VOASE0830_Economics Report

30 August 2007

How Bad Loans in US Have a Far Reach
Investors around the world have bought debt securities based on risky mortgages as a way to earn higher returns.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

A man watches as stock prices fall in Seoul on August 16

A listener in China named Turbo wonders why problems with subprime home loans in America can influence world markets.

Subprime mortgages are loans to people who may not have enough money to repay them. These and other risky housing loans are often grouped with other mortgages and sold as debt investments.

Investors all over the world have bought bonds and other securities based on subprime mortgages as a way to earn higher returns.

Sometimes, the investors are banks that want to spread their risk by investing in several different countries. What happened in late July to a German bank, however, is an example of spreading risk with bad results.

IKB Deutsche Industriebank had put money into American debt securities, including some based on subprime loans. Some of those loans started to fail.

The bank was in danger of not being able to pay its short-term debts. Other German banks, led by the government-owned KfW Group, agreed to provide almost five billion dollars to aid IKB.

In early August, the French bank BNP Paribas had to temporarily bar investors from withdrawing money from three investment funds. Their value dropped by twenty percent in less than two weeks. The bank blamed difficulties in valuing its holdings in the subprime market.

Worries over subprime loans have hurt even some of the biggest lenders in the United States. On August sixteenth, the nation's biggest housing lender, Countrywide Financial, had to turn to banks to finance its short-term debt. Normally the company would raise the money in financial markets.

Many took this as a sign that investors were becoming unwilling to provide short-term loans to companies. Especially companies involved with subprime loans.

A shrinking debt market, a credit crunch, can affect stock markets. Not only have subprime losses hurt financial stocks. Many companies depend on credit. Private equity groups often use borrowed money to finance buyouts of publicly traded companies. Hedge funds also use borrowed money for their investment activities.

In an effort to calm financial markets, the Federal Reserve two weeks ago cut the rate it charges banks to borrow money. Many investors hope the central bank will cut its main short-term interest rate when policymakers meet on September eighteenth.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0830_American Mosaic

30 August 2007

Looking for the Best in a Fresh Crop of Graduates From Art School
Also: A new presidential coin honors Thomas Jefferson. And a question from Burma about Linkin Park.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

I'm Doug Johnson. On our program this week:

We listen to music from the group Linkin Park …

Visit a show by recent art school graduates …

And report about the newest American coin.

Thomas Jefferson Dollar

HOST:

Earlier this month, the United States Treasury Department released a new dollar coin. It is the third in a series that honors American Presidents. Steve Ember has more.

STEVE EMBER:

The new dollar coin honors Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president. The nation's first president, George Washington, was honored with a similar coin in February. A coin honoring second president John Adams appeared in May. And one honoring fourth president James Madison will follow in November.

Congress created the program in the Presidential Dollar Coin Act of two thousand five. It calls for the secretary of the treasury to design and produce presidential dollar coins honoring each president in the order in which they served. Four coins will be released each year.

The coins show the president and his years in office on one side. The other side shows the Statue of Liberty.

he presidential coins are the same size and color as the golden dollar coin that honors the American Indian guide, Sacagawea. That coin was introduced seven years ago, but has not been very popular with the American public.

Department of Treasury official Edmund Moy expects the presidential coins to be more popular. He told reporters the presidential coins have an educational value. They can teach the American public about past presidents. A study carried out last month found that the public does not really know much about the presidents.

Only about thirty percent of Americans could name Thomas Jefferson as the nation's third president. Ninety-four percent knew that George Washington was the first president. But only seven percent could name the first four presidents in order.

Mister Moy says another coin series already is helping educate Americans about their country. That is the fifty-state quarter program.

Each twenty-five cent coin in that series honors an American state. The coins are released in the order in which each state became part of the United States.

Reports say more than one hundred forty million people in the United States are collecting those state quarters. They are learning about American history and geography at the same time.

Art Show

HOST:

For three years, Irvine Contemporary gallery in Washington, D.C., has been holding an exhibit for recent art school graduates. This year's show is called "Introductions Three." A group of art collectors examined the work of over two hundred fifty artist graduates. They invited eleven of the best new artists to take part in this year's show. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

'Your Relentless Tenderness Is Our Prism Pivot Point' by Lauren Clay

When you walk into Irvine Contemporary, the first piece of work that catches your eye is a tall sculpture. It looks like a pale purple building that is sitting on several green and blue geometric forms. It is made from carefully cut pieces of paper. Lauren Clay made the artwork.

Near the sculpture are two of Miz Clay's paintings. She uses bright colors to paint extraordinarily detailed geometric shapes. She explores combining a traditionally female look to very simple geometric objects by painting them in bright colors or by adding paper decorations.

Detail from "Wrapping Project-New Studio" by Akemi Maegawa

Akemi Maegawa was born in Japan but now lives in Washington. Her sculpture is called "Wrapping Project-New Studio." It is a chair and table covered with many different kinds of tools and objects. All the objects are covered in pieces of white felt fabric.

Miz Maegawa explores how the material changes common objects. For example, a sharp tool with shiny edges loses its threatening quality and becomes soft and rounded. Each object takes on a whole different form and role in her imaginary studio.

