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.

(MUSIC)

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.

(MUSIC)

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.

(MUSIC)

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.

(MUSIC)

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.

(MUSIC)

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.

(MUSIC)

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.

(MUSIC)

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.

Greece Battles Unchecked Wildfires for Fourth Day

By VOA News 27 August 2007

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A man looks at blazes burning a mountain next to the village of Theologos in Evia island, 27 Aug 2007

Greece is battling unchecked wildfires for a fourth day and has charged four suspects with starting fires that have killed at least 63 people since Friday.

New fires broke out Monday on the fringes of Athens, triggering a rush of firefighters and airplanes to the suburb of Papagou, where flames swept through brush.

The blazes have cut a swath of destruction from the southern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula to the far northern town of Ioannina, destroying hundreds of villages and leaving thousands homeless. Firefighters and equipment from a half-dozen European countries are helping Greek fire brigades battle the inferno.

With an estimated half of the country on fire today, a top Greek prosecutor said he will determine whether the presumptive arson attacks fall under the country's anti-terrorism statutes. Authorities say such a move would give investigators broader powers to investigate and make arrests.

Since Saturday, government officials have been saying they suspect arson in at least some of the attacks.

Many local officials have accused rogue land developers of setting fires to clear forests and farmland for new construction.

In southern Greece Sunday, the fires stopped just short of Ancient Olympia - the World Heritage site where the first Olympic games were held. A fire protection system started just in time to save the ancient ruins and other priceless artifacts from incineration.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

US Attorney General Gonzales Resigns

By Paula Wolfson Washington 27 August 2007

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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announces his resignation at a press conference at the Department of Justice, in Washington, 27 Aug 2007

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has resigned. VOA White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson reports his two-year tenure as head of the Justice Department was marked by controversy.

The official announcement from the attorney general was brief.

"Yesterday, I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government service as attorney general of the United States effective as of September 17th, 2007," he said.

Alberto Gonzales gave no reason for his decision, and there was no direct mention of the controversies surrounding his tenure, only praise for the Justice Department staff, and an expression of gratitude to President Bush.

"Public service is honorable and noble. And I am profoundly grateful to President Bush for his friendship and the many opportunities he has given me to serve the American people," said Gonzales.

Gonzales's friendship with the president dates back to Mr. Bush's tenure as governor of Texas. He served first as White House legal counsel, and was nominated to be attorney general in 2005, the first Hispanic ever chosen to become the nation's top law enforcement officer.

President Bush stood by Gonzales as questions were raised in Congress about his integrity and competence. And as recently as three weeks ago, the president reaffirmed his confidence in his attorney general.

But when Gonzales offered to leave, the president did not persuade him to stay on. Instead, Mr. Bush went before reporters in Texas and accepted the resignation with regret.

"It is sad. But we live at a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons," said President Bush.

Gonzales' decision to step down comes at a time when Congress is stepping up its scrutiny of the Justice Department. Lawmakers are looking into accusations federal prosecutors were fired largely for political reasons. They are also investigating the Justice Department's handling of a domestic spying program that was used to help track down terrorists.

Democrat Charles Schumer, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says President Bush now has an opportunity to name an attorney general who can be a real leader.

"Unlike the last time, he needs to pick the best person, not his best friend," said Schumer.

Schumer says Democrats will support any nominee who puts the rule of law before political considerations.

"We beseech, we implore the administration to work with us to nominate someone who Democrats can support and who America can be proud of," he added.

There is no word yet on just who that nominee might be. The government's top lawyer, Solicitor General Paul Clement, will fill the post on a temporary basis until a new attorney general is named by the president and confirmed by the senate.

Tsunami Museum Sparks Debate in Indonesia

By Chad Bouchard Jakarta 27 August 2007

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This poster displays the winning design of tsunami museum by architect Ridwan Kamil in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 21 Aug 2007

Indonesia has picked an architect to design a museum in Aceh province in memory of the close to 170,000 people who died there during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. But as Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta, the project is not without controversy.

The more than $7.4 million museum project in Banda Aceh will mark one of the most devastating natural disasters of modern times.

