VOASE0620_The Making of a Nation

20 June 2007

US History: Election of 1980 Launches the 'Reagan Revolution'
The troubles of Jimmy Carter’s presidency led many Americans to support Ronald Reagan for president. He promised to make the United States strong again.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Doug Johnson with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

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Ronald Reagan

Today, we tell about the campaign for president in nineteen eighty and the election of President Ronald Reagan.

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VOICE ONE:

The president of the United States in nineteen eighty was Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. The months before Election Day were difficult for him. Many Americans blamed Carter for high inflation, high unemployment, and the low value of the United States dollar. Many blamed him for not gaining the release of American hostages in Iran.

About a year earlier, Muslim extremists had taken the Americans prisoner after seizing the United States embassy in Tehran. President Carter asked all Americans to support his administration during the crisis.

As months went by, however, he made no progress in bringing the hostages home. The Iranians rejected negotiations for their release. Sometimes, they did not communicate with the Carter administration at all. The president appeared powerless.

VOICE TWO:

Carter's political weakness led another Democrat to compete for the party's presidential nomination. It was Edward Kennedy, brother of former President John Kennedy. He was a powerful senator from Massachusetts.

Carter was re-nominated. So was his vice president, Walter Mondale. Kennedy did not support them very strongly. So the Democratic Party was divided for the general election.

The Republican Party, however, was united behind a strong candidate. That was Ronald Reagan, a former actor and former governor of California. Reagan's vice presidential candidate was George Bush. Bush had served in Congress and as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. He had represented the United States in China and at the United Nations.

VOICE ONE:

The troubles of the Carter administration caused many Americans to feel that their country was no longer strong. Ronald Reagan promised to make it strong again.

Several weeks before the election, Carter and Reagan debated each other on television. Some observers said Carter seemed angry and defensive. They said Reagan seemed calm and thoughtful. On Election Day, voters gave Reagan a huge victory. He won by more than eight million popular votes. Republicans called it the "Reagan Revolution."

VOICE TWO:

On Inauguration Day, the new president spoke about the goals of his administration. A major goal was to reduce the size of the federal government. Reagan and other conservatives believed that the nation's economy was suffering because of high taxes and unnecessary laws. In this crisis, he said, government was not the solution to the problem, government was the problem.

He urged Americans to join him in what he called a "new beginning." And he expressed hope that the people would work with him.

REAGAN: "The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months. But they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now -- as we have had in the past -- to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom."

VOICE ONE:

Ronald Reagan was born in nineteen eleven, in the little town of Tampico, Illinois. He was a good student and a good athlete. During the summer, he worked as a lifeguard at a local swimming area. One summer, he saved the lives of twenty-seven people.

He studied economics and sociology at Eureka College, a small school in Illinois. At the college, he saw a theater production. When it was over, he said, "More than anything in the world, I wanted to speak the actor's words."

VOICE TWO:

Reagan did not have enough money to go to New York or Hollywood to be an actor. Instead, he tried to get a job as a sports announcer on radio. To show his abilities, he made a recording of an American football game in which he announced all the plays. There really was no game, however. He had invented all the action.

A radio station in the small city of Davenport, Iowa, was pleased with his creativity. He got the job.

VOICE ONE:

Later, he worked at a radio station in Des Moines, Iowa. And then he moved to the big city of Chicago, Illinois. There he announced the action of baseball games.

When the team went to California to play, Reagan went, too. This gave him a chance to take a screen test to become a movie actor. The Warner Brothers Motion Pictures company liked the friendly, handsome young man and offered him a job.

VOICE TWO:

Before long, Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood star. He appeared in many movies. These included "The Knute Rockne Story," "Bedtime for Bonzo," and "King's Row." They were not the very best motion pictures made in Hollywood, but they were popular. During one movie, he met actress Nancy Davis. They married after he was divorced from his first wife.

Reagan became deeply interested in politics during his years in Hollywood. He was a liberal, but became increasingly conservative. He served six times as president of a union of movie actors. He was noted for his opposition to anyone in the movie industry who supported communism.

VOICE ONE:

By the early nineteen fifties, Reagan had stopped appearing in movies. Instead, he appeared on television. He made advertisements and also presented a series of dramatic shows.

By nineteen sixty, he was making speeches for conservative Republican candidates. In nineteen sixty-six, he became a candidate himself. He ran for governor of California. The Democrats did not think he was a serious candidate. They told jokes about some of his movies. They made a mistake. When the voting was over, Reagan had won by almost one million votes.

As governor, Reagan was praised for reducing the state's huge debt. However, he was criticized for raising taxes. He also was criticized for his severe policies for controlling unrest at the state's colleges. Yet, he won re-election in nineteen seventy.

VOICE TWO:

Reagan campaigned for the Republican nomination for president in nineteen seventy-six. He almost defeated President Gerald Ford for the nomination. One of the party's older senators spoke with Reagan after the convention. He said, "Son, you will be president some day. This just was not your year." Four years later, with President Jimmy Carter in trouble, Reagan's day had arrived.

VOICE ONE:

Ronald Reagan was sworn-in as America's fortieth president on January twentieth, nineteen eighty-one. For many Americans, the day turned out even happier than expected. Iran finally announced that it would free the hostages in Tehran.

One of President Reagan's earliest proposals made many Americans happy, too. He began to work to get Congress to reduce taxes. He also began a weekly series of radio broadcasts. In these programs, he commented on developments in American life and political policy. The broadcasts were similar to those made by President Franklin Roosevelt during the nineteen-thirties. Some people started to call Reagan "The Great Communicator."

