VOASE0725_The Making of a Nation

25 July 2007

US History Series: A 'Man From Hope' Is Elected to the White House in 1992
Democrat Bill Clinton, the governor of Arkansas, defeated Republican George H.W. Bush's attempt to win a second term. Even as the new president took office, critics were accusing him of wrongdoing.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1992

And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States. Today, we begin telling about Bill Clinton, America's forty-second president. He led the United States for eight years. He acted on many important issues that affected the United States and other countries. President Clinton also had to defend himself against accusations of dishonesty and sexual wrongdoing.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen ninety-one, many Americans felt happier and more secure than they had in years. Worries about nuclear war had eased. The United States had led a coalition of allies to victory in the Persian Gulf War. In a little more than four days, the coalition freed Kuwait from invaders from Iraq and deeply damaged the Iraqi military.

Republican President George Bush had won huge popularity after successfully leading the war effort. Most political experts believed President Bush would easily be re-elected in nineteen ninety-two.

VOICE TWO:

President Bush’s popularity fell, however, as many people lost their jobs. Unemployment climbed to its highest rate since nineteen eighty-four. Economic growth slowed to recession levels. The federal government was deeply in debt after years of borrowing to pay for its programs.

The opposition Democratic Party correctly believed it had a good chance to elect a president in nineteen ninety-two. It placed its hopes for winning the White House on Arkansas Governor William Jefferson Clinton.

VOICE ONE:

The future president was born William Jefferson Blythe on August nineteenth, nineteen forty-six, in Hope, Arkansas. His parents were William Jefferson Blythe and Virginia Blythe. Bill’s father was a traveling salesman. His father had died in a car accident three months before Bill was born. At age two, Bill was sent to live with his grandparents while his mother studied to become a nurse.

Bill’s mother married Roger Clinton when Bill was four years old. The family moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in nineteen fifty-three. Bill officially changed his name to William Jefferson Clinton at age fifteen.

VOICE TWO:

Bill Clinton’s new father, Roger Clinton, drank too much alcohol. Bill’s life at home was unpleasant at times. However, he did well in school and liked it very much. He also developed a strong early interest in politics. He competed for many offices while in high school.

In nineteen sixty-three, Bill Clinton met President John F. Kennedy. Bill was visiting Washington, D.C. as a delegate for a citizenship training program. President Kennedy provided the young Bill Clinton with a strong example of leadership.

Bill continued his education at Georgetown University in Washington. He graduated in nineteen sixty-eight. Excellence in his studies won him a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in Oxford, England. He spent two years there before entering Yale University Law School in New Haven, Connecticut.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

At Yale, Bill fell in love with another Yale law student. Hillary Rodham of Park Ridge, Illinois shared his deep interest in politics and public service. They were married in October of nineteen seventy-five. Their daughter Chelsea was born in nineteen-eighty.

Bill Clinton returned to Arkansas after completing law school. He soon entered politics as a Democrat, narrowly losing an election for Congress. Later, Arkansas citizens elected him attorney general -- the top law official for the state. In nineteen seventy-eight, he became the Democratic Party candidate for governor. He easily defeated his Republican opponent. He was the youngest man ever elected governor of Arkansas.

VOICE TWO:

While Bill Clinton was governor, the federal government operated a holding center for Cuban refugees in Arkansas. Rioting among these Cubans hurt his chances for re-election. Governor Clinton’s opponent said he should have done more to get the government to hold the Cubans someplace else. Mister Clinton also supported unpopular new taxes.

Bill Clinton was defeated in his effort to be re-elected governor of Arkansas in nineteen eighty. He deeply regretted this loss. He promised himself he would again be governor. Bill Clinton gained his goal in the election two years later. He continued to serve as governor of Arkansas until nineteen ninety-two.

VOICE ONE:

Education in Arkansas improved under the leadership of Governor Clinton. Many more students graduated from Arkansas high schools. The number of students entering college also rose. The state began requiring examinations for teachers. It also increased their pay. Mister Clinton started health centers in public schools. And he expanded Head Start programs to help prepare poor children to begin school.

While governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton also served in national organizations for governors and Democratic Party leaders. He became well known as a moderate Democrat.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen ninety-one, William Jefferson Clinton announced he would compete for the Democratic nomination for president. Former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas and former California Governor Edmund Brown, Junior were his main opponents for the nomination.

However, Paul Tsongas later suspended his campaign for lack of money. Mister Clinton won a big lead over Mister Brown in state nominating elections.

Democrats met for their national nominating convention in New York City in July, nineteen ninety-two. They named Bill Clinton as their candidate for president. He chose Senator Al Gore of Tennessee to be his vice president in the election.

VOICE ONE:

The Republican Party nominated President Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle for a second term. Texas businessman Ross Perot competed as an independent. His vice presidential candidate was a former top Navy officer, James Stockdale.

President Bush talked about his foreign policy successes during the campaign. He said he would cut taxes. He said Bill Clinton would raise taxes. Many Americans, however, remembered that President Bush had raised taxes after promising not to do this.

VOICE TWO:

Bill Clinton criticized President Bush mostly about important domestic issues in the United States. He said the president had failed to deal with the slow economy and high unemployment. President Bush answered that the Democrats controlled Congress. He said the Democrats defeated most of his domestic proposals. Ross Perot criticized both Republican President Bush and Democratic candidate Clinton. Mister Perot said neither man considered the importance of the huge federal debt.

VOICE ONE:

Bill Clinton and Al Gore won the nineteen ninety-two presidential election. They received about forty five-million votes. President Bush and Mister Quayle had about thirty-nine million votes. About eighteen million people voted for Mister Perot and Mister Stockdale.

VOICE TWO:

Bill Clinton became America’s forty-second president on January twentieth, nineteen ninety-three. At age forty-six, he was the third youngest person ever elected president.

