Iraq’s biggest oil refinery, in the town of Beiji.

Tikrit was the home of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It is less than 200 kilometers from the capital Baghdad. Witnesses said the militants from the group “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant” also seized police stations. They said the governor of the city is missing.

In Beiji, the militants set fire to the police station and courthouse. They also forced 250 guards from the refinery. Iraqi state television said on Wednesday that the Iraqi army expelled the militants from the refinery hours after it was seized.

The International Organization for Migration said 500,000 people have fled their homes in Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq. There are also reports that hundreds of Iraqi soldiers removed their military clothing and fled to neighboring Kurdistan.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki urged residents of Mosul to retake the city. In a speech on Wednesday he strongly criticized members of the Iraqi military who fled Mosul. He said they were part of a plot against the government.

The seizing of Mosul by the militants is just the latest problem for the Iraqi government. Earlier this year, the militants took control of the city of Fallujah. After months of fighting, the Iraqi government has not been able to retake the city.

To the west of Mosul, the militants control part of eastern Syria along the Iraqi border. The militants are trying to establish an Islamic state in the area by joining eastern Syria and parts of Iraq.

Iraq is dealing with the worst violence since 2008. The United Nations reported that 4,500 people were killed this year. More than 900 have been killed in the past month alone.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

Obama Joins Head Injury Debate

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

A debate has continued for years in the United States about sports-related brain injuries, or concussions. Conflicting studies add fuel to arguments on both sides.

Now the U.S. President has stepped into the middle of the debate. Barack Obama held an informational meeting on the subject last month at the White House. He gathered representatives of professional sports groups, coaches, parents, young athletes and medical professionals to discuss the issue.

American football is the sport often at the center of the concussion debate. But, a high school soccer player opened the meeting. Tori Bellucci is a skilled athlete. But she had to reject a college scholarship to play soccer after experiencing five concussions.

“The reason we’re here today though is, all across the country parents are also having a more troubling conversation and that’s about the risks of concussions. There’s a lot of concern but there’s a lot of uncertainty. And as Tori’s story suggests, concussions are not just a football issue. Every season you’ve got boys and girls who are getting concussions in lacrosse and soccer and wrestling and ice hockey as well as football.” ​​

​​Mr. Obama notes that sports-related head injuries are increasing each year among young people. He suggests that one reason for the rise could be that parents, teachers and coaches now better recognize the signs of a concussion. These signs include lack of balance, unclear thinking, head pain and problems with eyesight.

The president says he does not want young people to avoid sports. Instead he is calling for more research.

“We want our kids participating in sports. I’d be much more troubled if young people were shying away from sports. As parents though, we want to keep them safe and that means we have to have better information. The fact is, we don’t have solid numbers. And that tells me that at every level we’re still trying to fully grasp what’s going on with this issue.”

Mr. Obama says that there is one thing all sides can agree on -- the fact that sports are very important, or vital, to American culture, identity and economy. But, he warns that sports need to be as safe as possible for young people to play.

“The one thing we can agree on is that sports are vital to this country. And it’s a responsibility for us to make sure that young, talented kids like Tori and able to participate as safely as possible. And that we are doing our job both as parents, school administrators, coaches ... to look after them.”

To help reach that goal, he announced a joint effort from the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Department of Defense. He said the $30 million project will carry out the widest study ever of concussions.

And that’s the Health Report. I’m Anna Matteo.

China, Vietnam Take South China Sea Dispute to UN

China and Vietnam are asking United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help end their dispute in the South China Sea.

On Monday, China sent a letter to Mr. Ban. The letter accused Vietnam of, in its words, “illegally and forcefully” affecting Chinese oil drilling in parts of the sea claimed by both countries.

China’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Wang Min wrote that Vietnam was violating China’s territorial rights. And he said Vietnam’s actions threaten the safety of Chinese workers.

Vietnam later said it had also sent a letter to Mr. Ban. The letter demanded that China immediately move a Chinese oil-drilling platform and other ships. Vietnam said they violated its territorial claims.

Vietnam also called on China to, in its words, “create conditions” for talks on a plan “to stabilize the situation and control the maritime issues between the two countries.”

Both letters talked about international treaties -- including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. And both countries asked Mr. Ban to give their letters to U.N. members.

Last month, China deployed a state-run oil-drilling platform near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, within what Vietnam considers its economic zone. China also has territorial disputes in the area with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

The dispute about the oil-drilling platform has caused tensions between communist neighbors China and Vietnam.

Vietnam accused China of firing water cannons at, and ramming, Vietnamese fishing boats -- including one that sank last month. China said Vietnam was the aggressor and that its ships rammed Chinese vessels.

The dispute also led to large anti-China riots last month in Vietnam. Angry Vietnamese destroyed Chinese-owned factories, killing at least four people and wounding many. It forced the removal of thousands of Chinese workers.

Vietnam also asked the United States to help end its territorial disputes with China. The U.S. has declined to take sides in the dispute.

Jen Psaki is a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department.

“We encourage the sides to maintain dialogue with each other, but we’re not going to weigh in on speculation about their location and what it means.”

