President Trump's defense team continues making its case to the Senate that the president did nothing wrong that would warrant his removal from office a.p. Correspondent Jackie Quinn against the backdrop of new revelations about the draft of a book from former national security advisor John Bolton President Trump's defense team was presenting a case against Hunter Biden who took a lucrative job on the board of Ukrainian energy company then law professor Alan Dershowitz testified nothing the president did meets the level of criminal activity the constitutional framers Invision you cannot turn conduct that is not impeachable into impeachable conduct simply by using words like quid pro quo he says even if John Bolton testifies that President Trump was withholding aid until Ukraine agreed to investigate the Bidens that would not constitute an impeachable offense President Trump denies Bolton's account while a few Republican senators are suggesting they may want Bolton to testify in the impeachment trial Jackie Quinn Washington Public point continues and so does the investigation into the helicopter crash near Los Angeles that killed retired n.b.a. Star Kobe Bryant A.P.'s head Donahue report outside the Staples Center the rights given me some of the best memories of my life fans like Chris remarries were leaving flowers basketballs basketball shoes and lots of Kobe Bryant jerseys he gave us everything he had and at the very least I got a couple respect and then not just him and other people who died Bryant's 13 year old daughter and 7 others were also killed maybe ation safety expert John Fox says the helicopter that crashed has a good track record he was asked about fog in the area that morning it was clear that the pilot. Who. Want to warn the want to. Box says this investigation will take time I'm a Donahue this is v.o.a. News. U.s. President Donald Trump has offered China any help needed to combat a deadly outbreak of a corona virus that has killed 106 people the latest figures reported by Chinese health officials include more than 2700 cases of people being sickened by the virus with at least 106 people having died cases have also been reported in nearly a dozen countries now the World Health Organization says that most of these people had a travel history and will go on with several others having contact with someone who had traveled there for more on the w.h.o. And their role in world health emergencies Lisa Schneider reports from Geneva in 2019 the World Health Organization and partners have responded to 51 emergencies in more than 40 countries and territories executive director of w.h.o. Emergencies program Michael Ryan says the unseen work of sustaining fragile health systems in conflicts and other emergencies does not stop in Bangladesh. Refugees living in the crowded times Cox bazaar. Vulnerable population. Ryan says w h o n partners have provided health services to more than 10000000 people in Yemen. For v.o.a. News Geneva regarding the coronavirus there been no reported deaths linked to the virus outside of China Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the White House yesterday was greeted by President Trump today there will be an announcement of a new long awaited Middle East peace plan b. Always Cindy's saying reports Netanyahu is trying to trump saying he is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House Palestinian leaders would likely agree that Trump is the greatest friend to Israel and have rejected the deal as dead on arrival. This deal which is not the. Based on international legality and international law which also gives Israel all it wants at the expense of the national rights of the Palestinian people that embodied in an independent sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of its refugees for return does not make the base for a quick solution it comes from a party that has lost its credibility to be an honest broker in a serious and genuine political process. Palestinian Authority has not had any could say. Get out of school. You look for to drop a little play. With a secret trick they say look brave get this from the car to keep in The to. Be away one day it's the weekend blinding lights one of the moments I really appreciated at the Grammys was Alicia Keys and voice to mention tribute to Kobe Bryant their reaction to his death they came on and they sang It's so hard to say goodbye and my heart just bursted rest in peace Kobe Bryant you can find out more about his death and the investigation into it on our Facebook page Ed v.o.a. Won the hits here is Justin Bieber yummy. Mail I want and the kids my name is make you strong you know you can always reach me on social media on Facebook and Twitter at I am and i k k I s t r o n g This is v.o.a. One that hits. Welcome to learning English a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America Jonathan of it and I'm Ashley Thompson this program is aimed at English learners so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English. Today on the program you will hear from Katy Weaver Alice Bryant Susan shad and and ball later we will present our American history series The Making of a nation but 1st here is Katie Weaver. Controversy and sadness were part of this year's Grammy show but