Human Rights Groups Demand Accounting for Missing Detainees

By David Gollust Washington 07 June 2007

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Leading human rights groups Thursday called on the U.S. government to account for terrorism suspects they believe were detained by U.S. authorities abroad but whose whereabouts are now unknown. The Bush administration has said it maintained secret overseas detention sites but emptied them last year. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

In an unusual joint action, six human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have published a list of 39 terrorism suspects they believe were secretly detained by the United States at one time or another but cannot be accounted for now.

A 21-page report by the rights organizations says the so-called ghost detainees include nationals from several countries including Pakistan, Egypt, Libya and Kenya who were detained in anti-terrorism operations since 2001, and held at least for some time in secret U.S. detention sites.

President Bush acknowledged the existence of secret CIA detention sites abroad in an address last September, but said that the 14 prisoners in them at the time had been transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

News reports last year quoted U.S. intelligence officials as saying the secret sites may have held nearly 100 prisoners in the months before the President's disclosure.

The six human rights groups called on the Bush administration to account for the other prisoners, whose cases they said they were able to document from government disclosures and interviews with released detainees, witnesses and relatives.

In a talk with VOA, Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counter-terrorism Coordinator at Human Rights Watch, said the prisoners may have been sent back to their countries of origin or elsewhere for continued detention, and possible mistreatment: "It's possible they were transferred to their home countries, which in the case of several of them is of real concern because their home countries are places like Libya, Egypt and Morocco, places in which the torture of terrorism suspects is commonplace. And we're certainly afraid that they may continue to be held in secret detention in these countries and face abuse there," she said.

In connection with the report, three of the groups including Amnesty International filed a federal lawsuit under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act seeking disclosure of documents and other information on the ghost detainees.

Amnesty Deputy Executive Director Kurt Goering said in a VOA interview the decision to take the issue to the courts came because the CIA, Justice Department and other agencies were unresponsive to information requests made through regular channels. "We've been essentially stonewalled. None of the agencies, the five agencies, have delivered or provided any significant information in response to these requests. The CIA has stonewalled completely, there's been absolutely no response. And so in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act regulations, we are through this lawsuit charging that the U.S. government is violating its own laws," he said.

Both Goering of Amnesty and Mariner of Human Rights Watch said the President's September statement did not preclude the future use of secret detention sites overseas, and that there are reports the practice continues.

At a news briefing however, State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said there was no reason to believe that the situation has changed since the September speech, suggesting that there were no new secret detainees.

Casey also insisted the detainee issue has not undermined the United States' moral authority to speak out on human rights issues in other countries.

"We recognize that the United States, in our own country, does not always have perfect record and historically has not always done so. That does not lessen the fact that the United States has been and continues to be the world's leading advocate for human rights around the world, and it's a cause that we believe in, that is part of the values of our country and one that we are going to continue to speak about," he said.

In a speech in The Hague late Wednesday, State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger said the issue of terrorist detainees posed an unprecedented legal challenge for the Bush administration, which he said has not ignored, changed or reinterpreted international law.

Stem Cell Breakthrough Announced Amid Fierce Debate

By Michael Bowman Washington 07 June 2007

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Scientists in the United States say they have for the first time been able to create stem cells from the ordinary skin cells of mice, a breakthrough that could lead to new medical breakthroughs and eliminate a contentious ethical and political debate over the use of human embryos for such research. From Washington, VOA's Michael Bowman has more on the breakthrough.

Thai surgeons perform an operation to collect stem cells from an unidentified Western patient in Bangkok, 07 February 2007

Scientists say stem cells offer the promise of cures to everything from cancer to spinal cord injuries. Stem cells are malleable and can be used to create virtually any kind of tissue. But there has been a fierce ethical debate over stem cell research, because until now, it was assumed the cells had to be harvested from human embryos, destroying them in the process.

But teams in the United States, using a process pioneered by a leading Japanese researcher, say they have now successfully transformed skin cells from mice into what are, in effect, embryonic stem cells.

Biologist Rudolf Jaenisch at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology led one of the teams.

"We can take any skin cell and treat it in a certain way," he said. "And after two or three weeks we will have embryonic stem cells which are indistinguishable from normal embryonic stem cells which have been derived from embryos."