At his swearing-in ceremony, the new president said there was no longer division between foreign and domestic issues. Listen to these words from President Bill Clinton’s swearing-in-speech:

BILL CLINTON: "The world economy, the world environment, the world AIDS crisis, the world’s arms race -- they affect us all. Today, as an old order passes, the new world is more free but less stable. Communism’s collapse has called forth old animosities and new dangers. Clearly America must continue to lead the world we did so much to make.”

VOICE ONE:

Even as President Clinton took office, critics were accusing him of wrongdoing. There were questions about sexual relationships outside his marriage. Other accusations involved an investment he and Missus Clinton had made years before. In nineteen seventy-eight they had bought land in Arkansas to sell for holiday homes.

President Clinton denied any dishonorable actions. But the criticism and suspicion of America’s forty-second president continued.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by George Grow. This is Steve Ember

VOICE ONE:

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

US 'Campaign Plan' Predicts Two Years to Establish Security in Iraq

By Al Pessin Pentagon 24 July 2007

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A U.S. military spokesman has confirmed that the top commander in Baghdad and the U.S. ambassador have developed a new 'Campaign Plan' that sets a goal of establishing security in Baghdad and other population centers by June of next year, and throughout the country a year later. The plan was first reported in Tuesday's New York Times. It suggests a substantial U.S. troop presence over that period, but defense officials say troop levels will be determined as the security situation in Iraq develops. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Reached by telephone in Baghdad, coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Boylan told VOA he expects the lengthy, classified document - five months in the making and several centimeters thick - will be finalized this week. He says it sets goals for establishing security that include progress in military, political and economic efforts, but he says troop levels will be determined later, after officials see how their plan is going.

"It doesn't really address troop levels or troop strength," said Colonel Boylan. "This is more conditions-based type of document, type of planning. This is the strategic, big picture kind of planning that has to take place to give everyone else the direction they need to continue forward."

Colonel Boylan, chief spokesman for the top coalition commander, General David Petraeus, says the goals of establishing security in Iraqi cities by next June and throughout the country a year later could be achieved either sooner or later than planned.

US soldiers prepare to search homes in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, 28 June 2007

And he notes that although a major military offensive is under way, most of the Campaign Plan involves non-military aspects, in keeping with the new U.S. military counterinsurgency doctrine that General Petraeus was in charge of developing last year.

"The political line of operation, the political requirements, are the main idea, is the main focus," he said. "All the other operations that we are conducting, whether they're economic, security, governance, are all in support of the political line of operation."

Colonel Boylan confirmed that part of that political initiative is an expanded effort to promote reconciliation on the local level throughout Iraq, including reconciliation with armed groups that have been fighting against the coalition and the Iraqi government. A special unit headed by a British general has been established for that purpose.

Boylan says the Campaign Plan implements the strategy President Bush announced in January, and does not require approval beyond General Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. But the New York Times reports senior U.S. officials have been briefed on the document, which the colonel says is now in the final editing stage.

Bryan Whitman

Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman says the existence of a draft Campaign Plan with a two-year time frame does not indicate any long-term strategic decisions have been made by senior leaders in Washington.

"It would be incorrect and inaccurate to infer that there have been some sort of national decisions made, based on these plans," he said.

Whitman and Boylan also say the Campaign Plan is subject to change, if necessary, based on conditions in Iraq as they develop. Whitman put it this way.

"Even once approved, as I understand it, it'll be basically a living, breathing, fluid document because, once again, in a dynamic environment like Iraq, in which our actions are based on the conditions on the ground, it will be a constantly changing, evolving situation, and so will the military response to that," he said.

The Times' account quotes military officials in Baghdad as saying the new plan is a departure from the previous Iraq commander's plan, which called for giving the Iraqis responsibility for their own security as quickly as possible.

But many members of the U.S. Congress from both political parties are calling for progress, and at least the start of a U.S. troop withdrawal, much sooner than the Campaign Plan predicts. And many are skeptical of the prospects for Iraqi political reconciliation.

On Tuesday, Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee, said the Campaign Plan's goal of better security in some areas by next June, and the potential for the start of a troop withdrawal at that time, matches a proposal he has made, and reflects the expected departure from Iraq of forces sent as part of the current surge.

Senator Reed also said he agrees that political progress is the key in Iraq, but he thinks the Campaign Plan is too optimistic.

"The assumption that in the next several weeks or months that the Iraqi political system is suddenly going to do a remarkable turnabout, start being inclusive rather than exclusive, start making tough decisions about oil laws, I think is very doubtful," he said.

Senator Reed said the Bush administration should be working now on an entirely new strategy for Iraq, a view shared by many Democrats in Congress, and a growing number of Republicans.

In Baghdad, Colonel Boylan said the military makes plans based on actual conditions on the ground, while civilian leaders tend to be more concerned about the timing. He said the current challenge is to "meld" those two approaches.

Brush Fires Forces Vacationers to Scramble in Southern Italy

By Sabina Castelfranco Rome 25 July 2007

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Soaring temperatures and forest fires have forced thousands of holiday-goers in southern Italy to evacuate hotels, campsites and other tourist sites. From Rome, Sabina Castelfranco reports there have been at least two deaths blamed on the conflagration.

There are scenes of desperation and anger in Italy's south, as brush fires spread across vast areas and firefighters struggle to cope with dramatic situations. Thousands of tourists have been trapped on beaches.

Vacationers walk past burnt cars at the San Nicola camping a day after a fire broke out, in Peschici, in the Gargano peninsula of the region of Puglia in Italy, 25 July 2007

Holiday makers escaping the flames rushed to the beach in bathing suits, leaving all their belongings behind in their campsites and apartments. Emergency services used patrol boats and helicopters to evacuate 4,000 tourists and residents to safety.

However, there were many complaints about the delays in rescue operations and a lack of water.

One woman was in despair. She says it is a miracle that she and her son are alive. She credits God, not the rescuers. She says she spent three hours at sea, holding her 10-month-old son's head above water.

In the Peschici in Puglia, people were forced to evacuate a hotel and several camp and tourist sites. Residents were devastated by their experience. Even the cemetery was burning.

One man says he has never seen anything like a cemetery burning. He says no one showed up to deal with the fires for four hours.

