VOASE1112_Science In the News

12 November 2007

Discovery That Stored Blood Loses a Life-Saving Gas Could Solve Mystery
Also: A 7-year-old listener asks how to help a friend with a genetic disorder called phenylketonuria, or PKU.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Pat Bodnar. This week, we will tell about a gas that helps to carry oxygen from the blood. We will also report on a British sleep study. And we answer a question from Canada about a genetic disorder.

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VOICE ONE:

Stored blood loses nitric oxide

Scientists have discovered that stored blood loses a life-saving gas. The discovery may explain why a great number of people get sick after receiving stored blood.

In recent years, experts have wondered why patients who should survive sometimes die after receiving a blood transfusion. The cause of death is often a heart attack or stroke.

VOICE TWO:

Jonathan Stamler is a professor of medicine at Duke University in North Carolina. He and other researchers found that stored blood has very low levels of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a gas found in red blood cells. The gas helps to keep blood passages open so that oxygen in the red cells can reach the heart and other organs.

Professor Stamler and his team found that nitric oxide in blood begins to break down as soon as the blood is collected. Their findings were reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

VOICE ONE:

Another team of Duke University scientists carried out a separate study. Professor Stamler says that study showed the breakdown of nitric oxide begins within hours of blood collection. He says the life-saving gas is partly lost after three hours, and about seventy percent of it is lost after just one day. As a result, he says, there is almost no time that stored blood has enough nitric oxide.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists tested their theory on dogs and found that low levels of nitric oxide reduced the flow of blood. Professor Stamler says the scientists corrected the situation by adding nitric oxide to the stored blood. He says the extra nitric oxide repaired the ability of red blood cells to expand blood passages. He says blood when injected in animals does a very fine job of improving blood flow and getting oxygen to tissues.

Professor Stamler says people who are in serious need of a blood transfusion should have one immediately. But he says more studies are needed to show who would receive the most help from stored blood.

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VOICE ONE:

A British study suggests that women who fail to get enough sleep are at higher risk than men of developing high blood pressure.

Researchers at the University of Warwick Medical School led the study. Their report was published last month in Hypertension magazine.

The researchers studied health information from more than ten thousand British public employees. The information was gathered in the nineteen eighties. At the time, the employees were between thirty-five and fifty-five years of age.

The researchers also used more recent information about some of the volunteers. This information was collected in the late nineteen nineties, and again in two thousand three and two thousand four.

VOICE TWO:

Earlier studies have shown a link between lack of sleep and an increased risk of high blood pressure, or hypertension. Hypertension is known to increase the risk of heart disease.

Blood pressure readings are measured in millimeters of mercury and often given as two numbers. The researchers described hypertension as blood pressure higher than or equal to a reading of one hundred forty over ninety. The volunteers were identified as having hypertension if they commonly used medicine to treat high blood pressure.

VOICE ONE:

By the end of the study, twenty percent of the people had developed high blood pressure. The risk was higher among women who did not get enough sleep. The women who slept less than or equal to five hours were two times as likely as women who slept for seven hours or more. The study found no difference between men who slept less than five hours and those sleeping seven hours or more.

Francisco Cappuccio from the Warwick Medical School led the study. He says women who sleep less than five hours a night should attempt to get more rest. He also says other evidence suggests lack of sleep as possibly influencing weight gain and conditions like diabetes.

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VOICE TWO:

An American study has examined treatment of AIDS in Africa, south of the Sahara. The study involved people who have AIDS or the virus that causes the disease.

Researchers at Boston University studied reports about adults who have HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus. The patients received HIV medicines in thirteen countries in southern Africa over a seven-year period. Two years after beginning treatment, only sixty-one percent of patients on average were still taking the medicines. The Public Library of Science reported the findings.

VOICE ONE:

Christopher Gill of Boston University says the study was designed to estimate the effectiveness of HIV drug programs in the thirteen countries. Professor Gill is an expert on infectious diseases. He is concerned that up to one-third of the patients discontinued their treatment. He says that for whatever reason, the programs were unable to follow the patients. He says the patients may have died or stopped using the drugs.

Professor Gill says public health officials have proved that it is possible to bring HIV medicines to poor countries. He says the problem now is to find ways to make sure people who are taking the medicines continue to do so.

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VOICE TWO:

Phenylketonuria is a genetic disorder. It is also called PKU. A seven-year-old listener from Canada has a friend in China with the disorder. Sarah Sun wants to know more about PKU and how to help people with it.

People with PKU are unable to break down an amino acid called phenylalanine, or Phe. The body uses this amino acid to build proteins. There is a gene that helps the body take in Phe. But some people are born with genetic orders that change how the gene operates. This causes Phe levels in the blood to increase.

Extremely high levels of the amino acid can cause severe damage to a baby’s brain. That is why it is important to identify the disorder in newborns so a special diet can be established early in life. Many hospitals in wealthy nations require PKU tests on young babies. Early medical intervention provides the best results.