Detail from ''A Year's Progression'' by Katie Lewis

Katie Lewis' work, "A Year's Progression," is made up of four forms of a woman's body. The first two look like they are made from small dots drawn in pencil on the wall. But if you look closely, you can see that she has created the shape of the body by writing very small dates in pencil.

The other two forms are made up of sharp metal pins that stick into the wall. Miz Lewis carefully wrapped thin pieces of thread up and around the many pins. The art serves as maps of sensation and the body's nervous system. The drawn forms represent the loss of feeling, while the pins show the presence of pain.

These are just a few of the interesting pieces in a show that brings the work of some of the best new artists to the nation's capital.

Linkin Park

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Burma. Cho The asks about the group Linkin Park. Linkin Park has become one of the most successful heavy metal bands in the United States.

Drummer Rob Bourdon, guitarist Brad Delson, and singer Mike Shinoda formed the band in nineteen ninety-six while they were in high school in southern California. After they graduated, they added Joe Hahn and Dave "Phoenix" Farrell. Three years later, singer Chester Bennington joined the group. The band took the name Linkin Park after Lincoln Park in Santa Monica, California.

The group joined with Warner Brother's Records. They released their first album, "Hybrid Theory," in two thousand. It was very successful around the world. "Hybrid Theory" sold over eight million copies in North America. It was the best-selling album of two thousand one in the United States. The group won the Grammy music award for best hard rock performance for this song, "Crawling."

(MUSIC)

Linkin Park's second album, "Meteora," was released in two thousand three. It was also very successful in the United States and was the number one hit in many countries. Experts say it is a mixture of the band's earlier sound with new effects and instruments. Here is the hit single "Somewhere I Belong."

(MUSIC)

Linkin Park postponed working on a new studio album for several years. Band members worked on different projects with other musicians. The band also performed in concerts to raise money for victims of hurricanes in the United States and the tsunami in Asia and for aid to Africa.

The group's third album, "Minutes to Midnight," was released in May. It sold six hundred thousand copies in the first week. We leave you with that album's first single, "What I've Done."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Erin Braswell, Dana Demange and Nancy Steinbach. Mario Ritter was the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

VOASE0829_The Making of a Nation

29 August 2007

American History Series: Supreme Court Ruling Decides the 2000 Presidential Election
George W. Bush was declared the winner after several weeks of legal battles over the results in Florida. In the end, a divided high court said disputed ballots in that state should not be recounted.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Bob Doughty with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States. Today, we tell about the presidential election of two thousand. It was an event that few Americans would soon forget.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In the year two thousand, the United States was preparing to elect a new president. Bill Clinton would finish his second term as president in January, two thousand one. The Constitution prevented him from competing for a third term. This meant Mister Clinton’s Democratic Party needed to choose a new candidate for president.

The Democratic Party nominated Vice President Al Gore. Mister Gore had served almost eight years as vice president under President Clinton. Mister Gore chose Senator Joseph Lieberman of the state of Connecticut to compete for vice president. Mister Lieberman was first elected to the United States Senate in nineteen eighty-eight. He was the first Jewish person ever nominated for one of America’s top positions.

VOICE TWO:

Al Gore in 1971 as an Army reporter in Vietnam

Al Gore was born in Washington, D.C. in nineteen forty-eight. His father was a United States senator from the state of Tennessee. Young Al Gore grew up in Washington and in Carthage, Tennessee, where his family had a farm.

Al Gore studied government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He graduated in nineteen sixty-nine. His father opposed American involvement in the war in Vietnam. But Al joined the Army during the war. He spent about six months of his service as a reporter in Vietnam.

VOICE ONE:

Back in civilian life, Mister Gore again worked as a reporter. Later he studied religion and then law. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in nineteen seventy-six. He became known for supporting nuclear arms control and protecting the environment.

Mister Gore was elected to the United States Senate in nineteen eighty-four. He was re-elected six years later. He tried and failed to become the Democratic candidate for president in nineteen eighty-eight.

Four years later, Bill Clinton won the Democratic presidential nomination. Mister Clinton chose Mister Gore as his vice presidential candidate. As vice president, Al Gore was praised for his work on the environment, technology and foreign relations.

VOICE TWO:

The Republican Party nominated a son of former President George Bush. They chose Governor George W. Bush of Texas as their candidate for president. Richard Cheney, a former secretary of defense, was chosen to compete for vice president. George W. Bush was born in the state of Texas in nineteen forty-six. He is the oldest child of former President Bush. The younger Mister Bush is often called “W” because his name is so similar to that of his father.

George W. Bush during his time in the Texas Air National Guard

George W. Bush grew up in the Texas cities of Midland and Houston. He graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He studied business as a graduate student at Harvard University. George W. Bush was a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. Later he worked in the oil and gas industry.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen eighty-eight, Mister Bush worked on his father’s successful campaign for president. Later, George W. Bush was one of the owners of the Texas Rangers, a professional baseball team. He was elected governor of Texas in nineteen ninety-four. He was re-elected four years later by a large majority.