Michael Auslin studies relations between the United States and Asian nations at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Auslin disagreed with the decision by the United States to not get involved in the dispute.

“When the administration goes so far as to say that it’s not going to determine whether or not these waters are in the common definition of the exclusive economic zone of Vietnam, you’ve taken a very great step towards abdicating any input that you can have into this situation.”

Hillary Mann Leverett is a professor at American University in Washington and a former U.N. and State Department official. She said the decision by the U.S. to not get involved would hurt its efforts to become more involved militarily and diplomatically in Asia.

“That’s what China wants to show to Vietnam: ‘You are under the biggest stress that you’ve been under, and the one person, one country that could can come and help you out isn’t going to do it. You need to make amends with China.’ That’s I think very much part of the strategy and why we will continue to see more.”

I’m Christopher Cruise

Pakistani Forces Stop Another Attack in Karachi

Gunmen opened fire near the international airport in Karachi, Pakistan Tuesday. The incident came two days after another attack at the airport that left at least 36 people dead.

Officials say at least two gunmen targeted the training center of the Airport Security Force. The attackers reportedly were riding a motorbike. They fled as security forces answered the attack. Pakistan’s busiest airport was closed briefly. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

Nisar Ali Khan is Pakistan’s Interior Minister. On Tuesday, he told parliament that the attackers last weekend carried rocket launchers and rocket-propelled grenades. He said they attempted to destroy aircraft, but were prevented from doing so by security forces. Security force members died in the attack.

The interior minister also said the attackers carried a large amount of food and medicine. He said this was evidence that they were planning to take hostages.

Pakistan officials said that 10 gunmen and seven airport workers were killed in the attack on Sunday. The bodies of the workers at an airport cargo company were found in a storage area that burned as gunmen attacked the airport.

Hours earlier, Sunni Muslim militants killed at least 26 Shiites in a suicide attack along Pakistan’s border with Iran. Officials reported that one suicide bomber was killed and three others took their own lives.

A Taliban spokesman linked the airport attack to recent military strikes along the Afghan border. He also linked the airport attack to the killing of the Taliban’s leader, Hakimullah Mehsud.

On Tuesday, the Pakistani military again carried out airstrikes on suspected Taliban targets in the northwestern Khyber area. Military officials say at least 25 “terrorists” were killed.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Monday that he was “deeply concerned” about rising levels of violence across Pakistan. He urged the Pakistani government to increase its effort to protect religious freedom.

The Next Big Thing in Agriculture May Be Very Small

From VOA Learning English, this is Science in the News.

I’m Anna Matteo.

And I’m Christopher Cruise.

Today we tell how some extremely small organisms may help meet our food needs in the future. Then, we report on an American project to save endangered orchids. Finally, we tell about the discovery of what British scientists are calling the oldest human footprints found outside of Africa.

Small Organisms May Help Meet Food Needs of the Future

Experts say farmers will need to produce about 70 percent more food by the middle of the century. They predict that nine billion people will need to be fed worldwide by 2050.

The prediction means experts will need to develop more-effective farming methods that cause less harm to the environment. Experts say living things called “microbes” could help meet that need. A microbe is an organism so small it can be seen only with a microscope.

Jeff Dangl is a biology professor at the University of North Carolina. He says researchers are finding extremely small organisms in the ground.

“This soil was teeming with life.”

Jeff Dangl says one gram of soil contains between 100 million and one billion microbes.

He says microbes are taking part in a healthy exchange with the plants that share the soil. Around plant roots, microbes change chemicals in the air and soil into food for the plants. The microbes include bacteria and material known as “fungi.”

Some microbes act as bodyguards. They produce anti-bodies and other chemicals to fight harmful germs.

Plants make sugar through a process called “photosynthesis.” This happens when a plant receiving light changes water and carbon dioxide into food.

Professor Dangl says much of the sugar is pumped down through the roots. There, it is turned into sugar-based microbe food and released into the soil. He says that is done to get microbes to help the plants grow better. Some of the organisms turn chemicals in the air and soil into food that the plants can eat.

The microbes produce antibiotics and other chemicals to fight the harmful germs. Professor Dangl said bacterial and fungal parts of the plant organism must be considered to understand how plant organisms operate.

The biosciences company Novozymes already sells one kind of fungi that helps plants get phosphorous from the soil.

Shawn Semones is the head of product research for the company. At an experimental greenhouse in Virginia, he is treating the roots of corn plants with a microscopic fungus.

He holds a small plastic cup which has a dead insect inside. The insect is developing a fine white coat of mold -- a substance that grows on living organisms. That mold killed the insect. The white covering is producing spores that will blow in the wind to infect another insect.

Shawn Semones says the microbe develops naturally. He says Novozymes has found a way to produce it in very large amounts and offer it to farmers as a bio-pesticide. A bio-pesticide protects crops from animals, microbes, bacteria and fungi.

Novozymes recently signed a $300 million deal with Monsanto, a company best known for producing seeds and chemicals. The goal is to help bring discoveries about microbes to farmers’ fields.