Aceh province was decimated nearly three years ago when an undersea earthquake - registering nine on the Richter scale - pushed towering waves onto its shores. The giant tsunami touched a dozen nations ringing the Indian Ocean - but Indonesia suffered the most casualties with 170,000 people dead and missing.

Adamy Aulina, assistant manager for public facilities and building at the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency, says she hopes the museum will help survivors heal.

"Aceh Tsunami Museum is a symbol. Respecting the victims and spirit of the survivors," she said. "It would be nice if Acehnese people were proud with the building. It facilitates for people who want to remind their family, friends, or colleagues who died because of the tsunami."

But the museum has its critics who are concerned the project comes too soon after the disaster, and could draw resources away from thousands of people who are still battling to rebuild their lives.

Aceh Heritage Community Foundation co-founder, Yeyen Rahmayati, says a less expensive commemoration would be more appropriate.

"The idea is good, but I think the timing is not right at the moment because there are many tsunami survivors that still need a house, job and something like that," said Rahmayati.

Another issue is the building's location. Museum planners selected a site high on a hill in the middle of Banda Aceh, where hundreds of residents scrambled to escape the waves. But Rahmayati says that hill has historic significance.

"The location is very strategic in the heart of the city center," said Rahmayati. "There was a colonial heritage used as a railway station office, and they already demolished that building, they plan to demolish another building next to the first building, so there will be two heritage buildings demolished to build the tsunami museum, and for me it's an irony, I think."

Reconstruction officials say one of the historic buildings at the site was damaged beyond repair. But, in response to concerns, the museum committee is discussing ways to incorporate remaining structures into the museum design.

The building will be raised on stilts, using an element of traditional Acehnese houses.

Ridwan Kamil, the architect who won a contest to design the museum, says the elevated structure will also incorporate an evacuation center in case of another disaster.

"That escape hill in the future can be used for an emergency situation, in case there is a flood of tsunami people can use that hill as an escape space," he said.

Kamil adds that he wanted to create a structure that would serve as more than a storage place for artifacts or exhibits.

"For me, the tsunami museum has to reflect also the psychology that people went through during these terrible times," he said.

Kamil says the entrance to the museum, called the tsunami passage, is designed to evoke cathartic emotions for survivors and visitors.

"It's a very tight corridor but very high walls with a waterfall from the left and the right, so people walk through the first space to experience how desperate the victims of the tsunami," he added. "The sound of the water will remind them of the situation."

The names of Acehnese who died in the tsunami will be inscribed in the atrium. The museum will also feature a scientific exhibition on earthquakes and tsunamis, with a before-and-after display demonstrating changes to Aceh's coastline.

Adamy Aulina, with the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency, says the building signals a transition in the community's recovery, from focusing on immediate needs to exploring hopes for the future.

"It's also a message. We have to learn from the past," she said. "Well we can learn also what is a tsunami, how we can avoid it. That we can respect and learn nature, yeah? Because with that I hope we can make a better environment and a better life."

Museum officials plan to begin construction on the museum by the end of the year, and hope to have it completed for inauguration on the fourth anniversary of the disaster in December 2008.

VOASE0826_This Is America

26 August 2007

Two Years After Katrina, Revisiting New Orleans, and Its Struggles
Progress continues, but concerns are raised about the physical as well as the mental recovery from the floods. 'There's no way you can tell me to get over it,' says one man.

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Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

Two breeches in the Florida Street levee, looking toward the Mississippi River, are shown Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina moved through the area

And I'm Steve Ember. Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Floodwalls around New Orleans, Louisiana, failed. Soon, eighty percent of the city was underwater.

VOICE ONE:

Today New Orleans is making progress. But it still faces major problems as people work to rebuild their homes and their lives.

(MUSIC)

RAY NAGIN: "Our city was totally devastated after Katrina. And after two years we are still trying to recover. But our citizens, they continue to suffer."

VOICE TWO:

That was New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, speaking this month at a congressional hearing in Washington.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington

Mayor Nagin continues to meet with federal and state officials about ways to rebuild his city and help its citizens. He has expressed dissatisfaction with levels of financial help for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region.

RAY NAGIN: "I implore, I ask, I beg this committee to really do something to help us.