At Governor Bush’s urging, Texas legislators enacted measures to improve public schools. However, critics charged that public education in Texas was still very poor. And they said the state’s criminal justice policies supported by Mister Bush were too severe. For example, Texas executes more criminals than any other state.

VOICE TWO:

The candidates debate in 2000

Presidential candidates Gore and Bush disagreed on most major issues. For example, Al Gore said women should have the right to end unwanted pregnancies. He supported gun control and restrictions on tobacco sales. He supported higher wages for the lowest paid workers. Governor Bush opposed him on these issues.

Governor Bush supported a plan to provide public money for students to attend private schools. And he supported investing taxes on government retirement money in private retirement plans. Mister Gore opposed these measures.

VOICE ONE:

Several other candidates also ran for president in the November seventh election. They represented small political parties. For example, activist Ralph Nader was the candidate of the Green Party. He criticized large corporations for having too much influence in America. Conservative Patrick Buchanan ran as the Reform Party candidate.

Opinion studies showed that the race between the Republican and Democratic candidates was extremely close.

VOICE TWO:

On November seventh, two thousand, more than one hundred million people voted for either Mister Gore or Mister Bush. In this popular vote, Al Gore received more votes than George W. Bush. The final vote would show that Mister Gore received about five hundred forty thousand more votes than Mister Bush. But that alone did not make Mister Gore president of the United States.

Americans do not vote directly for their presidents. They vote for electors to represent them in the Electoral College. The Electoral College then elects the president. Each state has at least three electors. The states with the most population have the most electors and the most electoral votes.

In general, the candidate with the most votes in a state wins that state’s electoral votes. There are five hundred thirty-eight electors in the electoral college. To become president, a candidate must win two hundred-seventy electoral votes. Neither Mister Gore nor Mister Bush had received that many electoral votes. No winner was declared because of the situation in the state of Florida.

VOICE ONE:

Florida had enough electoral votes to make either candidate the winner. The big southern state counted almost six million votes on November seventh. Mister Bush had slightly more votes than Mister Gore. But the election was still not over.

Florida State law calls for a recount when the difference in votes between two candidates is less than one-half of one percent of the votes. This meant Florida had to count the votes again. State recounts normally involve the governor. But the Florida governor said he would not be involved. That is because Governor Jeb Bush is a brother of George W. Bush.

VOICE TWO:

The election in Florida involved several problems. Some voting machines counted the votes incorrectly. Some African Americans said election workers prevented them from voting. And, many supporters of Mister Gore in one area believed they had voted for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan by mistake. The names of Mister Buchanan and Al Gore were next to one another on the ballot. Democrats charged that the ballot design was illegal. But Republicans say Democratic officials never objected.

VOICE ONE:

Almost three weeks after the election, Florida declared Mister Bush the winner of the state’s twenty-five electoral votes. Florida election officials said Mister Bush won the popular vote in Florida by five hundred-thirty-seven votes. That total was out of six million ballots. But the election was still not over. Mister Gore and supporters in Florida protested the results. They asked the courts to reconsider because of what they called the many voting problems.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered the disputed ballots counted again. This could have given Florida’s electoral votes to Mister Gore. The votes could have made him president.

VOICE TWO:

The Supreme Court set aside a Florida high court ruling that permitted selective ballot recounts

Bush campaign officials quickly appealed to the United States Supreme Court. A majority of the high court justices declared the Florida court ruling unconstitutional. They said Florida law did not explain how officials should judge the ballots. They ruled that the disputed ballots should not be re-counted. The Supreme Court justices said not enough time remained to settle the problem before the Electoral College held its required meeting.

On December eighteenth, two thousand, Electoral College members met in each state capital. They made the election official. George W. Bush became the forty-third president of the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program of The Making of a Nation was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by George Grow. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

VOASE0829_Education Report

29 August 2007

Debating Year-Round Education
Some families and businesses oppose programs that keep schools open all year. Second of two reports about school calendars in the US.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A teacher in Texas meets a new student on the first day of school

Today we continue our discussion of school calendars as a new American school year begins.

Some people say the traditional calendar of one hundred eighty days no longer meets the needs of American society. They point out that students in most other industrial countries are in school more hours a day and more days a year.

Critics also say a long summer vacation causes students to forget much of what they learned.

Schools are under pressure to raise test scores. Some have changed their calendars to try to improve student performance. They have lengthened the school day or added days to the year or both.

This can be costly if schools need air conditioning on hot days and school employees need to be paid for the extra time.

Local businesses may object to a longer school year because students are unable to work as long at summer jobs.

Some schools have a year-round schedule. The school year is extended over twelve months. Instead of a long vacation, there are many short ones.

The National Association of Year-Round Education says almost five percent of public school students attend year-round schools. It says almost all of the states have some public schools that are open all year.

Some parts of the country had year-round programs in the nineteenth century, mostly for economic reasons. They felt it wasted money to use school buildings for only part of the year.

Year-round programs can also reduce crowding in schools. In one version, students attend school for nine weeks and then have three weeks off. The students are in groups that are not all in school at the same time.