You are listening to the VOA Learning English program Science in the News. With Christopher Cruise, I’m Anna Matteo in Washington.

Project to Save Endangered Orchids Growing in Florida

Our planet is home to 20,000 kinds of orchids. Orchids exist on almost every continent. But the beautiful and valuable flowers live mainly in warm, moist climates like that found in the southern part of Florida.


America’s “sunshine state” has about 50 native species of orchid. But many are in danger of dying out. This threat has led scientists to launch a five-year project to save them.

Carl Lewis directs Miami’s Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden. He says many orchid species native to Florida have become rare.

“Most of those orchids are very difficult to find now. They’ve, they’ve been hunted almost to extinction in the wild. So, really, we launched this project just as an effort to bring those orchids back.”

The project to grow and plant one million orchid seedlings began two years ago. Orchids grow mostly on trees. But their seedlings are extremely small, delicate and weak. So they start their life in a laboratory.

The seeds grow in clean bottles with required nutrients. After that, the young plants are moved to a warming device with LED lights. Next, they go to a nursery -- an area where plants are grown. Two years may pass before the plants are strong enough to be connected to -- or fixed onto -- trees.

Volunteers help Carl Lewis to transplant -- or move -- the orchid plants. He says it is important to transplant enough older orchids so they can continue to reproduce without that help.

“This is supposed to be an infusion, just to get so many out there that they start to reproduce on their own.”

After these plants are moved to areas where other orchids grow, scientists hope insects and tiny organisms will find the orchids.

The campaign to save native orchids also depends on help from local students. They have been asked to watch the transplanted orchids in their neighborhoods. A number of plants will also be given away to try to reduce the chance that people will steal them off the trees.

The Center for Plant Conservation guides the conservation and study of threatened plants across the United States. The center is based in the city of St. Louis, Missouri.

Britain’s Oldest Human Footprints Found on Coastline

Finally, British scientists have found what they believe are the oldest human footprints ever discovered outside of Africa. The footprints of what appears to be ancient humans were found in the seaside community of Norfolk, in eastern Britain. The scientists estimate the markings are between 800,000 and almost one million years old. They may be about 500,000 years older than the earliest footprints ever found in the country. If so, that could provide the oldest evidence of human beings in northern Europe.


Images and a model of one of the footprints were recently shown to reporters at the British Museum in London. A team of scientists found the footprints in May, 2013. The scientists work for the British Museum, Britain’s Natural History Museum, and Queen Mary University of London. The researchers say ocean water from incoming tidal waves made it impossible to remove the prints from the coast.

The area appears to have 50 footprints of both adults and children. They were found near the village of Happisburg. The British Museum says the Happisburg area has what it calls a “remarkable concentration” of early Stone Age archeological sites. All were found since 2000.

Archeologist Nick Ashton described how he felt when he recognized the footprints came from prehistoric humans. At the time, he was looking at e-mails on his computer.

“It was only when the, this overhead views e-mailed through to me back in my office I suddenly looked at it and opened up the file and I thought, ‘This is absolutely amazing, you know -- there, there is no doubt this is really is human footprints.”

He says the discovery will change the understanding of early human history in Europe.

The researchers estimate the height of the early humans at between about .93 and 1.73 meters. The difference in the heights suggests a group of mixed ages.

Isabelle de Groote is with Liverpool John Moores University in the city of Liverpool. She examined the footprints. She says the markings help to tell about the humans who may have made them.

“The spread of the footprint size gives us an indication that we have children, a number of children and then probably some adults there with at least one, you know with probably one, male.”

One footprint appears to show the mark of toes.

Scientists say Britain was joined to continental Europe about a million years ago. It is not known how the early humans survived in the cold climate of northern Europe. Scientists believe the creatures who left the footprints were related to Pioneer Man, an ancestor of Homo sapiens. Pioneer Man was known to have lived in a warmer climate.

Researchers continue looking for human fossil remains in the Happisburg area. A report on the footprint discovery and its meaning was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

This Science in the News was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was based on stories from VOA reporters Steve Baragona and George Putic. Christopher Cruise produced the program.

I’m Anna Matteo.

And I’m Christopher Cruise.

To comment on this program, go to our website, learningenglish.voanews.com. While you are there, you can read, listen to and download our programs. You can follow us on Facebook, iTunes, LinkedIn, Twitter and on our YouTube Channel, all at VOA Learning English.

Join us again next week for more news about science on the Voice of America!

US Soccer Team Prepares for the World Cup

The National Soccer Team has trained at Red Bull Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, not far from New York City. Recently, the team won an important “friendly” match against a strong opponent, Turkey.

The Americans are hoping to do well at the World Cup -- the championship of international football, or soccer as it is called in the U.S. But it will not be easy to advance, earning the right to move up at the competition.

As play begins, the U.S. team will be competing in what has been called the “Group of Death,” which describes the most difficult group at the World Cup Finals. Germany, Ghana and Portugal are also part of the “Group of Death.” The U.S. has to play all three teams to get to the next level of play.

Last month, U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann spoke to reporters. Jurgen Klinsman is a former German star player and coach. He has served as head of the U.S. team since 2011. He is hopeful about the U.S. team succeeding.