VOICE ONE:

Babies with PKU who eat low-protein foods can develop normally. If they remain on the diet, they may never experience any signs of the condition. But, it is tricky because phenylalanine is in a lot of foods. For example, all meats and milk products have high amounts. Beans and nuts are also high in Phe. And, children with PKU should not use the non-sugar sweetener aspartame. It contains a lot of Phe. Aspartame can be found in many sugar-free products like drinks.

Everyone needs some protein for health. So, many doctors advise their PKU patients to take a special phenylalanine-free formula. The formula contains protein, vitamins, minerals and extra calories, but no Phe. Several drug companies make these products.

VOICE TWO:

In the past, doctors often only suggested this diet while their patients were babies. Older children with PKU were told they could begin to eat all foods. But, studies have shown that many older PKU patients on a normal diet have problems with thinking and remembering. So, patients now are usually advised to stay on a low protein diet their whole lives.

There are emotional sides to any health problem. Children with the disorder sometimes feel cheated out of fun and tasty foods, like French fries. The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota suggests ways to help ease the situation faced by a PKU patient. Officials there say it helps to not place a lot of attention on food. Instead, invest time and energy on other things children enjoy like a sports activity or a musical skill.

VOICE ONE:

Also, the Mayo Clinic says to be sensitive around holiday celebrations. It is not unusual for holidays to include big meals. But, they do not have to. Holiday story telling or other activities could become more important.

PKU patients need monthly blood tests to check Phe levels. They also need to keep records of what they eat and how much. This way doctors can make changes to the patients’ diets as needed.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Lawan Davis, Soo Jee Han and Caty Weaver. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Pat Bodnar.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. 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.

Ivory Coast President Agrees With US Reconciliation Push

By Phillip Wellman Abidjan 12 November 2007

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An official spokesman for Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has said the president believes political leaders from across the spectrum must work together in order to guarantee lasting peace in the country. The comment follows a recent visit by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who says much of his time in Ivory Coast was spent encouraging authorities to work transparently and collectively to implement a March peace accord. Phillip Wellman reports for VOA from Abidjan.

Presidential spokesman Gervais Coulibaly says Mr. Gbagbo agrees with ambassador Negroponte that the best way to implement Ivory Coast's peace accord is by collaborating with the opposition on important issues.

Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo, right, greets U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in Abidjan, 11 Nov 2007

Negroponte's two-day visit to Ivory Coast's commercial capital Abidjan, which concluded Sunday evening, follows growing international concern about the prolonged process of reconciliation in the country.

Negroponte met government and opposition leaders, U.N. officials and representatives from civil society during his visit to evaluate progress towards unity. Negroponte is the most senior U.S. official to visit Ivory Coast since the beginning of civil war in 2002, which divided the country into a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.

The peace accord signed between President Gbagbo and rebel leader Guillaume Soro in March, resulted in a coalition government in which Soro became prime minister. The aim of the agreement is to guarantee free and fair presidential elections.

The accord is widely believed to be Ivory Coast's best chance at reconciliation, but concerns over the pace of implementation have led some international observers, including U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, to express serious concern.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Mr. Negroponte said the United States would like to see full implementation of the peace accord happen as soon as possible. He says that some progress has been made since March, but more should continue.

"Implementation will require courage and a willingness to move beyond the disagreements that have kept Cote d'Ivoire divided," he said. "In my meetings today, I urged Ivorian leaders from across the spectrum to take the steps they know are necessary to implement the agreement and to work together to improve Cote d'Ivoire's prospects for the future."

Negroponte says following through with the agreement will be a complex task, but says it must be done to improve Ivory Coast's social and economic prospects.

"The road ahead will be a difficult one - but it is not an impossible one," he noted. "There will be difficult choices that only Ivorians can make and I encouraged your leaders today to address these issues in as open a manner as possible so all points of view are heard."

Identification of undocumented Ivorians, reintegration of rebels into the national army and disarmament are issues that Ivory Coast has yet to fully deal with. Mr. Gbagbo says he is trying to solve the country's problems thoroughly and together with the opposition, but critics say the president is stalling reconciliation procedures to remain in power. Mr. Gbagbo denies the accusations.

A coalition of opposition political parties in Ivory Coast says it is currently trying without any success to work with Mr. Gbagbo to make sure presidential elections are held before April 2008.

Negroponte says he believes there is a strong desire on the part of all parties to move towards unity.

Ivory Coast was Negroponte's first stop on a West African tour that will also take him to Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Experts Say New Drugs, Rapid Diagnosis Needed for Drug Resistant TB

By Scott Bobb Johannesburg 12 November 2007

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Experts on lung disease meeting in South Africa are warning the world could face a tuberculosis crisis if drug resistant strains of TB are not contained and if TB testing does not become a regular part of HIV treatment. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from our bureau in Johannesburg.

