Podcast Special English

Try listening to this podcast a few times every day for one week. Sit, sat, sat spend, spent, spent ring, rang, rung wear, wore, worn sell, sold, sold beat, beat, beaten win, won, won hurt, hurt, hurt sing, sang, sung blow, blew, blown rise, rose, risen ride, rode ridden fly, flew, flown drink, drank, drunk, forget, forgot, forgotten throw, threw, thrown hang, hung, hung, swim, swam, swum.

Try listening to this podcast a few times every day for one week. Feel, felt, felt hold, held, held stand, stood, stood understand, understood, understood lose, lost, lost catch, caught, caught buy, bought, bought send, sent, sent fall, fell, fallen choose, chose, chosen sleep, slept, slept speak, spoke, spoken meet, met, met lead, led, led bite, bit, bitten hit, hit, hit drive, drove, driven break, broke, broken.

Try listening to this podcast a few times every day for one week. Take, took, taken put, put, put tell, told, told give, gave, given read, read, read keep, kept, kept begin, began, begun let, let, let hear, heard, heard cut, cut, cut eat, ate, eaten * run, ran, run bring, brought, brought become, became, become grow, grew, grown draw, drew, drawn show, showed, shown mean, meant, meant.

Try listening to this podcast a few times every day for one week. Have has had had say says said said do does did done see saw seen make made made find found found know knew known get got gotten go went gone write wrote written think thought thought come came come.

New research suggests that sleeping next to your pet increases your risk of getting sick. Researchers from the University of California-Davis believe pet owners have a greater chance of catching diseases as serious as the bubonic plague, an infection that killed 75 million people across Europe in the fourteenth century. Professor Bruno Chamel did, however, say that although this is extremely rare, it does happen. He said people are safer if they keep Kitty and Fido next to their bed, not on it. He wrote in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases: "There are private places in the household, and I think our pets should not go beyond next to the bed....Having a stuffed animal in your bed is fine, not a real one." This research will upset many people who love cuddling up to their pet or getting their face licked by them. Professor Chamel reckons that because people are having fewer children, pets have become replacements. More than 60 per cent of American households have a pet and up to 62 per cent of pet owners let their animals sleep with them, according to Chamel’s research. Chamel has already received many e-mails strongly disagreeing with his research. They say they have slept with their pets throughout their lives and are as healthy as anyone else. Larry Kornegay, president of the American Veterinary Association, agreed, saying: “The benefits of having a pet, whether or not you sleep with it, far outweigh the negatives.”

Celebrations have erupted across Egypt after Hosni Mubarak resigned as president. His resignation came after 18 days of pro-democracy protests in which millions of Egyptians voiced their desire for change. The end for Mubarak was a U-turn. On Thursday night he vowed to continue in power until September elections. Just 24 hours later, vice president Omar Suleiman announced to the nation that Mr. Mubarak had gone. The announcement brought wild scenes of joy in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and the rest of the country. A protestor speaking on Al Jazeera TV said there was an “explosion of happiness”. Fireworks lit the sky and car horns continued all night as people partied in the streets. Most people were too overcome with emotion to express their feelings. News of Mubarak’s fall from power was welcomed across the world. There was dancing in the streets outside the Egyptian Embassy in London and parties in many major cities. People across the Middle East took to the streets in solidarity with the Egyptian protesters. Egypt’s revolution took inspiration from Tunisia’s and was three days faster. The Associated Press quoted Tunis resident Safia Ruwees, who said: "These are democracies that we are bringing with our hands, no one has brought them to us, not America, not France, no one." An Egyptian in Beirut, Issam Allawi, said: "We are very happy today that we were able to overcome the dictator Hosni Mubarak. Tomorrow, the next dictators throughout the entire Arab world."

What do you buy the man who has everything for Christmas? How about some perfume that smells of meat? The US hamburger giant Burger King has just released a fragrance for men based on the smell of its Whopper burger. The company is advertising the scent, called Flame, on its website firemeetsdesire.com. It says: “The Whopper sandwich is America’s favourite burger. Flame….captures the essence of that love and gives it to you.” The website also invites visitors to “Behold the scent of seduction.” The site features a variety of romantic images, including candlelit baths, wine and sunsets. Burger King says Flame will allow men to “Set the mood no matter what mood you’re in the mood for”. The scent is on sale online for $3.99, although just five days before Christmas, it was sold out. It is on sale in New York, for those who desperately want to buy a bottle. The website that is marketing Flame has a lot of feedback from some very satisfied customers. It seems the body spray is doing some amazing things to make men more irresistible. We found several people who were more than happy with their purchase. Jason Lowe from San Diego said: “I like the smell but would like the body spray to have the smell of extra cheese.” Carmen Diaz from Los Angeles said she loved the smell, but was worried about the number of dogs that now followed her husband. The fragrance has not yet been a big hit with vegetarians.

The world will soon know who will get the “best job in the world”. The position is for a caretaker to live on and look after a tropical island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Duties include relaxing on the island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef, and writing a blog to promote the area. Other responsibilities are to feed the fish, clean the pool and collect the mail. The job website, islandreefjob.com, tells applicants: “There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry. You won’t need to feed them all.” The successful applicant will get a salary of nearly US$100,000 for the six months. Officials from Queensland’s tourism department announced on Tuesday that they were now looking at 50 candidates. Unsurprisingly, over 35,000 people applied for the job. The next stage in the selection process is to get the list of candidates down to 11. The tourism board will select ten people. Visitors to the website will choose an eleventh person. The public can look at the video applications of all 50 hopeful caretakers. The eleven lucky finalists will then fly to Hamilton Island for a formal interview. The winner will be announced on May 6, and the job starts on July 1. The current shortlist of 50 includes people from 22 countries. They include dancers, chefs, scientists and students and they all want a slice of paradise. Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said there was much discussion to narrow down the list to 50. He told reporters, “it boiled down to…the motivation and professionalism of the applicants and their 'fit' with the job and Tourism Queensland”.

An astronomy professor has turned the astrology world on its head by suggesting the 3,000-year-old zodiac system is wrong. Professor Parke Kunkle said the Earth's wobbly orbit means things have changed in the past three millennia and now has a different relationship to the stars. He said the ancient Babylonians determined the dates of the Zodiac and decided not to include a thirteenth sign called Ophiuchus. He believes the changes in the Earth’s orbit now mean this sign must be included in the Zodiac. This would change all of the dates we are used to with our star signs and many of us would have a new one. Professor Kunkle is surprised his recent announcement has shocked people: "Astronomers have known about this since about 130BC," he said. The story has caused millions around the world to worry their life might change because of this news. People who were happy at being a Virgo are upset because they are now Leos. Kunkle says people should not be worried because star signs were never meant to predict our future or provide an income to horoscope writers, saying: "You could predict when to harvest, when to plant, by the stars. So there is some predictive nature there. Then they took it too far, using it to determine when to go to war and people's personalities." Popular astrologer Susan Miller has reassured people they needn’t worry and called the news "ridiculous." In an interview with ABC News, she joked: "We've known about this for ages….Trying to explain something technical in 140 characters [on Twitter] is hard."

A newly-released study reveals that walking fast in your old age is a sign you will live a long life. The report in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed data from nine studies that involved 34,485 senior citizens. Participants in the research were regularly tested over a period of 21 years. The researchers looked at the relationship between walking speed in the over-65s and expected longevity. They concluded that the faster an older person can walk, the longer they can expect to live. Lead researcher Dr. Stephanie Studenski said: "It’s a real part of the human experience to see that when someone slows down with age, they may not be doing as well as they once were." Dr. Studenski explained why an elderly person’s walking pace could be an indicator of a longer life. She said walking involves the use of many bodily functions working in tandem. The heart, lungs, skeletal system and joints, muscles, nerves and brain must all work together to ensure a smooth and consistent speed. Damage to any of these systems could result in walking more slowly, which could signal medical problems. Studenski said that walking speed was a better indicator of longevity than other factors, and that elders who walked at “one metre per second or higher consistently demonstrated survival that was longer than expected by age and sex alone”. She also suggested doctors look more carefully at slow-walking patients.