Another year-round calendar has all students in school together for nine weeks and off for three. This is meant to provide the continuous learning that can be lost over a long break.

But year-round schooling has opponents. They say it can cause problems for families when they want to make summer plans. And they say it interferes with activities outside school -- including summer employment.

Some experts say no really good studies have been done to measure the effect of school calendars on performance. But some educators think year-round schooling especially helps students from poor families that lack educational support at home.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Bush Says Iran Must Stop Arming Iraqi Militants

By Scott Stearns White House 28 August 2007

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President George W. Bush gestures while addressing the American Legion 89th Annual Convention in Reno, Nev, Tuesday, 28 August 2007

President Bush says Iran must stop arming militants who are attacking U.S. troops in Iraq. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Mr. Bush's speech to a veterans group is part of a White House effort to restore public support for the war in Iraq.

President Bush told a meeting of the American Legion, America's largest veterans' group, that winning the war in Iraq is vital to America's long-term security and the future of the Middle East.

He says extremists in the region are inspired by two strains of violent Islamic radicalism that are closing in on Iraq in an effort to bring down its young democracy.

The president says Sunni extremism, embodied by al-Qaida and its allies, is responsible for the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington as well as violence against fellow Muslims in Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Bush says Shia extremism is embodied by Iran, which he says threatens the security of nations everywhere by actively pursuing technology that could be used to develop nuclear weapons.

He told the military veterans that Iran is funding Hezbollah militants and is arming Iraqi extremists to attack U.S. troops.

"Some say Iran's leaders are not aware of what members of their own regime are doing," Mr. Bush said. "Others say Iran's leaders are actively seeking to provoke the West. Either way, they cannot escape responsibility for aiding attacks against coalition forces and the murder of innocent Iraqis. The Iranian regime must halt these actions, and until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops."

Mr. Bush says he has authorized U.S. military commanders in Iraq to confront what he calls "Tehran's murderous activities."

A majority of Americans now believe the war in Iraq is a mistake. A public-opinion poll by CBS News this month says more than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the war in Iraq.

White House officials say the speech, along with last week's appearance before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is meant to set the broader context for the Iraq conflict before next month's presidential report to Congress on the impact of the January decision to send more troops to Iraq.

While the president says he will make no decisions on troop levels until after the September 15th report to Congress, he made clear to the American Legion that withdrawing before the war is won would be a mistake.

"We have seen what these enemies will do when American forces are actively engaged in Iraq," Mr. Bush said. "And we can envision what they would do if they were emboldened by American forces in retreat."

The president says the challenge in Iraq is that either the forces of extremism advance their interests or the forces of freedom succeed and advance America's interests. He says the most important way to counter the ambitions of al-Qaida and Iran is to win the fight in Iraq.

British Leader Rejects Call For Iraq Withdrawal Timetable

By Tom Rivers London 28 August 2007

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Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seen after a meeting of the government's top emergency committee Cobra, 29 Jun 2007

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ruled out a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. He says they still have an important job to do there. For VOA, Tom Rivers in London reports.

Writing to the leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he still has objectives to take care of in Iraq and therefore he insists setting a timetable would undermine those efforts.

Liberal Democrat leader Ming Campbell says those objectives have been changing from the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in the early days of the invasion, to building a democratic model for the region, to where we are right now. And in an inferred reference to former Prime Minister Blair, Campbell says Brown should start looking out for British interests.

"We have a moral obligation to the young men and women of our armed forces who we ask to do dangerous and difficult tasks, and it seems to me that the prime minister is ignoring the reality on the ground, but second, the increasingly vocal anxieties and reservations being expressed by senior army officers," Campbell said. "And there really are two questions: First is, what political objectives are being achieved by our continued presence in the south of Iraq and what military objectives are being achieved? And so far, and certainly not in this letter, the prime minister does not seem to me to have provided coherent answers to either of these questions."

British forces have recently pulled out of a base in Basra jointly housing Iraqi police and within days, the remaining British soldiers in the city will withdraw from their position in a former Saddam Hussein palace.

That will leave almost all of Britain's 5,500 troops housed in a single location in the country, the airport outside Basra.

Prime Minister Brown has promised he will update parliament in October on Britain's strategy in Iraq.

He says troop levels are under constant review and he relies heavily on the recommendations of his military commanders in the field.

Fires Rage in Greece For Fifth Day

By Nathan Morley Nicosia 28 August 2007

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Forest fires continue to rage in Greece's mountainous southern peninsula of Peloponnese. At least 63 people have died in the blazes, which are now in their fifth day. Police have charged seven people with arson and are offering a $1.4 million reward for information leading to more arrests. Nathan Morley reports for VOA that Greek voters go to polls in September and the fires may play a big role.

A burnt-out roadside shrine stands under a charred hillside as a water-dropping plane flies overhead near Ancient Olympia in southwestern Greece, 28 Aug. 2007

Political commentators in Athens say whether the fires will have an effect on next month's general election depends on how the public judges the government's handling of the crisis.

But opposition politician Stavros Lambrinidis, a member of the European Parliament, tells VOA that now was not the time for political parties to fight. He says the country is under a state of emergency and this is a time for political unity.

