North American Leaders Wrap Up Summit

By Paula Wolfson Washington 21 August 2007

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Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, center, stands with President Bush, left, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon

The leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada have wrapped up a two-day summit at a Canadian resort. VOA White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson reports the talks on economic and security matters were overshadowed by a hurricane along Mexico's Caribbean coast.

Hurricane Dean struck the Yucatan region of Mexico in the midst of the summit. The meeting ended with statements of concern and promises of aid.

President Bush said the United States would do all it can to help in relief and recovery. "I want you to know that U.S. agencies are in close touch with the proper Mexican authorities and if you so desire help, we stand ready to help," he said.

The summit schedule was rearranged to get Mexican President Felipe Calderon home as quickly as possible. He told a joint news conference at the end of the talks that the storm spared tourist areas, but resulted in severe damage in poor neighborhoods with few resources to rebuild.

"It went over the poorer Mayan areas, and I have a great deal of concern for the housing and the lack of services in that general area for the indigenous people there. And that will be the main area of concern for us and activity," he said.

The three-way summit was held under the auspices of the Security and Prosperity Partnership, an initiative launched in 2005 to find ways to facilitate the flow of goods and services across safe and secure borders.

As the three leaders prepared to meet at a luxury resort in Quebec province, opponents took to the Internet and broadcast airways warning of a conspiracy to boost big business and create a European Union-type super-government of North America.

President Bush responded to the critics, saying they are using scare tactics. "You know, there are some who would like to frighten our fellow citizens into believing that relations between us are harmful for our respective peoples. I just believe they are wrong," he said.

Bilateral meetings were also held at the Montebello resort, giving the leaders a chance to discuss matters that might not be on the full summit agenda.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper brought up the fate of his forces in Afghanistan during his one-on-one meeting with President Bush. He later told reporters the Canadian parliament will decide if their mission should be extended beyond February 2009. "I think we all can be very proud of the work Canadian troops are doing in Afghanistan. Parliament will make its decision in due course whether it wants to prolong the mission," he said.

A session between President Bush and President Calderon focused largely on combating the drug trade and related violence along the U.S.-Mexican border. Mr. Bush said work is proceeding on a common strategy. He said the United States is committed to the effort, but stressed it will be very different from the American program to fight drug trafficking in Colombia.

"This is different from Plan Colombia. This is a plan that says we have got an issue on our own border. We share a border and therefore it is a joint program. That won't mean a U.S. armed presence in your country. Mexico is plenty capable of handling the problem," he said.

The next North American summit will take place in the United States in 2008.

Mexico Begins to Assess Damage From Hurricane Dean

By Brian Wagner Miami 21 August 2007

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Mexican officials say no casualties have been reported since Hurricane Dean hit the nation's Caribbean coast and moved inland. In Miami, VOA's Brian Wagner reports the storm may still be a threat as it continues to move west toward central Mexico.

Aftermath of Hurricane Dean in Chetumal, Mexico, 21 Aug 2007

Officials in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula began assessing the damage from Hurricane Dean after the category 5 storm hit the coastline early Tuesday bringing, winds of 265 kilometers per hour.

The eye of the hurricane first reached land near the Mexican town of Chetumal, where it uprooted trees, snapped power lines and flooded streets. Mexican troops had evacuated some residents in the area ahead of the storm, but others remained in their homes.

During a trip to Canada, where he met with U.S. President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, said he was cutting short the meeting so he could return to Mexico to focus on the disaster. Calderon said he had received no reports of casualties from the hurricane so far.

At a news conference, President Bush told the Mexican leader that Washington was prepared to offer emergency assistance if needed.

"I want you to know that U.S. agencies are in close touch with the proper Mexican authorities, and if you so desire help, we stand ready to help," said President Bush.

Forecasters said the eye of Hurricane Dean followed a path across sparsely populated areas on Mexican coast, and away from population centers such as the resort city of Cancun.

Hugo Camarillo, an employee at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Cancun, said Dean brought strong winds and rain to the area, but caused no real damage.

"As I have heard, there are no damages at any hotel. It is still a little bit cloudy, but the sun is coming out," he said. "The ocean is still dangerous for swimming, but everything is going back to normal."

Camarillo said only 30 guests remained at the hotel while the hurricane passed through, but he said tour groups were expected to begin returning to the beach-side hotel late Tuesday.

The last major hurricane to hit the area was Wilma in 2005, which caused nearly $3 billion in damages on Cancun's coast.