for the music awards ceremony even began Sunday host Alicia Keys opened here we are to gather on music's biggest night celebrating the artists that do it best but to be honest with you we are all feeling crazy sadness right now she said she was talking about the tragic news that basketball superstar Kobe Bryant his 13 year old daughter and 7 other people were killed in a helicopter crash Sunday morning the National Recording Academy Awards show was broadcast live from the Staples Center the home court of the Los Angeles Lakers the team Bryant played for all of his 20 year career we are literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built keys said. The controversy clouding the ceremony was the suspension of Debra Dougan as chief of the Recording Academy Doogan took the leadership position in 2019 partly to deal with reports of sexism at the academy she is the 1st woman to head the organization less than 2 weeks ago Duken was suspended the academy said another employee had accused Doogan of hostile behavior Doogan has sense taken legal action herself with the Equal Opportunity Commission but the sadness and the controversy did not stop the artist Sunday night from producing a major celebration of music singer and flute player Liz though started the night's many songs with truth hurts and because I love you the Artist won the best pop solo performance Grammy for Truth hurts the big winners of the night however were 18 year old Billy Eilish and her brother Phineas O'Connell they shared the best album Grammy for when we all fall asleep where do we go Billie Eilish also took home the Best New Artist prize and her song Bad Guy won Best Song and best record Phineas O'Connell won a producer of the year a Grammy and another for Best Engineered album. Together the sister and brother one asked Pop Vocal Album. I'm Katie Weaver. Zachariah Mohammed's living room is filled with things he does not own he pays $200.00 a month for the couch side table bar cart dining table and 4 chairs in his living room the cost is worth it says the 27 year old New Yorker Mohammed has moved to times in the past year that is not unusual in places like New York City if he needs to move again he will not need to carry a couch across the city or worry about whether it will fit in his next apartment Mohammed solution is further a new company that lets renters change furniture whenever they want Mohammed is a social media manager who lives with his partner and their dog he told the Associated Press we don't want to be stuck with a giant couch. Further and other companies aim to rent furniture to young adults who do not want to make big purchases or move heavy furniture it and similar companies are part of a growing rental culture Thomas Robertson is a marketing professor at the war in school of the University of Pennsylvania he told the Associated Press that people who are using furniture rental services likely move and change jobs a lot these companies target people who make good money live in cities and want nice furniture but only temporarily the quality of the furniture is a little higher than that of Swedish brand Ikea I'm 32 years old and have lived in 25 different places 5 different countries 12 different cities says Chan park he helped launch the online furniture rental company Oliver space last year before starting the company Chan often bought and then threw away low cost furniture then he moved to a rental apartment in Singapore that already had furniture in it it was probably the 1st time my adult life that I felt like I was truly at home park says such companies mostly only operate in a few coastal American cities they offer furniture from Crate and Barrel West Elm and smaller brands. Others have begun renting home goods to a high end clothing rental company Rent the Runway recently added West Elm pillows and quilts Ikea is also testing a rental service in several countries including Switzerland and Belgium ranting may make sense for a generation that sees life as always moving says han a band shocked she is the founder of Gen planet a research and advisory company that studies the generation born between the late 1990 s. And 2016 moving her furniture from New York to Los Angeles would have cost Clarissa Wright $3000.00 Instead she gave away most of what she own and traveled through Europe for 2 months and then rented a couch bed and other furniture in her new place she pays $255.00 a month father delivered the furniture and put all the pieces together in one day Wright is a 28 year old marketing advisor for clothing and beauty brands she says she can change the furniture add more things or move to a new apartment or city but right now she is not sure what her future holds I don't think too far ahead she says that comes at a price critics have called the furniture rental business exploitation of stores like rent a center target poor people who cannot pay full price for furniture or home appliances. And the company charges higher prices overall and competitors for some of the newer furniture rental companies there are membership costs there are also costs if furniture is badly damaged Margot Saunders is with the National Consumer Law Center she said if people think this is the best way to buy a couch they are wrong