“It’s a tough group. But we are expected and we expect from ourselves to do well. We expect to go into the knockout stage. So we've got to figure out a way to do that. That’s what we are working on. We believe we can absolutely go into the next round, you know. Will it be tough games, tight games? Absolutely. That’s what the World Cup is all about.”

Clint Dempsey is the captain of the U.S. Team. He said it was an honor to be named to that position.

“Anytime you can go into a World Cup and be the captain for your country something is very special and you never forget. But during this World Cup qualifying process, once Jurgen named me captain, I just try the best that I can to lead in a way that I know how to."

Clint Dempsey’s teammates also spoke to reporters. They were hopeful about the team’s performance in Brazil. But coach Klinsmann sought to limit expectations.

“Germany is expected to win the World Cup. I don’t think we expect now us to win the World Cup, but definitely we want to go far. We want to, we want to do well.”

The U.S. team plays its first match of the competition in Natal, Brazil on June 16th. The opponent will be Ghana, the team that has beaten the U.S. in each of the past two World Cups.

The U.S. team has qualified for every FIFA World Cup Final since 1990.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Obama Proposes Limits on Power Plant Pollution

The Obama administration has proposed stronger rules to limit pollution from American power stations. The proposed rules would affect production of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to rising temperatures worldwide. The administration says the measures will help protect the nation’s health. And it says they will put the United States in a stronger leadership position to fight climate change.

President Barack Obama announced the proposed pollution rules early last week.

“Today about 40 percent of America’s carbon pollution comes from power plants. But right now there are no national limits to the amount of carbon pollution that existing plants can pump into the air we breathe. None.”

The new Clean Power Plan is aimed at the more than 600 coal-fired power plants across the United States. These power centers are the single largest producer of carbon pollution in the country.

Gina McCarthy is head of the Environmental Protection Agency. She said it is a moral duty to act for the good of public health.

“When we do, we’ll turn risks of climate into business opportunity. We will spur innovation and investment, and we’ll build a world-leading clean energy economy.”

The plan would require a 30 percent reduction in climate-changing emissions from 2005 levels by the year 2030. Ms. McCarthy says flexibility is built into how states enforce the rule.

“Each state is different, so each goal and each path can be different.”

The proposal offers a number of choices. Kevin Kennedy directs the U.S. Climate Initiative for the World Resources Institute.

“The flexibility that she is talking about (is) the ability to look at the entire electricity system, so that you can look at energy efficiency. You can look at renewables. You can look at switching fuels from coal to natural gas, making more use of existing natural gas plants that have been sitting relatively idle for the last decade.”

Coal plants produce nearly one-third of the U.S. electric supply. Jeff Holmstead formerly worked for the Environmental Protection Agency. Now he represents the coal industry for the law office of Bracewell & Giuliani. He says the new rule could force some plants to close. And he warns that higher electric rates could push industrial operations overseas.

“And to some extent, we’re seeing that happen already in Europe, where Europe has had almost no investment from heavy industry and heavy industries that formerly were in Europe are moving to China or India and in some cases even in the United States, because power prices here today are significantly lower than they are in Europe.”

Jeff Holmstead says the administration is wrong to propose a measure that critics say does little to solve the climate change problem. He suggests that investing in a technological fix would be a better way to deal with the issue.

“And until we can figure out a way to allow countries around the world to have the benefits that we enjoy from reliable affordable power, without coal, it is not going to make any different at all to impose expensive requirements in the United States.”

Kevin Kennedy agrees that rules alone are not enough. He says the plan is an important sign to other countries that the United States is taking the lead in the battle against climate change.

“That makes it much more likely that you will be able to get a strong international agreement next year, where you would expect to see China and India and other countries coming to the table, more willing to think about reductions on their own.”

The administration has announced a one-year period for comments on the proposals. After that, the rules will be finalized. The coal power industry is expected to fight the measure. United Nations negotiators hope to have a new climate change treaty in place by 2015.

In South Africa, Small Shops Fight for Survival

Informal business sectors make up a large part of South Africa’s economy. These stores and services are important for job creation in a country with an unemployment rate of at least 25 percent. But immigrant-owned and foreign retail companies are increasing their share of the South African market. As Mario Ritter tells us, that has hurt local traders who operate informal businesses called “spazas.”

John Stheole has owned his spaza for more than 10 years. It is a small, gray building in Dube village, in the Soweto area of the capital Johannesburg. His small store offers many kinds of goods -- from soap to sweets.

Spaza means “just getting by.” The shops are found in non-white communities where larger, more-official stores are not available, or are too costly.

There are about 100,000 spazas in South Africa. They employ 290,000 people. But few have paid attention to the part these stores can play in creating jobs.

Research shows that what is called the “informal sector” in Africa is very large. Informal workers can be self-employed or wage-earners. Last year, the African Development Bank said the informal sector provides about 55 percent of the economic productivity of African countries south of the Sahara Desert.

But business has been slow for Mr. Stheole. He is competing with a nearby store run by a family from Pakistan.