Could the same be done with human skin cells? No one knows just yet, or whether embryonic stem cells created in such a fashion would be as useful in research as those harvested from living embryos. Scientists say further study will be required, and that definitive answers may not be forthcoming for some time.

In the meantime, the political and ethical debate over embryonic stem cells continues to rage in the United States. Jaenisch says he is well aware of the political furor surrounding embryonic stem cell research, and cautions against injecting his findings with regard to mice into the current debate.

"Many who are opposed to embryonic stem cell research will use this [breakthrough] and say, 'Ha! We do not need it [to use embryos].' This is the wrong conclusion," he said.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. Congress there has been more contentious debate on legislation to allow more federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, legislation that President Bush has said he will veto.

Before Thursday's vote to send the measure to the president's desk, Indiana Republican Mike Pence stood in opposition.

"Congress is once again poised to pass legislation that authorizes the use of federal tax dollars to fund the destruction of human embryos for scientific research," he said. "I believe that life begins at conception. It is morally wrong to create human life to destroy it.

California Democrat Lynn Woolsey has a different point of view, stressing the seemingly limitless potential of stem cells to improve human health.

"How can we tell a parent watching a child suffering from cancer that we are not going to do every single thing possible to save that child? How can we tell a teenager that there is a chance we could repair a damaged spinal chord, but we are not going to pursue it," she asked.

President Bush has authorized federal funds for stem cell research involving a small number of stem cell lines from discarded embryos. U.S. researchers say those lines are badly contaminated and of little scientific value, and that the United States is falling behind other nations with few restrictions on such research.

VOASE0607_Economics Report

07 June 2007

World Trade Talks: Moving, but Slowly
Agriculture remains one of the most important trade issues. Developing nations want the big industrial powers to cut aid to farmers.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Today we have the second half of a report on the history of the World Trade Organization.

The W.T.O. was created in nineteen ninety-five after the eighth round of world trade talks. The rounds began in nineteen forty-seven, each one on different areas of trade.

The W.T.O. tried to launch a ninth round in Seattle in nineteen ninety-nine. But trade ministers argued and free trade opponents rioted.

The W.T.O. launched the ninth round in Doha, Qatar, in November of two thousand one. The new round was named the Doha Development Agenda. This was meant to show developing countries that the goals included reducing poverty.

Two other ministerial conferences took place: in Cancun, Mexico, in two thousand three and Hong Kong in two thousand five. There was little progress toward agreement on major issues.

Pascal Lamy

W.T.O. Director General Pascal Lamy of France suspended the negotiations last July. But talks restarted in January.

Mister Lamy said he planned to send a strong message this week to leaders of the Group of Eight and other nations at meetings in Germany. He said their active support is needed for a successful and balanced outcome. Last month he said the negotiations were moving but not very fast.

Twenty-one issues are listed under the Doha Development Agenda. At the heart, though, is agriculture. Developing nations want industrial countries to end farm supports that critics say drive down prices on world markets.

The United States has pushed for as much as an eighty-five percent reduction and an expanded list of banned subsidies. European countries have resisted deep cuts. Last week, the new French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said France would veto any agreement that did not meet its requirements.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson warns that if the talks fail now, they would not reopen before two thousand ten.

The European Union, the United States, India and Brazil are preparing for talks later this month. These four major W.T.O. members are working for a deal on the Doha round by the end of the year.

The World Trade Organization currently has one hundred fifty members. The largest economy not a member is Russia. After years of trying, Russia hopes to be in the W.T.O. as early as January.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Part one of our report is at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0607_American Mosaic

07 June 2007

At This Year's National Spelling Bee, 'Serrefine' Spells Champion
Also: A Burmese listener asks about the actor and comedian Jim Carrey. And the music of Miranda Lambert, recently honored by the Academy of Country Music with its award for new female vocalist.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We answer a question from a listener about Jim Carrey…

Play music from Miranda Lambert…

And report about a national spelling contest.