The head of the Italy's civil defense authority, Guido Bertolaso, says it was very likely the series of fires devastating the region were deliberately started.

Summer wildfires are common in Italy. The country has been hit by a heat wave with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees. Weather reports say these temperatures are not expected to ease in the next few days.

Bertolaso says the current situation is unprecedented. He says Italy has never experienced conditions like this, before. Temperatures in the south have reached 45, with zero percent humidity. Add consistent winds and it is a perfect recipe for wildfires. He says that, in a half hour, a dropped match can incinerate a small forest.

Italy has the largest fire-fighting fleet in Europe, but Bertolaso says it was impossible to react to the 100 calls received for planes, Tuesday.

US Senate Renews Import Sanctions on Burma

By Deborah Tate Capitol Hill 25 July 2007

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The U.S. Senate voted 93 to one to extend import sanctions on Burma for another year, citing that country's suppression of human rights and political dissent. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

Aung San Suu Kyi (May 2002)

The import sanctions are aimed at sending a message to Burma, where the military regime, known as the State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC, refuses to hand over power to a government elected in 1990, and where democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest.

"These sanctions will continue to show the SPDC that the United States stands squarely with the long-suffering people of Burma and against this brutal regime," said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in the Senate and a chief sponsor of the measure.

"We will not remain silent," said Senator Diane Feinstein, a California Democrat and a co-sponsor. "We will not remain still until Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners are released, and democratic government is restored in Burma."

Feinstein said some 1,300 political prisoners remain in Burmese jails. She highlighted other aspects of the country's poor human rights record.

"The practice of rape as a form of repression has been sanctioned by the Burmese military," she said. "Use of forced labor is widespread. Human trafficking is rampant."

The sanctions bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives Monday, now goes to President Bush for his expected signature.

Import sanctions were first imposed on Burma under a 2003 law.

The United States also imposes an arms embargo against Burma, along with restrictions on exports and financial transactions.

Angola in Final Weeks of Voter Registration Drive

By Scott Bobb Luanda 24 July 2007

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Angola is in the final weeks of a drive to register voters for parliamentary elections due next year. These are to be the first elections since the end of the lengthy Angolan civil war. But there are obstacles that some experts believe will make it difficult to hold the polling as scheduled. Southern Africa correspondent Scott Bobb has this report from Luanda.

Since last November more than 2,000 officials have been deployed across Angola to register as many voters as possible before the start of the rainy season in September.

To date 5.7 million voters have been registered for parliamentary elections next year and presidential elections in 2009. This is considered to be a significant portion of the adult population but the exact figure is unknown because the last census was conducted in the 1970s.

These will be the first elections in 15 years and only the second multi-party vote in the country's history.

The National Democratic Institute is training observers and supporting voter education programs. Program director Barbara Smith says the preparations appear to be going well.

"The registration process has been quite lengthy but they've managed to register so far quite a good percentage of the amount of people they think need registering," she said.

But the Angolan government believes the number is low. It has extended the registration drive by three months and has begun sending officials by helicopter into remote regions of the territory.

A professor at the University of Angola, Immanuel Muanza, notes that many other obstacles remain.

He says 2008 is not likely to be the year for the elections. This is because of the rains, the size of the territory, the lack of paved roads and legacies of the war such as landmines.

Muanza adds that once voter registration is finished, voter lists must be compiled and published for public review. Materials such as ballots and ballot boxes must be distributed. And election officials must be trained.

He believes these tasks are too great to be accomplished by next year's dry season, when the elections could be held without the added logistical problems posed by the rains.

The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) has governed since independence and will be competing against the Union for the Total Independence of Angola-UNITA-and a dozen smaller parties.

The MPLA and UNITA fought a bitter 27-year war that displaced one-fourth of the population, devastated education and social services and left more than one million landmines scattered across the country.

Smith of the NDI says this legacy is already causing problems.

"They mistrust each other in a unique way really. It's difficult for the parties who aren't in power to voice where their real concerns are with the process. And I think it's hard for MPLA to open up and be completely transparent about the process with them," she said.

Independent observers also question whether the elections will be fair. They note that they are being held under the Ministry of Territorial Administration and the National Electoral Commission has merely a supervisory role.

Nevertheless the government has pledged a free and fair vote.

Angola has held multi-party elections only once, in 1992. These were meant to end the civil war but UNITA rejected the results and fighting resumed.

After the death of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi in an ambush in 2002, the two sides signed a peace agreement and formed a government of national reconciliation.

Mwanza says there are fears among some Angolans that another election will lead to a new round of fighting.

He says people living in the interior still recall how they voted and then were persecuted or lost their families. So, he says, they view the elections as possibly bringing another crisis.

Paulo de Carvalho

But Angola University Sociology Professor Paulo de Carvalho, who has conducted public opinion surveys on voter attitudes, says today the fear of a return to war is not very great.

He says if Joanes Savimbi were alive the fear would be greater. He acknowledges there are ethnic tensions that could bring war but says firm measures are being taken to prevent this from happening.

The elections were to have been held in 2004 but have been repeatedly postponed.

Smith says the delay is causing suspicion among some Angolans.

"The sooner that they can put that calendar in place, the more confidence there will be in it," she said. "The process has been delayed several times now and people get edgy that it will be delayed yet another year."

Smith says many Angolans do not understand how their parliament works and a great deal of civic education remains to be done, but people display remarkable political wisdom.

"They understand that it's their chance to show their displeasure or their pleasure with what government is doing. It's their chance every four years to vote for change if they don't like what the government has done for them," she said.

Despite the difficulties, observers hope Angolans will gain valuable experience through the elections. And this will strengthen democratic traditions and be a major step toward overcoming the legacy of the war.

VOASE0724_Health Report

24 July 2007

When Eye Problems Involve Diseases of the Retina
A question from Vietnam about retinal degeneration.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

The retina is the sensory tissue in the back part of the eye. It gathers light

and captures images from the lens, much like film in a camera. The retina processes these images into signals that travel through the optic nerve to the brain.