Weather forecasters said hurricane Dean had steadily weakened as it moved over land, and was downgraded to a category one storm with winds of 140 kilometers per hour. But they warned the storm could regain strength as it moved into the Bay of Campeche, on its way to a second landfall in central Mexico, sometime Wednesday afternoon.

Hurricane Dean is blamed for at least 11 deaths in Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Haiti and the island of Dominica.

In Florida, the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour landed safely, after officials ordered the crew to end its mission one day early because of weather concerns at mission control in Houston, Texas.

Bush Says Iraqis Will Decide Their Own Future

By Scott Stearns White House 21 August 2007

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U.S. President George Bush says, despite Washington's frustration with the slow pace of political progress in Iraq, it is up to Iraqis to decide the future of their government. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, the president is responding to an influential U.S. Senator who says Iraq's parliament should dismiss Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee says Mr. Maliki's government cannot achieve a political settlement, because it is too bound by its own sectarian prejudices.

Michigan Senator Carl Levin wants Iraq's parliament to remove Mr. Maliki's government, because he says it has "totally and utterly failed."

Speaking at a news conference, President Bush replied that it is up to the Iraqi people to determine the future of their government, not American politicians.

President Bush gestures as he responds to a question during the closing news conference at the North American Leaders Summit in Montebello, 21 Aug 2007

"The Iraqi people made a great step toward reconciliation when they passed the most modern constitution in the Middle East," said Mr. Bush. "And now their government has got to perform. And I think there is a certain level of frustration with the leadership."

Responding to reporters' questions in Canada following a meeting with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, Mr. Bush said if Iraq's government does not respond to the demands of the people, the people will replace it.

Senator Levin, a Democrat, visited Iraq with his committee's ranking Republican, Virginia Senator John Warner. In a written statement on Monday, both men said they told Iraqi leaders of the deep impatience of the American people and that time has run out on reaching a political consensus in Baghdad

The lack of political progress in Iraq has overshadowed some recent military accomplishments. Senators Levin and Warner say U.S. reinforcements are having measurable results that are giving Iraqi leaders the opportunity to make political compromises. But the Senators say they are not optimistic about prospects for those compromises.

In talks with American and Iraqi diplomatic and military officials, the senators say they witnessed a "great deal of apprehension regarding the capabilities of the current Iraqi government to shed its sectarian biases and act in a unifying manner."

Demonstrating political progress in Iraq is crucial to the president's report to Congress next month. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and top military commander General David Petraeus will report on the impact of the president's January decision to send more troops to Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Holds High-Level Talks in Syria

By Edward Yeranian Beirut 21 August 2007

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Ties between Iraq and Syria appear to be warming, as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pursues a second day of high level meetings with top Syrian officials, including President Bashar al Assad. For VOA, Edward Yeranian reports from Beirut.

Urging Syrian support in efforts to curb violence in his country, Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is in Damascus to meet with Syrian officials to discuss security and economic relations.

Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa,left, and Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki in Damascus, 21 Aug 2007

It is Maliki's first visit to Syria since he took office last year. Baghdad and Washington have accused Iraq's neighbor of failing to rein in the flow of militants and weapons across the border. Syria denies this.

Maliki gave an assessment of relations between Iraq and Syria.

He says talks and dialogue between Iraq and Syrian officials are taking a spirit of cooperation and relations must evolve towards uniting views and goals, with cooperation in confronting those difficulties facing us

Syria's Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri told Maliki that he must set a timetable for the withdrawal of "U.S. occupation forces," before Iraq can be stabilized.

U.S. troops, writes Syria's official news agency SANA, have "drawn radical forces to Iraq and ignited waves of violence."

Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Babakir Zebari, accompanying Mr. Maliki, claims that infiltration from Syria into Iraq is down by 60 percent in recent weeks.

Mohammed al Habash, a member of the Syrian Parliament from the ruling Ba'ath Party told al Arabiya TV that Iraq, "must seize the initiative."

He says the Iraqis, if they increase their control of national affairs, and cooperate with the real powers in the region, may be able to alleviate the catastrophic state of affairs that have befallen their country, but he didn't think that Syria possesses a magic bullet to resolve things, but by cooperating, they can help.

Al Jazeera reports that Assad and Maliki engaged in lengthy and detailed discussions on security, trade and refugees.

Syria, according to some reports, is now home to more than a million Iraqi refugees.

