Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners

so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

On today's program, Mario Ritter Jr. reports on the new president of Sri Lanka.

Then Brian Lynn presents this week's science report.

We close the show with the lesson of the day,

from teachers Andrew Smith and Jill Robbins.

But first, Sri Lanka's new president faces many choices as he

tries to balance ties between the country's two huge partners.

India and China.

Anura-Cumara-Disanayaka is the leader of a coalition headed by a Marxist political party.

The same party unsuccessfully launched rebellions in the 1970s and 1980s.

Marxism is a set of political beliefs linked to Carl Marx, one of the writers of the Communist Manifesto.

Dysanayaka is the leader of the National People's Power Alliance.

His party is the People's Liberation Front, which is known as the JVP.

DeSaniaka entered public politics in 1993.

He aimed to rebuild the JVP Party after the failed rebellions of earlier years.

The party gained its first seat in Parliament in 1994.

In 1997, he became an organizer of the Socialist Students Union and joined the Central Committee of the

JVP.

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