Times are changing quickly in Cuba. Cubans can now build their own houses for the first time in 50 years. The country's president, Raul Castro, has announced changes to help the nation's housing shortage. For the past five decades, people had to rely on the government to provide them with houses. There was no such thing as housing loans or a property market. The new reforms will allow people to get loans to build their own homes. There will still be many restrictions. All new properties must follow strict building guidelines. The government has announced dimensions for new houses that all architects must stick to. Mr. Castro explained his decision live on television, telling his people: "I've given you this amount of space....Now build your little home with whatever you can." Housing has become a serious problem in Cuba. There are now too few houses for people to live in. Overcrowding is reaching record levels as more and more people live with their families in tiny properties. Cuba's government has had difficulty keeping to its targets of building 100,000 new homes per year. The situation has been made worse by three huge hurricanes that hit the island in 2008. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed in the fierce winds and driving rain. One potential Cuban homeowner, Jose Santana, was delighted with the news. "My dream to have my own home may soon come true," he said. This may be easier said than done. The average wage in Cuba is just $17 a month, and most building materials are only available on the black market.

A new study has found that having a child can make a couple less happy with each other. Researchers from the University of Denver conducted an eight-year study of 218 sets of parents. Their report is called “The effect of the transition to parenthood on relationship quality”. It is published in the March 2009 edition of the ‘Journal of Personality and Social Psychology’. The psychologists examined how happy couples were in the eight years after the birth of their first child. They concluded that the first baby put a lot of stress and pressure on a marriage. Ninety percent of couples experienced a decrease in marital bliss immediately following the birth of their first child. Unmarried couples experienced bigger problems. It’s not all bad news for would-be parents. Some couples in the research said their relationship was stronger after their baby was born. Parents who were married for a long time before starting a family were happier. Couples on higher incomes also seemed to have fewer problems. Researcher Scott Stanley said his team’s findings did not mean children bring unhappiness in life. He said that parents may be happier as part of a family than as a childless couple. He noted that “this type of happiness can be powerful and positive”. Stanley also pointed out that couples who did not have children also became unhappier with each other over time. However, he said parenthood accelerated levels of unhappiness.

Drinking wine can damage your teeth. That’s the conclusion of a report from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. Researchers tested the effects of eight red and eight white wines on teeth from men and women aged between 40 to 65. They discovered all of the wines damaged the enamel that protects our teeth. This makes our teeth more sensitive to hot and cold food and drinks. It also means the teeth will stain quicker if someone drinks coffee. The research team said white wine causes more damage than red. The acid in white wines attacks the enamel and wears it away. The bad news is that brushing your teeth after drinking wine will only make things worse. Wine drinkers previously thought red wine was worse for your teeth. The research has been published in the journal “Nutrition Research”. Report co-author Dr. Brita Willershausen told reporters: “Within the limits of this study, it can be predicted that frequent consumption of white wines might lead to severe dental erosion.” The researchers did have some good news for wine lovers. They said food that is rich in calcium can help limit the damage. The report stated: “The tradition of enjoying different cheeses for dessert or in combination with drinking wine might have a beneficial effect on preventing dental erosion because cheese contains calcium in a high concentration.” Other factors can also help reduce the amount of erosion wine causes. Less frequent sips and swallowing the wine a little more quickly can help save your teeth.

Train companies in Tokyo are taking action to reduce the number of people jumping in front of trains. They are fitting blue lights on station platforms to try and create a more calming atmosphere. The East Japan Railway Company has invested almost $170,000 to install the lights in all of the 29 stations on the capital's busy Yamanote Line. There has been an alarming rise in the number of people committing suicide at train stations. A total of 68 people threw themselves under trains in the year up to March. This compares with 42 suicides in the same period a year earlier. In 2008, Japan had nearly 2,000 suicides by jumping in front of a train; around six percent of all suicides nationwide. Suicides have risen sharply in the past decade due to poor economic conditions. No one knows if the blue lights will work. There is no evidence to show that blue light reduces suicidal feelings. Keihan Railway spokesman Osamu Okawa stated: “We thought we had to do something to save lives. We know there is no scientific proof that blue lights deter suicides, but if blue has a soothing effect on the mind, we want to try it to save lives.” The Associated Press news agency reports on a Japanese therapist called Mizuki Takahashi. She explained her reasons why the blue lights might be a good idea: "We associate the colour with the sky and the sea. It has a calming effect on agitated people, or people obsessed with one particular thing, which in this case is committing suicide," she said. Other companies are watching this experiment with interest.

A survey on London’s subway train system has found over 80 per cent of passengers are stressed. The report is called ‘Too close for comfort: Passengers' experiences of the London Underground’. It was made by a London transport committee, who questioned more than 700 commuters. The findings paint an ugly picture of the famous railway system. The situation is so bad that the majority of travellers had to “psyche” themselves up before getting on a Tube train. People had to prepare mentally for their rail journey. Overcrowding was the biggest cause of discomfort. Over half of those questioned said they couldn’t get on the first train to arrive at a station because it was too full. Others said they hated being squashed against strangers. The London Underground carries more than 1 billion passengers a year. At the busiest times, there are four people per square metre packed onto the train. This has an impact on travellers’ behaviour. The report notes that the “overwhelming majority of passengers” think overcrowding is “a highly unpleasant and abnormal situation”. The committee listed a number of strategies people use to cope with travelling on the Tube. These include adopting a “dog-eat-dog” or “survival of the fittest” attitude, ignoring pregnant women who want to sit down, and switching off to what’s happening around them. One passenger said: “I’m a different animal on the Tube to normal life. I’m not me. I’m a bit less interested in others.”

A U.S. university has found a new use for the Apple iPhone – as a musical instrument. Academics from the University of Michigan have joined forces to create what they call a 21st century orchestra. There are no traditional instruments, only 20 of Apple’s best-selling mobile telephones. The project is a group effort from the university’s music, computer science and engineering departments. They call themselves the Michigan Mobile Phone Ensemble and describe their work as "new, crazy, electronic ensemble music". They will hold their first concert on Wednesday, December the 9th. Each ‘musician’ will ‘play’ the notes and tunes that they programmed into their handset. The result will be an original piece of... music. The brains behind the iPhone orchestra is assistant professor Georg Essl. He is a musician and an engineer. On his course, he encouraged students to experiment with the iPhone’s advanced technologies. They wrote special applications that used wireless radios, motion sensors and the touch screen to produce different noises. The result is the hi-tech sound of the experimental new orchestra. Professor Essl was excited about this innovative form of music. He said: “We can do interesting, weird and unusual things. This kind of technology is in its infancy, but it's a hot and growing area to use iPhones for artistic expression." He called the iPhone “a very nice platform for exploring new forms of musical performance". He didn’t say when the orchestra would record its first CD.

British people have voted a good night's sleep as life's "greatest little pleasure". The Batchelors Cup-A-Soup company conducted a survey into what gave Britons most pleasure. Bed activities filled four of the top ten spots. Cuddling a loved one in bed came third, having a lie-in was fifth and sleeping in freshly-washed sheets sixth. Finding £10 ($16) in your pocket was life’s second greatest pleasure for Brits. Also in the top ten were crying with laughter, making someone smile and catching up with an old friend. There were plenty of things in the list that most people around the world would agree with. These include realizing that your queue in the supermarket is the one moving fastest, and at number 50, popping bubble wrap. Batchelors spokesman Rob Stacey gave his thoughts on the findings of the survey, which 3,000 Britons did. He said: "It's often the little things that brighten up life, like getting into bed after a long day. You can't beat that feeling.” Mr. Stacey observed that almost all of the things in the top fifty didn’t need money. He stated: “Often the little gestures such as a quick cuddle or a compliment can really help to cheer someone up if they are having a bad day, and can even be more welcome than splashing out on expensive presents.” He added that it was “often the smaller things that can make a big difference”. Stacey may be happy that curling up on the sofa with a good book and a hot drink (or soup) came thirteenth in the poll.

Canadian researchers have found that most drivers think they are better than others behind the wheel. The team from Ottawa University interviewed nearly 400 motorists of all ages. They all had to answer questions about what they thought of their own driving skills. The question topics included how they react in different driving conditions, including terrible weather and congested roads. They then had to rate the skills of others on the road. The results were very similar across all age ranges – almost all of those interviewed believed their driving ability was better than that of other drivers. Older drivers in the poll were more confident in their ability than younger ones. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, males had the most confidence in their ability to handle a car. Lead researcher Sylvain Gagnon believes the attitudes found in his survey could be dangerous. Mr Gagnon said that although confidence can be a good thing, it often has dangerous consequences. He stated: “If you think that you are a better driver, then perhaps you start behaving differently behind the wheel and do not pay as much attention as you should. This might explain why young men tend to have more accidents on the roads than other drivers.” It is time for government road safety departments to start taking research such as this more seriously. Traffic accidents are a huge killer throughout the world. Very few drivers really think about how deadly their car can be in an accident. More regulation is needed as people buy more and more cars.