Three thousand experts from 100 countries ended a five-day conference in Cape Town warning that urgent measures are needed to address the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis and its growing presence among victims of HIV/AIDS.

Petrus Van Nell, 68, a victim of Mesothelioma an Asbestos related form of cancer, looks at his hands, as he lies in his bed in Northern Cape town of Prieska, South Africa (File Photo)

One-and-one-half million people died of tuberculosis last year. Nine million new cases were reported. Nearly one-half million were resistant to the main anti-TB drugs. A fraction of these, 400 in South Africa, were resistant to almost all drugs known to science and nearly always fatal.

One of the conference organizers, Nils Billo of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said at the same time no new TB drug has been developed in more than 40 years.

"It is urgent to find new drugs. It is urgent to find new vaccines. It is a scandal that governments are not putting more money into this," said Billo. "And one of the reasons this is happening is that many companies are not really interested to invest in poor countries. Tuberculosis is a disease of the poor unfortunately and companies hesitate to invest in drug development [there]."

He said wealthy nations should provide more funding while developing nations should focus on prevention measures such as education and early diagnosis.

HIV sufferers are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis. One-third of the world's 40 million people with HIV also have tuberculosis. In South Africa 60 percent are infected with both diseases. Their death rate is five times that of people infected with tuberculosis alone.

Billo says as a result treatment programs should be administered together and victims of one infection should be routinely tested for the other.

"It is important that people who come for a TB diagnosis, if they get tested positive for tuberculosis they should immediately or at the same time get tested for HIV. I think that is a very important point that has not yet been implemented programmatically in most of the countries," added Billo.

The experts say tobacco, another major cause of lung disease, is also placing strain on health care systems.

Billo says the five million annual tobacco-related deaths are expected to double in the next 23 years and developing nations will be hardest hit.

"So it is critical that countries ratify the framework convention on tobacco control and that they implement the major tobacco control measures," said Billo.

These measures include higher taxes on tobacco products, enforcement of smoke-free zones and bans on tobacco advertisements.

Israel Says It Will Release More Than 400 Palestinian Prisoners

By Jim Teeple Jerusalem 12 November 2007

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Israel's prime minister says more than 400 Palestinian prisoners could be released this month before an upcoming Middle East peace conference. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from our Jerusalem bureau.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert, right, and FM Tzipi Livni attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, 11 Nov 2007

Speaking before the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says plans to release about 400 Palestinian prisoners are intended as a confidence-building measure before a planned Mideast Peace conference, to be held in Annapolis, Maryland at the end of the month.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev says the goal is to boost Palestinian moderates like President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We are of course interested in showing the Palestinian leadership that moderation pays and this sort of confidence-building measure can help to energize a process of reconciliation that we really want," he said.

At the same time, Regev says Israel is unlikely to ease roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank that hinder the movement of Palestinians.

"Everyone I think understands, including the Palestinian leadership that if Israel moves in an irresponsible way - if we move too quickly and a security vacuum is created - then extremists - groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad will come into the vacuum they will launch a whole series of extremist and terrorist operations and that will kill the peace process," Regev said.

Palestinians have harshly criticized the restrictions on their movement. The head of the Palestinian negotiating team, former prime minister Ahmed Qureia, had to cancel a meeting Sunday with Israel's Foreign Minister because he could not pass through a West Bank checkpoint.

Saeb Erekat, another senior Palestinian negotiator told the Voice of Palestine radio that Palestinians will welcome their prisoners home, but negotiators had hoped that Israel would release up to 2,000 prisoners.

Erekat says unilateral actions like the prisoner release should be made in cooperation with the Palestinians as part of an overall agreement with the Palestinians to reduce tensions.

Erekat also rejected a demand made by Prime Minister Olmert on Monday that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Meanwhile about a half-a-dozen Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday when gunfire broke out at a rally called by the Fatah political organization to celebrate the third anniversary of the death former Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat. Fatah accused Hamas gunmen of firing on the rally, while Hamas accused Fatah of starting the shooting. It was the most serious outbreak of violence in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took over the territory in June.

Environmentalists Meeting in Spain to Draft Key Report on Global Warming

By Lisa Bryant Paris 12 November 2007

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The international climate change panel that won this year's Nobel peace prize is holding a meeting in the Spanish city of Valencia this week to draft a key report on global warming. Environmentalists hope the document will increase pressure on countries like the United States and China to agree to binding cuts on greenhouse gas emissions. Lisa Bryant has more from Paris.

Opening ceremony of Panel on Climate Change in Valencia, 12 Nov 2007

Experts from roughly 140 countries are in Valencia this week to synthesize previous global warming studies they produced earlier this year into a report that will be published Friday. They are part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, an international body of experts that won this year's Nobel peace prize for its work on global warming.

The gathering comes ahead of key climate change talks due in December, in Bali, Indonesia. Governments are expected to consider drafting a successor to the 1990 Kyoto Protocol on cutting earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol expires in 2012.