“I must say, I am struggling…”

South Africa is the only country in the area where refugees and asylum-seekers can move freely, and have the right to work. South Africa is the only hope of living and working in peace for people who have fled countries like Somalia and Zimbabwe.

But reduced profits for native traders, and high unemployment rates, have caused tensions in the country. Immigrants are accused of taking jobs from South Africans. Some also believe immigrants hurt South African shopkeepers by selling goods at lower prices. In September, more than 100 Somali-owned spazas were attacked during four days of unrest in the city of Port Elizabeth.

I’m Mario Ritter.

Tombstone, Arizona: "The Town Too Tough To Die"

From VOA Learning English, welcome to This is America. I’m Steve Ember.

The United States has thousands of "ghost towns."

[Wind and prairie sounds]

These are communities that once were successful but all the population moved to other places. Today on our program, we visit a town in the western state of Arizona that was saved from being a ghost town by a violent history.

[Gun Shots]

It is called Tombstone. Come along with us!
​​
The town that is now Tombstone, Arizona was first a mining camp. Silver miner Ed Schieffelin named the town. In 1877, Mr. Schieffelin was searching for silver in the Arizona territory. The area at the time was extremely dangerous. Apache Indians considered it to be their land and were all too ready to fight for it.

Ed Schieffelin used the army’s Camp Huachuca as a base for his search for silver. The soldiers there once asked him why he went out into Apache country every day. He answered: “To collect rocks.” One soldier then told him: “You keep fooling around out there amongst them Apaches and the only rock you’ll find will be your tombstone!” A tombstone is the stone that marks a person’s grave in a large burial place.

One day not long after, Ed Schieffelin finally did discover valuable silver ore in the area. He decided to call his claim “Tombstone” because of the soldier’s warning. Soon, people heard about his silver discovery and arrived in the area. Others found more silver and established other mines. And they used the name Tombstone for the town they built nearby.

The area around Tombstone became well known for its silver mines. And more people came to the town. Some were settlers, storekeepers and miners. But others were looking for easy money. These were gamblers and thieves who drank too much alcohol and settled their disagreements with their guns.

[Gunfire]
​​By the end of 1881, the town of Tombstone had a population of more than 5,000. It also had five local newspapers, at least two theaters, a courthouse, hotels and many local drinking places. And a gunfight had already taken place that would forever include Tombstone among the famous stories told about the American Wild West.


[Frankie Laine sings “Gunfight at OK Corral”]

OK Corral, OK Corral
There, the outlaw band
Make their final stand
OK Corral…
Oh, my dearest one, must I lay down my gun
And take the chance of losing you forever?
Duty calls, my back’s against the wall
Have you no kind words to say before I ride away?

It was the Gunfight at the OK Corral.
​​The famous gunfight took place on October 26, 1881 between the town's top lawman, or marshal, and his deputies on one side and an outlaw group called the Cowboys on the other.

Stories from people who saw the fight led to newspaper reports, more stories, books, and later, movies and television shows. Not all these stories are exactly true. For example, the gunfight did not really take place in the OK Corral, but near it in a field just off a main street in town. Here is one generally accepted story.

​​​​
​​The town marshal in Tombstone was Virgil Earp. His brothers, Wyatt and Morgan, also lived in the town. In fact, Wyatt was deputy city marshal, and Morgan had been named as a special policeman. The Earps had a long-standing dispute with the Cowboys. They had tried to arrest group members in the past for crimes such as robbery and murder. Members of the group included Billy Claiborne, Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury.

[Corral sounds]

On the day of the famous fight, those men were gathered near the OK Corral, an enclosed area used to keep horses and other animals. They were armed, in violation of a town ban against carrying guns. They were also drinking alcohol and threatening to kill the Earp brothers.

Virgil Earp decided that it was his duty to disarm them. His two brothers and a friend, the gunfighter Doc Holliday, went along to help. The four walked down the street toward the corral. Virgil Earp told the cowboys to surrender their weapons. Billy Claiborne ran away. And the fight began.

[Gun battle]

​​It did not last long. Historians say 32 shots were fired in the space of about 23 seconds. No one really knows who fired first. But Tom McLaury, Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton died of gunshot wounds. Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded but survived. Only Ike Clanton and Wyatt Earp were not hurt.

A 1993 movie called “Tombstone” is one of the most recent attempts to tell this story. Listen to its recreation of the famous fight. Sam Elliott is Virgil, Kurt Russell is Wyatt and Stephen Lang plays Ike Clanton.

Virgil: “We’re here to disarm you. Throw up your hands.”
Voice: “Hold it. It’s not what I want.”
Wyatt: “Oh…my….God.”
Ike: “Please…please!!! Stop! No! No! Don’t shoot. I got no gun. Please. Don’t shoot me. I got no gun!”
Voice: “Ike…get to fightin’ or get away.”