Does time fly or does it go slowly? We’ve all had experiences of wanting time to pass quicker, slow down or even stop. The BBC has reported on research on the speed time travels at. Its reporter Tom Colls discusses a study conducted by researchers at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, USA. Lead researcher Professor Aaron Sackett found he could make people feel that time was going more slowly and more quickly than it really was. Professor Sacket said there was a strong link between the feeling of time passing and levels of enjoyment. He said he showed that time really does fly when you’re having fun. “We could manipulate people's feelings of time quite easily," he said. The BBC’s article provides an analysis of how scientists have looked at time throughout history. The most famous scientist they include is Albert Einstein. He said time is simply something in our minds. Professor John Wearden, a time psychologist at Britain’s Keele University said it was difficult to analyze how time goes by. He said most people think time goes fast and slowly. As an example he quotes his own mother, who says days seem to last forever, but months fly by. Professor Wearden told the BBC: "Time doesn't really go fast or slowly, it can't do….It just goes at the speed it goes." He added that time can only be measured by a clock. Most language students might agree that time flies by when they are studying English.

Leaving your children with their grandparents may be bad for the little ones’ health. This is according to new research in the ‘International Journal of Obesity’. The British study showed that children who are looked after by their grandparents tend to me more overweight. Researchers looked at over 12,000 toddlers between the ages of nine months and three years. Their data showed that grandparents increased the risk of obesity in the children by as much as 34 per cent. Kids who are looked after by their parents or who go to nurseries had no similar risk of weight problems. The research also showed that children of richer parents were more at risk, especially if the mother had a management position and/or a university education. This research could help reduce the rate of obesity in Britain. Almost a quarter of pre-schoolers are overweight or obese. These new statistics should send an important message to grandparents – stop filling your grandchildren with snacks and sugary treats. We all know how our grandparents like to spoil us. It is the same all over the world. The research did not look into why young children are more at risk of obesity with their grandparents. However, there are several possible reasons. One is that older people might be less aware of proper nutrition and so give their grandchildren unhealthy food. Another possible cause is that older people are less active and might not play with the children. It might also be that British people in general are becoming less active.

A website in Britain has just released a study into the strange names some people have. TheBabyWebsite.com created a list called ‘The Most Unfortunate Names in Britain’. Some of the names have been with people from birth; others got the names after they married. The bizarre, unlucky names include Barb Dwyer, Hazel Nutt, Jo King, Justin Case, Barry Cade and Mary Christmas. A spokesperson for the website gave one reason for why people have these names, saying: “When the parents of some of those people named their children, many probably didn't even realise the implications at the time.” He added: "Parents really do need to think carefully though when choosing names for their children.” The list is a wake-up call for today’s parents to think more carefully about the names they give to their children. It is very common to name babies after pop stars and actors. Popular names for children today include Miley, Britney and Brad. TheBabyWebsite explained how difficult life must be with a strange name: “There must be tremendous embarrassment every time they have to introduce themselves to anyone, especially to a crowd. Even their teachers must have had to hold back their smiles sometimes.” Americans also have some curious names, such as Carrie Oakey and Bill Board. We found the best married-couple names on the BBC’s website; Mr and Mrs Mee – Rob’s a banker and Sue’s a lawyer.

Most of the world’s Internet users believe Internet access is a basic human right. This is according to a new poll conducted for the BBC. A survey of more than 27,000 adults in 26 different countries found four out of five people believed access to the World Wide Web was a right everyone in the world needs and should have. The chief of the International Telecommunication Union, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, told the BBC World Service: "The right to communicate cannot be ignored. The Internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created." Dr. Toure believes online access should be available everywhere, just like roads and water. In some countries, this has already happened. Finland and Estonia have laws saying access is a human right. The survey also showed how the Internet is quickly becoming a vital part of our life, all across the world. Over 75 per cent of Japanese, Mexican and Russian people said they could not live without it. It is easy to see why. Almost everything we do in our life today, from communication, study, work and leisure, needs the Internet. Without access to the Web, many people would feel helpless and powerless. Almost 80 per cent of those who took the survey believe the Web had a positive impact, with nearly four fifths saying they have greater freedom. Other people were worried about the dangers of using the Internet. One big surprise was that the majority of Germans felt it was not safe for them to express their opinions online.

French first lady Carla Bruni has spoken about rumours her marriage to French president Nicolas Sarkozy is over. She said many teasing things in an interview with the British TV network Sky News. French newspapers are full of stories about the high-profile couple’s future together. However, British newspapers and television appear hungrier for news. The French rarely seem to get excited by scandals, whereas the Brits love them. Ms Bruni’s latest interview has given people a lot to talk about. She told interviewer Anna Botting that she married her husband in a hurry and that she didn’t know if she would stay with him forever. Ms Bruni also talked about her relationships with rock and roll stars Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger. Carla Bruni, a former model and now singer-songwriter, was very honest in her interview with Sky News. She said she married Nicolas Sarkozy just three months after meeting him and that they had to get married. She explained it "wasn't possible" to be with him without getting married because of non-stop gossip and rumours in the French press. Bruni joked: "It wasn't about 'hey, let's date', we had to do it fast to calm the people down." She said she was sure her husband was not seeing anyone else and asked the interviewer: “Have you ever seen a picture of him having an affair?" Bruni described her marriage as a dream: “The real fairytale is how lucky, how incredibly lucky it was for me to fall in love at 40 years old and meet someone I could marry," she said.

A British man is hoping to break the world record for living with dangerous snakes. David Jones, 44, hopes to spend 121 days in a room with 40 of the world’s deadliest snakes. His slithery companions will include deadly adders, cobras and green and black mambas. Mr Jones starts his record attempt on April 24th in Johannesburg, South Africa. He aims to beat the current record of 113 days set by South African Martin Smit. The big difference between Smit and Jones is that Smit is an experienced snake handler. The last person to go for the record was bitten by a puff adder and nearly lost his leg. Mr Jones wants to raise money for charity. All money raised will go to a hospice in his hometown of Crawley, near London. Mr Jones told reporters he was not too scared of spending so long in a room with venomous snakes. He did admit he was concerned for a number of reasons. He is worried that “there is a very real possibility of ending up in hospital”. He is fully aware of the dangers, saying: "These are wild animals. They're unpredictable and of course they do bite, and they bite with serious consequences." Jones expressed reservations about spending such a long time away from his family: “I'm also leaving a wife, I'm leaving a son and I'm leaving my family for four and a half months.” Mr Jones explained the reasons behind his challenge: "I have always been interested in snakes and I thought now is the time to do something slightly out of the ordinary in my life.”

Food experts in the USA are asking the government to make new salt laws. America’s Institute of Medicine (IOM) wants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to limit the amount of salt put in food. This would affect how food manufacturers and restaurants prepare their food. The institute believes America’s love affair with salt must end. It says Americans consume far too much salt, which is leading to too many health problems. The IOM says salt intake is the same as it was decades ago, despite many health drives to get people to use less. Its report says: “''If you look at salt intake over a number of decades, it has not gone down despite a number of efforts and it is still at a very high level.” Its main recommendation is to set standards for safe levels of salt in food. Not everyone is happy with the IOM’s request. Lori Roman, head of America’s Salt Institute, said the IOM’s recommendations were “not scientifically sound". Roman, added: "They're talking about some very drastic reductions. They could be harming people.” Gary Howard, a spokesman for the Campaign for Liberty group also agreed the IOM was going too far, saying: "It's another [attack] on people's personal freedom." Supporters of the bill say America’s health must come first. Lowering salt could reduce high blood pressure and improve the well-being of hundreds of thousands of people. High blood pressure affects a third of U.S. adults, or around 75 million people. It also increases the risks of having heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure.