Diseases of the retina can cause vision loss over time.

A thirty-year-old listener in Vietnam says he cannot see well and doctors have told him he has retinal degeneration. This is the loss or destruction of the sensory tissue of the retina. Trinh Phuong Bac says he first developed problems in his right eye when he was a child. He would like to know more about this disease.

Doctor Emily Chew is a deputy division director at the National Eye Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. She says it is true what doctors have told our listener: there is no cure for retinal degeneration.

She says most cases are considered genetic. Scientists have been trying to develop gene treatments for it, and in recent years there have been some reports of possible progress. But Doctor Chew says these studies of experimental gene therapies have so far only involved animals.

Recently, the National Eye Institute reported the findings of a study of diet and a disease called retinopathy. It says the omega-three fatty acids EPA and DHA, both found in fish, protected mice against the development and progression of retinopathy. The study showed that decreasing omega-six fatty acids in the diet also helped. The study was published this month in Nature Medicine.

The findings could be useful to research into retinopathy in humans, including a common cause of vision loss in diabetics. A separate form can lead to permanent blindness in babies born too early. Doctor Chew, however, says this study may have no connection to treating retinal degeneration.

She also says there is disagreement about whether taking high levels of vitamin A could reduce the severity of the disease. She says there was a study which suggested that vitamin A helped some people with retinitis pigmentosa. But she notes that other investigators have disputed these findings.

Retinitis pigmentosa, or R.P, is a form of retinal degeneration. R.P. is the name for a group of diseases that can be found as early as when a person is a teenager. People with R.P. have genes that give incorrect orders to cells that receive light. As a result, the retina can begin to self-destruct.

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

VOASE0721_People In America

21 July 2007

Elizabeth Blackwell, 1821-1910: Against Strong Opposition, She Became the First Western Woman in Modern Times to Become a Doctor
She also started a hospital for women and children and built a medical school to train women doctors.

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ANNOUNCER:

Every week we tell about someone important in the history of the United States. Today, Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman tell about the first western woman in modern times to become a doctor. Now, the story of Elizabeth Blackwell on the VOA Special English program People in America.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Bristol, England in eighteen twenty-one. Her parents, Hannah and Samuel Blackwell, believed strongly that all human beings are equal. Elizabeth's father owned a successful sugar company. He worked hard at his job. He also worked to support reforms in England. He opposed the slave women to have the same chance for education as men.

He carried this out in his own home. Elizabeth had three brothers and four sisters. All followed the same plan of education. They all studied history, mathematics, Latin and Greek. These subjects were normally taught only to boys. Friends asked Samuel Blackwell what he expected the girls to do with all that education. He answered: "They shall do what they please".

VOICE TWO:

In eighteen thirty-two, Samuel Blackwell's sugar factory was destroyed by fire. He and his wife decided to move the family to the United States. Elizabeth was eleven years old.

The Blackwells settled in New York City. But Mister Blackwell's business there failed. The family moved west, to the city of Cincinnati, on the Ohio River.

Samuel Blackwell was sick for much of the trip. He died soon after arriving in Ohio. To help support the family, Elizabeth and her two older sisters started a school for girls in their home. Two younger brothers found jobs.

In the next few years, Elizabeth's brothers became successful in business. The girls continued operating their school. But Elizabeth was not happy. She did not like teaching.

Elizabeth began to visit a family friend who was suffering from cancer. The woman knew she was dying. She said women should be permitted to become doctors because they are good at helping sick people. The dying friend said that perhaps her sickness would have been better understood if she had been treated by a woman. And she suggested that Elizabeth study medicine.

VOICE ONE:

Elizabeth knew that no woman had ever been permitted to study in a medical school. But she began to think about the idea seriously after the woman who had suggested it died.

Elizabeth discussed it with the family doctor. He was opposed. But her family supported the idea. So Elizabeth took a teaching job in the southern state of North Carolina to earn money for medical school.

Another teacher there agreed to help her study the sciences she would need. The next year, she studied medicine privately with a doctor. He was also a medical school professor. He told Elizabeth that the best medical schools were in Philadelphia.

VOICE TWO:

No medical school in Philadelphia would accept her. College officials told her she must go to Paris and pretend to be a man if she wanted to become a doctor. Elizabeth refused. She wrote to other medical colleges -- Harvard, Yale, and other, less well-known ones. All rejected her, except Geneva Medical College in the state of New York.

She went there immediately, but did not feel welcome. It was not until much later that she learned the reason: her acceptance was a joke. The teachers at the college decided not to admit a woman. But they did not want to insult the doctor who had written to support Elizabeth's desire to study medicine. So they let the medical students decide.

The male students thought it funny that a woman wanted to attend medical school. So, as a joke, they voted to accept her. They regretted their decision by the time Elizabeth arrived, but there was nothing they could do. She was there. She paid her money. She wanted to study.

VOICE ONE:

Elizabeth Blackwell faced many problems in medical school. Some professors refused to teach her. Some students threatened her. But finally they accepted her. Elizabeth graduated with high honors from Geneva Medical School in eighteen forty-nine. She was the only woman in the western world to have completed medical school training.

Three months later, Doctor Elizabeth Blackwell went to Paris to learn to be a surgeon. She wanted to work in a hospital there to learn how to operate on patients. But no hospital wanted her. No one would recognize that she was a doctor.

A hospital for women and babies agreed to let her study there. But she had to do the tasks of a nursing student. At the hospital, Doctor Blackwell accidentally got a chemical liquid in her eye. It became infected. She became blind in that eye. So she was forced to give up her dreams of becoming a surgeon.

Instead, she went to London to study at Saint Bartholomew's Hospital. There, she met the famous nurse Florence Nightingale.

Elizabeth returned to the United States in eighteen fifty-one. She opened a medical office in New York City. But no patients came. So doctor Blackwell opened an office in a poor part of the city to help people who lived under difficult conditions. And she decided to raise a young girl who had lost her parents.