"People can draw their conclusions without us politicians getting involved," he said. "What we should get involved in is insuring that not one more life gets lost and not one more livelihood gets destroyed. And this a tough job ahead of us, we have to get it done. When I say we, I mean the government, but we as opposition have to push them to do it."

Scores of people gathered in Athens to voice their anger over what they described as the governments botched handling of the fires. Many of the demonstrators were from left-wing and peace groups.

Property developers have been accused of starting some of the fires to clear the land for future construction. It is a charge that angers Stratos Paradias, head of the Hellenic Property Federation, a group that defends the interests of property owners.

"In my opinion there is not a chance that it might be some companies, some land developers or land seekers behind this disaster, we have, especially in the area of the Peloponnese," he said. "This is because the legislation we have here in Greece today strictly provides that within three months from the day a forest area is burnt it goes under special legislation for re-forestation. These accusations have no base at all."

The government has confirmed that trees will be re-planted in all the fire zones. The environmental group Greenpeace has said that weak environmental laws, careless farmers and garbage dumps are the main reasons for the fires.

Nikos Charalambides, director of Greenpeace in Greece, tells VOA that it is too early to establish who is responsible for the fires.

"What we can say, though, and that's something we can proves through facts and figures and statistics over the years, is that statistically the most frequent causes of fires in Greece [...] are either sparks from electric wires or illegal dump sites which are set on fire, either intentionally or accidentally, especially in summertime due to high temperatures," he noted.

To add to the misery of the devastating fires, a strong earthquake with a magnitude of five struck southern Greece Tuesday. The quake panicked residents in the region and was felt in areas where firefighters were battling blazes.

VOASE0828_Health Report

28 August 2007

The Worries Over Children and Lead
Where you might find lead, the harm it can do, and some ways to avoid it.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Lead poisoning is a danger especially to children under six years old. High levels of

Fisher-Price toys that were recalled because of lead-based paint

lead in their growing bodies can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems, kidney disorders and other damage. Very high levels can be deadly.

Currently, ten micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is what federal health officials in the United States call a level of concern. Yet recent studies have suggested that children with less than that can still suffer harmful effects.

Lead is a metal found in nature. It can also be found in toys and other products painted with lead-based paint. Lead is also used in some ceramic and vinyl products, candles, hair colorings and other goods. And it can be found in soil and air pollution from factories, power stations and the use of leaded fuel.

Even in places where lead paint is banned, it may still exist in older housing. Young children may chew on lead-painted surfaces or breathe lead dust. Or babies might put pieces of old paint in their mouths.

Experts say children and pregnant women should not be present during renovation work in housing that might have lead paint.

Public health officials advise people to wash children's hands and toys regularly. Floors and other surfaces should be wet-cleaned every two to three weeks to remove dust that may contain lead.

To avoid lead from water pipes, use cold water to prepare food and drinks. Hot water is more likely to contain lead. Also, run the water for fifteen to thirty seconds before drinking it, especially if the water has not been used for a few hours.

The National Safety Council says a good diet can help children reduce the amount of lead that the body absorbs. This includes foods rich in iron, like eggs and beans, and foods high in calcium, like milk, cheese and yogurt. Zinc can also help the body fight lead absorption.

In nineteen seventy-eight the United States government banned the sale of lead-based paint for housing. It also banned lead-painted toys and other products meant for use by children.

Recently the Environmental Protection Agency proposed additional measures to protect children from contact with lead. Builders would have to be trained in lead safety when working not only in older homes, but also places like child-care centers and preschools.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0828_Explorations

28 August 2007

Dry Tortugas: Off the Florida Coast, a Most Unusual National Park
One of the islands was once a prison.

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Welcome to EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, Mary Tillotson and Steve Ember visit one of the must unusual national parks in the United States. It is called the Dry Tortugas National Park. It includes seven very small islands about two hundred kilometers southwest of the southern state of Florida. One of the islands was once a prison. Let us begin our visit by imagining we are traveling back in time more than one hundred years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Fort Jefferson

It is the last few days of July in eighteen sixty-five. The United States Navy steamship Florida moves slowly toward a small island. Members of the crew tie the ship to the dock. Passengers begin to leave the ship. They move slowly in the extreme heat of the summer day. In front of them is a huge red brick building.

The passengers walk over a small wooden bridge. It crosses an area of water that circles the huge building. They move slowly to the only door. They pass through the door and stop in front of a group of soldiers.

VOICE TWO:

An officer among the soldiers comes forward and tells the ship’s passengers to stop. He looks at the passengers and says: “You are now within the walls of the Fort Jefferson Military Prison in the Dry Tortugas. You have been tried, convicted and sentenced to serve your punishment here.

“No prisoner has ever successfully escaped from Fort Jefferson. No one will ever escape. It is more than two hundred kilometers across open ocean to the nearest occupied land.”