The Earps and Doc Holliday were arrested for murder and tried in the courthouse. A judge decided they had acted within the law. Wyatt Earp spoke in his own defense at the trial. Here is part of the local newspaper’s report of what he said:
​​ “…I believed then, and I believe now…that these men…had formed a conspiracy to murder my brothers Morgan and Virgil and Doc Holliday and myself. I believe I would have been legally and morally justified in shooting any of them on sight, but I did not do so or attempt to do so; I sought no advantage. When I went as deputy marshal to help disarm and arrest them, I went as part of my duty and under the direction of my brother, the marshal.

“I did not intend to fight unless it became necessary in self-defense and in the performance of official duty. When Billy Clanton and Frank McLaury drew their pistols I knew it was a fight for life, and I drew and fired in defense of my own life and the lives of my brothers and Doc Holliday.”

Some people still dispute this. They say the Earps and Doc Holliday did not fire in self-defense, but used the law as an excuse for murder. Experts say one of the reasons the gunfight is so interesting to many people is that no one knows who shot first or why. But we do know that the violence between the Earps and the Cowboys did not end at the OK Corral.

Two more attempts to kill the Earp brothers took place after the famous fight. The first injured Virgil; the second killed Morgan. Wyatt, Doc Holliday and others decided to hunt down and kill those members of the Cowboys they felt were responsible.

Today, the gunfight at the OK Corral brings visitors from all over the world to the small town of Tombstone. The latest information from the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce says the town has a population of almost 1,400 people. More than 50 thousand people stopped by the Tombstone Visitor Center in 2013. But the town welcomes thousands more each year.

At the OK Corral, actors still recreate the famous gunfight. But other gunfighters are remembered in Tombstone, as well. For years, a restaurant called “Six Gun City” recreated some of the other gunfights that took place in Tombstone. A fire destroyed the restaurant in 2010. But those gunfight reenactments continue.

[Gun battles]

For example, one recreation plays out the gunfight that killed Billy Claiborne, a member of the Cowboys gang, who ran from the OK Corral. He was killed by gunfighter Frank Leslie on the main street in Tombstone. In fact, a marker near the spot tells what happened. It says: "Buckskin Frank Leslie killed Billy Claiborne here on November 14, 1882.”
​​[Frankie Laine sings]

Boot Hill, Boot Hill,
So cold, so still
Wyatt Earp, they say, saved Doc Holliday
From old Boot Hill…

Gunfighters and others who died in those early Tombstone years are buried in the local graveyard, “Boot Hill.”

[Wind blows]

It was named “Boot Hill” because many of those buried there died violently, or, as the saying goes, “with their boots on.” Burials there ended after 1884, but the cemetery was restored in the 1930s. Only a few headstones survive, but small metal signs mark the graves. Many simply say “unknown,” but others include short sayings. One that has been repeated many times says: “Here Lies Lester Moore, Four Slugs from a 44, No Les, No More.”
​​
People from all over the world visit Tombstone to experience a small part of the old American West. They want to imagine what it would have been like to live in a place like Tombstone. It does not really matter if all the old stories are true or not. The people of Tombstone are only too happy to welcome them to a place known as “the town too tough to die.”

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach. Jim Tedder read the newspaper story, and I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for This is America from VOA Learning English

Fighting South Africa’s Jobless Crisis

Unemployment remains high in South Africa. It is one of the greatest problems for the country’s youth. So, many young people are starting their own businesses. But not everyone who opens a business is successful.

Job creation was a top goal of the South African government during the first ten years after the end of the policy of racial separation in 1994. However, little progress has been observed in the struggle to create enough jobs.

Officials reported last month that the unemployment rate was 25.2% nationwide. That was up from a rate of 24.1% last year. More than five million South Africans are unemployed. If the people who stopped looking for work were included in the report, the rate would be 35.1%.

Twenty-four year old Sibusiso Ngcobr says he can no longer wait for the government to create a job for him.

“It’s hard to find a job. You can’t sit and maybe your brains would blast out of your mind, because, like, you can’t sit and do nothing. You can’t wait, I have to eat, I have brothers to support, I have a family to feed.”

Instead, he and other South Africans like him are creating their own companies. But he says the government’s attempts to help small-business owners like him -- people with just a basic education -- are hurt by too many rules.

“Coming back from a previously-disadvantaged background, you don’t have security, your house is just a small house, and then you go to the bank -- you have a great, brilliant idea, they say they want surety, they want collateral -- what do you have? You have nothing. You can’t say ‘I have got my high school diploma, here is it -- you can’t say that. So you actually have to start from the grassroots.”

Beginning from "grassroots” is what Ludwick Marishane did. As a young man, he started businesses in the northern province of Limpopo -- a place with high levels of poverty. Some of his businesses failed.

But one day, as he and a friend were lying in the sun, he had an idea. His friend did not want to wash up, and wondered why no one had created a product to help those who could not, or did not want to, bathe. A few years later, with little money, Ludwick Marishane created “Dry Bath Gel.” It saves time for some, and helps those who do not have use of clean water themselves.

“I scraped (together) whatever, whatever resource(s) I had available. I didn’t have a computer or resources like that so I would have to use the local computer café, or internet café, where it cost me about $2 an hour to use the internet in all day. And my allowance per week was about five dollars -- that was my pocket money and lunch money.”