The British government has decided to take the 500-euro Euro banknote out of circulation. Not many ordinary British people or visitors to Britain will notice this change, unless they are criminals. The bill is worth about $630, so it is very attractive to criminal gangs. They use it to launder money or to transport large sums of money. This will have a big impact on organized crime in Britain. It used to be easy for them to take huge sums of cash into Britain. A million dollars in €500 notes weighs just 2.2kg. That’s very easy to carry on board a plane. The same amount in £50 notes weighs 22kg, which is the weight limit for a suitcase in economy class. A spokesman said “the €500 note is a comfortable choice” for criminals, but now the ban means their “comfort zone” has gone. Britain's Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said 90 per cent of the €500 notes in the U.K. was being used for criminal purposes. A spokesman said there was no “legitimate use for the €500 note in the UK” and that “easy access to them in the UK is a key enabler of criminal activity”. He added the notes allowed criminals “to move large volumes of cash effectively". The €500 note is currently the second largest value banknote in the world. The most valuable bill is the 1,000 Swiss Franc note, which is worth around US$900. None of these bills can compare to the note former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson introduced in the 1930s. His $100,000 bills were for certificates for people who owned gold. In today’s money, one of these notes would be worth $1.6 million.

A scientist who has created a synthetic life form has put the science world in a spin. Geneticist Craig Venter unveiled a major scientific breakthrough last week when he showed the world a new form of life he created in the laboratory. He made his artificial creation from a stem cell, biochemicals and yeast. Dr Venter claims his new organism has DNA that has never existed on Earth before. The cells he made will pave the way for more complex ones. Venter believes manmade life will be an important part of all science in the future. In 2007, he said: “Synthetic [life] is going to become the standard for making anything.” He believes it will provide amazing new cures for diseases and help in the fight against climate change. Environmentalists are up in arms over Venter’s work. They believe it is a major threat to our existence. Campaigners are fighting to ban any form of synthetic life from getting into the wild. One campaigner, Jim Thomas, expressed his fears to Britain’s ‘Independent’ newspaper: "Synthetic biology is a high-risk, profit-driven field, building organisms out of parts that are still poorly understood. We know that lab-created life forms can escape and become biological weapons, and that their use threatens existing natural biodiversity," he said. Mr Thomas is worried about what oil companies will do with Mr Venter’s work, saying: "Most worrying of all, Craig Venter is handing this powerful technology to the likes of BP and Exxon to hasten the commercialisation of synthetic life-forms."

The New York Times has reported on a problem that many of us have but are not aware of – Internet addiction. According to reporter Tara Parker-Pope, millions of us are addicted to being online. She says this is a growing problem that is making us more forgetful and impatient. Ms Parker-Pope writes about various reports highlighting how technology is changing people. In one, she quotes cyber-psychologist Dr. Elias Aboujaode who says: “More and more, life is resembling the chat room.” He said we are living in “virtual lifestyles” which is negatively affecting our real-life relationships. Nicki Dowling, a clinical psychologist from Melbourne University in Australia, concluded in a recent study that ten per cent of young people had what she called “Internet dependence”. Tara Parker-Pope quizzed experts in this field on what the signs are of being overly absorbed in technology. She came up with seven indicators of “tech overload”. The first is whether you check your e-mail before doing other things. Another telltale sign is if you always anticipate and look forward to your next online visit – a sure sign of dependence and addiction. The third point is if you say, "just a few more minutes" when someone wants you. Parker-Pope found your interaction with others also says a lot about how important the Internet is compared with family and friends; do you lie about how much time you spend online or choose to surf the Net instead of go out with others? Other giveaways include the “online lift” that stops you being unhappy, and when others complain about you always being online.

Time magazine has named Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, as and their Person of the Year 2010. Zuckerberg, 26, is the second-youngest winner of the accolade. He won the award for connecting 12 percent of the planet on his social networking site. This is an impressive statistic considering the site has yet to make any impression in China. Mr Zuckerberg said on Wednesday, naturally on his Facebook page: "Being named as Time Person of the Year is a real honor and recognition of how our little team is building something that hundreds of millions of people want to use to make the world more open and connected. I'm happy to be a part of that." The young entrepreneur owns a quarter of the shares of Facebook and is a multi-billionaire. It was uncertain for a while who would win Time’s annual honour. Readers voting in the online poll chose the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as the winner. However, Time panelists chose Mark Zuckerberg. Time’s editor Richard Stengel explained they chose Zuckerberg because he was a more positive figure than Assange and because he changed “how we all live our lives in ways that are innovative and even optimistic”. He wrote on Time’s website: "There is an erosion of trust in authority, a decentralizing of power and at the same time, perhaps, a greater faith in one another…" he said. Mr Stengel continued: “Zuckerberg sees the world as filled with potential friends.” Perhaps only the Facebook creator himself knows how much more he can do.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has accused Britain’s Vogue fashion magazine of being racist. She says the publication is guilty of "sidelining black beauty". Campbell is one of the few black models ever to have appeared on the cover of the British Vogue. She shot to fame in the international modeling world after appearing on its cover at the age of 17 back in the eighties. She appeared another seven times in the following two decades. The magazine has only had 12 issues featuring black models in its entire 91-year history, which suggests she may have a point. Since her last front-cover appearance in August 2002, no other black model has been featured. Campbell said: "Black models are being sidelined by the major modelling agencies. It is a pity that people don't appreciate black beauty.” Campbell has tried to bring racism within the fashion industry to the public’s attention throughout her career. Speaking recently in Kenya, she said: "Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on [high profile] pages. I don't want to quit modelling until I find that black models get equal prominence and recognition by the world media." She added that even she still got a “raw deal” from fashion magazines in England. Adenike Adenitire, editor of New Nation, a newspaper for Britain's black community, agreed with Campbell. She said: "I would say a lot of black girls do not get certain breaks…because they are black. You don't really see black models on the front covers of mainstream magazines in Britain.” She added: “It is far more common to see black faces on front covers in America."

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday for the first time in over five decades. She also visited Ground Zero, the site of the deadly World Trade Center attacks in 2001, to lay a floral wreath. The Queen commented on how the world had changed since she last spoke at the UN fifty years ago. She said she has “witnessed great change, much of it for the better" since her first speech as a young queen in 1957. A British diplomat, Sir Brian Urqhart, told reporters he thought the Queen’s role had become less important in the interval between her two speeches. He told reporters how he met the Queen when she first addressed the UN, saying: "I suppose the British monarchy was a bigger deal in 1957 than now." UN General-Secretary welcomed the Queen by calling her "an anchor for our age". He noted her reign spanned decades "from the Cold War to global warming," from "the Beatles to Beckham," and from "the television to Twitter." The Queen gave a seven-minute speech to the U.N. She spoke about how the organization had changed: "When I was first here, there were just three U.N. operations overseas. Now over 120,000 men and women are deployed in 26 missions across the world," she said. She praised the UN for its efforts to help millions around the world, saying: "You have helped to reduce conflict, you have offered humanitarian assistance to millions of people." She added that the United Nations has been "deeply committed to tackling the effects of poverty in many parts of the world”.

Scientists say they have found key clues into how long we will live. One of them is a firm handshake. British researchers believe a strong grip is not just a sign of confidence but also an indicator of longevity. Lead author Dr Rachel Cooper, of University College London, said her study looked into 33 different reports on the strength of handshakes. The research involved more than 50,000 men and women and spanned 40 years. Dr Cooper concluded that those with weaker handshakes were 70 per cent more likely to die earlier than those with the strongest handshakes. She concludes that people with strong grips may have benefited from a happy childhood that included a healthy diet and plenty of exercise. The new study, published in the British Medical Journal, also found other signs of living a longer life. These 'measures of physical capability' include walking at a faster pace, getting out of a chair quickly, and being able to balance on one leg. The study showed that slow walkers were almost three times likelier to die at a younger age than those who walked briskly. Those who struggled to get up from their armchairs were twice as likely to die earlier than those who sprang out of their chairs. Dr Cooper believes there needs to be more research into the link between physical capability and longevity. “Research that helps people to enjoy a long and healthy life is ever more important to help cater for an ageing population,” she said.