VOICE TWO:

Outside the Washington Hilton Hotel after the assassination attempt on President Reagan

Two months after Reagan took office, something unexpected and terrible happened.

The president was leaving a meeting at a hotel in Washington. A gunman began to fire. A man guarding the president fell to the ground. So did the president's press assistant. Both were seriously wounded.

Other guards quickly helped Reagan into his car. At first, observers did not think the president had been hit. But he had. There was a bullet in his left lung, close to his heart. Doctors removed the bullet. Reagan fought courageously to get well...and he did.

We will continue the story of President Ronald Reagan next week.

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VOICE ONE:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

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

VOASE0620_Education Report

20 June 2007

Foreign Student Series: A Look at Washington University in St. Louis
We answer a question from a student in China in Part 42 of our series.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A student at Xinjiang Normal University in China has a question for our Foreign Student Series. Akbar Mamat wants to go overseas after graduation and would like some information about Washington University.

Brookings Hall on campus

Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, is a medium-sized school in the Midwest. It has almost eleven thousand students. Twelve percent this last school year were international students, mostly graduate students.

The university has schools for law, medicine and social work. It also has a business school, a school of design and visual arts and a school of engineering and applied science. But more than seventy percent of courses are taught through the Arts and Sciences program.

The new school year that begins this fall will cost fifty-two thousand dollars for undergraduates. That includes twelve months of living expenses estimated at seventeen thousand dollars.

Graduate tuition differs by program. Tuition for the Master of Social Work program, for example, will cost twenty-seven thousand dollars in the coming year. The Master of Business Administration program will cost about thirty-eight thousand dollars.

The university offers financial assistance to international students, including first-year students, but says its resources are limited.

Scholarships are available. The university also offers a monthly payment plan to spread out the cost of tuition. And it offers loan programs.

International students in the United States generally cannot receive federal student loans. But they may be able to take out private loans, as many American students do. The student loan industry is in the news right now. Investigations are looking at questionable dealings between colleges and lenders.

Washington University in Saint Louis was named Eliot Seminary when it opened in eighteen fifty-three. Later the name was changed to honor the first American president, George Washington.

But other schools share the name Washington, including the University of Washington and George Washington University. So in nineteen seventy-six Washington University added the words "in Saint Louis" to its name.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Israeli Prime Minister Meets Congressional Leaders

By Dan Robinson Washington 19 June 2007

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Following his meeting with President Bush, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert went to Capitol Hill for talk s with congressional leaders. VOA's Dan Robinson reports, these came as U.S. lawmakers joined the Bush administration and Israel in supporting the newly-formed government in the West Bank of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

From left: Israel's PM Ehud Olmert, Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Prime Minister Olmert, with House and Senate Democratic and Republican leaders, stopped briefly before cameras before going into their talks late Tuesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid re-stated bipartisan support for Israel:

PELOSI: With the Republican and Democratic leaders gathered here you see how strong the bipartisanship is for a great U.S.-Israel relationship. We are honored by the prime minister's visit and we look forward to hearing from him about the situation in the Middle East.

REID: With no equivocation or exception, we have no friend in the world like the state of Israel.

"Let me just express to you Mr. Prime Minister what I think you already know, the strong bipartisan support here in Congress for the U.S.-Israeli relationship. When it comes to Israel and our bilateral relationship there really are no differences here in the Congress, we welcome you back in the Capitol," said Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Prime Minister Olmert thanked the lawmakers for the bipartisan show of support. "This is a great source of strength and encouragement for the people of Israel to know that we can rely on this friendship, in good times and bad times, we always have the support of the U.S. Congress," he said.

This was Olmert's second visit to the Capitol as Prime Minister, having addressed a joint meeting of Congress just over a year ago.

But it came as the U.S., European allies, and Israel seek to bolster the Fatah-based government of Palestinian president Abbas, who formed an emergency government in the West Bank after the anti-Israel Hamas took over power in Gaza following fierce street battles with Fatah.

Appearing with President Bush at the White House (Tuesday) Prime Minister Olmert told reporters Israel wants to strengthen Palestinian moderates.

On Capitol Hill this week, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrat Tom Lantos, welcomed the Bush administration decision to resume aid for Palestinians, as long as U.S. funds do not fall into the hands of Hamas.

Congress has also demonstrated support for Israel in various pieces of legislation, including a resolution urging the U.N. Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the international convention against genocide because of his calls for the destruction of Israel.

Democratic Congresswomen Diane Watson was joined on the House floor this week by Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen:

WATSON: His pledge to wipe Israel off the map, and his denial of the Holocaust have shocked the civilized world.

LEHTINEN: While most people desire to live in a world of freedom, liberty, prosperity and peace, Iran's rulers actively seek a world of oppression, destruction, of war, a world without Israel and without a United States of America.

The question of potential threats to Israel from Iran's nuclear program was also a topic during the Israeli prime minister's appearance at the White House with President Bush. "I fully understand the concerns of any Israeli when they hear the voice of the man in Iran saying on the one hand we want to acquire the technologies and know-how to enrich uranium which can then be converted into a nuclear weapon, and on the other hand we want to destroy Israel, if I were a Israeli citizen I would view that as a serious threat to my security," he said.

President Bush Tuesday repeated his hope for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, but repeated his long-standing position that all options are on the table.

Legislation to increase financial pressure on Tehran, through sanctions on its energy sector as well as other steps, is moving through Congress.

West African Street Kids Face Bleak Future

By Naomi Schwarz Thies, Senegal 19 June 2007

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Kids who live in the streets are a growing problem in West African cities. Troubled youths, orphans, and children with family problems often run away from their homes in small villages and wind up in cities surviving off what they can beg and steal. As Naomi Schwarz reports from the Senegalese city of Thies even the volunteers who try to help these children are suffering from a lack of resources.