In his last year of high school, he wrote an 8,000-word business plan on a simple telephone, and sent it to 80 investors. But none of them would agree to risk their money on a young inventor with a product that they believed mostly helped poor people. So he began looking in other places.

“I looked at different sources -- the different banking loans and the different development loans that government had made available in South Africa for small businesses, and I was unsuccessful -- part of it was the red tape and the amount of bureaucracy involved in trying to access those types of funds and at the same time my business wasn’t a bankable idea.”

So he entered the product into competitions, and slowly gained investors. Now, Mr. Marishane holds legal rights to his invention. In fact, he is the youngest patent-holder in South Africa.

Number One

Now, the VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories.

Today I will tell about expressions using numbers. Let us start with the number one. Numbers can be tricky. On the one hand, they are simply numbers. On the other hand, they have meanings. "I for one" use these expressions a lot.

Many people consider themselves number one -- the most important person. They are always "looking out for number one" and "taking care of number one." It is as if they are "the one and only" person on Earth. Some people however, are not so self-centered. My brother is such a person. It is true -- no joke. I am not trying to "pull a fast one" on you.

First, you have to understand that my brother is "one in a million." He is such a nice person. All his friends like him. They consider him "one of the boys." Recently, my brother had a bad day at the office. It was just "one of those days." Nothing went right. So he stopped at a local bar -- a drinking place -- after leaving work. My brother planned to have a glass of beer with his friends -- "a quick one" -- before he went home. But a quick one turned into one or two, and soon those became "one too many."

As my brother was leaving, he ordered a last drink -- "one for the road." His friends became concerned. "One by one," they asked him if he was able to drive home safely. Now, my brother is a wise and calm person. He is "at one with himself." He recognizes when he has had too much alcohol to drink. So he accepted an offer for a ride home from a female friend.

At one time in the past, my brother had been in love with this woman. She is a great person -- kind, thoughtful and intelligent -- all good qualities "rolled up into one." But sadly their relationship did not work. He always used to say "One of these days, I am going to marry this girl." But that never happened.

"For one thing," she did not love him as much as he loved her. It was just "one of those things." The situation was regrettable and my brother had to accept it. But even now, he considers her "the one that got away."

However, they are still friends. And because my brother had been kind to her, she felt that "one good turn deserves another." He was good to her and she wanted to help him in return. So she drove him home.

If my brother had driven home from the bar that night, his "number would have been up" -- something bad would have happened. Thankfully he made it home safely. And, he and the woman are "back to square one" -- they are back to where they started, being friends.

This VOA Special English program Words and Their Stories was written by Jill Moss.

I’m Faith Lapidus.

Robotic Suit Helps Paralyzed Man Walk

Men in wheelchairs have come to play basketball.

Bob Amelio leads a team called the Freewheelers. They have gathered here often, but this time is different. Today they have come to see Bob do something he has not done in 26 years: walk.

Bob’s physical therapists -- at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Center -- are measuring him. They are getting him ready for a new, high-tech suit that will lift him out of his wheelchair and tell his legs to move.

The suit is a wearable robot, known as an Ekso Bionic Exoskeleton.

People who are between 150 and 190 centimeters tall and weigh 100 kilograms or less may be able to use the device.

When the therapist pushes the button, the Ekso pushes Bob forward and up. Then, motors powered by batteries act as muscles, forcing his legs to move.

Russ Angold is the co-creator of Ekso Bionics.

“They still bear their own weight on their bone structure. The Ekso just provides the support and the ability to move.”

Kevin Oldt already uses the suit. He says it brings more than physical changes.

“When you put hope into somebody that lost hope, it changes their whole way of living and life -- hundred percent. That word ‘hope’ is a powerful word.”

Bob Amelio says standing is much better than sitting.

“When you’re sitting down, people are, are looking down on you and you gotta look up and a lot of times you don’t hear real well when you’re down, sitting down. So it’s very important to be that, that you can be eye to eye.”

“Oh, wow!”

“Will you be OK?”

“Great!”
That is Bob’s service dog, Bear. He has never seen him stand before, and he is a little worried.

Within three minutes of putting on the suit, Bob Amelio is walking.

“1-2-3. Bring the walker forward. Yeah!”

“Forgot how tall I was.”

The company says everyone who has been given their doctor’s permission and is healthy has walked the first time they have tried the device. An experienced user can move from their wheelchair and put the skeleton on in less than five minutes.

The therapists see that Bob’s legs are trying to move on their own, before being led to do so by the Ekso suit. They say this is surprising for his first day.

Bob’s wife Pam gives him a kiss in celebration.

“Ahhh. Fantastic!”
Bob Amelio dreams of walking his daughter Trish down the aisle at her wedding.

He shows Trish a video of his first walk.

Bob Amelio is looking forward to his next walk -- with his daughter on her wedding day.

Trish: “So it’s going to happen?”
Bob: “It’s gonna definitely gonna happen! I’m going to walk down the aisle.”
Trish: “He’s going to walk me down the aisle?”

I'm June Simms.