VOICE TWO:

Elizabeth Blackwell had many dreams. One was to start a hospital for women and children. Another was to build a medical school to train women doctors. She was helped in these efforts by her younger sister Emily. Emily also had become a doctor, after a long struggle to be accepted in a medical school.

With the help of many people, the Blackwell sisters raised the money to open a hospital in a re-built house. The work of the two women doctors was accepted slowly in New York. They treated only three hundred people in their hospital in its first year. Ten times as many people were treated the second year.

VOICE ONE:

Elizabeth Blackwell's work with the poor led her to believe that doctors could help people more effectively by preventing sickness. She started a program in which doctors visited patients in their homes. The doctors taught patients how to clean the houses and how to prepare food so sickness could be prevented.

News of Elizabeth's theories spread. Soon, she was asked to start a hospital in London. She spoke to groups in London about disease prevention. And she worked with her friend Florence Nightingale.

Elizabeth returned to the United States to start America's first training school for nurses. And in eighteen sixty-eight, she opened her medical college for women. She taught the women students about disease prevention. It was the first time the idea of preventing disease was taught in a medical school. Soon other medical schools for women opened in Boston and Philadelphia.

VOICE TWO:

Elizabeth Blackwell felt her work in America was done. She returned to England. She started a medical school for women in London. She wrote books, and made speeches about preventing disease.

Doctor Blackwell talked of deaths that should never have happened, of sickness that should never have been suffered. She spoke about the dangers of working too hard, of eating poor food, of houses without light, of dirt and other causes of disease. And she told doctors that their true responsibility was to prevent pain and suffering from ever happening.

In eighteen seventy-one, she started the British National Health Society. It helped people learn how to stay healthy.

VOICE ONE:

Elizabeth Blackwell never married. Neither did her sisters. They believed in treating men like equals. And they expected to be treated like equals themselves. Most men of that time did not accept such treatment. This belief caused problems for their brothers too. They had trouble finding wives who wanted to be considered as equals.

Two of Elizabeth's brothers did marry, however. Both their wives were famous workers for the cause of women's rights.

VOICE TWO:

Elizabeth Blackwell died in England in nineteen ten. She was eighty-nine years old.

She was a very strong woman. She once wrote that she understood why no woman before her had done what she did. She said it was hard to continue against every kind of opposition. Yet she kept on because she felt the goal was very important. Toward the end of her life, she received many letters of thanks from young women. One wrote that doctor Blackwell had shown the way for women to move on.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

VOASE0724_Explorations

24 July 2007

Space Station Remains a Work in Progress, One Great Big Piece at a Time
Also: NASA has big plans for the red planet. And the Hubble Space Telescope will get an upgrade.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. This week we tell about the most recent flight of the space shuttle Atlantis. We also tell about a new spacecraft that will explore the polar areas of Mars. And we tell about an upgrade to the Hubble Space Telescope.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Space shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California

The space shuttle Atlantis returned safely to earth on June twenty-second after fourteen days in space. Atlantis landed at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. Rainy weather at Kennedy Space Center in Florida prevented the shuttle from landing there. Rain could have damaged the heat protections system on the spacecraft. This was the first shuttle launch of the year for the United States space agency. The shuttle traveled more than nine million kilometers.

VOICE TWO:

The main goal was to continue construction of the International Space Station. This flight of the shuttle brought a new piece of equipment to the space station. The piece, called a truss, weighs seventeen and one-half tons.

It includes large solar energy collectors more than seventy-three meters long called solar arrays. The solar arrays change the light of the sun into electricity providing power to the space station. Each solar array contains many thousands of photovoltaic cells. The extra power will be needed in the future when other missions add new pieces to the space station.

The truss also contains a Solar Alpha Rotary Joint. This device keeps the solar arrays pointed toward the sun at all times. This permits the arrays to continuously gather electricity for the space station.

VOICE ONE:

During the mission, American astronaut Sunita Williams set a major spaceflight record.

Sunita Williams

She has spent more time in space than any other woman. She worked on the international space station for more than six months. Miz Williams also set a record for spacewalking by a female astronaut. She has spent more than twenty-nine hours working outside the space station.

Miz Williams was launched into space on the shuttle Discovery on December ninth, two thousand six.

In addition to her other records, Sunita Williams became the first person to run a marathon in space. She ran in place on an exercise machine called a treadmill on April sixteenth. That was the same day as the Boston Marathon in Massachusetts. In fact, she was officially entered in the race. Miz Williams finished the forty-two kilometer race in four hours and twenty-four minutes.

Last month, astronaut Clayton Anderson replaced Miz Williams on the space station. He joined Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov.

VOICE TWO:

The shuttle flight had several major problems. In fact, one crisis temporarily threatened the one hundred billion dollar space station. Part of the station's computer system failed when astronauts connected the new truss to the space station.

The International Space Station after a new solar array was added

Three navigation computers in the Russian section failed and could not be restarted. These computers control the position of the station in its orbit around the Earth. Control of the space station was then passed to the space shuttle. The shuttle had enough fuel to hold the space station's position for several days.

Another computer problem affected the environmental system of the space station. That system provides oxygen for the station and removes the carbon dioxide gas from the air. The Russian cosmonauts were able to repair the computers, but only after several tense days.

VOICE ONE:

The Atlantis flight was supposed to last eleven days, but the problems extended it to fourteen days. One main problem took place during the launch. Part of the shuttle's heat protection system came loose. NASA said the damage was not so severe that it threatened the shuttle. However, it required an extra spacewalk by a shuttle astronaut to repair. Astronauts used the fifteen-meter-long robotic arm of the shuttle to inspect the heat shield after the shuttle left the space station.

Still, the astronauts and NASA were satisfied with the mission. Commander Rick Sturckow said the astronauts were able to solve all the problems and complete the mission.

NASA had expected to launch Atlantis in March. But a hail storm damaged the fuel tank. This mission was the twenty-eighth for Atlantis. It was the one hundred eighteenth flight in the space shuttle program.

The next space shuttle flight is planned for August ninth. The shuttle Endeavor will add another truss to the International Space Station.