VOICE ONE:

Four of the prisoners who arrived that long ago day had been found guilty of taking part in the successful plot to murder the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

One of the prisoners was sentenced for giving medical aid to the man who killed

Samuel Mudd

President Lincoln. He was also found guilty of being an active member of the plot. That man was Samuel Mudd. He was a thirty-two-year-old doctor from the eastern state of Maryland. He had been sentenced to spend the rest of his life doing hard labor at Fort Jefferson.

VOICE TWO

The huge red brick building that faced Doctor Mudd and the other prisoners had six sides. It took up most of the land area of the small island. The six wide walls surrounded a large area of open space in the center.

Each wall was about fifteen meters tall. Inside the walls were hundreds of rooms. Most of them held huge guns that pointed out to sea. Many other buildings were also inside the huge fort. Soldiers slept in them. Some of the houses were used by the officers.

Soldiers and prisoners worked and lived within the walls of the fort. The extreme heat affected them all.

Hundreds of sea birds flew over the small island. Doctor Mudd must have believed that those birds would be the only creatures that would ever escape from Fort Jefferson. He must have believed that far away island would be his new home for a very long time. But he was wrong.

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen sixty-seven, Doctor Mudd was helping the prison doctor treat victims of the disease yellow fever. Many died. Soon, the prison doctor also lost his own battle with the disease. Only Doctor Mudd was left to treat the increasing number of men who became sick with Yellow Fever.

Later, the sickness seemed to leave the island. Many of those who survived knew they owed their lives to Doctor Mudd. Almost every man in Fort Jefferson wrote to the President of the United States asking that Doctor Mudd be pardoned because of his work treating patients who had Yellow Fever. They said Doctor Mudd was a hero.

In February eighteen sixty-nine, President Andrew Johnson signed a presidential pardon. Doctor Mudd was a free man. He left Fort Jefferson and returned to his home in the state of Maryland. He once again became a family doctor.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The first European visitor to the small islands was the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon. He arrived in fifteen thirteen. Ponce de Leon was an older man who was searching for special water that stories said would make him young again. It was called the Fountain of Youth.

Ponce de Leon named the little islands the Tortugas. Tortugas is the Spanish word for the sea creature called a turtle. Thousands of them lived on the islands. Ponce de Leon was able to capture many to provide fresh meat for his ship’s crew. He never did find the special water of the Fountain of Youth.

In fact, the little islands had no water at all. The Tortugas were dry. The word “dry” began to appear on early maps of the area to warn ships they could find no fresh water there.

VOICE ONE:

President Thomas Jefferson took an interest in the little islands as a place that could help protect ships traveling in a large area of water called the Florida Straits. He proposed a military base be built there. In eighteen twenty-one, the United States took control of Florida and its islands. The military fort was not begun until eighteen forty-eight, long after Jefferson’s death.

The fort was to be the home of one thousand five hundred men and four hundred fifty huge cannon. It would become the largest American fort made of brick building material.

VOICE TWO:

Fort Jefferson was never really completed. It had to be worked on continually. The salt air, wind, water and sand quickly caused problems. The weight of the brick walls made then sink into the sand.

It was difficult to keep the fort in good repair. As workers built new parts of the fort, others worked at repairing damage caused by the environment.

Slaves and prisoners did the building and repair work at the fort. Most of the prisoners were army troops. They had been found guilty of some crime and ordered to serve their sentences at Fort Jefferson.

In eighteen seventy-four, the American army left Fort Jefferson. Modern artillery made the fort no longer useful.

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VOICE ONE:

Last year, almost one hundred thousand people made the long trip to visit the Dry Tortugas National Park. Soldiers no longer greet them when they arrive at Fort Jefferson. Friendly members of the National Park Service do. They meet every boat filled with visitors. They smile and say: “Welcome to Fort Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas National Park.”

The small island’s days as a prison are long past. Yet almost every visitor to the Dry Tortugas National Park asks about its most famous prisoner, Doctor Samuel Alexander Mudd. They ask to see his room. Most people know that Doctor Mudd did not end his life in the Fort Jefferson prison.

VOICE TWO:

The lighthouse at Fort Jefferson

Today, the huge prison walls are empty. Only a few of the huge cannon remain. These have been left to show visitors what the old fort looked like.

The weather continues to affect the fort’s buildings and grounds. So Park Service workers continue the fight against the severe environmental damage.

VOICE ONE:

The park extends over an area of more than twenty-six thousand hectares. Almost all of this is ocean water and living coral reefs that protect the little islands.

Thousands of different kinds of fish live in the waters near the islands. Many ships have sunk in those waters over the past several hundred years. Many are inside the area that is part of the national park. The wrecks of these ships help provide safe places for many of the fish.

Some visitors are lucky enough to see the huge sea turtles that gave the islands their name. The little islands are also home to many kinds of sea birds. Visitors are not permitted on some of the islands in the Dry Tortugas National Park because they would frighten birds that are laying eggs.

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VOICE TWO:

When Fort Jefferson was a prison, a sign was placed on the wall for new prisoners to see. It said: “Thee Who Enter Here Leave Hope Behind.” Few prisoners except for Doctor Mudd had any hope of ever leaving there.