In a compact square, near the center of Thies, a small Senegalese city 60 kilometers east of the capital, a group of boys hang out on benches, on a windy day.

Idrissa Diop is one of them.

He does not work, he says, and he does not go to school. Both his parents have passed away.

It was a long time ago, he says, when he was eight-years-old.

Now Diop, 18, says he lives with his grandmother in a nearby village, but it has been a long time since he was there.

"I do not sleep there," he says. "I sleep here," he continues, gesturing to the small square where he and the others have been sitting around.

Nearby, another man, Modou Barry, who hangs around with the kids, spits out a rag he has been sucking on.

The rag was infused with a drug, says Jean Badiane Seck, a volunteer with the Association for the Protection and Promotion of Youths (ASPJ).

Ignace Thomas, another volunteer, says drug and alcohol habits are some of the reasons these youths ended up on the streets to begin with.

Their families would punish and yell at them for drinking too much, he says, and the boys did not want to be told what to do, so they would leave.

In other cases, he says, there are family problems that lead the youth to leave. It is difficult to come by accurate statistics about the number of children living on the streets of West Africa, but there are many examples, and few opportunities for help.

Jean Seck is surrounded by runaway teens he has helped

Seck recounts the story of a young man who left home when his mother remarried. He did not get along with his stepfather. Like other runaways, he slept in the streets and survived by begging, taking small jobs, and stealing. When he became sick with tuberculosis, he wanted to go back home.

We called his mother, Seck says, but she refused to accept him back.

ASPJ organized medical treatment for him, but by the time they tried to bring him to the hospital he had disappeared.

The group has been working to with runaways in Thies for more than 10 years. Founded by a sociologist from a nearby village, the association used to have a shelter that offered programs in the arts and skills for street kids. They also offered start-up money and advice to help some youths find legitimate employment.

Center for runaways in Thies closed due to lack of funds

But the lack of funds forced them to close the center a few years ago. Now, equipped only with a pharmacy in a duffel bag, Seck and Thomas and other volunteers go out on the streets to find the runaways.

Mame Couna Thioye, an activist with a Senegalese-based human rights non-governmental organization, says the number of kids on the streets is growing.

She says the problem is that people are not enforcing laws designed to protect children.

She says, legally, all children under the age of 15 should be in school, but many are not.

Families, driven by poverty, see children as an extra helping hand and send them to work.

And, Thioye says, when troubled kids rebel or run away from a problem situation at home, there is no state mechanism to help them.

VOASE0619_Health Report

19 June 2007

Experts List Warning Signs of Ovarian Cancer
Major US cancer groups have agreed on common symptoms of a deadly disease that often goes unrecognized until it is too late.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Ovarian cancer is known as a "silent killer" because it is usually discovered too late to save a woman's life. But three cancer groups in the United States have now agreed on a list of possible early signs of the disease.

The 2007 Revlon Run/Walk for Women was held in May in New York to raise money to fight breast and ovarian cancer

The statement is the first of its kind to recognize what ovarian cancer survivors have long believed: that there are common symptoms. Researchers have found that these symptoms are more likely to happen in women with ovarian cancer than women in general.

One symptom is bloating, or expansion of the abdomen area. Pain in the abdomen or the pelvis can be another symptom. Also, researchers say women with early-stage ovarian cancer may urinate more often or with greater urgency. And the statement says another common symptom is difficulty eating or feeling full quickly.

Women who have these symptoms almost daily for more than a few weeks are advised to see a gynecologist or other doctor.

The cancer can affect one or both ovaries, the organs that produce eggs. Doctors say the main ways to find the disease early are recognizing the symptoms and getting a combination pelvic and rectal examination.

Ovarian cancer kills more than one hundred thousand women around the world each year. In the United States, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Cancer experts predict that at least fifteen thousand women will die of it this year. And more than twenty-two thousand new cases will be found.

The Gynecologic Cancer Foundation led the effort for the agreement on common symptoms. The American Cancer Society and the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists also were involved. And a number of other cancer groups have expressed support for the statement.

Doctor Barbara Goff at the University of Washington in Seattle was a lead investigator of several studies that gave support to the new list. She says most of the time a woman with these symptoms will not have ovarian cancer. But the disease can spread quickly to nearby organs.

A few months can mean life or death. Doctor Goff notes that the disease is ninety percent curable when found in its earliest form.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For a link to the full statement, and for more news about health and science, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOASE0619_Explorations

19 June 2007

Record Number of Climbers Reach Top of World's Highest Mountain
They include an 18-year-old girl and a 71-year-old man.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell

Mount Everest

about efforts to climb Mount Everest. Last month, an eighteen-year-old American became one of the youngest people to climb the tallest mountain on Earth. And, a seventy-one-year old Japanese man became the oldest.

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VOICE ONE:

Mount Everest is at the border of Nepal and Tibet. It was named for Sir George Everest, who recorded the mountain’s position in eighteen forty-one. Since nineteen fifty-three, more than ten thousand people have attempted to climb to the top of the world's highest mountain. The summit of Mount Everest is eight thousand eight hundred forty-eight meters high.

Climbers have reached the summit more than three thousand times. However, more than two hundred people died while attempting to get there.

They all battled low temperatures. Wind speeds of up to one hundred sixty kilometers an hour. Dangerous mountain paths. And they all risked developing a serious health disorder caused by lack of oxygen. All for the chance to reach the top of the world.