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VOICE TWO:

NASA continues to explore the red planet, Mars. A new spacecraft, the Phoenix Mars

An artist's version of the Phoenix Mars Lander

Lander, will investigate the planet's north polar area next year. The spacecraft will land in a place that is believed to have huge amounts of frozen water and, possibly, conditions for life.

Scientists have found that Martian polar areas hold a surprising amount of water. In March, the European Space Agency announced findings from its Mars Express spacecraft. It said measurements showed that there was enough water trapped in the southern polar area of Mars to cover the entire planet to a depth of eleven meters.

A special device on Mars Express took the measurements. The instrument is called the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding, or MARSIS. NASA and the Italian space agency jointly built MARSIS.

The device uses radar to "see" through levels of ice to the ground surface beneath. MARSIS found that icy material at the southern polar area was three point seven kilometers deep in some places.

VOICE ONE:

Now NASA will explore the north polar area with the Phoenix Mars Lander. It is expected to be launched in August and to reach Mars in May or June of next year. It will dig into icy layers of material using its robotic arm.

One important instrument on the lander is the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. It will help scientists study water and substances in the Martian soil including the elements hydrogen and carbon. These are considered the building blocks of life. The instrument will heat materials found on the surface to examine their chemical composition. Another device will test soil by adding water to it and examining the results.

The Phoenix Mars Lander will also have a special set of cameras that will be able to see in different wavelengths of light. NASA scientists hope that the lander will give them a better understanding of the history of water on Mars. They consider this important if they are to find out if life could or did exist there.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

A picture of the Orion Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

The telescope is the most important tool in astronomy. Scientists have been learning more and more about space ever since Galileo first used the telescope to observe the stars in the seventeenth century. In nineteen ninety, NASA sent the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit around the Earth.

Over the years it has been the most important telescope in modern astronomy. Using Hubble, scientists have been able to learn the age of the universe, take pictures of far-away young galaxies and study the mysteries of the universe. Now, NASA is planning a new mission to update the telescope next year. This project, called Servicing Mission Four, will add important instruments.

VOICE ONE:

Scientists designed Hubble to be visited by NASA astronauts who could fix and update the telescope. Over the years, NASA has sent several teams to carry out these updates. Each of these missions has made Hubble even more powerful. Servicing Mission Four will fix old parts and add new, advanced instruments that can make new observations.

Hubble's gyroscopes are some of the old parts that will be fixed. The gyroscopes help control the telescope. Also, new batteries will be added to keep the telescope operating. Thermal blankets will also be added, which will help keep the instruments warm.

The instruments that will be added are called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, or COS, and the Wide Field Camera Three. The COS will be able to observe and measure the structure of the universe, and how the universe has changed over time. The Wide Field Camera Three will let Hubble see deeper into the universe. It will also permit the telescope to observe more kinds of light that come from different places in the universe.

These improvements are expected to keep the Hubble telescope working until at least two thousand thirteen.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Erin Braswell and Mario Ritter who was also the producer. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

VOASE0723_Agriculture Report

23 July 2007

Congress Honors Norman Borlaug, Father of 'Green Revolution'
The agricultural scientist, whose work helped fight starvation in South Asia in the 1960s, receives the Congressional Gold Medal.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

American agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug has received the Congressional Gold Medal. The award is the highest civilian honor given by Congress. Norman Borlaug is often called "the man who saved a billion lives" and "the father of the Green Revolution."

From left: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Norman Borlaug, President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

His work helped fight starvation in India and Pakistan in the nineteen sixties. He won the nineteen seventy Nobel Peace Prize.

President Bush, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid presented him with his latest honor last week. The scientist is ninety-three years old. He still works as an adviser at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico.

In accepting the medal, he urged Congress and the administration to increase development assistance for agriculture. He said the world needs better and more technology to deal with hunger. In his words: "Hunger and poverty and misery are very fertile soils into which to plant all kinds of 'isms,' including terrorism."

In the nineteen forties, Norman Borlaug and a team developed highly productive and disease-resistant wheat for farmers in Mexico. About twenty years later, millions of people in India and Pakistan were in danger from grain shortages.

The improved wheat from Mexico also grew well in South Asia, combined with changes in growing methods. Norman Borlaug persuaded farmers to use more fertilizers and pesticide chemicals and to water their crops with irrigation systems. The results were big production gains that many believe saved as many as a billion lives.

President Bush noted that hunger still affects much of the developing world. He said the most fitting honor for Norman Borlaug is to lead a second Green Revolution that feeds the world.

Yet his support for new agricultural technologies has been criticized at times over the years. Some researchers worry about the effects of industrial methods of modern farming. Some have argued that Earth's resources are limited and not able to feed everyone.

Population researcher Paul Ehrlich, for example, wrote a nineteen sixty-eight book called "The Population Bomb." He predicted that population growth would cause widespread harm to the planet.

But now, some people are saying there should be greater attention and respect for Norman Borlaug. A major theme of his work is that people can deal with difficulties and that technology can improve their lives.

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

VOASE0723_Science In the News

23 July 2007

Science and Beauty Combine at the US Botanic Garden in Washington
Summer demonstrations show the many differences among America's plant life.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Bob Doughty. This week, we tell what is showing and growing at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The United States Botanic Garden is America's plant museum. Congress established the Botanic Garden as a center for the science of growing things. But the Garden is also a center of beauty.

The Botanic Garden has twenty-five thousand plants in its collection. Visitors can see many of them in the Garden's public Conservatory. It is a large stone and glass structure near the United States Capitol building.

VOICE TWO:

A titan arum plant at the US Botanic Garden. It is called the "corpse plant" because its flower smells something like a dead body.

Everywhere you look in the Conservatory, something appeals to your eyes. A visitor can move seemingly from one part of Earth to another in just a few seconds. A short walk takes you from desert to thick forest.

The Conservatory offers examples of plants that provide the makings of medicine. It also has plants of special interest to children. Rare and endangered plants occupy a place all their own.

Many visitors show an interest in the plants of North America and economic plants. Economic plants get their name because they are used in products like food, drinks and wood.