Today the sad old fort and empty little islands provide a protected home for thousands of birds, fish and turtles. Visitors travel for hours on high-speed boats that bring them from the island of Key West, Florida. They swim in the warm waters and enjoy the bright sun. Many explore the underwater shipwrecks. Still others bring temporary cloth shelters and spend a few days living on the white sand beaches.

The striking natural beauty of the island today seems to clash with its earlier history as a lonely, inescapable prison. Doctor Mudd surely would approve of the change.

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Paul Thompson and produced by George Grow. Our studio engineer was Wayne Shorter. This is Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.

VOASE0827_Agriculture Report

27 August 2007

China Sees Control of Pig Disease
Officials report big drop in blue-ear virus between June and July.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Pigs in China's eastern Shandong Province receive a blue-ear disease vaccine

The government of China says much progress has been made in efforts to control the spread of blue-ear pig disease. Government officials said last week that forty-seven thousand pigs were infected in July. That was down more than fifty percent from the number reported for June.

The name for the virus comes from the fact that infected pigs can temporarily develop discolored ears. The scientific name is porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.

China has an estimated five hundred million pigs. An Agriculture Ministry spokesman said more than one hundred million pigs have been given vaccine to prevent the disease.

The spokesman said two hundred fifty-seven thousand pigs were infected with the virus this year. Sixty-eight thousand of them died. Many more were destroyed.

An Agriculture Ministry official said the outbreak involves a form of the virus that is unusually deadly to pigs.

Vietnam also has reported recent cases of blue-ear disease.

The disease causes reproductive failure in female pigs and breathing difficulties in young pigs. Older pigs may also be affected. Signs of the disease can include high fever and cases of pneumonia. Pigs weakened by the virus are more likely to get bacterial infections.

An outbreak of infectious disease killed as many as one million pigs in China last year. China's top veterinary health official said this past June that blue-ear disease was the cause of most of those deaths. China reported the outbreak to the World Organization for Animal Health last September.

The World Organization for Animal Health says the disease happens in most major pig-producing areas of the world. The disease was first recognized in nineteen eighty-seven in the United States. Three years later it appeared in western Europe and spread quickly.

The agency says the disease does not seem to affect animals other than pigs. Experts say they do not know of any cases of humans who have gotten the pig disease.

China is the world's largest producer of pigs. Supply shortages have driven up pork prices this year in China. Still, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said this month that China exported sixty-two thousand metric tons of pork in the first half of the year. That compared with pork exports of two hundred forty-six tons for all of last year.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more stories about agriculture, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOASE0827_Science In the News

27 August 2007

Obesity as a Social Disease? How Friendship Could Be Fattening
Also: An explanation of allergic reactions and their treatments. And the game of checkers has a new champion.

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This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week, we will tell how friendship could be fattening. We also will tell about allergic reactions and their treatments. And, we report on a computer program that has solved a popular game.

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VOICE ONE:

When one person gains weight, close friends often do, too

Researchers say they have found that fatness can spread from person to person in social groups. When one person gains weight, close friends often gain weight, too. The study was published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers looked at records from the Framingham Heart Study. It gathered health information about more than twelve thousand people from nineteen seventy-one to two thousand three. The information was very detailed. It listed changes in the body-mass index for each individual. The body mass index measures a person's body fat.

The Framingham study also provided information about changes in family and events like marriages and deaths. There was also contact information for close friends of the subjects in the study. As a result, the researchers were able to examine more than forty thousand social ties.

VOICE TWO:

The study showed that when a person becomes severely overweight, there is a fifty-seven percent increased chance that one of their friends will be, too. A sister or brother of the overweight person has a forty percent increased chance of becoming fat. The increased risk for a wife or husband is a little less than that.

Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School was a lead investigator in the study. He says his research showed that fat people are not choosing fat friends. He says there is a direct causal relationship between a person getting fat and being followed in weight gain by a friend.

VOICE ONE:

The study found that the sex of the friends is also an influence. In same-sex friendships, a person has a seventy-one percent increased risk of getting fat. The same was true for brothers and sisters separately. A man has a forty-four percent increased risk of becoming obese after a weight gain in his brother. In sisters, the increased risk is sixty-seven percent.

The study also showed that physical closeness of family members and friends did little to increase a person's risk. The other lead investigator was James Fowler of the University of California at San Diego. Mister Fowler says a friend who lives a few hundred kilometers away has as much influence as one in your neighborhood. He says the study demonstrates the need to consider that a major part of a person’s health is tied to his or her social connections.

VOICE TWO:

Doctor Christakis and Mister Fowler say close friends probably influence what a person finds acceptable and unacceptable. So if a friend gets fat, the condition becomes more acceptable. Both investigators agree their research shows that obesity is not just a private medical issue, but a public health problem.

The researchers say more studies into the idea of socially spread obesity could provide new ways to fight fat. If friends help make fatness acceptable, then they might also be influential in the fight against obesity. The researchers note that support groups are already an effective tool in dealing with other socially influenced health problems, like alcohol dependence.

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VOICE ONE:

Pollen, as seen using an electron microscope

An allergy is an unusually strong reaction to a substance. Many things can cause allergies. The most common cause is pollen. Trees usually produce pollen in the spring as part of their reproductive process. Pollen also comes in grasses in the summer and weeds in the fall.