Scientists have found out that women who wear high-heel shoes make the calf muscles shorter. The heels also give many women pain in their legs when they take them off and walk. The researchers tested different women aged between 20 and 50 who wore heels that were 5cm or higher. The research, which covered a two-year period, also looked at women who never wore high heels. The research team used ultrasound to measure the length of the fibres in the calf muscles. Their results showed that the muscle fibres of high-heel wearers were 13 per cent shorter than those in the non-high-heel-wearing women. Lead researcher Professor Marco Narci said: "This confirmed the hypothesis that when you place the muscle in a shorter position, the fibres become shorter.” The researchers also found that women who regularly wore high heels suffered more muscle aches and pains when they took their shoes off. This is because their muscles are being overstretched for long periods and do not have time to relax. Professor Narci said it was harder for women to stretch their feet out when they took their shoes off. He did advise women to do simple stretching exercises to relieve the pain. "If you stand on your tip toes and lower your heels up and down again it will stretch out the tendons making it easier to walk without heels,” he said. He did not suggest women stop wearing high heels but recommended wearing flat shoes a little more often."Fashion is intended to be uncomfortable and none of the women in the study planned to give up their high heels," he said.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This is one of life’s oldest questions and everyone has their own opinion. Now scientists believe they have cracked it and have unscrambled this mystery. Researchers from Sheffield and Warwick Universities in England discovered the answer by mistake. They used a super computer to zoom in on the shell-making process while a new shell was forming. They said it all boils down to one protein called OC17 that is essential for forming eggshell. This is only found inside a chicken's ovaries, which is proof that the chicken came first. The team was originally looking at how animals and birds make eggshells but suddenly made their surprising discovery. The big question now is where chickens came from. The answer to that is from dinosaurs. The research team said eggshells are one of nature’s most amazing creations. Professor John Harding from Sheffield University told reporters: "Understanding how chickens make eggshells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials and processes." Eggshells are very lightweight but incredibly strong. The most cutting-edge materials designed by the world’s top engineers cannot produce anything as brilliant as an eggshell. Professor Harding added that studying eggshells could help find new answers to bone-healing processes and materials used by the construction industry: "Nature has found innovative solutions that work for all kinds of problems in materials science and technology -- we can learn a lot from them," he said.

Larry King, the legendary TV interviewer, has announced he will retire from hosting his prime time CNN chat show. Mr King, 76, made the announcement in a short post on Twitter. In it, he made a reference to his fashion: “It's time to hang up my nightly suspenders.” He said he wants to spend more time with his family and will do his last show in the autumn. King wrote: "I want to share some personal news with you. 25 years ago, I sat across this table from New York Governor Mario Cuomo for the first broadcast of Larry King Live. Now, decades later, I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids' little league games.” The Larry King Live TV show made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot. Mr King might also hold the record for the most number of interviews ever conducted – around 50,000. He chatted to almost every famous person on the planet, from royalty to presidents to rock stars and sports stars. He says that Nelson Mandela was the most extraordinary person he has met. King very modestly explained the secret to his success in his autobiography. He wrote: "All I do is ask questions. Short, simple questions." The talk is now about who will be his replacement. Mr King himself said: “I'm sure there's a ton of people who could do it.” He joked” “Come on. It's Q and A."

Six of the seven countries with the highest obesity rates are English-speaking nations. This is according to a new report from the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development). The country at the top of the list is the USA. This is followed by Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland. The OECD looked at 33 different countries. The other 26 countries were non-English speaking. The ten slimmest countries included Japan, Korea, Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. Health experts are now wondering why English-speaking countries top the world’s obesity league. One theory is that they are all copying an American lifestyle; people eat a lot of fast food and a lot of it is in sizes considerably larger than those found in the rest of the world. The OECD report contains some interesting statistics. Australia has the fastest growing obesity rates. They are expected to rise by another 15 per cent over the next decade. This compares to an increase of five per cent in South Korea. Education makes a big difference to weight in America and Sweden. Poorly educated women are 30 per cent more likely to be overweight than those who had a good education. Swedish women with poor educations are more than twice as overweight as educated women. In the USA and UK, children are particularly overweight. Around 30 per cent of British kids are overweight, compared with 40 per cent for their American counterparts. In Sweden, one person in ten is obese, although more than half of adult men and a third of adult women are overweight there.

Tensions are rising in the Italian city of Naples over plans to create another huge rubbish dump near the city. There have been riots in the streets and clashes between protestors and the police. Rioters burnt cars and Italian flags and hurled rocks at the police. Masked protestors dragged three policemen from their cars and beat them. One of the officers suffered a serious eye injury and was taken to hospital. Italy's Interior Minister Roberto Maroni promised those protesting he would get tough with them if they did not stop their protests. Mr Maroni, speaking at a conference on organized crime, said: “There have been real acts of violence against the forces of law and order and this is no longer acceptable. That is why I’m appealing to those involved to lay down their weapons." Naples residents have had problems with rubbish for many years. Strikes by garbage collectors last year left mountains of rubbish in the streets. There are still street blockades to stop garbage collectors doing their job. People were already angry over the poor quality of the dump already in operation; they are now furious about the proposed new facility. Italy may face punishments from the European Commission. It has warned the country it may face sanctions unless it removes the 2,400 tons of rubbish currently piled up in the streets of Naples. Local people say the rubbish is an eyesore and the smell a turnoff for visitors to the Mount Vesuvius National Park. Four city mayors led a march to the entrance of the park, where they laid a wreath "in remembrance of the way the…park died".

A new study has discovered that alcohol is a more dangerous drug than heroin and cocaine. The report is from Britain’s Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs. Its research classified drugs on the basis of the harm they do in our society. Alcohol came top of the list, with heroin second and cocaine third. Researchers created nine categories of harm that drugs can do "from death to damage to mental functioning and loss of relationships," and seven types of harm they do to others. Experts in Britain are now calling for new laws to control alcohol. Don Shenker from the group Alcohol Concern said: “The government should now urgently ensure alcohol is made less affordable and invest in prevention and treatment services to deal with the rise in alcohol dependency that has occurred." The research was led by a former government drugs advisor, Professor David Nutt. He has been calling for a change in the way Britain classifies drugs for many years. He was fired in 2009 for his views and claimed the government was more interested in politics than scientific evidence. Any laws that make alcohol a dangerous drug would cause harm to any government trying to win an election. However, the current study is very extensive and strongly suggests he was right to call for a reclassification. Professor Nutt told Britain’s Guardian newspaper: "We need to rethink how we deal with drugs in the light of these new findings." One suggested change is that cigarettes are put in the same category as cocaine, because they cause as much harm to the individual and society.

New research from America’s Harvard University shows people spend nearly half of their waking hours daydreaming, and not thinking about what they are actually doing. Moreover, they say this mind wandering is a sign of unhappiness. The study, to be published in the journal ‘Science,’ surveyed the thoughts and moods of over 2,200 volunteers. The participants downloaded an iPhone app and sent more than 250,000 messages during the day and night. Researchers Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert conclude that most of us are in another world for more than 46 per cent of our waking hours, and that means we are unhappy: "A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” they said.Dr Killingsworth said “mind-wandering” was “ubiquitous across all activities” in our daily lives. His study found that we are happiest when exercising, chatting with friends or making love and least happy when working or using our computer at home. He added: "Mind-wandering is an excellent predictor of people's happiness,” and that “our mental lives are [filled], to a remarkable degree, by the non-present”. Professor Gilbert believes daydreaming is one of the things that make us human. He said: “Unlike other animals, human beings spend a lot of time thinking about what is not going on around them, contemplating events that happened in the past, might happen in the future or will never happen at all.”

The increasing popularity of social networking sites and mobile phone texting have presented society with problems in how to protect children online. More and more youngsters are becoming victims of Internet predators and bullies. Parents are finding it more difficult to ensure their kids are safe online. Gone are the days when Mum and Dad could keep an eye on their child’s surfing with parental controls on the family computer. Today’s new mobile and networked world poses new and dangerous threats to online kids. Two recent initiatives aim to teach children about cyber-safety. Internet safety will soon be taught in UAE schools, while in Indiana, USA, parents will attend an Internet Social Networking conference. The UAE has launched a nationwide programme aimed at educating students on how to use the Internet safely and avoid suspicious websites. Spokesman Jay Bavisi said: “Advances in instant communication media, including the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and other instant messaging services, drive the very fabric of our modern society. Parents, siblings, teachers and children alike will need to understand the dangers the connected world presents.” The Indiana conference will explore topics like cyber-bullying, sexting and online child exploitation. Local attorney Steven DeBrota said: “The number one way to keep a kid safe is for them to be skeptical. If they do not believe automatically what people tell them, they will be safer.”