VOICE ONE:

The tradition leading to the present Botanic Garden began almost two hundred years ago. In eighteen sixteen, a cultural group in Washington proposed creating a special garden. This area was to have plants from the United States and other nations.

In eighteen forty-two, the explorer Charles Wilkes donated two hundred fifty four living plants. The plants were carefully kept. After a short time, they found a home in a new greenhouse. The greenhouse was moved to its present home in nineteen thirty-three. That was a year after the opening of nearby Bartholdi Park. This open-air space is also part of the Botanic Garden.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

On a hot summer morning, many people make their way through the Conservatory building. They say the cool air inside feels good. But wetness levels and temperatures are carefully controlled for the health of the plants.

Some of the visitors spend time in the Botanic Garden's seasonal demonstrations, or exhibits. Among the crowd in the open air exhibits are high school students. They study plants on the terrace -- the space around the Conservatory.

Several women wearing hats also walk around the terrace. Then they move west of the building to look at the new National Garden. They watch workers set new plantings in the ground.

VOICE ONE:

The National Garden first officially welcomed the public last October. Private donors and groups added this open-air growing space to the United States Botanic Garden. The Office of the Architect of the Capitol operates the National Garden and all parts of the Botanic Garden, often called the U.S.B.G.

The U.S.B.G. and the American Public Gardens Association organized the temporary exhibits. The exhibits are part of an event called "Celebrating America's Public Gardens." The celebration will last until early October. Twenty botanic gardens from all over the country are represented.

An exhibit called "Green Today, Growing Tomorrows" shows the importance of respect for the future of the environment. A second exhibit is named "A Sense of Place." It shows the great differences among plant life in America. Experts in the study of horticulture and plant science say an important part of an area's identity comes from what that area grows.

VOICE TWO:

The exhibit of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii shows plant life of warm climates. The National Tropical Botanical Garden operates four gardens in Hawaii and one in Florida. Dried fronds, or leaves, of palms form the top of a Hawaiian shelter in the Washington exhibit. To most Americans, the Hawaiian plants and trees look unusual. For example, there is ulu, or breadfruit, and the aluha plant from the bellflower family. A nearby banana tree looks more common.

The National Tropical Botanical Garden says saving tropical plants is one of its main purposes. Experts say thirty-three percent of all plant life in the United States could disappear from Earth. An even higher percentage of tropical plant life is threatened.

VOICE ONE:

Another popular exhibit comes from the Heritage Farm. The farm is part of the Rio Grande Botanic Garden in New Mexico. An old red wagon with large wheels contains evidence of nature's products in the American West. The vehicle contains apples, onions, strawberries and mission grapes. It has honey and a honeycomb, the wax cells where bees store the honey. Many kinds of trees, grasses and plants need bees to grow.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

A young man is watering flowers in the National Garden. He takes a long look at roses from the Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University. These flowers are special. They are stronger and require less care than other roses. The university says this is because they were developed to survive the cold winters of Iowa. Scientist Griffith Buck produced them. Mister Buck worked at the university's College of Agriculture from nineteen forty-eight until nineteen eighty-five. He developed ninety kinds of roses.

VOICE ONE:

Several people are taking pictures of the exhibit of the Cleveland Botanical Garden in Ohio. A huge reproduction of a salsa can is marked "Ripe from Downtown Salsa." Real tomatoes and vegetables grow on top of the can.

The salsa mixture contains tomatoes and other healthful foods. Members of the Cleveland Botanical Garden's Green Corps manufacture the salsa. These young food manufacturers are fourteen to nineteen years old. They also attend a special high school while making the salsa.

VOICE TWO:

Dale Chihuly's ''Summer Boat 2006''

The National Garden has another eye-catching object in the form of glass artwork. Dale Chihuly's artwork is called "Summer Boat, two thousand six." Orange, red, green and yellow objects of blown glass fill the boat. It floats on a small area of water toward the west end of the garden. Some visitors say the glass objects look suspiciously like flowers and vegetables.

The North Carolina Arboretum also provided colorful artwork. The arboretum sent a steel sculpture measuring more than four meters long.

Grace Cathey's sculpture is a yellow dahlia on a green stem. The dahlia is a popular flower in the American South. But the sculpture provides more than an appealing artwork. It honors the color that dahlias provide for North Carolina's crafts industry.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The United States Botanic Garden also provides year-round education in plant life. For example, the U.S.B.G. is currently showing the photography of biologist Amy Lamb. Her pictures hang near the entrance to the Conservatory. Most of the plants seen in the pictures are grown around her home in Bethesda, Maryland.

As a scientist, Miz Lamb says she looks at flowers for more than just their beauty. She studies them to learn the reasons for their forms and colors. Miz Lamb takes cuttings from her plants at several periods of their development. Then she places the cuttings against something black. The results show the smallest hairs and lines.

VOICE TWO:

The Botanic Garden also provides information about insects. A researcher will offer a program on the subject in August. Dayna Lane will explain whether gardeners should step on insects -- or learn to love them. Also in August, the U.S.B.G. will hold four classes in cooperation with an agency of the Department of Agriculture. Scientists with the Department's Agricultural Research Service will explain Research Service projects.

Even people visiting the Botanic Garden for only one day can get horticultural education. Information in the National Garden describes grasses and plants native to the middle-Atlantic Ocean area. It also explains uses for the plants and suggests the best soil for them.

VOICE ONE:

Today, the United States Botanic Garden continues many of the traditions it started long ago. America's plant museum continues to prove that science and beauty go together.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. 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.

VOASE0722_This Is America

22 July 2007

New Movie Musical 'Hairspray' Takes You Back to the 1960s
New movie stars John Travolta as a woman.

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Today we play music from the new movie about teenagers in the nineteen sixties called “Hairspray.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

“Hairspray” opened in the United States last weekend. It is the movie version of a popular musical play in New York City. That musical has been playing on Broadway since two thousand two. It won several Tony Awards, including best musical, the following year. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman wrote the music for the play and movie.

