VOA Slowly English

Gulf Oil Spill Was Top Story in 2010
Saturday, January 01, 2011
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
At the end of each year, the Associated Press releases a list of the
top ten news stories of the year. American editors and news
directors are asked to vote for what they consider the top stories.
This year, the story with the most votes was the huge oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico. An oil rig operated by BP exploded in April. The
explosion killed eleven workers. Close to five million barrels of oil
were released into the Gulf until the leak was contained in the
middle of July. BP agreed to set aside twenty billion dollars to pay
claims and damages to people working in the area’s fishing and
tourism industries.
Photo: AFP
A US Coast Guard picture of attempts in May to control oil in the Gulf of Mexico
through burning
2 VOA Special English
The AP says the second most important story was health care
reform in the United States. President Obama won a major political
victory with congressional passage of his health care reform plan.
Among other things, it will extend health care insurance to
thirty-two million Americans now without it. But many Republicans
in Congress oppose the law and want to cancel parts of it.
The congressional elections in November were another big story.
The Republican Party gained a majority in the House of
Representatives. But Democrats kept their majority in the Senate.
The American economy was another major story. Economists
reported in twenty-ten that the worst recession since the
nineteen-thirties had ended. Americans began to spend more as the
year ended. But the unemployment rate stayed above nine percent.
In January, a powerful earthquake
struck Haiti. It killed at least two
hundred thirty thousand people and
left millions of others homeless.
Disease and other problems have
slowed efforts to rebuild the country.
Another important story was the Tea
Party movement in the United States.
The Tea Party supports limited
government, less federal spending
and lower taxes. The movement had
a big influence on the Congressional
elections.
Another major story was the rescue of thirty-three mine workers in
Chile. A partial mine collapse on August fifth trapped them more
than half a kilometer underground. They remained trapped for
sixty-nine days. Millions of people around the world watched on
television as each miner was safely brought to the surface.
AP
Cholera victims gathered in Cap
Haitien, Haiti, in November. Poor
conditions after the earthquake in
January have helped disease spread
In twenty-ten, United States forces officially ended combat
operations in Iraq. The Iraq war began more than seven years ago.
Another major story was the activities
of the WikiLeaks website. First the
website released thousands of United
States military documents about the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then it
published thousands of State
Department diplomatic cables. They
included comments by American
diplomats about the lives of world
leaders and criticisms of foreign
governments.
The tenth story on the AP’s list was the
war in Afghanistan. President Obama ordered an increase in troops
fighting the nearly ten-year-old war. American troops are to begin
leaving the country in July. Afghans are to control their own security
by the end of twenty fourteen.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
AP
Julian Assange, who started
WikiLeaks, now faces sex charges in
Sweden