VOICE TWO:

The first and most famous of the climbers to disappear on Mount Everest was George

George Mallory

Mallory. The British schoolteacher was a member of the first three trips by foreigners to the mountain. In nineteen twenty-one, Mallory was part of the team sent by the British Royal Geographical Society and the British Alpine Club. The team was to create the first map of the area and find a possible path to the top of the great mountain.

Mallory also was a member of the first Everest climbing attempt in nineteen twenty-two. But the attempt was canceled after a storm caused a giant mass of snow to slide down the mountain, killing seven ethnic Sherpa guides.

VOICE ONE:

Mallory was invited back to Everest as lead climber of another expedition team in nineteen twenty-four. On June fourth, Mallory and team member Andrew Irvine left their base camp for the team's final attempt to reach the summit. The climbing team had great hopes of success for the two men. A few days earlier, expedition leader Edward Norton had reached a record height of eight thousand five hundred seventy-three meters before he turned back.

VOICE TWO:

Mallory and Irvine were using bottles of oxygen. Mallory believed that was the only way they would have the energy and speed to climb the last three hundred meters to the top and return safely. Team member Noel Odell saw Mallory and Irvine climbing high on the mountain the following day.

Odell said they had just climbed one of the most difficult rocks on the northeast path. He said they were moving toward the top when clouds hid them. He never saw them again. The disappearance of Mallory and Irvine on Mount Everest remains among the greatest exploration mysteries of the last century.

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VOICE ONE:

During the next twenty-nine years, teams from Britain made seven more attempts to climb Everest. Until the early nineteen fifties, British teams were the only foreigners given permission to climb Mount Everest.

On May twenty-ninth, nineteen fifty-three, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to reach the summit of Everest. The two were part of a British team lead by Jon Hunt. They had made a difficult climb from the southeast, through recently opened Nepalese territory.

Edmund Hillary was a beekeeper from New Zealand. It was his second trip to Everest. He had been on the first exploratory trip to the mountain that had mapped the way up from the southern side. Tenzing Norgay was a native Sherpa from Nepal. He was the first Sherpa to become interested in mountain climbing. His climb with Hillary was his seventh attempt to reach the top.

VOICE TWO:

Hillary said his first reaction on reaching the summit was a happy feeling that he had “no more steps to cut." The two men placed the flags of Britain, Nepal, India and the United Nations. Hillary took a picture of Norgay.

They looked out over the north side into Tibet for any signs that Mallory or Irvine had been there before them. Then they began the long and difficult trip back down. The success of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay led to many new attempts on the mountain. Today, Everest has been climbed from all of its sides and from most of its possible paths.

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VOICE ONE:

Reinhold Messner of Italy and Peter Habeler of Austria made another historic Everest climb in nineteen seventy-eight. The two men were the first to reach the summit without using bottled oxygen. Messner said when he reached the top he felt like a single giant lung.

At the time, scientists believed that a person at the top of the mountain would only have enough oxygen to sleep. Scientists believed that Messner and Habeler would die without oxygen. Scientists now know that two conditions make climbing at heights over eight thousand meters extremely difficult. The first is the lack of oxygen in the extremely thin air. The second is the low barometric air pressure.

VOICE TWO:

Today, scientists say a person dropped on the top of the mountain would live no more than ten minutes. Climbers can survive above eight thousand meters because they spend months climbing on the mountain to get used to the conditions. Several things have made climbing Everest easier now than it was for the first climbers. These include modern equipment and clothing. They also include information gained from earlier climbs and scientific studies.

Nineteen ninety-three was the fortieth anniversary of the first successful climb of Mount Everest. One hundred twenty-nine people climbed to the summit that year. That was a record number. Hundreds of people have reached the summit each year during the past few years. Some expert climbers have begun leading guided trips up the mountain.

Some people have paid as much as sixty-five thousand dollars for the chance to climb Everest. However, many of these people have little climbing experience. This can lead to serious problems.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen ninety-six, Everest had its greatest tragedy. Fifteen people died attempting to reach the top. This was the deadliest single year in Everest history. A record ten people died on the mountain in one day. Two of the world's best climbers were among those killed.

Several books by climbers have described the incident and the dangerous conditions. The best known is “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. The book sold many copies around the world and increased the interest in climbing Mount Everest.

VOICE TWO:

Last year, another tragedy on Mount Everest was in the news. Several climbers told news reporters that they had passed a British climber in trouble without stopping to rescue him. David Sharp had been climbing alone, without a guide or teammates. He was lying on a rock four hundred fifty meters below the summit. Reports say as many as forty climbers passed Sharp as he lay dying. The climbers who left him there said that rescue efforts would have been useless. He later froze to death.

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VOICE ONE:

This year has been reportedly the most successful ever for Mount Everest climbers. More than five hundred people have reached the top of the world's highest mountain.

Samantha Larson

Last month, eighteen-year old Samantha Larson of Long Beach, California became one of the youngest people to reach the top. She made the climb with a group that included her father. Larson is believed to be the youngest person in the world to have climbed all of the "seven summits," the highest mountains on each of the continents.

VOICE TWO:

Also last month, a retired teacher from Japan became the oldest person to reach the top of Mount Everest. Katsusuke Yanagisawa is seventy-one years old. He said climbing the mountain was more difficult than he expected. He said he was not attempting to set a record. Instead, he said he was just trying his hardest not to die.