National Spelling Bee

HOST:

Every year, the best young English language spellers from around the world gather in Washington, D.C. for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. They spell complex words that most English speakers have never even heard of. Last week, more than two hundred eighty children gathered to compete in this event. It was the largest group of spellers in the eighty-year history of the bee. Faith Lapidus tells us more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Evan O'Dorney and his mother, Jennifer, celebrate his victory

The national spelling bee takes place over two intense days of competition in a large hotel meeting room. The spellers sit together in front of several judges. Each speller stands when it is his or her turn. When the judge calls out the word, spellers can ask for help. They can ask for the definition of the word or for it to be used in a sentence. They can also ask which language the word came from. This can often help them decide how it is spelled.

Students who spell the word correctly remain in the competition. But if the speller makes a mistake, a bell rings and the child must leave the group.

The spellers are very supportive of one another. They show their happiness when a speller gets a word right. The Canadians especially added to the spirit of the event by waving flags and cheering even louder for all Canadian spellers.

Many people thought that Samir Patel would be the winner this year. This thirteen-year-old boy from Texas has competed in the spelling bee five times. This is the last year he can compete. But his spelling bee career ended with the word "clevis." Samir later said that he should have taken more time to think about the word but instead made a stupid mistake.

Two boys, a Canadian and an American, made it to the last part of the competition. Both Evan O'Dorney and Nate Gartke were able to spell difficult words like "videlicet" and "Zoilus." But Evan won the competition with the word “serrefine," a kind of tool used in medical operations.

After the event, the thirteen-year-old from California talked to reporters. He said he does not really like spelling. He likes math and music more. Spelling, Evan said, is just memorization. His advice to spellers is to study the dictionary. And, he said he always eats a tuna fish sandwich the night before competing.

Jim Carrey

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Burma. Tharr Naing wants to know more about the actor and funny man Jim Carrey.

Jim Carrey’s skill for comedy came early. As a boy, he was given time at the end of each school day to perform for his class. Carrey says he also sent a letter requesting a part on a popular American television comedy show when he was just ten years old.

Jim Carrey was born in nineteen sixty-two in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. He was a good student until his teen years when his family experienced financial problems and had to move to Toronto, Canada. Jim worked in a factory every day after school and his grades suffered as a result.

Carrey moved to Los Angeles, California in nineteen seventy-nine. He worked with the famous comedian Rodney Dangerfield. And he began to make appearances on the Late Night with David Letterman television show.

His first major movie was “Earth Girls Are Easy,” in nineteen eighty-eight. He played the part of a funny creature from another planet. He was involved in the development of a new television comedy show, “In Living Color.” It gave Carrey his first chance to show the whole country his unusual characters.

Carrey’s first huge movie success was starring in the film “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” in nineteen ninety-four. Critics hated the movie. But Jim Carrey’s very physical comedy was a hit with moviegoers. The movie earned more than seventy million dollars in the United States alone. A follow-up movie came out the next year. "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" earned more than one hundred million dollars.

Jim made two other very successful films in nineteen ninety-four: “Dumb and Dumber” and “The Mask.” In nineteen ninety-five he was offered twenty million dollars to star in “The Cable Guy.” It was the highest amount of money ever offered to a comedy actor. The movie came out the following year and did not do great business. But Jim Carrey’s power in Hollywood remained.

In the years since, Carrey has shown that he can do more than comedy. He has starred in several critically praised dramatic movies. These include “The Truman Show” and “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Jim Carrey won Golden Globe Awards as Best Actor for both films.

Miranda Lambert

HOST:

The Academy of Country Music presented its yearly awards last month in Las Vegas, Nevada. The winner of the New Female Vocalist award was singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert. Katherine Cole tells us about her.

KATHERINE COLE:

Miranda Lambert has been singing professionally since she was in high school in the state of Texas. In two thousand three, she finished third in the Nashville Star television talent show. Her performance there led to a recording contract. Her first major album was released in two thousand four, when she was twenty-one years old. She wrote or helped write ten of the eleven songs on the album, called “Kerosene.” The first single was “Me and Charlie Talking.”

(MUSIC)

Miranda Lambert says her latest album is better than “Kerosene.” She says “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” shows the effects of two years of personal and professional growth. She sang the first hit from the new album on the Country Music Association awards show. It is “Famous in a Small Town.”

(MUSIC)

Miranda Lambert says her songs talk about real things -- things that have happened to her, family members and friends. Critics say the songs on her new album mix the pain and power of heartbreak. We leave you now with the title song from Miranda Lambert’s new album, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who also was our 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.