Damascus has repeatedly pleaded with international humanitarian agencies to help alleviate the burden of Iraqi refugees to its economy.

The Arab daily Asharqalawsat also reports that both countries are discussing the reopening of the Banyas oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria, closed in 1980.

Iraq's Minister of Commerce argues that trade relations between Baghdad and Damascus have deteriorated dramatically since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and must improve.

VOASE0820_Science In the News

20 August 2007

Six Diseases of the Liver, Six Different Viruses, One Name: Hepatitis
Millions of people get hepatitis. Some become very sick. Others never even know they are infected.

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VOICE ONE:

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 about six diseases of the liver. The six diseases come from six different viruses. Doctors have one name for all of them: hepatitis.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The liver is in the upper right part of the stomach area. This dark red organ is big -- it weighs more than one kilogram. And it has a big job. The liver helps clean the blood and fight infection. It also helps break down food and store energy until the body needs it.

Hepatitis destroys liver cells. Some kinds of hepatitis are much more serious than others. Scientists have identified the six kinds of hepatitis with the letters A, B, C, D, E and G. Which kind a person has can only be known from tests for antibodies in the blood.

Antibodies are special proteins that the body's natural defense system produces in answer to a threat. Identify the antibody and you identify the threat.

VOICE TWO:

Hundreds of people waited for hepatitis vaccinations at a hospital in Massachusetts in 2004 after an employee at a local restaurant developed hepatitis A.

Hepatitis A is usually spread through human waste in water or food. It is in the same group of viruses as those that cause the disease polio.

The hepatitis A virus causes high body temperature, weakness and pain. It causes problems with the stomach and intestines, making it difficult to eat or break down food. Also, the skin of a person with hepatitis may become yellow. This is a sign that the liver is not operating normally.

To help prevent the spread of hepatitis A, people should wash their hands after they use the restroom or change a baby's diaper. People should also wash their hands before they eat or prepare food.

VOICE ONE:

Hand washing can prevent the spread of hepatitis A

Hepatitis A can spread quickly to hundreds or thousands of people. But the virus is deadly in less than one percent of cases. Many people infected with the virus never even get sick. But those who do generally recover within two months.

The World Health Organization says hepatitis A is often found in Africa, Asia and Central and South America. People who have had hepatitis A cannot get it again. There is a vaccine to prevent hepatitis A. America's Centers for Disease Control says the vaccine is the best way to protect against the disease.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The World Health Organization says hepatitis B is one of the major diseases of mankind. W.H.O. officials say two billion people are infected with the hepatitis B virus. More than three hundred fifty million of those infected have lifelong infections. The highest rates are in developing countries.

This virus is in the same group as the herpes and smallpox viruses. Hepatitis B vaccines have been given since the early nineteen eighties. The W-H-O says the vaccine is ninety five percent effective in preventing the development of infection in both children and adults.

VOICE ONE:

Hepatitis B spreads when blood from an infected person enters the body of another person. An infected mother can infect her baby. The virus can also spread through sex, and if people share injection devices.

Blood products from an infected person can spread hepatitis B. People also can get infected if they share personal-care products that might have blood on them. Examples include toothbrushes and hair-cutting equipment like razors.

VOICE TWO:

Worldwide, most hepatitis B infections are found in children. Young children are the ones most likely to develop a lifelong, or chronic, infection. The risk of such an infection is small for children older than four years.

About ninety percent of babies infected with hepatitis B during the first year develop chronic infections. Such persons are at high risk of death from liver disease or liver cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine is considered to be the first medicine that can protect people against liver cancer.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Hepatitis C is even more dangerous. Like hepatitis B, it spreads when blood from an infected person enters someone who is not infected. The hepatitis C virus belongs to the same group of viruses as yellow fever and West Nile virus.

Most people infected with hepatitis C develop chronic infections, often without any signs. They are at high risk for liver disease and liver cancer.

The World Health Organization says about one hundred eighty million people are infected with hepatitis C. The W.H.O. reports that as many as four million more become infected each year. And it says that one hundred thirty million of those with the disease may develop diseases of the liver, including liver cancer. The W.H.O. says the highest rates of infection are in Africa, Latin America and Asia.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists have been working to develop a vaccine against hepatitis C. The virus was first observed in nineteen seventy-four. But it was not officially recognized as a new kind of hepatitis until nineteen eighty-nine.