Nepali guide Apa has reached the summit of Everest a record 17 times

Another record was set last month. Nepali mountain guide Apa reached the summit for the seventeenth time. That broke his old world record.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Shelley Gollust. Mario Ritter was our producer. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can see pictures of Special English listeners on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Western Nations Back New Palestinian Government

By Meredith Buel Washington 18 June 2007

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Western nations are working quickly to support the new Palestinian government in the West Bank, following the violent takeover of the Gaza Strip by the Islamic militant group Hamas. The United States and European Union have announced they will resume financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, now that Hamas is no longer a part of the government. Middle East analysts say the current situation in the Palestinian territories is unprecedented, as we hear in this background report from VOA correspondent Meredith Buel.

A member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's guard, 18 Jun 2007

The bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas has split the Palestinian government, with the Hamas leadership in Gaza headed by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and the new Fatah-allied cabinet in the West Bank sworn in by President Mahmoud Abbas.

In announcing the resumption of direct aid to Mr. Abbas' government, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Hamas is attempting to divide the Palestinian people, a move the United States rejects.

"Hamas has made its choice," said Condoleezza Rice. "It has sought to attempt to extinguish democratic debate with violence and to impose its extremist agenda on the Palestinian people in Gaza. Now responsible Palestinians are making their choice, and it is the duty of the international community to support those Palestinians who wish to build a better life and a future of peace."

Analysts say the division between the West Bank and Gaza has endangered the Palestinians' goal of forming an independent state in the two territories, which are located on opposite sides of Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

President Abbas seeks peace with Israel while Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, wants to destroy the Jewish state. The United States, Israel and the European Union consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization.

Robert Malley, the Director of the Middle East Program at the International Crisis Group, says the Hamas takeover of Gaza means the Palestinians have entered an extraordinary period of uncertainty.

"Are goods going to be able to come in from Israel? Is the border with Egypt going to be open? What is going to happen to the maritime border? Those are questions that everyone is asking right now because, frankly, this is a new situation, it is an unprecedented situation and nobody has any guidebook to go by," said Robert Malley.

While western nations are restoring aid to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and are pledging more money to help the United Nations fund assistance in the Gaza Strip, fears are being raised about a possible humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is home to about 1.4 million Palestinians.

Ghaith al-Omari, a visiting fellow at the New American Foundation who has served as a senior advisor to President Abbas, says Palestinians in Gaza will face international isolation.

"We will start seeing two different realities in the West Bank and Gaza," said Ghaith al-Omari. "In Gaza, most likely, it [Hamas] will be unable to receive any international funding, any international support. We will see further poverty, further deterioration there. The West Bank might fare a little bit better."

Hamas began its rise to prominence in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza.

Following the Oslo peace accords in the early 1990s, the group's armed wing launched a campaign of suicide attacks against Israeli targets.

Early last year Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections, defeating the Fatah-led government, which was seen as corrupt and ineffective.

The group's popularity is partly due to its extensive network of social services, including schools, health clinics and mosques.

Following Hamas' victory at the polls, western nations cutoff aid to the Hamas-led government, and Israel froze hundreds of millions of dollars in Palestinian tax revenues.

Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group says the international pressure helped fuel the internal fight between Hamas and Fatah.

"Part of what has happened between Fatah and Hamas is very much the superposition of an internal struggle of power over who was going to control the security services, who was going to control the Palestine Liberation Organization, who was going to control the Palestinian Authority and overlaid on that was a regional and international struggle and, unfortunately, one fed the other," he said.

Some analysts are expressing concern that a total boycott of Hamas could turn the Gaza Strip into a breeding ground for international terrorism.

Former advisor to the Palestinian Authority Ghaith al-Omari.

"If central authority in Gaza crumbles, if Hamas crumbles, it will not now be replaced by Fatah," he said. "It will have to be replaced by either small gangs, regionally or locally based gangs, and more frighteningly it might be a good ground for al-Qaida-type organizations to start flourishing."

Analysts say the United States and Israel are backing President Abbas to send the message that more is to be gained by negotiations than by violence.

Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group.

"In the short term I think the strategy is going to be to try to decouple the West Bank and Gaza," said Malley. "To build a showcase of success, if that is possible in the West Bank, and to contrast it with Gaza."

The general outlines of a peace settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians have been known for years, although no significant progress has been made since the Oslo process collapsed.

Analysts say achieving a two-state solution appears more difficult than ever, now that the Palestinians are virtually split into two separate states themselves.

US Envoy Says North Korea Should Shut Down Nuclear Facilities Soon

By Daniel Schearf Beijing 18 June 2007

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The chief U.S. negotiator at talks on North Korea's nuclear programs says Pyongyang may already have its money back from a Macau bank and should shut down its nuclear facilities in a matter of weeks. As Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing, finding a bank to receive the formerly frozen North Korean funds has proven a big obstacle to restarting the nuclear talks.

US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill meets with the media in Seoul, 18 Jun 2007

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill says North Korea's nuclear shutdown should go forward after a Russian bank last week agreed to receive more than $20 million in North Korean funds that had been frozen in Macau.

Hill told reporters in Beijing the money was in the Russian banking system as of last Saturday and may have already arrived in North Korea. He said it should be only a matter of weeks before nuclear talks can continue.

"It took us a long time, longer than any of us suspected. I think all of us have learned a lot about banking in the process, for what that is worth. But, I think now we have made an important turn and we are back onto the subject at hand, which is denuclearization," he said.

Hill says it should not take North Korea more than a couple of weeks to shut down its nuclear facilities.

"I think political will is something we are going to need," added Hill. "But, from a technical point of view I think all of it is quite doable. What we need to do is be very active diplomatically and, frankly, imaginative diplomatically to get back on our timelines."

North Korea agreed in February to shut down its main nuclear reactor and allow U.N. inspections in return for heavy fuel oil, a security guarantee, and diplomatic incentives.