VOICE ONE:

Congress has already approved tens of billions of dollars in Gulf Coast aid.

That includes seven billion dollars for the Army Corps of Engineers to repair the city's flood protection system. Last week federal officials described proposals for an additional seven and a half billion dollars of improvements by two thousand eleven.

They say the plan would sharply reduce the chances of a repeat of what happened after Katrina.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Hurricane Katrina hit land three times in the final days of August of two thousand five. Its third landfall, on August twenty-ninth, was the one that caused the most damage by breaking through the flood barriers.

Katrina was blamed for almost one thousand seven hundred deaths. Most of the deaths happened in Louisiana.

It was the most costly hurricane in American history with estimates of at least eighty-one billion dollars in property damage. Whole communities were destroyed.

VOICE ONE:

Many people living in the Lower Ninth Ward remain homeless two years after Hurricane Katrina

The floodwaters in New Orleans tore through areas including some of the poorest in the city, such as the Lower Ninth Ward.

Local resident Glen Madison expresses his dissatisfaction with the way officials are dealing with the problems in the Lower Ninth Ward.

GLEN MADISON: "Instead of sending all that money over there -- more troops. What about us? Because most of the damage was right here. The Lower, Lower Ninth Ward. Had more damage than anybody. And this is the last place they dealing with when it should have been the first."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Rebuilding has begun. But workers have yet to clear away many of the homes and other buildings wrecked by the storm.

Thousands of people are still living in trailers provided as emergency housing by the government. But there are concerns that the trailers may be making some people sick.

The people have reported headaches, nosebleeds and other problems. Officials have been investigating reports that the cause may be high levels of formaldehyde used in building materials. That chemical gives off a gas that can cause breathing difficulties. But there are no national rules about acceptable levels of formaldehyde in trailers.

Still, hundreds of people in Louisiana are taking legal action against trailer manufacturers. They accuse them of providing the government with poorly built trailers.

Some families in Louisiana and Mississippi have asked to be moved out of their temporary housing because of the concerns. Government officials say they are working to move people from trailers to hotels and other places.

VOICE ONE:

Many homeowners are still waiting for insurance payments or government help to rebuild.

And many people are dissatisfied with a state program, financed mainly by the federal government, called Road Home. This program was designed to help aid the citizens of New Orleans in rebuilding their homes.

Homeowners could be approved to receive as much as one hundred fifty thousand dollars to rebuild their home. Or the government could buy their property.

As of now, the program is five billion dollars short of what is needed.

Residents like Lucas Simmons question if the money is being spent properly.

LUCAS SIMMONS: "They keep putting it on the back burner. Then they claim and come back later and say ‘Oh look, we short.’ I guess you is short if you steady lacing everybody’s pocket that don’t need it from the ones that need it. They ain't getting no help."

VOICE TWO:

Lucas Simmons says two years later, some people do not really understand the lasting mental effect of Katrina and the floods.

LUCAS SIMMONS: "Lot of them, they didn’t lose nothing but they always saying ‘Get over it.’ I lost everything. There's no way you can tell me to get over it."

VOICE ONE:

The mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, told lawmakers that he has received shocking reports from city health officials. One report said that since Katrina, New Orleans had seen a forty-seven percent increase in deaths.

The medical examiner says there is no question that the after-effects of Katrina are killing people. Stress levels are extremely high and Mayor Nagin said resources for mental health care are limited.

Before Katrina, New Orleans had around four hundred fifty thousand people. Many left after the storm. Large numbers relocated to Texas. But in the last two years, thousands of people have returned to New Orleans. Mayor Nagin said the population now is about three hundred thousand.

VOICE TWO:

Recently a congressional delegation traveled to parts of the Gulf Coast for a two-day visit. The lawmakers promised to work with state and local governments to set goals and time limits to improve health care. That includes mental health services.

The lawmakers also said their visit to Louisiana will help them decide what to do about the financially troubled Road Home program.

In addition to the federal government, state governments have also provided money for Gulf Coast recovery efforts.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Last year, HBO television showed a documentary by movie director Spike Lee called "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts."

(SOUND)

The four-part movie centered on the Lower Ninth Ward.

Jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard wrote and performed for the film. But his connection with the project was far more involved. He had lived in the Lower Ninth Ward for sixteen years. His family's home was among those destroyed. His family lost everything.

Earlier this month Terence Blanchard released an album called "A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina.)"

The songs on the album express the pain caused by the disaster two years ago. This song "Levees" does not need any words to describe feelings both of deep sadness and inner strength.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Undoing the damage to New Orleans after Katrina has been slow in some cases but not so slow in others. Officials of the city known as the Big Easy are proud to talk about the progress that has been made. For example, crowds have returned to traditions like the yearly Mardi Gras parades.

Resident Glen Madison says the hurricane may have destroyed parts of New Orleans but not the spirit of its people.

GLEN MADISON: "You have mishaps and this is one of those things that just happen. So you just got to regroup and survive."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written and produced by Lawan Davis. To learn more about American life, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can download transcripts and audio archives of our programs. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0826_Development Report

26 August 2007

Mercy Corps Seeks to Expand Its Services
Youth development and climate change are among new areas of interest for US-based humanitarian aid group.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Often, when a natural disaster strikes, one of the first groups to offer help is Mercy Corps. This American nonprofit organization has assisted people in more than one hundred countries.

It grew out of the Save the Refugees Fund. A man named Dan O'Neill started that organization in nineteen seventy-nine. He wanted to help Cambodians who fled the rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

Soon, he established Mercy Corps with the help of another man, Ellsworth Culver. Today it has programs in more than thirty countries.

A man holds a baby near a destroyed house in the town of Pisco, Peru, 16 Aug. 2007

Joy Portella is the head of communications for Mercy Corps. She says the strengths of the group lie, first of all, in emergency relief services. For example, Mercy Corps partnered with a local aid group to provide help to families affected by the deadly earthquake this month in Peru.

Mercy Corps also works in areas of conflict such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Darfur, Sudan.

In Iraq, the group says it is helping populations to identify their rights and work for economic independence. Mercy Corps also supports microlending, small business development and technical assistance. And Mercy Corps is expanding its programs in areas of civil society building and democracy.

A congressman has nominated the group for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Its leaders hope to expand into several new areas. These include youth development, climate change issues and poverty reduction through technology.

Charity Navigator, an independent group that rates American charities, has given its highest rating to Mercy Corps. The American Institute of Philanthropy says Mercy Corps could be more open in reporting which groups receive its donated goods and how those goods are used. But it says the financial performance of Mercy Corps is excellent.

A big help is the fact that the group does not have to spend as much to raise money compared to many other charities. More than half of its budget comes from the United States government. Mercy Corps had a budget last year of two hundred twenty million dollars.

The group employs more than three thousand people. About fifty percent are Muslim and about ninety percent are citizens of the countries where they work. Joy Portella at Mercy Corps says the group has learned the importance of working with local people who have expert knowledge of a country and its culture.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. I’m Shep O'Neal.

VOASE0825_People In America

25 August 2007

Nellie Bly, 1864-1922: Newspaper Reporter Used Unusual Methods to Investigate and Write About Illegal Activities in New York City
She also was famous for traveling around the world in seventy-six days.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Ray Freeman with the Special English program, People in America. Every week we tell about a person important in the

history of the United States. Today, we tell about a reporter of more than one hundred years ago.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Nellie Bly

The year was eighteen eighty-seven. The place was New York City. A young woman, Elizabeth Cochrane, wanted a job at a large newspaper. The editor agreed, if she would investigate a hospital for people who were mentally sick and then write about it.

Elizabeth Cochrane decided to become a patient in the hospital herself. She used the name Nellie Brown so no one would discover her or her purpose. Newspaper officials said they would get her released after a while.

To prepare, Nellie put on old clothes and stopped washing. She went to a temporary home for women. She acted as if she had severe mental problems. She cried and screamed and stayed awake all night. The police were called. She was examined by doctors. Most said she was insane.

VOICE TWO:

Nellie Brown was taken to the mental hospital. It was dirty. Waste material was left outside the eating room. Bugs ran across the tables. The food was terrible: hard bread and gray-colored meat.