But even as environmentalists praise the IPCC, some like World Wildlife Fund energy expert Stephan Singer believe the panel is already out of date.

"We have seen post-IPCC science coming out the last couple of months which tells us the cautious and conservative consensus body of the IPCC is already past history, unfortunately," Singer said. "We have seen record melting in the Arctic, 10 times as strong as observed this year as the average of 10 to 15 years. We have seen to the surprise of many that the ocean probably is much more saturated with carbon dioxide than we thought before."

Singer notes the IPCC's findings still carry immense political weight. He hopes governments will bear them in mind when they head to Bali next month.

"What World Wildlife Fund hopes will end up in the process following Bali is for long-term emissions reductions of industrialized countries of something like 30 percent, by 2020," he said. "And of course, taking into account over time the large and growing emissions by emerging economies."

Environmentalists particularly hope richer nations like the United States, which did not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, will take the lead in mandatory emissions cuts -- and set an example for growing and polluting economies like China and India to follow.

UN Rights Envoy in Burma Visits Detention Center For Political Prisoners, Monasteries

By Ron Corben Bangkok 12 November 2007

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The United Nations' human rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, began a five-day trip to Burma with visits to a Buddhist monastery and a prison in Rangoon. As Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, analysts say it will be difficult for the envoy to find out how many were killed or detained during a recent crackdown by the Burmese authorities.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, center, listens to an official while visiting Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon, 12 Nov 2007

United Nations human rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, spent at least two hours at the Insein Prison near Rangoon Monday. The prison is well known as a detention center for holding political prisoners whom rights groups say face widespread abuses by authorities.

Pinheiro had earlier visited Buddhist monasteries that had led protests in August and September calling for economic and political reforms.

The military says at least 10 people were killed in the crackdown that followed. But human rights groups and diplomats say the figure was much higher.

Garry Rodan is Asia Research Center director at Australia's Murdoch University. He says hopes that Pinheiro will clarify the facts of what happened may be frustrated.

"This is going to be a very difficult one to be able to simply document and collect information where most sources of information are tightly controlled and where people are very scared. But obviously there will be a lot of hopes placed on something coming out that at least approximates some understanding of the depth and nature of what took place," he said.

Amnesty International last week expressed concerns over the "grave and ongoing human rights violations" committed since the crackdown. These included arbitrary detentions, the holding of hostages, beatings and torture in custody and enforced disappearances.

Pinheiro's trip is his first time in Burma since November 2003. He had abandoned a trip earlier that year after he discovered listening devices in a room where he was meeting with political detainees.

Last week, the U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari pointed to progress during his own visit to the country. Detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, met members of her party, the National League for Democracy, for the first time in three years. She then said she was ready to cooperate with the military in a dialogue for reform.

Despite the intense international pressure for a dialogue for change, some analysts doubt the military's intentions.

Rodan believes the military must negotiate in order to survive.

"This regime is so unpopular and repressive that it struggles for legitimacy even though it has power," he said. I"t alienates its own population so comprehensively that people take enormous risks even in the knowledge that many of the those people would have had that they will in some cases - at best - be beaten - at worst tortured and executed. And yet the protests continued."

The military government has said it is preparing to move to general elections under a program of constitutional and electoral reform. But no timetable has been set when the elections will take place.

VOASE1111_This Is America

11 November 2007

Alaska's Call of the Wild Leads Visitors to the Last Frontier
Today, it may seem hard to imagine that the decision to buy the territory from Russia for $7 million was unpopular.

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Among the fifty states, California is the largest in population. But which state is the largest in area? Texas? No, another state is even bigger than Texas: Alaska.

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VOICE ONE:

Alaska is a state of wild beauty. It calls itself the Last Frontier. Alaska is on the border with northwestern Canada -- so far north, part of it is within the Arctic Circle.

It has a million and a half square kilometers of territory. It has forests to hike, mountains to climb and waters to sail or fish. Alaska is known for its salmon, crab and other seafood.

The travel season in Alaska is between May and September. Some areas, especially in the interior, get surprisingly warm in the summer.

The Alaska Climate Research Center says one rule has been found to work for most travelers in Alaska. Always be prepared for one season colder than the time you are traveling. This is true especially if you visit Alaska early or late in the travel season.

VOICE TWO:

Much of Alaskan life is shaped by ice and snow, especially in the Arctic north. Not surprisingly, then, climate change is an important issue for the state.

September marked the end of what scientists call the melt season for Arctic sea ice. The National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado says the sea ice fell this year to the lowest levels since satellite measurements began. That was in nineteen seventy-nine. If earlier ship and aircraft records are included, Arctic sea ice may have fallen by as much as half from levels in the nineteen fifties.

VOICE ONE:

In September, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin signed an order establishing an advisory group within her cabinet. The Climate Change Sub-Cabinet will prepare a plan for dealing with the expected effects of global warming.

In a statement, the governor said many scientists note that Alaska’s climate is changing. She said Alaskans are already seeing effects like coastal erosion, melting ice and record forest fires.