But Pyongyang refused to move forward with the agreement because of a delay in transferring its frozen funds and missed an April deadline to shut down the reactor.

Macau authorities froze the accounts in 2005 after U.S. suspicions that a bank in the Chinese territory was aiding North Korean money laundering. North Korea boycotted nuclear discussions for over a year and only returned to the table last December after Washington promised to discuss unfreezing the money.

After an investigation, the United States concluded the bank had indeed aided illicit North Korean activity, including counterfeiting and drug dealing. But U.S. officials still agreed to unfreeze the cash to get North Korea back to negotiations.

No bank could be found that was willing to transfer the suspected illicit funds until last week, when Russia agreed to transfer the money to Pyongyang.

Hill, who is in Seoul, says South Korea may ship the first batch of heavy fuel oil to North Korea as early as this week.

Coalition Air Strike Kills Seven Children in Eastern Afghanistan

By Benjamin Sand Islamabad 18 June 2007

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A U.S.-led coalition air strike in eastern Afghanistan killed at least seven children along with several militants. The U.S military says it is saddened by the deaths in what it says is another example of al-Qaida terrorists using innocent civilians to shield themselves. Also, local Afghan officials say up to 60 civilians and more than 50 Taleban insurgents have been killed during fierce fighting in the past three days in southern Uruzgan province. From Islamabad, VOA Correspondent Benjamin Sand reports the civilian deaths are fueling opposition to the U.S.-backed central government.

The air strike occurred Sunday in Paktika Province, not far from the Pakistan border. U.S. officials say the target, including a mosque and religious school or madrassa, was a confirmed al-Qaida safe house.

Coalition Spokesman Major Chris Belcher says there was absolutely no indication that there were children inside the compound when they ordered the attack, and that local witnesses confirmed al-Qaida fighters were present.

"Coalition forces confirmed the presence of nefarious activity occurring at the site before getting approval to conduct an air strike on the location," he said.

Local Afghan officials immediately condemned the attack and are calling for an investigation.

The incident comes as the rising number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is provoking a major anti-government backlash. Protesters, many chanting death to America, are now a common sight in major cities and towns across the country.

NATO officials say Taleban militants killed almost 700 civilians last year, causing the overwhelming majority of civilian deaths.

But security experts say that public attention remains fixated on U.S. and NATO forces, and by extension, Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president, Hamid Karzai.

Norine MacDonald is the Afghan-based president of the Senlis Council, which researches Afghan development and security issues. She says every time a civilian dies, popular support for President Karzai plummets.

"If we are here to support the Karzai government we should not be alienating his political base," she said. "If we do not care about it from a humanitarian point of view, the suffering of these people, we should care from the point of view of the politics of keeping Karzai in power and stabilizing his political base."

MacDonald says the number of civilian deaths caused by coalition forces increased significantly when the hunt for Taleban insurgents in Southern Afghanistan intensified.

"NATO is doing a great job, but they have insufficient forces there to actually win the battles on the ground in the villages without air support," she said. "Well it is very hard to avoid civilian casualties when you are bombing a village."

VOASE0618_Science In the News

18 June 2007

How a Revolution in Thought Shook Scientists' Understanding of Earth
Modern research showed how Earth's surface is cracked like a giant eggshell. The pieces are called tectonic plates and as they move, they can cause earthquakes.

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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 Bob Doughty. Scientists who study the Earth tell us that the continents and ocean floors are always moving. Sometimes, this movement is violent and might result in great destruction.

VOICE ONE:

Today we examine the process that causes earthquakes.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The first pictures of Earth taken from space showed a solid ball covered by brown and green land masses and blue-green oceans. It appeared as if the Earth had always looked that way -- and always would. Scientists now know, however, that the surface of the Earth is not as permanent as had been thought.

Scientists explain that the surface of our planet is always in motion. Continents move about the Earth like huge ships at sea. They float on pieces of the Earth’s outer skin, or crust. New crust is created as melted rock pushes up from inside the planet. Old crust is destroyed as it rolls down into the hot area and melts again.

VOICE TWO:

Only since the nineteen sixties have scientists begun to understand that the Earth is a great, living structure. Some experts say this new understanding is one of the most important revolutions in scientific thought. The revolution is based on the work of scientists who study the movement of the continents -- a process called plate tectonics.

Damage in Islamabad, Pakistan, after the October 2005 earthquake centered in Kashmir

Earthquakes are a result of that process. Plate tectonics is the area of science that explains why the surface of the Earth changes and how those changes cause earthquakes.

VOICE ONE:

Scientists say the surface of the Earth is cracked like a giant eggshell. They call the pieces tectonic plates. As many as twenty of them cover the Earth. The plates float about slowly, sometimes crashing into each other, and sometimes moving away from each other.

When the plates move, the continents move with them. Sometimes the continents are above two plates. The continents split as the plates move.

VOICE TWO:

Tectonic plates can cause earthquakes as they move. Modern instruments show that about ninety percent of all earthquakes take place along a few lines in several places around the Earth.

These lines follow underwater mountains where hot liquid rock flows up from deep inside the planet. Sometimes, the melted rock comes out with a great burst of pressure. This forces apart pieces of the Earth's surface in a violent earthquake.

Other earthquakes take place at the edges of continents. Pressure increases as two plates move against each other. When this happens, one plate moves past the other, suddenly causing the Earth’s surface to split.

VOICE ONE:

San Francisco lies in rubble following the 1906 earthquake

One example of this is found in California, on the West Coast of the United States. One part of California is on what is known as the Pacific plate. The other part of the state is on what is known as the North American plate.