Nurses bathed the patients in cold water and gave them only a thin piece of cloth to wear to bed.

During the day, the patients did nothing but sit quietly. They had to talk in quiet voices. Yet, Nellie got to know some of them. Some were women whose families had put them in the hospital because they had been too sick to work. Some were women who had appeared insane because they were sick with fever. Now they were well, but they could not get out.

Nellie recognized that the doctors and nurses had no interest in the patients' mental health. They were paid to keep the patients in a kind of jail. Nellie stayed in the hospital for ten days. Then a lawyer from the newspaper got her released.

VOICE ONE:

Five days later, the story of Elizabeth Cochrane's experience in the hospital appeared in the New York World newspaper. Readers were shocked. They wrote to officials of the city and the hospital protesting the conditions and patient treatment. An investigation led to changes at the hospital.

Elizabeth Cochrane had made a difference in the lives of the people there. She made a difference in her own life too. She got her job at the New York World. And she wrote a book about her experience at the hospital. She did not write it as Nellie Brown, however, or as Elizabeth Cochrane. She wrote it under the name that always appeared on her newspaper stories: Nellie Bly.

VOICE TWO:

The child who would grow up to become Nellie Bly was born during the Civil War, in eighteen sixty-four, in western Pennsylvania.

Her family called her Pink. Her father was a judge. He died when she was six years old. Her mother married again. But her new husband drank too much alcohol and beat her. She got a divorce in eighteen seventy-nine, when Pink was fifteen years old. Pink decided to learn to support herself so she would never need a man.

Pink, her mother, brothers and sisters moved to a town near the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pink worked at different jobs but could not find a good one.

One day, she read something in the Pittsburgh Dispatch newspaper. The editor of the paper, Erasmus Wilson, wrote that it was wrong for women to get jobs. He said men should have them. Pink wrote the newspaper to disagree. She said she had been looking for a good job for about four years, as she had no father or husband to support her. She signed it "Orphan Girl".

VOICE ONE:

The editors of the dispatch liked her letter. They put a note in the paper asking "Orphan Girl" to visit. Pink did. Mister Wilson offered her a job.

He said she could not sign her stories with her real name, because no woman writer did that. He asked news writers for suggestions. One was Nellie Bly, the name of a girl in a popular song. So Pink became Nellie Bly.

For nine months, she wrote stories of interest to women. Then she left the newspaper because she was not permitted to write what she wanted. She went to Mexico to find excitement. She stayed there six months, sending stories to the Dispatch to be published. Soon after she returned to the Pittsburgh Dispatch, she decided to look for another job. Nellie Bly left for New York City and began her job at the New York World.

VOICE TWO:

As a reporter for the New York World, Nellie Bly investigated and wrote about illegal activities in the city. For one story, she acted as if she was a mother willing to sell her baby. For another, she pretended to be a woman who cleaned houses so she could report about illegal activities in employment agencies.

Today, a newspaper reporter usually does not pretend to be someone else to get information for a story. Most newspapers ban such acts. But in Nellie Bly's day, reporters used any method to get information, especially if they were trying to discover people guilty of doing something wrong.

Nellie Bly's success at this led newspapers to employ more women. But she was the most popular of the women writers. History experts say Nellie Bly was special because she included her own ideas and feelings in everything she wrote. They say her own voice seemed to speak on the page.

Nellie Bly's stories always provided detailed descriptions. And her stories always tried to improve society. Critics said Nellie Bly was an example of what a reporter can do, even today. She saw every situation as a chance to make a real difference in other people's lives as well as her own.

VOICE ONE:

Nellie Bly may be best remembered in history for a trip she took.

In the eighteen seventies, French writer Jules Verne wrote the book “Around the World in Eighty Days.” It told of a man's attempt to travel all around the world. He succeeded. In real life, no one had tried. By eighteen eighty-eight, a number of reporters wanted to do it. Nellie Bly told her editors she would go even if they did not help her. But they did.

VOICE TWO:

Nellie Bly left New York for France on November fourteenth, eighteen eighty-nine. She met Jules Verne at his home in France. She told him about her plans to travel alone by train and ship around the world.