Saunders added They should recognize that they are paying for the convenience of renting I'm Alice Bryant and I'm Susan Shand. People who work long hours and have long commutes to their jobs may be more likely to have sleep problems and not get enough exercise a new study suggests researchers in Sweden carried out the study they looked at people who work more than 40 hours a week and commute more than half an hour each way on an average day. The researchers found that those people had a 25 percent higher risk for having an in active lifestyle and a 16 percent higher risk of having sleep problems John a whole loan in is the study's lead rider she is with Stockholm University and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki Finland she said sleep problems may happen from lack of time for stress releasing activities and relaxation She also said people with long work days and a long commute may be too tired to be physically active the study recently appeared in the publication Occupational and Environmental Medicine in the past researchers have linked long work hours to unhealthy behaviors like physical inactivity smoking and poor eating choices however little is known about the combined effects of working long hours and having long commutes over time for this study researchers questioned more than 22000 working age adults at least 2 times between 282018 they asked them about their work and commute hours as well as how much they exercised and slept. The researchers also asked the study subjects how often they smoked and drank alcohol many of those questioned had a usual way of getting to work that remained unchanged during the study period but 14 percent had commute times change once during the study and about 5 percent had commute times change at least twice among people who normally worked less than 40 hours a week the study found that commute time had little effect on habits such as drinking alcohol smoking or exercising the researchers did lack data on how people commuted This makes it unclear if a commuter had an in active method for getting to work like driving a car or if their commute included some form of exercise we know walking and cycling for commuting tend to be associated with better health said all over mitten he is a researcher at Britain's University of Cambridge and was not involved in the study mitten told Reuters that there is clearly a message here about when choosing a job with a long commute He said that people should think about the effects that their job situation may have on their health. Not everyone has much choice over where they work or the chance to work from home mittened noted but he said that this suggests there is a role for employers and governments to show flexibility to employees needs I'm a on ball. Welcome to the making of a nation American history in v.o.a. Special English the United States did not play a very large part in world events during v 18 hundreds at the beginning of the 1900s However it expanded its interests throughout the world. America's president at that time strongly supported the expansion he was Theodore Roosevelt a distantly related cousin of the future President Franklin Roosevelt surely Griffith and Frank Oliver complete the story of America's 26th president who was also known as Teddy Theodore Roosevelt became president in 19001 after the assassination of President William McKinley He completed the last 3 years of McKinley's term then he was elected in his own right those 4 years are spoken of as Roosevelt's 2nd term. It was during this 2nd term that Roosevelt gained his most important foreign policy success he negotiated and and to a war between Russia and Japan later he was asked to settle another international dispute at issue was Morocco in 1000 all for France and Britain signed an agreement on North Africa the agreement gave Britain control over Egypt it gave France responsibility for security and reforms in Morocco Germany opposed the agreement it felt threatened by any French British alliance and it feared France would block German trade ties with Morocco Germany demanded an open door policy that would permit all countries to trade freely in Morocco he had proposed an international conference to settle the dispute. France and Britain rejected the idea. The ruler of Germany Kaiser Vilhelm the 2nd warned of that the dispute could lead to war the Kaiser asked Theodore Roosevelt to intervene President Roosevelt agreed to help some American lawmakers criticized him they said it was an American tradition not to get involved in European disputes but Roosevelt believed peace was more important than tradition. He set out the conference in the Spanish seaport of Algiers Saurus 12 European nations and the United States attended the conference agreed to an open door trade policy in Morocco it organized an international bank to control Morocco's finances and it gave France and Spain almost complete control over police forces in Morocco's port cities beard or Roosevelt had become a powerful world leader at home however he was losing power one reason was an economic depression business leaders blamed it on Roosevelt they said it was the result of his efforts to gain government control over industry the other reason was one he had