Scientists say the Pacific plate is moving toward the northwest, while the North American plate is moving more to the southeast. Where these two huge plates come together is called a fault line.

The name of this line between the plates in California is the San Andreas Fault. It is along or near this line that most of California’s earthquakes take place, as the two tectonic plates move in different directions.

The city of Los Angeles in Southern California is about fifty kilometers from the San Andreas Fault. Many smaller fault lines can be found throughout the area around Los Angeles. A major earthquake in nineteen ninety-four was centered along one of these smaller fault lines.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The story of plate tectonics begins with the German scientist Alfred Wegener in the early part of the twentieth century. He first proposed that the continents had moved and were still moving.

He said the idea came to him when he observed that the coasts of South America and Africa could fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.He proposed that the two continents might have been one, then split apart.

Later, Alfred Wegener said the continents had once been part of a huge area of land he called Pangaea. He said the huge continent had split more than two hundred million years ago. He said the pieces were still floating apart.

VOICE ONE:

Wegener investigated the idea that continents move. He pointed out a line of mountains that appears from east to west in South Africa. Then he pointed out another line of mountains that looks almost exactly the same in Argentina, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. He found fossil remains of the same kind of an early plant in areas of Africa, South America, India, Australia and even Antarctica.

Alfred Wegener said the mountains and fossils were evidence that all the land on Earth was united at some time in the distant past.

VOICE TWO:

Wegener also noted differences between the continents and the ocean floor. He said the oceans were more than just low places that had filled with water. Even if the water was removed, he said, a person would still see differences between the continents and the ocean floor.

Also, the continents and the ocean floor are not made of the same kind of rock. The continents are made of a granite-like rock, a mixture of silicon and aluminum. The ocean floor is basalt rock, a mixture of silicon and magnesium. Mister Wegener said the lighter continental rock floated up through the heavier basalt rock of the ocean floor.

VOICE ONE:

Support for Alfred Wegener’s ideas did not come until the early nineteen-fifties. American scientists Harry Hess and Robert Dietz said the continents moved as new sea floor was created under the Atlantic Ocean.

They said a thin valley in the Atlantic Ocean was a place where the ocean floor splits. They said hot melted material flows up from deep inside the Earth through the split. As the hot material reaches the ocean floor, it spreads out, cools and hardens. It becomes new ocean floor.

The two scientists proposed that the floor of the Atlantic Ocean is moving away from each side of the split. The movement is very slow -- a few centimeters a year.

In time, they said, the moving ocean floor is blocked when it comes up against the edge of a continent. Then it is forced down under the continent, deep into the Earth, where it is melted again.

Harry Hess and Robert Dietz said this spreading does not make the Earth bigger. As new ocean floor is created, an equal amount is destroyed.

VOICE TWO:

The two scientists also said Alfred Wegener was correct. The continents move as new material from the center of the Earth rises, hardens and pushes older pieces of the Earth away from each other. The continents are moving all the time, although we cannot feel it.

They called their theory "sea floor spreading." The theory explains that as the sea floor spreads, the tectonic plates are pushed and pulled in different directions.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Mount St. Helens in Washington state exploding May 18, 1980

The idea of plate tectonics explains volcanoes as well as earthquakes. Many of the world's volcanoes are found at the edges of plates, where geologic activity is intense. The large number of volcanoes around the Pacific plate has earned the name "Ring of Fire."

Volcanoes also are found in the middle of plates, where there is a well of melted rock. Scientists call these wells "hot spots." A hot spot does not move. However, as the plate moves over it, a line of volcanoes is formed.

The Hawaiian Islands were created in the middle of the Pacific Ocean as the plate moved slowly over a hot spot. This process is continuing, as the plate continues to move.

VOICE TWO:

Volcanoes and earthquakes are among the most frightening events that nature can produce. The major earthquake in South Asia in October of two thousand five, for example, killed more than seventy thousand people. More than three million people were made homeless because of the earthquake. At times like these, we remember that the ground is not as solid and unchanging as people might like to think.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Bob Doughty. Internet users can read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE0618_Agriculture Report

18 June 2007

Singer Aims to Grow Interest in Local Farming
Money from Adrienne Young's new CD ''Room to Grow'' will help support community gardens.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

(MUSIC)

Country singer and songwriter Adrienne Young brings together music and agricultural activism.

(MUSIC)

She even included seeds in the album cover of her first CD.

Adrienne Young wants people to know that she supports the movement in America to increase local farming. She offers information about agricultural issues on her Web site. And now part of the money from her third and newest release, "Room to Grow," will be donated to help support community gardens.

Adrienne Young's family has lived in Florida for seven generations. Her ancestors helped develop the agriculture industry there. The state of Florida is the nation's second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, after California.

Adrienne Young has said that her interest in nature was shaped by the fact that she did not grow up on a farm. She grew up in a house her grandfather built on what had been farmland two generations ago. But the land was developed and was now partly a large highway.

Adrienne Young has teamed up with two organizations that support local farming and gardening efforts. One is the American Community Gardening Association. The other is FoodRoutes, a group she has represented for several years.

FoodRoutes says buying locally grown food is not only about taste and freshness. The group says buying locally also helps to strengthen local economies and protect the environment. Experts say food in the United States travels an average of more than three thousand kilometers from farm to store.

We leave you with Adrienne Young and the title song from her new CD, "Room to Grow."

(MUSIC)

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Dana Demange. You can learn more about American agriculture at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Katherine Cole.