The cabinet group will also look at ways to develop and expand programs for renewable energy from wind and other sources. In addition, the governor is seeking a natural gas pipeline that she says would help the nation by providing clean energy.

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Saint Michael's Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church in the town of Sitka

VOICE TWO:

Native groups have lived for thousands of years in Alaska. In the seventeen hundreds, Russia took control of the territory. Alaska is just across the Bering Strait from Siberia. The Russians traded with the local people and brought animal furs back home to Russia to sell.

Later, the Russians decided to sell the territory itself. The United States bought it in eighteen sixty-seven for seven million dollars. Alaska became a territory of the United States. The name came from Alyeska, an Aleut native word for "great land."

Many Americans did not think Alaska was such a great land. They did not think it had valuable resources. In fact, it was one of the best deals the United States ever made.

VOICE ONE:

Today, Alaska's biggest industries are oil production, tourism and fishing. The state also has gold and copper mines and other mineral resources.

Around nineteen hundred, gold was found in the Yukon area. Many people went to Alaska hoping to get rich in the Yukon gold rush. Most of them did not succeed.

Finally, in nineteen fifty-nine, Alaska entered the Union as the forty-ninth state -- the forty-ninth star on the American flag. Later that same year Hawaii became the fiftieth. Alaska and Hawaii are the only states that are not physically connected to the others.

VOICE TWO:

Alaska has fewer people per square kilometer than any other state. But the population has been growing. The most recent estimate from the Census Bureau shows there were six hundred seventy thousand people last year.

Most Alaskans live in central and southern Alaska. The climate is more moderate compared to the north and there is more daylight during winter.

Alaska’s largest city is Anchorage, with about two hundred eighty thousand people. Fairbanks and Juneau, the capital, have about thirty thousand each.

The Alaska Native Heritage Center says Alaska Natives represent about sixteen percent of the state population. The Heritage Center says eleven native Alaskan cultures and twenty languages survive today.

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VOICE ONE:

Sled dogs are an important part of the history of Alaska. For many, many winters, sleds pulled by dogs provided the only transportation across the frozen territory.

Dog sled drivers are called mushers. The early ones in some cases even used wolves to pull their sleds.

Mushers and their dogs carried mail, food and other supplies to miners after the rivers were frozen and boat travel was blocked. Sometimes the sleds carried the miners’ gold on the return trip.

In nineteen twenty-five, heavy snows blocked all the roads into the city of Nome. A serious disease, diphtheria, was spreading among children there. The nearest medicine was in Anchorage. Twenty dog sled teams took part in getting the medicine from Anchorage to Nome. They got it there in five and a half days.

Even as airplanes and snowmobiles came to replace dog sleds, that event has never been forgotten.

VOICE TWO:

A musher and his dog team in the 2005 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

In March of each year, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is held in Alaska. Organizers wanted to create an event that would preserve the memory of dog sleds. They chose a race over what had been the Iditarod Trail, one of the paths traveled by dog sleds.

The race from Anchorage to Nome, on the Bering Sea coast, is more than one thousand eight hundred fifty kilometers long. The first one took place in nineteen seventy-three.

The mushers travel from one rest area to another, much the same way mushers did many years ago as they took supplies to the miners. But the modern sleds travel much faster.

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VOICE ONE:

Alaska is a popular vacation place. One reason is its eight national parks. The best known is Denali National Park. Denali is home to North America’s highest mountain. Mount McKinley is over six thousand meters high.

Denali National Park also has rivers and large glaciers. Wildlife in the park includes wolves, moose and grizzly bears.

Cruises ship coming into port in Juneau, Alaska

There are hotels in the park, but some visitors like to set up tents and sleep outdoors. Most visitors come in the summer months. During winter, the road into the park is closed except for visitors using skis, snowshoes or dog sleds.

Tourists in Alaska do not have to go camping to see glaciers. Many people go on cruise ships that sail past these slow-moving mountains of ice. Another way to experience Alaska is by train. There are railroad tours that are several days long.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen seventy-three the United States was facing a Middle East oil crisis. Congress passed legislation that President Richard Nixon signed into law to permit the building of an oil pipeline across Alaska. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline is almost one thousand three hundred kilometers long. It extends from the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope to the port of Valdez.

Oil brings money for Alaska, but also risks. Almost twenty years ago, Alaska experienced an environmental disaster that killed fish, birds, seals and other animals.

In nineteen eighty-nine, the tanker ship Exxon Valdez tore open on underwater rocks and created a huge oil spill along the coast. The clean-up took a long time and led Congress to pass legislation to try to reduce the danger of oil pollution.

Today environmental groups are fighting calls to open protected areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling. Drilling supporters say the oil is needed to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. Opponents say it would defeat the purpose of a wildlife refuge.