created himself at that time there was no law limiting a president's term in office but America's 1st president George Washington had established a tradition of only 2 terms when Theodore Roosevelt won the election of 1904 he announced he would not be a candidate in 100008 he had completed the term of President McKinley he would serve full term of his own that was enough later he said I would be willing to cut off my hand if I could call back that statement. During his last year in office Roosevelt was a lame duck president. Everyone knew he would not be back there was little political reason to support him he faced increased opposition from Congress and from his own Republican Party his final message to Congress was extremely bitter President Roosevelt accused Congress and the court system of working only to help rich Americans he called for attacks on earnings he called for legislation to give workers a greater share of the nation's wealth the House of Representatives voted to reject the message it said Roosevelt had failed to show respect for the legislative branch of government Roosevelt refused to give up hope for the policies he believed America needed he would not be able to fight for these policies himself but he could find a presidential candidate who would he was sure the people would vote for his choice. He decided on his close friend Secretary of War William Howard Taft. Taft had spent most of his life in government service he had been a judge in both a state court and a federal court he had been a lawyer in the Justice Department and he had been governor of the Philippines. There was one problem however Taft did not want to be president he really wanted to be chief justice of the United States. But there were no immediate openings on the Supreme Court also his wife his brothers and his good friend Theodore Roosevelt urged him to run so Taft agreed to be a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1908 when he won the nomination Taft said Mr Roosevelt led the way to reform my job if I elected will be to complete and perfect his programs the Democratic Party nominated William Jennings Bryan Bryan had been a candidate 2 times before without success. The presidential campaign was not especially exciting William Howard Taft did not like being on the campaign trail he was a big heavy man he did not like to travel Roosevelt urged him to campaign with more energy hit hard old man Roosevelt said make the people see the truth let them know that for all your gentleness and kindness there never existed a man who was a better fighter when the need arose Roosevelt's advice and strong support helped Taft win a big victory on Election Day. A few weeks after Taft was sworn in as President Roosevelt left on a year long trip overseas he spent most of the time hunting wild animals in Africa. President Taft wrote a warm goodbye letter to his friend he promised to do his best as president but he admitted he could not lead as Roosevelt had done in fact Taft said he was still surprised when anyone called him Mr President each time it happened he turned around to see if Roosevelt was there there was no question that Taft's way of leading was much different from Roosevelt's Taft believed a president should not interfere too deeply in the actions of Congress he also believed a president should not claim special powers or rights he believed in the Supremes power of the law even if the law did not work very well. The progressives who had supported Roosevelt did not support Taft they said he was too friendly with conservatives they said he had surrendered to special interest groups Taff for his part did not like progressives he thought they were too emotional and extreme. Yet Taft worked hard to put into law many parts of Roosevelt's progressive programs he was successful in several areas during his administration for example a separate Department of Labor was established 2 constitutional amendments one congressional approval and were sent to the states for ratification. One amendment provided for a federal tax on earnings the other provided for direct popular election of senators Taft also worked even harder than Roosevelt to break up companies or trusts that blocked economic competition at the same time Taft failed in several areas he signed legislation that lowered import taxes neither businessman nor progressive Republicans liked it he negotiated a free trade agreement with Canada the Canadian parliament rejected it. He believed in protecting America's wilderness areas yet he did not believe existing laws gave him the right to close public lands to private development so he was seen as an enemy of conservation these struggles and failures made Taft's for years as president the unhappiest of his life the final blow came in an effort to reduce the powers of the speaker of the House of Representatives the speaker was a conservative Republican progressive Republicans opposed him the issues the party the Adore Roosevelt far from home read about the trouble he had promised to stay out of politics. But each of the opposing groups in his party asked for his support. And that's our program for today listen again tomorrow to learn English 3 stories from around the world I'm Jonathan Evans and I'm Ashley Thompson.