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Lesotho Facing Food Crisis

By Lisa Schlein Geneva 17 June 2007

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Lesotho women draped in blankets walk to a voting station set in a school in the village of Machache (File Photo - 17 Feb 2007)

The World Food Program says the tiny South African country of Lesotho needs urgent international assistance to prevent a major food crisis this year. A report by WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization finds cereal prices in Lesotho have skyrocketed after this year's main cereal harvest was ravaged by one of the worst droughts in 30 years. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

The U.N. agencies say they expect the height of the food crisis to hit in the first three months of 2008. They say 400,000 people across Lesotho, or one fifth of the population, will face food shortages and need help.

The agencies say serious food shortages will begin in the next three months. This will affect about 140,000 of the most impoverished people.

A World Food Program Spokeswoman, Christiane Berthiaume, says drought is the biggest problem facing Lesotho. It is responsible for this year's extremely poor harvest, but she says the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country is making a bad situation even worse.

"Thirty-one percent is very, very high and it is obviously undermining the economic resources of the country, resulting in a lack of labor in rural areas," said Berthiaume. "A lot of people are either too weak to work because they are sick or many have died. Those are people that are young people that should be able to work."

Berthiaume notes Lesotho needs about 360,000 tons of food annually. But, because of this year's bad harvest, she says farmers only produced 72,000 tons of cereal. This has resulted in soaring cereal prices that are unaffordable for many people.

She says the World Food Program is preparing an appeal for Lesotho. She says it is crucial that money is available so farmers can buy enough seeds and fertilizer in time for the next crop season. She says another bad harvest next year could be catastrophic.

VOASE0617_This Is America

17 June 2007

What Is Your Favorite Song About Summer?
Hundreds of songs have been written about having fun in the summertime.

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Summer begins this week in the northern part of the world. To celebrate, we play some of our favorite songs about summer.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

If you ask most Americans, they would say their favorite season of the year is summer. The weather is warm. They do not have to wear heavy clothes to keep warm. Young people do not have to go to school. They can do many activities outside, like playing sports and swimming at the beach or the pool. They like the sunshine during the day and the warm summer nights. People have written and recorded hundreds of songs about summer. These are some of our favorites.

VOICE TWO:

One of the most famous songs about summer is from George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess." He wrote the music in nineteen thirty-five. The opera takes place in the southern United States. It opens with these words: "Summertime and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high." Leontyne Price sings the song.

(MUSIC)

Here is Billy Stewart's version of the same song.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The nineteen fifties and sixties produced many songs about teenagers enjoying their summer vacation from school. The songs are about having fun, swimming in the ocean, driving in cars. This one is "Summertime, Summertime" by the Jamies.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

It is summer almost all year long in California. And it was summer all the time for the Beach Boys. They sang about their favorite activities, like riding the ocean waves on surfboards. Here is one Beach Boy song, "All Summer Long."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

However, for some teenagers, summer vacation was not all fun and games. Some of them had to work to earn money. Eddie Cochran sang about this in "Summertime Blues." Many other bands and artists later recorded this song, including the British rock band, the Who.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The Lovin' Spoonful was a band that did not love summers in the city because of the heat. They sang: "Hot town, summer in the city. Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty." And: "All around, people looking half-dead, walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head." They liked the nighttime better when they could dance and have more fun. "Summer in the City" was released in the summer of nineteen sixty-six and was one of the Lovin' Spoonful's greatest hits.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Even though it was hot, Sly and the Family Stone still found ways to have fun in the summertime. This song is about the happiness that the season promises, including going to a "county fair in the country sun."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In the nineteen nineties, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince produced this hip-hop song called "Summertime." It is about being with friends and having a good time.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

We leave you with a song from the movie version of the musical "Grease." It is about two teenagers who meet during their summer vacation and fall in love. Back at school in the autumn, they tell their friends all about it. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John sing "Summer Nights."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can see pictures of Special English listeners on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts and audio archives of our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0617_Development Report

17 June 2007

US Lists More Nations as Worst for Modern-Day Slavery
The State Department releases its 2007 "Trafficking in Persons Report."

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The United States has accused several of its Arab allies of being among the worst offenders of human trafficking. The State Department last week released its "Trafficking in Persons Report" for two thousand seven. The report rates efforts by one hundred sixty-four countries and territories to end modern-day slavery.

It lists Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar among sixteen countries with the worst records, up from twelve last year. It also names Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Malaysia. And listed again this year are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Burma, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

Zimbabwe, Belize and Laos were listed among the worst offenders in last year's report but are now in the second tier group. Countries in the second tier do not fully meet the requirements but are working to improve.

Countries are divided into three groups, or tiers, based on how well they meet the requirements of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The United States Congress passed this law in two thousand.

Countries in tier three face possible cuts in American assistance. But officials say the goal of the report is not to punish.

The reports are based on information from American diplomats, nongovernmental organizations and other groups. The United States estimates that about eight hundred thousand people are forced across international borders each year. It says up to seventeen thousand are believed to enter this country. The great majority of victims are female and as many as half are children and teenagers.

Thirty-two nations are on a "watch list" in this year's report. The list is supposed to be a warning. Armenia, China and South Africa are on it for the third year in a row. India, Mexico and Russia are listed for the fourth year.

Mark Lagon listens to reporter's questions

In fact, State Department official Mark Lagon said: "The world's largest democracy has the world's largest problem of human trafficking." He said India has hundreds of thousands of sex trafficking victims and millions of bonded laborers. These include forced child laborers.

The report came out last Tuesday, which was World Day Against Child Labor. Estimates are that more than two hundred million children worldwide are forced to work, mostly on farms. The United Nations is calling for an end to the worst forms of child labor by two thousand sixteen.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. I’m Steve Ember.