Scientists have shown that Mozart has a positive effect on many things, but the great composer himself might be surprised that his music helps bananas ripen. A Japanese fruit company, Toyoka Chuo Seika, claims its bananas taste better after being exposed to Mozart’s music for a week. The company has special “ripening chambers” that play wall-to-wall Mozart to its Philippine bananas non-stop for a week. Company officials say "String Quartet No. 17" and "Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major" are particularly good at sweetening the fruit. The company is very confident its methods work. It has started selling its fruit as "Mozart Bananas" in local supermarkets. A spokesperson believes the bananas will become a hit throughout the rest of Japan once word gets out. Toyoka Chuo Seika is not the first Japanese company to experiment with classical music to produce better tasting food. The “Japan Times” newspaper reports this is the latest in a trend spanning ten years. It writes: “Over the past few decades, a wide variety of foods and beverages have been exposed to classical vibrations — soy sauce in Kyoto, udon noodles in Tokyo, miso in Yamagata, maitake mushrooms in Ishikawa and "Beethoven Bread" in Nagoya, to name a few.” The paper reports on a 1973 study into music and plants by botanist Dorothy Retallack. It says: “After playing various kinds of music to plants for three hours daily, she found they "preferred" soothing classical, which made them flourish. Rock and country, on the other hand, had either a debilitating effect or none at all.”

A top New York department store has fired its Santa Claus after two customers did not like one of his jokes. John Toomey, 68, had worked as Macy’s Santa for 20 years. A middle-aged couple asked him why Santa was always so jolly, to which he replied, “because I know where all the naughty boys and girls live”. They complained his humour was in bad taste. He was shocked to receive his marching orders the following day. Toomey instantly became the world’s second most famous Santa. Thousands of customers complained to Macy’s about his firing. He was offered dozens of new jobs around the world. He accepted one just down the road from Macy’s. He told reporters: "Helping the kids - that's what it's all about, you know.” Macy's has refused to comment on the incident, calling it a simple personnel matter. Employees and former colleagues of Mr Toomey described his sacking as "devastating" and definitely not in the spirit of Christmas. Santa Toomey was a very popular and professional Father Christmas. He even had his own white beard. He claimed he was “no bad Santa”. He explained to the San Francisco Chronicle that no one had ever disliked his jokes before. He said he would never use inappropriate humour with children. He gave the newspaper another of his favourite jokes: "When I ask the older people who sit on my lap if they've been good and they say 'yes', I say 'Gee, that's too bad’”.

A big and welcome change could be coming to PCs. The time spent waiting for our computer to boot up could soon be cut to seconds instead of the minute or three we currently have to wait. This is good news for people who pull their hair out at the length of time it takes for a PC to start. How will this happen? There will be an update to one of the most basic pieces of start-up software – the Bios. This does all the groundwork and prepares the Operating System. It is an old piece of technology that has never caught up with the power and speed of today’s computers. Its replacement, the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), should be on most PCs by 2011. The UEFI is more flexible and much faster than the Bios. Mark Doran, head of the group overseeing the development of the UEFI, explained the benefits to the BBC: "At the moment it can be 25-30 seconds of boot time before you see the first bit of OS sign-on. With UEFI we're getting it under a handful of seconds," he said. Mr Doran said that the technology is developing very quickly, saying: "In terms of boot speed, we're not at ‘instant-on’ yet but it is already a lot better than the conventional Bios can manage and we're getting closer to that every day." The UEFI is expected to save companies around the world billions of dollars. When time is money, having to wait minutes to start work after turning a PC on costs industry a fortune. Home users will also say goodbye to tapping their fingers on their desk.

Children in Britain are feeling the effects of the recession. The weak economy is hitting them where it hurts most – their pockets. A new survey has shown that the weekly money that children receive from their parents is at a seven-year low. The report, from the Halifax Bank, indicates the allowance kids get from their parents is now 30 per cent lower than it was in 2003. Today, children between the ages of eight and 15 receive an average of £5.89 ($9.20). This compares unfavourably with the £8.37 ($13.07) they were getting five years ago, when pocket money levels peaked. The report also showed that girls were worse off than boys. Boys still receive more money than girls, but the gender gap in spending money has closed considerably compared with previous years. Children seem to be coping well with their worsening economic conditions. The Halifax Bank says children are managing to put money away for a rainy day. Flavia Umana, head of savings products at Halifax, told the BBC: "It is encouraging to see that children are still saving, despite the amount of pocket money falling.” Ms Umana added: "Teaching children how to manage their own pocket money is a great first step to building good financial awareness in our youngsters." British kids said they were finding it hard to make ends meet. Alec Flynn, 14, from London spoke about how tough he found stretching his pocket money: “It’s not easy trying to budget on so little money. I only get £5 a week from my parents; it takes me three months to save up for a computer game.”

The European debt crisis continued Thursday, with Spain paying more to finance its government and the continent's central bank acting to nearly double its reserves. Earlier this week, Moody's Investors Service said it may lower Spain's credit rating less than three months after its last cut. Some financial experts fear that Spain will not be able to handle its debts and might need an international bailout. As a result, when Spain sold 10- and 15-year bonds, it was forced to pay higher interest rates than it did with earlier sales in the last two months. Meanwhile, the European Central Bank said that for the first time in 12 years it would require its members - national banks - to add $6.7 billion to boost the central bank's reserves to $14.3 billion. The central bank has recently purchased $96 billion worth of European government bonds. European Union leaders are meeting Thursday and Friday in Brussels to address the continent's debt crisis, which has already included international bailouts for Ireland and Greece. Some fear that Portugal and Spain might be the next countries to need help. The leaders are expected to create a permanent system for handling financial crises that would take effect in 2013. They are at odds, though, about how best to cope with the disparate economic conditions across Europe, with debts and deficits in some countries, while Germany, France and other nations prosper. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the 27 nations in the European Union share the goal of a stable Europe with a stable currency, the euro, that 16 of the countries use. But she has been adamant in opposing an increase in the size of the $1 trillion bailout fund or creating pan-European bonds that would replace sovereign state bonds. Germany has Europe's strongest economy but fears that continent-wide bonds would prove more costly for the country than selling its own.

"In this grave hour, perhaps the most fateful in our history, I send to every household of my people, both at home and overseas, this message." The hesitations in an archival recording of a 1939 broadcast from Buckingham Palace give only a hint of how difficult it was for King George VI to speak in public because of his lifelong stammer. Even before he was thrust onto the throne and into the limelight when his brother Edward VIII abdicated in 1936, every effort at therapy had failed …until his wife Elizabeth, using the fictitious name "Johnson," found the shabby studio of Australian Lionel Logue. "My husband has seen everyone, to no avail. I'm awfully afraid he has given up hope." "Well, we need to have your hubby pop by. He can give me his personal details, I'll make a frank appraisal and then we'll take it from there." "Doctor, I don't have a 'hubby.' We don't 'pop.' Nor do we ever talk about our private lives. No, you must come to us." "I'm sorry, Mrs. Johnson: my game, my turf, my rules." "And what if my husband were the Duke of York." Helena Bonham Carter plays the "Queen Mum" and Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush co-stars as the unorthodox, but ultimately successful therapist Logue. "Part of Lionel's technique was 'I'm treating you, the man, not you the King' and he insisted on that level of equality," explains Rush. "A lot of the therapy was getting the Duke of York and, subsequently as he became, George VI to drop that royal mask and find out who he was as a person." "What will I call you?" "Your Royal Highness, then 'sir' after that." "How about 'Bertie?'" "Only my family uses that." "In here it's better if we're equals." "If we were equals, I wouldn't be here. I'd be at home with my wife and no one would give a damn." "I kept saying to people [who would ask] what's this film about and I would say 'well, it's about two middle-aged men who become friends;' but I'd say to the producers 'don't put that on the poster because no one will come.' But that is the essence of it," Rush says. Colin Firth stars as the monarch who, until meeting Logue, had little experience with friendship because of his stammer and his royal station. Firth believes that, in an odd way, "The King's Speech" tells a universal story. "It's funny to say that about a member of the Royal family when none of us are one or can possibly know what that is like," notes Firth, "but I think what it has done is taken issues that apply to absolutely everybody and used this convention to heighten those things. Isolation is universal. It doesn't matter how close you are to your family, how many good friends you have [or] how perfect your marriage is …and most people are not ticking all those boxes. This is taking that truth and making a very extreme case out of it. If communication is imperfect, let's show a man for whom it is traumatic. If men protect themselves behind certain reserves from intimacy, then let's take a man who not only does that, he is protected by high walls, titles, protocols. You could almost look at them as metaphors for barriers we all put up. Director Tom Hooper says the heart of his film is how the King confronts those very ordinary problems. "I think he humanized royalty for people. The public knew that he had a stammer so when they listened to him on the radio they were kind of hoping he would be okay and able to get through," says Hooper. "I think he put a human face on the monarchy because if someone is struggling with a disability like that it's hard not to feel connected. The script by David Seidler is based on exhaustive research and first person accounts including Lionel Logue's unpublished diaries, discovered just weeks before filming began. Director Hooper says the challenge was to craft all that authenticity into an engaging story. "It is probably the thing that I agonize about the most and gives me the most anxiety," admits Hooper, "because I care deeply about historical truth. I am the son of an historian. My mother, who is Australian, has written both on Australian and American history. I grew up in a house where history and truth mattered deeply around the dinner table. But I think in the end my responsibility is always to my audience and always to entertainment first, because you get no prizes for making a wholly accurate version of this film that was boring. In the end you've still got to invent. Even if you do everything truthfully, you still have to invent a ton load if you make a film about these people. That act of invention is something that has to sit alongside the concern for accuracy." The King's Speech also features Guy Pearce as George's brother Edward; Michael Gambon plays their father, King George V; and the historical figures include Winston Churchill, portrayed by Timothy Spall.