The Centers for Disease Control says about four million Americans have been infected with hepatitis C. It says that those especially at risk include persons who inject themselves with drugs and those who received blood or blood products before nineteen ninety.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Hepatitis D is also spread through blood, but only infects people who already have hepatitis B. The virus greatly increases the chance of severe liver damage. Experts say hepatitis D infects about fifteen million people around the world.

Doctors say the best way to prevent hepatitis D is to get vaccine that protects against Hepatitis B. Doctors can treat some cases of hepatitis B, C and D. The drugs used are very costly, however. But they are less costly than another treatment possibility: getting a new liver.

VOICE TWO:

The fifth virus is hepatitis E. Experts say it spreads the same way as hepatitis A -- through infectious waste. Cases often result from polluted supplies of drinking water. Medical science recognized hepatitis E as a separate disease in nineteen eighty.

Hepatitis E is also found in animal waste. Studies have shown that the virus can infect many kinds of animals, including cows, monkeys and pigs.

VOICE ONE:

The W.H.O. says many hepatitis E cases have been reported in Central and Southeast Asia, North and West Africa and Mexico.

No vaccines or medicines are effective against hepatitis E. Most people recover, usually in several weeks or months. But the disease can cause liver damage. And, in some cases, hepatitis E can be deadly.

The virus is especially dangerous to pregnant women. Twenty percent of women with hepatitis E die in the last three months of pregnancy.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists discovered yet another kind of hepatitis in the nineteen nineties. It has been named hepatitis G. The hepatitis G virus is totally different from any of the other hepatitis viruses.

Donald Poretz is an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. He says the hepatitis G virus is spread through blood and blood products. But he says the virus has not yet been found to cause any real disease.

VOICE ONE:

There are no cures for any kind of hepatitis. The only way to protect against infection is to receive vaccines against hepatitis A and B, and avoid contact with the other viruses. And that may be very difficult.

Remember that some kinds of hepatitis spread through sex or sharing needles. Blood products should be carefully tested for hepatitis. People in high-risk groups and those who have had hepatitis should not give blood. They also should not agree to provide their organs to others after they die. Donated organs can also spread hepatitis.

VOICE TWO:

Health experts say people can take other steps people to protect themselves. These include always washing your hands with soap and water after using the restroom. Also, wash your hands after changing a baby's diaper and before preparing or eating food.

Experts also say travelers should not drink water of unknown quality when visiting foreign or unknown areas. Visitors to such areas also should avoid eating uncooked fruits and vegetables. And, again, do not forget to wash your hands!

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. You can download transcripts and audio of our programs, at voaspecialenglish.com. Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE0820_Agriculture Report

20 August 2007

The Fight Over Farm Subsidies
Negotiators will meet next month in Geneva to discuss compromise proposals for agricultural and industrial goods.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Two words are enough to start a debate: farm subsidies.

Farmers who are subsidized by their governments usually receive direct payments or loans. Domestic subsidies provide support within a farmer's own country. Export subsidies help them sell their products in other countries, often at a lower price.

Developing nations criticize export subsidies in the United States and other wealthy countries. They say the result is that their own farmers are often unable to compete on the world market.

The dispute over subsidies is one of the major barriers to a new agreement for the World Trade Organization. Negotiators will meet again next month in Geneva to discuss compromise proposals for agricultural and industrial goods.

One version written last month calls for the United States to lower its subsidies. In return, big developing countries like China, India and Brazil would make larger reductions in taxes on industries.

But in Washington, the House of Representatives recently passed a farm bill that would continue high-paying subsidies. These go mostly to farmers in the Midwest and South who grow corn, wheat, cotton, rice and soybeans. The bill would also add money for growers of fruits and vegetables.

The bill now goes to the Senate. President Bush has threatened to veto it. He opposes subsidies for farmers currently receiving high prices for crops like corn and soybeans.

Today's farm subsidies have roots in the Great Depression.

In nineteen thirty-three, Congress passed a law that paid farmers not to plant on some of their land. The idea was to control crop supplies and support prices, while protecting the soil.

Since nineteen thirty-three, legislation known as the farm bill has come before Congress about every five years for renewal.

After the nineteen sixties, aid to farmers increased. In nineteen ninety-six, Congress passed the Freedom to Farm Act. This law removed the requirement to leave areas of land unplanted in order to receive government money.

Economist and author James Weaver thinks political pressure on Congress will make big cuts in subsidies unlikely anytime soon. He says most farmers with high subsidies like the system the way it is. The amount received is based on production area. So the wealthiest farmers with the most land often receive the most money.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.