But "Hairspray" really began life in nineteen eighty-eight as a funny movie written and directed by John Waters. It is about rock and roll music and relations between black and white teenagers. It takes place in Baltimore, Maryland, during the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties.

Nikki Blonsky in scene from "Hairspray"

“Hairspray” is a funny story about teenagers and their music. The main character is a teenage girl named Tracy Turnblad. Tracy is a big girl. She is overweight. She also has “big hair.” She wears her hair in a high hairstyle that was popular back then. She keeps it in place using hairspray. Tracy loves music. And she loves to dance. After school, she and her friends watch other teenagers dance on a popular local television show, the "Corny Collins Show."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Tracy’s dream comes true. She is chosen to be one of the dancers on the show. She likes one of the male dancers, Link Larkin. Zac Efron, as Link, sings a love song to Tracy called “It Takes Two.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

John Travolta as Edna in "Hairspray"

Tracy becomes very popular after appearing on the television show. The owner of a clothing store for large women wants to make Tracy a model for his clothing. Tracy wants her mother, Edna Turnblad, to help her become famous. Edna is also a very large woman. She works at home washing other people’s clothes. She does not like to leave her house. Tracy tells her mother she must take part in all of the excitement of life. Nikki Blonsky, as Tracy, sings “Welcome to the Sixties.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Edna Turnblad, Tracy’s mother, looks unusual. That is because she is played by the famous actor John Travolta, dressed like a large woman. Listen as Edna sings about her love for her husband, Wilbur.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

All the dancers on the "Corny Collins Show" are white. However, once a month, the show permits black teenagers to dance on the show. Motormouth Maybelle, who owns a record store, organizes and leads that show. Tracy believes that black teenagers and white teenagers should be able to dance together on the show all the time. She and Maybelle organize a civil rights demonstration. But it turns into a riot and the protesters are arrested. Later they are released from jail. Maybelle tells about her own struggle for equal rights. Queen Latifah sings “I Know Where I’ve Been.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The television show organizes a contest called “Miss Teenage Hairspray.” The people at the event vote for the teenage girl they like best. The event is broadcast on television across the country. The broadcast is paid for by a company that makes hairspray. All of the girls in the contest use the product to keep their large hairstyles in place. James Marsden as Corny Collins sings about hairspray.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The “Miss Teenage Hairspray” contest includes a dance competition. All of the teenagers, both black and white, join Tracy in the contest. They dance together on nationwide television for the first time. And they all sing “You Can’t Stop the Beat.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Caty Weaver. To learn more about American life, and to download transcripts and audio archives of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0722_Development Report

22 July 2007

Mandela Forms 'Elders' to Work on World Problems
The former South African president brings together a group that includes Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela, surrounded from left by his wife Graca Machel, British singer Peter Gabriel, British entrepreneur Richard Branson and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter

Former South African president Nelson Mandela celebrated his eighty-ninth birthday last week by launching "the Elders." This is a group of men and women with almost one thousand years of collective experience to deal with world issues. Among them are former president Jimmy Carter and former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan.

Former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be the chairman. Other members include Indian social activist Ela Bhatt, former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and former Irish president Mary Robinson. Bangladeshi economist and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus and former Chinese foreign minister Li Zhaoxing are also Elders.

Nelson Mandela presented the group at a news conference in Johannesburg with his wife, Graca Machel, a children's rights activist. One chair was empty. It represented the final Elder: Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader under house arrest in Burma.

The idea for the group came from British businessman Richard Branson and musician Peter Gabriel. They proposed the idea to Mister Mandela and his wife several years ago. Mister Branson, along with the U.N. Foundation and private donors, has helped finance the group.

The Elders say their work will not be in conflict with the United Nations or other international groups. Instead, they say they hope to work alongside such organizations.

Mister Mandela says the Elders will use their skills and collective wisdom to look for solutions to problems such as AIDS, climate change and longtime conflicts. The idea is that they can talk to anyone they please or get involved in any issue they wish because they do not represent governments.

The group plans to hold videoconferences and also to meet in person two times a year.

Some people may wonder how much a group of mostly retired leaders can influence world issues. Nelson Mandela himself has said he plans to take retirement seriously. He left office in nineteen ninety-nine and announced his retirement from public life in two thousand four.

His involvement on the council is expected to be largely ceremonial. But he says he believes in the Elders because each member is fiercely independent. They are free, he says, to put the needs of the world's people first.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. For more development news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

Turkey Electing New Government

By Dorian Jones Istanbul 21 July 2007

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Turkish voters head to the polls Sunday to elect a new government. From Istanbul, Dorian Jones reports for VOA that the election is viewed by the ruling Justice and Development Party and its nationalist rivals as a key test for country's secular democracy.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses an election rally of his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, 20 July 2007

Candidates of the 14 competing parties tried to win over voters until the last minute in what has been an exceptionally bitter campaign. The opposition parties charge the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a threat to the secular state.

The election was called four months early after the opposition refused to agree to the ruling party's candidate for president, Abdullah Gul, saying his Islamic background presented a threat to Turkey's secular status.

Political scientist Ali Carkoglu teaches at Istanbul's Sabanci University. He says the opposition used the deadlock over the presidency to good advantage during the campaign.

"I think the opposition parties have very successfully from their perspective made the case that the still unresolved election of the president presents a salient threat to the secularist republic principles," he said.

The first task of the incoming parliament will be to elect the next president, who has important powers in appointing key officials, including members of the constitutional court.

Prime Minister Erdogan, in his campaign, has emphasized Turkey's economic advances during his five years as prime minister, and it is in large part because of the country's improving economy that Mr. Erdogan's party is expected to win.

But in the last few weeks, according to polls, his Justice and Development Party has been losing votes to the far right National Action Party, which has strongly criticized Mr. Erdogan over the increasing attacks by Kurdish separatist forces in the Kurdish regions of southeastern Turkey.

Dozens of Kurdish nationalists are standing as independents in the southeast of the country, with as many 35 expected to enter parliament.