Greeks took to the streets for the second day of strikes and protests during the seventh general strike this year against new government austerity measures to reduce the high public debt and budget deficit. Protests are also taking place in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Czech Republic at the calling of European trade unionists. The common theme: widespread public discontent against spending cuts and other tough measures European governments are adopting to turn around their sagging economies and prevent the debt crises that have hit Greece and Ireland from spreading further. John Monks is general secretary of the Brussels-based European Trade Union Confederation: "I think that the message we are trying to send out today is that European Union governments are all embarking in varying speeds on the road to austerity," Monks said. "And that austerity will really begin to bite generally in the New Year, and at that time there is a real risk of the European economy plunging down into a recession." Portugal and Spain are also battling high debts and deficits, and ratings agencies warned this week they may cut Belgium's credit rating along with Madrid's. But Monks believes the solution for Europe is fiscal stimulus, not more cuts. "When we got growth into the European economy, then the debts become relatively easy to manage," he added. "That is what we need at the moment, and that is what our message is today across the many capitals of the European Union." The protests occurred on the eve of a European summit in Brussels, in which leaders are expected to approve a permanent bailout fund for ailing countries sharing the euro currency.

JIM TEDDER: Now, the VOA Special English program AMERICAN STORIES. (MUSIC) Our story today is called "Athenaise." It was written by Kate Chopin. Here is Barbara Klein with the story. BARBARA KLEIN: Athenaise went away one morning to visit her parents, ten miles back on the Bon Dieu River in Louisiana. She did not return in the evening, and Cazeau, her husband, was worried. Cazeau expressed his worries to his servant, Félicité, who served him dinner. He ate alone by the light of a coal-oil lamp. Félicité stood nearby like a restless shadow. “Only married two months and she has her head turned already to leave! It is not right!” she said. Cazeau shrugged his shoulders. Félicité’s opinion of his wife’s behavior after two months of marriage did not matter to him. He was used to being alone and did not mind a night or two of it. Cazeau stood up and walked outside. The night was beginning to deepen and gather black around the groups of trees in the yard. Far away, he could hear the sound of someone playing an accordion. Nearby, a baby was crying. Cazeau’s horse was waiting, saddled. He still had much farm work to do before bed time. He did not have time to think about Athenaise. But he felt her absence like a deep pain. Before he slept that night Cazeau was visited by an image of Athenaise’s pale, young face with its soft lips and sensual eyes. The marriage had been a mistake. He had only to look into her eyes to feel that, to sense her growing dislike of him. But, the marriage could not be undone. And he was ready to make the best of it and expected the same effort from her. These sad thoughts kept Cazeau awake far into the night. The moon was shining and its pale light reached into the room. It was still outside, with no sound except the distant notes of the accordion. (MUSIC) Athenaise did not return the next day, although her husband sent a message to do so through her brother, Montéclin. On the third day, Cazeau prepared his horse and went himself in search of her. Athenaise’s parents, the Michés, lived in a large home owned by a trader who lived in town. The house was far too big for their use. Upstairs, the rooms were so large and empty that they were used for parties. A dance at the Miché home and a plate of Madame Miché’s gumbo were pleasures not to be missed. Madame Miché was sitting on the porch outside the house. She stood up to greet Cazeau. She was short and fat with a cheery face. But she was clearly tense as Cazeau arrived. Montéclin was there too. But he was not uneasy. He made no effort to hide his dislike of Cazeau. “Dirty pig!” He said under his breath as Cazeau climbed the stairs to the porch. Montéclin disliked Cazeau for refusing to lend him money long ago. Now that this man was his sister’s husband, he disliked him even more. Miché and his oldest son were away. They both respected Cazeau and talked highly of him. Cazeau shook hands with Madame Miché who offered him a chair. Athénaise had shut herself in her room. “You know, nothing would do last night,” Madame Miché said. “Athenaise just had to stay for a little dance. The boys would not let their sister leave!” Cazeau shrugged his shoulders to show he knew nothing about last night. “Didn’t Montéclin tell you we were going to keep Athenaise?” she asked. But Montéclin had told him nothing. “And how about the night before?” asked Cazeau. “And last night? Do you have dances every night?” Madame Miché laughed and told her son to go tell Athenaise her husband had arrived. Montéclin did not move. “You know as well as I do that it is no use to tell Athenaise anything,” said Montéclin. “You and pa have been talking to her since Monday. When Athenaise said she was not returning to Cazeau she meant it.” Two fiery red spots rose to Cazeau’s cheeks. What Montéclin said was true. Upon arriving home, Athenaise had announced she was there to stay. It was difficult for her to understand why she had married. Girls were just expected to get married. And she did like Cazeau. Montéclin had asked Athenaise to explain herself. He had asked her if Cazeau abused her, or if he drank too much. “No!” Athenaise had said. “It is just being married that I hate. I do not like being Missus Cazeau. I want to be Athenaise Miché again. I do not like living with a man, all his clothing everywhere and his ugly bare feet.” At the time, Montéclin had been sorry his sister had no serious evidence to use against Cazeau. And now, there was Cazeau himself looking like he wanted to hit Montéclin. Cazeau stood up and went inside the house to his wife’s room. “Athenaise, get ready,” he said quietly. “It is late and we do not have time to lose.” Athenaise was not prepared for his calm request. She felt a sense of hopelessness about continuing to rebel against the idea of marriage. She gathered her hat and gloves. Then, she walked downstairs past her brother and mother, got on her horse and rode away. Cazeau followed behind her. It was late when they reached home. Cazeau once more ate dinner alone. Athenaise sat in her room crying. (MUSIC) Athenaise’s parents had hoped that marriage would bring a sense of responsibility so deeply lacking in her character. No one could understand why she so hated her role as wife. Cazeau had never spoken angrily to her or called her names or failed to give her everything she wanted. His main offense seemed to be that he loved her. And Athenaise was not a woman to be loved against her will. At breakfast, Athenaise complained to her husband. “Why did you have to marry me when there were so many other girls to choose from?” she asked. “And, it is strange that if you hate my brother so much, you would marry his sister!” “I do not know what any of them have to do with it,” Cazeau said. “I married you because I loved you. I guess I was a fool to think I could make you happy. I do not know what else to do but make the best of a bad deal and shake hands over it.” (MUSIC) It now seemed to Athenaise that her brother was the only friend left to her in the world. Her parents had turned from her and her friends laughed at her. But Montéclin had an idea for securing his sister’s freedom. After some thought, Athenaise agreed to his plan. The next morning, Cazeau woke up to find his wife was gone. She had packed her belongings and left in the night. Cazeau felt a terrible sense of loss. It was not new; he had felt it for weeks. He realized he had missed his chance for happiness. He could not think of loving any other woman, and could not imagine Athenaise ever caring for him. He wrote her a letter stating that he did not want her back unless she returned of her own free will. (MUSIC) Athenaise had escaped to the big city of New Orleans. She was staying at a private hotel that Montéclin had chosen and paid to rent for a month. A woman named Sylvie owned the hotel and took good care of Athenaise. Athenaise soon became friends with Mister Gouvernail who was also staying at the hotel. This friendship helped her feel less lonely about missing her family. But Mister Gouvernail soon started to fall in love with Athenaise. He knew she was uninformed, unsatisfied and strong-willed. But he also suspected that she loved her husband, although she did not know it. Bitter as this belief was, he accepted it. Athenaise’s last week in the city was coming to an end. She had not found a job and was too homesick to stay any longer. Also, she had not been feeling well. She complained in detail about her sickness to Sylvie. Sylvie was very wise, and Athenaise was very stupid. Sylvie very calmly explained to Athenaise that she was feeling sick because she was pregnant. Athenaise sat very still for a long time thinking about this new information. Her whole being was overcome with a wave of happiness. Then, she stood up, ready to take action. She had to tell her mother! And Cazeau! As she thought of him, a whole new sense of life swept over her. She could not wait to return to him. The next day Athenaise spent travelling home. When she arrived at Cazeau’s, he lifted her out of the horse carriage and they held each other tight. The country night was warm and still except for a baby crying in the distance. “Listen, Cazeau!” said Athenaise. “How Juliette’s baby is crying! Poor darling, I wonder what is the matter with it?” (MUSIC) JIM TEDDER: You have heard the story “Athenaise” by Kate Chopin. Your storyteller was Barbara Klein. This story was adapted and produced by Dana Demange. Listen again next week for another American Story in VOA Special English.