From France she went to Italy and Egypt, through South Asia to Singapore and Japan, then to San Francisco and back to New York. Nellie Bly's trip created more interest in Jules Verne's book. Before the trip was over, “Around the World in Eighty Days” was published again. And a theater in Paris had plans to produce a stage play of the book.

VOICE ONE:

Back home in New York, the World was publishing the stories Bly wrote while travelling. On days when the mail brought no story from her, the editors still found something to write about it. They published new songs written about Bly and new games based on her trip. The newspaper announced a competition to guess how long her trip would take. The prize was a free trip to Europe. By December second, about one hundred thousand readers had sent in their estimates.

Nellie Bly arrived back where she started on January twenty-fifth, eighteen ninety. It had taken her seventy-six days, six hours, eleven minutes and fourteen seconds. She was twenty-five years old. And she was famous around the world.

VOICE TWO:

Elizabeth Cochrane died in New York in nineteen twenty-two. She was fifty-eight years old. In the years since her famous trip, she had married, and headed a business. She also had helped poor and homeless children. And she had continued to write all her life for newspapers and magazines as Nellie Bly.

One newspaper official wrote this about her after her death:

“Nellie Bly was the best reporter in America. More important is the work of which the world knew nothing. She died leaving little money. What she had was promised to take care of children without homes, for whom she wished to provide. Her life was useful. She takes with her from this Earth all that she cared about -- an honorable name, the respect and affection of her fellow workers, the memory of good fights well fought and many good deeds never to be forgotten. Happy the man or woman that can leave as good a record.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This VOA Special English program, People in America, was written by Nancy Steinbach. Your narrators were Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman.

VOASE0824_In the News

24 August 2007

Dangerous Weather, Unforgiving Seas Add Up to Deadliest Job
Commercial fishermen have the highest rate of deadly injuries among US workers. Pilots and flight engineers had the second highest in 2006.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Two tragedies at coal mines on opposite sides of the world remind us all how dangerous some jobs can be.

In China last week, floodwaters from a river trapped one hundred eighty-one miners in two mines. An official in Shandong province said Thursday that there was no hope of finding them alive. Almost five thousand people died in coal mine accidents last year in China.

The Crandall Canyon mine in the American state of Utah collapsed on August sixth, trapping six miners. Last week, another collapse at the mine killed three rescuers and injured six others.

Coal mining deaths have been decreasing in the United States. But last year there were forty-seven, more than double the number the year before. Twelve of the deaths resulted from an explosion at the Sago mine in West Virginia.

A commercial fishing boat strikes rocks near Ketchikan, Alaska, in September 2004

The Labor Department has a newly published report on work-related deaths last year in the United States. The construction industry had the largest number. But the single deadliest job in the United States is commercial fisherman.

Fifty-one workers in the fishing industry were killed, a rate of about one hundred forty-two deaths for every one hundred thousand workers. It was by far the highest rate of deaths when compared with other jobs.

A popular television program on the Discovery Channel, "Deadliest Catch," takes people inside the dangerous world of professional fishing.

NARRATOR: "A boat with a full stack of pots is at its most vulnerable. When loaded, the [Alaskan crab boat] Time Bandit will have one hundred ten thousand pounds of steel stacked above deck, increasing the risk of rollover. In the past, the combination of top-heavy boats and rough seas has consistently led to tragedy."

FISHERMAN: "We're laying way over on our side! Five people on the boat, repeat, five people."

In all, the Labor Department says five thousand seven hundred three people in the United States died from work-related injuries last year. There were thirty-one fewer deaths than the year before. And the death rate was the lowest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began collecting this information in nineteen ninety-two.

But deadly injuries increased in some jobs. Aircraft-related deaths were up sharply. Pilots and flight engineers had the second highest death rate of all jobs last year. The third highest was among workers who cut down trees.

Other jobs with high death rates were iron and steel workers, waste collectors and farmers and other agricultural workers. Power-line workers, roofers and professional drivers also had high death rates.

Road accidents were down last year but were still the most common cause of work-related deaths in America.

Congress approved mine-safety reforms last year after the Sago disaster. But mine operators have another two years to put in place two-way communication and tracking devices to help locate trapped miners.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.