VOA-Standard English
VOA-Standard English
090814
New data show the recession has eased in Europe where the two largest economies, Germany and France, returned to growth after a period of decline. Some analysts say the new figures may show the worst of the recession has passed. For the 16 nations that use the Euro, the sum of the goods and services produced shrank by 0.1% in April, May and June. Those gross domestic product figures are a significant improvement over the previous quarter and better than most economists had predicted.
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090815
Britons are outraged and speaking out in response to comments among Conservatives in the United States attacking Britain's national health care system as socialist and evil. VOA's Sonja Pace has this report from London.
Average Britons are usually quite vocal about what they see as the shortcomings of their national health care system, the NHS. But the vehement critique by some Conservatives in the United States of the NHS has sparked an outpouring of support for the system here in Britain. Breaking his usual diplomatic silence about political events in America, Prime Minister Gordon Brown tweeted, "the NHS often makes a difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there." But, in general Britons do not want the NHS replaced, they want it improved. Supporters of the NHS are quick to point out that it costs much less than health care in America and that the World Health Organization ranks Britain's healthcare as 18th in the world, while the U. S. is far behind in 37th place. Sonja Pace, VOA News, London.?
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090827
U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, the elder stat?esman of America's most famous political family, is dead at the age of 77 after a battle with brain cancer. VOA’s Deborah Tate has more.
Senator Kennedy was a champion of liberal causes, and over the course of his Senate career sponsored legislation that fundamentally altered worker rights, education funding, foreign policy and immigration law. In January, 2008, Kennedy saw an agent of change in Senator Barack Obama and became one of the first prominent Democrats to endorse Obama's bid for the party's nomination for president.
"My friends, I ask you to join in this historic journey to have the courage to choose change. It is time again for a new generation of leadership. It is time now for Barack Obama."
Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962, the year before the assassination of President Kennedy. At first it appeared that he might have a clear path to the White House. But those hopes ended in 1969 when the senator drove off a bridge and the young woman with him, Mary Jo Kopechne, was killed. Deborah Tate, VOA News, Washington.
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090909
China says it will sell $880 million worth of Yuan-dominated bonds in Hong Kong in what analysts say is a first step toward widening the use of the currency outside the country. Heda Bayron reports from Hong Kong.
Starting September 28, investors in Hong Kong will be able to buy bonds issued by the Chinese government. It marks the first time that the Chinese government is borrowing money offshore and paying it back in its own currency. Kevin Lai, an economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research in Hong Kong, says it is a step toward gradually widening the use of the Yuan, or Renminbi, outside China. Currently, the currency cannot be traded freely outside the country, and its exchange rate is restricted to a narrow trading band.
"The next step will be an increase in Renminbi liquidity regionally, and at the end a step towards internationalizing Renminbi. The Renminbi has to be fully convertible at some stage. Building a bond center, or increase bond issuances for Renminbi is just one of those steps." Heda Bayron for VOA News, Hong Kong
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091227
U.N. officials, climate experts, environmental activists and more than 60 world leaders gather in Copenhagen for a two-week conference on climate change to begin Monday, December 7th. Their aim is to achieve a legally binding agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. VOA’s Sonja Pace has this preview from our European bureau in London.
The Copenhagen Conference has been billed as the last best chance to clinch a deal, but doubts have been raised whether it can do that.?The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for heating up the atmosphere. And since industrialized nations were the greatest polluters for years, they more than others are under pressure to cut emissions. But many say developing countries also need to do more. They in turn want financial help to make the transition. Most scientists say human activity is behind global warming and that it is up to humans to make changes to stem the tide. Copenhagen is supposed to come up with a successor to the 1997 Kyoto agreement that mandated cuts in emissions.?It expires in 2012. Sonja Pace, VOA?News, London.