Other causes include organisms such as dust mites and molds. Chemicals, plants and dead skin particles from dogs and cats can also cause allergic reactions. So can insect bites and some foods.

The most common kind of allergic reaction is itchy, watery eyes and a blocked or watery nose. Allergies can also cause red, itchy skin. Some reactions can be life-threatening -- for example, when breathing passages become blocked.

VOICE TWO:

Avoiding whatever causes an allergy may not always be easy. Antihistamine drugs may offer an effective treatment. Another treatment is called immunotherapy. A patient is injected with small amounts of the allergy-causing substance. The idea is that larger and larger amounts are given over time until the patient develops a resistance to the allergen.

In the United States, experts estimate that up to four percent of adults and up to eight percent of young children have food allergies. Every year these allergies cause about thirty thousand cases of anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that requires immediate treatment. It can result in trouble breathing and in some cases death.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says one hundred to two hundred people die. It says most of the reactions resulted from peanuts and tree nuts such as walnuts.

VOICE ONE:

People can also be allergic to medicines. The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology says about five to ten percent of bad reactions to commonly used medicines are allergic. So, a person's natural defense system overreacts and produces an allergic reaction. The most common reactions include skin rashes, itching, breathing problems and temporary enlargement of areas such as the face.

But the academy estimates that allergic reactions to drugs cause one hundred six thousand deaths each year in the United States alone. It says antibiotics such as penicillin are among the drugs more likely than others to produce allergic reactions. So are anticonvulsants and hormones such as insulin. Other kinds include some anesthesia medicines, vaccines and biotechnology-produced proteins.

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VOICE TWO:

The game of checkers is popular in many countries. In Britain, the game is better known as draughts. Perhaps you feel like playing a game now? But do not plan on winning if you play against a computer program named Chinook.

Scientists in Canada developed the computer program. No one has ever defeated Chinook. At best, a player who makes no mistakes would tie the computer program.

Chinook represents an important development in computer programming and the area of study known as artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence uses science to understand and create systems of thought and behavior in machines.

VOICE ONE:

The Chinook project began in nineteen eighty-nine. Jonathan Schaeffer is a computer scientist with the University of Alberta. He wanted to create a program that could defeat a World Checkers Champion. To do this, he talked to expert checker players about their methods for winning.

Professor Schaeffer created a computer program with information about the rules of the game, and successful and unsuccessful moves. Then, he and his team carefully corrected and improved the program. For eighteen years, about fifty computers worked without stop on the five hundred billion-billion possible positions in a game of checkers.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen ninety-two, Chinook played against the World Checkers Champion Marion Tinsley. Mister Tinsley won against the computer program. They played again two years later, but he had to withdraw because of poor health.

Mister Tinsley is thought to be the greatest checkers player who ever lived. He only lost three games in forty-one years of competition.

Experts will never know if the earlier version of Chinook could have defeated Mister Tinsley. But he was a human being, and could make mistakes. Chinook, in its latest version, has avoided the possibility of mistake.

VOICE ONE:

Chinook is not the first program to solve a game. For example, there are programs that have yet to lose at the games of Connect Four and Awari. But checkers is by far more complex. Checkers is about one million times more complex than Connect Four. Chinook must make complex decisions in a large and complex space with many possible positions.

Professor Schaeffer says his team has taken the knowledge used in artificial intelligence programs to an extreme level. He says he has replaced human decision making with perfect knowledge.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Dana Demange, Mario Ritter and Caty Weaver. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

Israeli, Palestinian Leaders to Hold Summit Tuesday

By Robert Berger Jerusalem 27 August 2007

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Israeli and Palestinian leaders will hold a summit meeting on Tuesday in a fresh bid to advance the peace process. But as Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, Israel's "go-slow" approach has left the Palestinians disappointed.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas here in Jerusalem. Both Israel and the United States want to strengthen Mr. Abbas after the violent takeover of the Gaza Strip by the Islamic militant group Hamas two months ago. Hamas routed the forces of the rival Fatah faction, led by Mr. Abbas, who now heads a moderate government in the West Bank.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas (R) meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, (File)

President Abbas and Mr. Olmert have met regularly since the civil war in Gaza. They are trying to hammer out principles for the creation of a Palestinian state ahead of an international peace conference in the United States this fall.

"Ultimately, the Israeli government and the Palestinian government, we share a common view of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace," said Mark Regev, an Israeli government spokesman.

But Israel has been reluctant to discuss the thorniest issues of the conflict, creating skepticism among Palestinians.

"It is very essential to see and hear some concrete steps taken towards talking about a timeframe for solving the five permanent status issues of the Palestinian cause, namely Jerusalem, refugees, water, borders and settlements," said Palestinian analyst Wadia Abu Nasser. "And without that the people are talking about [a] peace process but not necessarily peace."

Israel's reluctance to discuss those issues may point to a lack of confidence in Mr. Abbas. His forces collapsed during the factional fighting in Gaza, earning him the reputation of a moderate Palestinian leader who cannot deliver.