VOICE ONE:

One thing cannot be disputed. Alaska's biggest industries -- oil, tourism and fishing -- all depend on its natural resources. That includes the wild and wide-open beauty that every year brings more than one million visitors to the Last Frontier.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was produced by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

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

VOASE1111_Development Report

11 November 2007

Shining a Light on Water to Prevent Infections
Some water purifiers use ultraviolet light to destroy harmful organisms.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Viruses, bacteria and other organisms in dirty water sicken hundreds of millions of people every year. Yet there are many different water-treatment technologies available.

Some systems use ultraviolet light to destroy harmful organisms. One product that disinfects water with UV light is called AquaStar, made by Meridian Design.

The American company says most UV water-purification systems put into homes have one or more filters. These use carbon or mesh to catch impurities. The filters are added to improve the taste and smell of water.

But the company says a complex system like this is often not needed in situations where the aim is just to make water safe to drink.

The AquaStar device is a one-liter bottle with an ultraviolet lamp inside. The user pushes a button and the light goes on for about a minute and a half. The lamp is powered by two small batteries.

Two electrical engineers, Dan Matthews and Kurt Kuhlmann, designed the system. They brought it to market in January of two thousand five. Since then, they say, Meridian Design has sold about two thousand devices a year, at a price of eighty-nine dollars.

Meridian's newest water treatment device is called the mUV ("move"). This micro-UV device floats and is small enough to use in a glass. It works like the AquaStar purifier but has a rechargeable battery. Dan Matthews says it can be connected to almost any battery for enough of a charge to clean twelve liters of water.

He tells us that Meridian Design is currently supporting a project by the Mexican nonprofit organization Niparajá. The group is producing containers that disinfect water with UV lights powered by the sun. The containers hold fifteen liters.

The device is called the UV Bucket, and it won an award last year from the World Bank. Families in parts of Baja California Sur, Mexico, and in Guatemala are using it.

Meridian Design is also working with several partners on a solar-powered version of its AquaStar purifier. This has already been developed and is now being tested. Dan Matthews says the goal is to be able to sell it at a low price.

Meridian Design is also working with a partner to develop a different kind of solar-powered purification system. This one would make a chlorine-based disinfectant out of salt added to water. The goal there is to be able to store large amounts of water and keep it disinfected.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. To learn more about water treatment, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

VOASE1110_People In America

10 November 2007

James Stewart, 1908-1997: He Starred in Some of the Best-loved American Movies
The actor was also a war hero and writer of poetry.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Today, we tell the story of actor James Stewart. His movies were loved by people around the world.

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VOICE ONE:

James Maitland Stewart was born in the small eastern town of Indiana, Pennsylvania

Jimmy Stewart

in nineteen-oh-eight. His father had a hardware store that had been owned by the Stewart family since the eighteen fifties.

During high school, Jimmy played football, and acted in plays. He also learned to play the accordion. He took the accordion with him to college at Princeton University, where he joined a musical group called the Triangle Club. Through the club, he met students interested in performing.

Jimmy studied architecture at Princeton. He graduated in nineteen thirty-two. Just before graduation, a friend asked him to join an acting group for the summer. Jimmy agreed because he thought it would be a good way to meet girls.

VOICE TWO:

Jimmy Stewart said later that if his friend had not asked him to join the summer theater group, he would never have been an actor. He would have returned home to help his father in the store. Instead, he met a number of good young actors while performing that summer in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. One was Henry Fonda, who would be a friend throughout his life.

VOICE ONE:

Jimmy Stewart performed in Broadway plays in New York City until the Metro Goldwyn Mayer movie company gave him an acting job. He moved to California in nineteen thirty-five. He acted in more than twenty-four movies over the next six years. He appeared in all kinds of movies: funny ones, sad ones and musical ones. He even sang a song in the movie "Born to Dance. " It is called "Easy to Love":

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The movie that made Jimmy Stewart a real Hollywood star was "Mister Smith Goes to Washington. " It was released in nineteen thirty-nine.

JIMMY STEWART:

''Mister Smith Goes to Washington''

“It's a funny thing about men, you know. They all start life being boys. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some of these Senators were boys once. And that's why it seemed like a pretty good idea to me to get boys out of crowded cities and stuffy basements for a couple of months out of the year and build their bodies and minds for a man-sized job, because those boys are gonna be behind these desks some of these days.”

VOICE TWO:

The next year, he won an Academy Award for best actor in "The Philadelphia Story. "

The night he won the Academy Award, his father called him on the telephone from Pennsylvania. "I hear you won some kind of an award," Alex Stewart said. "You had better bring it back here and we'll put it in the window of the store. " Jimmy Stewart's Oscar statue stayed in the window of Stewart's hardware store in Indiana, Pennsylvania for twenty-five years.

VOICE ONE:

Jimmy Stewart was already an established and successful actor when World War Two started in Europe. Early in nineteen forty-one, he tried to join the Army. But he was rejected because he did not weigh enough. So he started eating high fat foods and tried again. This time, he was accepted for military service.