Brickman has performed on concert stages the world over, but never on one of the most famous stages of them all, The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. On November 6, Jim made his debut at the country music landmark with Victoria Shaw singing his hit song "The Gift." He also accompanied network news anchor Robin Meade, who sang "Welcome Home" for U.S. troops returning from deployment overseas. "Welcome Home" is one of 18 originals from Jim's new album, alongside tunes featuring Australian pop singer Delta Goodrem, Canadian vocalist Mark Masri, country star Ty Herndon, and "American Idol" finalist Matt Giraud. Of course, Jim delivers plenty of his trademark piano solos, like "Sunday Drive." Jim Brickman first studied classical piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The release of his debut album, "No Words," came at the height of the New Age music boom in 1994, marking the first time in seven years that legendary New Age music label Windham Hill Records offered a contract to a solo artist. Today, Jim keeps an ever-busy schedule on and off the stage. In addition to his work in the studio, he hosts a syndicated radio show called "Your Weekend," featuring celebrity interviews, pop music, and entertainment reports. And, for one week out of the year, he performs a series of concerts on his popular "fan cruise." In 2011, the cruise sets sail for an inter-island tour of Hawaii. Jim Brickman's 2010 holiday concert tour of 30 cities across the U.S. will include seasonal favorites, as well as his new single "Thank You," featuring vocalist Matt Giraud.

And I’m Steve Ember with explorations in voa special English. Today we tell about the history of radio and the latest technology. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Our story begins in Britain in eighteen seventy-three. A scientist named James Maxwell wrote a mathematical theory about a kind of energy. He called this energy electromagnetic waves. His theory said this kind of energy could pass unseen through the air. James Maxwell was not able to prove his idea. Other scientists could not prove it either until German scientist Heinrich Hertz tried an experiment around eighteen eighty-seven. STEVE EMBER: Hertz’s experiment sounds very simple. He used two pieces of metal placed close together. He used electricity to make a spark jump between the two pieces of metal. He also built a simple receiver made of wire that was turned many times in a circle or looped. At the ends of the loop were small pieces of metal separated by a tiny amount of space. The receiver was placed several meters from the other device. Heinrich Hertz proved that James Maxwell’s idea was correct. Electromagnetic waves or energy passed through the air from one device to the other. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Later, Hertz demonstrated the experiment to his students in a classroom. One of the students asked what use might be made of this discovery. But Hertz thought his discovery was of no use. He said it was interesting but had no value. He was wrong. His experiment was the very beginning of the electronic communications we use today. In recognition of his work, the unit of frequency of a radio wave, one cycle per second, is named the hertz. STEVE EMBER: Radio waves became known to scientists as Hertzian Waves. But the experiment was still of no use until Guglielmo Marconi improved on the device that created Hertzian Waves. He began his experiments in Italy in eighteen ninety-four. loc.gov Guglielmo Marconi Marconi was soon able to transmit sound across a distance of several kilometers. He tried to interest Italian government officials in his discovery, but they were not interested. Marconi traveled to Britain. His invention was well received there. In eighteen ninety-seven, he established the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company. The company opened the world’s first radio factory in Chelmsford, England in eighteen ninety-eight. (MUSIC) SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Very quickly, people began sending and receiving radio messages across long distances using equipment made by Marconi’s company. Ships at sea needed the device. Before Marconi’s invention, they had no communication until they arrived in port. With radio, ships could call for help if they had trouble. They could send and receive information. All of Marconi’s radios communicated using Morse code. An expert with Morse code could send and receive thirty or forty words a minute. Marconi’s radio greatly increased the speed of communications. STEVE EMBER: On December twenty-fourth, nineteen-oh-six, radio operators on ships in the Atlantic Ocean near the American coast began hearing strange things. At first it was violin music. Then they heard a human voice. The voice said “Have a Merry Christmas.” That voice belonged to a man named Reginald Fessenden. He had been working on producing a device that could transmit the human voice or music using radio. He decided to try it for the first time on December twenty-fourth. It was the first time a human voice had been heard on radio. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Improvements in radio technology now came more quickly. Large companies became interested. Broadcasting equipment and radio receivers were improved. Fourteen years after Reginald Fessenden’s voice was heard by radio operators at sea, the first real radio broadcast was transmitted. It came from the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The radio program was transmitted on radio station KDKA on the evening of November second, nineteen twenty. The man speaking on the radio was Leo Rosenberg. He was announcing the early results of the presidential election between James Cox and Warren Harding. STEVE EMBER: Those first KDKA broadcasts led to the success of the radio industry. People began buying the first radios. Other companies decided radio could make a profit. Only four years after the first KDKA broadcast, there were six hundred radio stations in the United States. Radio stations also began to broadcast in other countries. Radio stations began selling “air time” as a way to pay their workers and to pay for needed equipment. A few minutes of air time were sold to different companies so they could tell about their products to the radio station’s listeners. This method of supporting radio and later television is still used today. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Radio changed the way people thought and lived. It permitted almost everyone to hear news about important events at the same time. Political candidates could be heard by millions of listeners. The same songs were heard across the country. The work by British scientist James Maxwell and German scientist Heinrich Hertz led to the development of modern communications technology. This includes television broadcasts, satellite use, cellular telephones, radio-controlled toys and much more. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: Now we will explain electromagnetic waves. We will begin with Heinrich Hertz’s experiment. You can also try this experiment. First, move the controls on your radio to an area where no station is being received. Now, you will need a common nine-volt battery and a metal piece of money. Hold the battery near the radio and hit the top of the battery with the coin. You should hear a clicking noise on the radio. Your coin and battery are a very simple radio transmitter. This radio will not transmit very far. However, if you know a little of Morse code, you could communicate with this device. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Electromagnetic energy travels almost like an ocean wave – up and down, up and down. It also travels at the speed of light – two hundred ninety-nine million seven hundred ninety-two thousand four hundred fifty-eight meters each second. Scientists have learned how to separate radio waves into different lengths called frequencies. This permits many radio stations to broadcast at the same time and not interfere with each other. STEVE EMBER: You may be hearing our broadcast on what is called short wave. These are frequencies between three thousand and thirty thousand kilohertz. They are often called megahertz. One megahertz is the same as one thousand kilohertz. Short wave is good for broadcasting very long distances. The short wave signals bounce off the ionosphere that surrounds the Earth, back to the ground and then back to the ionosphere. The first radio broadcasts were made using amplitude modulation. AM radio can be sent over larger distances, but the quality of the sound is not as good as a later kind of radio signal processing, called frequency modulation. FM radio stations transmit in a range of frequencies between eighty-eight and one hundred eight megahertz. AM radio is between five hundred thirty-five and seventeen hundred kilohertz. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Radio technology continues to improve. Today, VOA broadcasts to satellites in space that send the signal back to stations on the ground that transmit programs with a clear signal. AP Radio personality Howard Stern in New York City during his first show on Sirius Satellite Radio in 2006 In the United States, people who want satellite radio programs can buy the services of the company Sirius XM. The company provides listeners with programs about music, news, sports, weather, politics and much more. Many of these programs do not include commercial advertising. People can use these satellite radio services in their cars, homes or on portable devices. More and more radio stations are also broadcasting using digital radio technology. STEVE EMBER: The Internet is also adding to the expansion of radio programming. Radio stations around the world can put their programs on the Internet for listeners everywhere to hear. The website Pandora began its Music Genome Project to create a database of song descriptions. Pandora’s Internet radio is able to predict what songs listeners will like based on their earlier musical choices. Listeners can create their own personalized radio programming with this and other forms of Internet radio. We think Heinrich Hertz would look at all these developments and be very proud of the device he made that he thought would never be of any use. (MUSIC) SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Dana Demange. I’m Shirley Griffith. STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.