Effects of Taliban Prisoner Release Unclear

From VOA Learning English, this is In The News.

Five members of Afghanistan’s Taliban rejoined their families this week after 13 years in detention. The United States had been holding the five at its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. government recently sent them to Qatar in exchange for the only American soldier held in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was believed to have been held prisoner for almost five years. U.S. officials believe his captors belong to the Haqqani network, a group with links to the Taliban.

Defense Department officials say Sergeant Bergdahl’s release followed several weeks of secret, indirect talks. The government of Qatar reportedly assisted in the negotiations.

In Washington last Saturday, President Barack Obama praised the soldier’s release.

“He wasn’t forgotten by his community in Idaho, or the military, which rallied to support the Bergdahls through thick and thin. And he wasn’t forgotten by his country – because the United States of American does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind.”

​​Republican Party lawmakers welcomed Bowe Bergdahl’s release, but questioned the prisoner exchange. Senator John McCain was himself a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. He described the five Afghans as hardened terrorists and violent extremists. He and other Republicans wanted the Obama administration to explain what steps were taken to make sure the five never return to fight against the United States.

The government in Afghanistan was angered at President Obama’s decision to release the detainees. The Afghan foreign ministry said the decision was a possible violation of international law.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has defended the agreement to exchange the detainees for Sergeant Bergdahl. He also defended the decision not to inform Congress before the exchange took place, as required by law.

Secretary Hagel said he does not think the deal will endanger U.S. military personnel or civilians by inviting future deals with hostage-takers.

The events leading up to the capture of the American in 2009 remain unclear. A soldier who served with him said the former prisoner is no hero.

“People calling him a hero or calling him this great soldier? It’s a spit in the face to all the soldiers who were there.”

That was former Army Sergeant Evan Buetow. He was Bowe Bergdahl’s team leader in Afghanistan. He says he is happy Sergeant Bergdahl is safe. But he says he cannot understand celebrating a soldier he says just walked away from his base.

On social media, others accused Bowe Bergdahl of walking away and of getting U.S. troops killed as a result of his actions.

Jonah Blank is with the RAND Corporation policy group. He notes the Army recognized the soldier with promotions not once, but twice during his captivity. He says this suggests his actions were nothing less than honorable.

Army Secretary John McHugh has made clear the military’s first goal is to make sure Sergeant Bergdahl regains his health. He says once that happens, the Army will launch what he called a “comprehensive, coordinated” investigation of the soldier’s disappearance.

And that’s In The News from VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember. ​​ ​​

Divorce Rates High for Korea's Migrant Brides

From VOA Learning English, this is As It Is. I'm Anna Matteo in Washington.

Marrying someone from a different culture is very common. People do it all the time. And many international marriage brokers earn large profits by playing matchmaker for people. But what happens when the marriage business starts to resemble the selling of women? Some experts are examining the situation of migrant brides in South Korea.

Tens of thousands of South Korean men have married foreign women over the past 10 years. However, the government reports that many of those marriages end in divorce. And women’s rights experts are concerned about how these immigrant women are being treated. They are asking the Korean government to make rules for these marriages.

Lee Soo-yeon is a Vietnamese migrant bride. Six years ago, she left Vietnam to marry a South Korean man. Now 36-years old, she works as a translator at a center for immigrant women in Asan, a city 48 kilometers south of Seoul. She speaks Korean and uses a Korean name, but Ms. Lee is no longer with her Korean husband.

“At first we could not communicate well. And later we began to fight a lot. He hit me. I do not hate him now, but I realized he has a drinking problem”

The couple’s young child now lives with Ms. Lee’s mother-in-law. She says it is unlikely she will reunite with her husband. She blames the marriage agency that introduced them in Vietnam.

“Marriage agencies do not provide any information about the men they introduce to the women. We need to know more about these men, their personalities and their financial stability.”

Divorces among international couples are on the rise. As a result, the South Korean government has made new rules for giving marriage visas. There are new financial requirements and the couple must demonstrate that they can actually talk to each other.

Chung Chin-sung is a sociology professor at Seoul National University. She advises the Korean government on multicultural family policy. She says a language requirement could help improve marriages. But, she adds, the new visa rules do not deal with the main problem of these marriages. She says women are being sold like a product.

“That kind of marriage market where, especially women, become a product, like a product, not a human being, should be corrected.”

Ms. Chung suggests banning agencies that arrange quick marriages between people who barely know each other.

Jolly Regacho is a counselor at the Asan migrant center. She says if the South Korean government really wants to make stronger marriages, more education is important. The husband, she feels, should also learn about his wife’s culture.


“They should also make a project for the husband to learn the culture of their wife as well.”

Even with the break-up of her marriage, migrant bride Lee Soo-yeon says she does not plan to go back to Vietnam. She says Korea is her new home.

This report was written by VOA reporters in Korea, Jason Strother and Malte Kollenberg.

And I’m Anna Matteo.

What do you think about the situation of migrant brides and international marriages?
Do you think the Korean government should regulate this industry? Let us know in our comment section where you can share your opinions and discuss the issue with other listeners.