The Army put him in the Air Corps because he already knew how to pilot a plane. In nineteen forty-three, he went to Europe as commander of an Air Force bomber group. He flew more than twenty combat missions, leading as many as one thousand planes at a time over Germany. He returned to the United States in nineteen forty-five as a colonel.

VOICE TWO:

Jimmy Stewart won several military awards for excellent performance under very dangerous conditions. He remained in the Air Force Reserve after the war. In nineteen fifty-nine he was made a general. Each year, he took part in two weeks of active military duty. In nineteen sixty-six, he requested combat duty and took part in a bombing strike over Vietnam.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

After World War Two, Jimmy Stewart returned to Hollywood. He found that his new movies were not as popular as his earlier ones had been. One example was "It's a Wonderful Life." It was released in nineteen forty-six. The movie was not a success at first. But over time it has become one of the best loved American movies.

JIMMY STEWART:

''It's a Wonderful Life''

“Can't you understand what's happening here? Don't you see what's happening? Potter isn't selling. Potter's buying! And why? Because we're panicky and he's not. That's why. He's pickin' up some bargain. Now, we can get through this thing all right. We've, we've got to stick together, though. We've got to have faith in each other.”

VOICE ONE:

Jimmy Stewart said in later years that "It's a Wonderful Life" was the movie he liked best. It tells the story of a small town man who feels the world would have been better if he had never lived. An angel comes to him and shows him that this is not true. The movie celebrated values like loyalty and love of family.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Jimmy Stewart decided to play other kinds of parts after what seemed to be the failure of "It's a Wonderful Life. " He was a reporter in "Call Northside Seven Seven Seven" the next year. He was a suspicious head of a school in the murder movie "Rope" in nineteen forty-eight. In the nineteen fifties, he appeared in many western movies such as "Winchester Seventy-Three" and "Broken Arrow. "

VOICE ONE:

Jimmy Stewart enjoyed his greatest popularity in the nineteen fifties. In nineteen fifty-nine, he won awards from the Venice Film Festival, the New York film critics and the Film Daily writers. The awards honored him for his performance in the movie "Anatomy of a Murder. " He was the defense attorney for an army officer accused of murder. He was nominated for an Academy Award for that movie. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for playing a man who has an imaginary rabbit friend, in the movie "Harvey. "

Jimmy Stewart is well known for his work with the famous director of mystery movies, Alfred Hitchcock. These movies included "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Rear Window" and "Vertigo. " Mister Stewart also played real heroes in several movies. He was band leader Glenn Miller in "The Glenn Miller Story. " And he was pilot Charles Lindbergh in "The Spirit of Saint Louis. "

VOICE TWO:

Jimmy Stewart appeared in fewer films in the nineteen sixties. He was a senator in the Old West in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” In "The Shootist" he was a doctor in a small town. He also appeared on television. But his two television shows were not successful.

Mister Stewart began experiencing health problems as he aged. He had heart disease, skin cancer and hearing loss. But he found time to travel. And he published a book of poetry in nineteen eighty-nine. It sold more than three hundred thousand copies.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen eighty, Jimmy Stewart was honored by the American Film Institute with an award for his lifetime work. Three years later, he received a Kennedy Center Honor for his work. And in nineteen eighty-five, President Ronald Reagan gave him the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

People who knew Jimmy Stewart did not praise him just because he was a good actor and a war hero. They said Jimmy Stewart was one of the nicest people they had ever met. He was a man who lived by the values he was taught as a child in that small town in Pennsylvania.

He went back to Indiana, Pennsylvania, in nineteen eighty-three, for his seventieth birthday. The town held a huge celebration in his honor. President Reagan sent planes to fly over the court house. Parades were held. And a statue of him was placed in the town center.

VOICE TWO:

Jimmy Stewart married Gloria Hatrick McLean in nineteen forty-nine. She had two sons from an earlier marriage. Jimmy raised them as his own. One of the boys was killed during the Vietnam War while serving in the Marine Corps. Jimmy and Gloria also had twin daughters.

Gloria Stewart died in nineteen ninety-four. Friends said Jimmy Stewart was never the same after that. They said he withdrew into his house because he did not know what to do without her. His health got worse. He died on July the second, nineteen ninety-seven.

VOICE ONE:

Jimmy Stewart's daughter Kelly Harcourt spoke at his funeral in Beverly Hills. She reminded mourners of the message of her father's favorite movie, "It's a Wonderful Life:" No man is poor who has friends.

"Here's to our father," she said, "the richest man in town."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week at this time for another People in America program on VOA.

VOASE1108_American Mosaic

08 November 2007

Names Are Read to Mark 25th Anniversary of Vietnam Veterans Wall

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We listen to some music from the movie "Into the Wild"…

Answer a question about a famous American landmark…

And report about a special anniversary for Veterans' Day.

Anniversary of the Wall

HOST:

November eleventh is Veterans Day in the United States. It is the day Americans remember those who have fought in the nation's wars. This year is a special one at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. That memorial honors American men and women who served in the Vietnam War. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

A Vietnam veteran holds a rose to a name on the memorial

This year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial known as the Wall. The Wall is two large,shiny, black stones built into the ground, forming the letter V. The names of more than fifty-eight thousand Americans are cut into the stone.

These are the names of those who died or who are missing as a result of their service in Vietnam. As part of the anniversary observance, the names of all those listed on the Wall are being read aloud this week.

(SOUND)

The Wall has the power to create strong feelings. The shiny black stone acts like a mirror. It seems to draw in visitors so that they too are part of the Wall. This is especially emotional for those visitors who served in Vietnam and for the family members of those killed there.

Vietnam Veteran Jan Scruggs thought of the idea for the memorial as a way to honor those killed in one of America's most divisive wars. He formed an organization to build the memorial. In nineteen eighty, a competition was held to choose the design. Judges considered more than one thousand designs. They chose the design of a twenty-one-year-old Yale University student, Maya Lin.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was officially opened on November thirteenth, nineteen eighty-two. The design of the memorial caused great debate. Supporters thought it was simple and powerful. But some people said it was not personal enough and did not show the heroic efforts of those who fought in the war.

As a result, other structures were added to the memorial. They are the Three Servicemen Statue and the Vietnam Women's Memorial statue. A special plaque honors those who died later as a result of injuries from the war.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the most visited memorial in the nation's capital. More than four million people visit each year. Some visitors make a copy of one of the names on the Wall. Others leave a special object of love and remembrance. Visitors have left tens of thousands of such objects at the Wall. These include flowers, letters, poems, toys, photographs, baseballs and military medals. These objects are links between those who were killed and those who will always remember them.

The Gateway Arch

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Russia. Andrey Lopatin wants to know

The Gateway Arch

about the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri. This famous curved steel structure next to the Mississippi River rises one hundred ninety-two meters in the air. This is the same distance between the arch’s two legs. The Gateway Arch is the tallest freestanding federal monument in the United States.

Plans for the arch developed in the nineteen thirties. During this time, the city of Saint Louis decided to build a federal monument to honor the westward expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century. In eighteen oh three, President Thomas Jefferson had bought more than two million square kilometers of land from France, including what would become the state of Missouri.

The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States at the time. This famous land deal made it possible for the young American nation to expand and grow. The next year, President Jefferson hired Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this large new area of land. The Lewis and Clark Expedition started just west of Saint Louis. So Saint Louis became known as the Gateway to the West.

The Jefferson National Expansion Park was established in nineteen thirty-five. The federal government and city of Saint Louis agreed to share the building costs. During the nineteen forties, city officials created a national competition among building designers to decide what form the new monument would take.

The Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen won the competition in nineteen forty-eight. Building the arch finally began in nineteen sixty-three was completed two years later. The arch is an example of excellent structural engineering. The shape of the structure is called an inverted catenary curve. This is the form a free-hanging heavy rope or metal chain takes when it is hung between two supports.

Each year, about one million visitors ride special vehicles to the top of the Gateway Arch to enjoy its history and expansive views of Saint Louis.

"Into The Wild"

HOST:

Emile Hirsch plays Christopher McCandless in 'Into the Wild'

“Into the Wild” is a new movie that tells the true story of a young man named Christopher McCandless. In the nineteen nineties, he dropped out of society after college to test himself in the American wilderness. Actor Sean Penn wrote and directed the movie, which is based on a book by Jon Krakauer.

Penn asked his friend, the singer Eddie Vedder, to write the music for this powerful film. The songs help express the inner voice and personal discovery of this brave young man. Barbara Klein has more.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN:

That was Eddie Vedder singing “No Ceiling.” You might recognize his voice. Vedder is the lead singer for the rock band Pearl Jam. This is the first album in which he performs on his own. Vedder says that when he read the book “Into the Wild” and started to write songs for the movie, the story of Christopher McCandless took control of him.

For two years, this young man traveled through deserts, down rivers, and up mountains in the western United States. He traveled all the way to the northern state of Alaska. On the road, he met many people and influenced them with his intense and intelligent personality. Here is the song “Hard Sun.”

(MUSIC)

Christopher McCandless did not survive his adventure. Some people have noted that he really was not prepared to survive in the wild. He died of starvation at the age of twenty-four, all alone in the Alaskan wilderness. But the story of his independence and desire to live in the simple beauty of nature lives on.

We leave you with the song “Society.” In it, Eddie Vedder imagines the thoughts of Chris McCandless as he says goodbye to the rules and demands of society in order to lively freely on his own.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

VOASE1109_In the News

09 November 2007

Pakistani Police Keep Bhutto From Leading Protest Near Capital
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was freed late Friday after a day of house arrest that prevented her from attending a demonstration in Rawalpindi.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The political crisis in Pakistan deepened Friday. Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto tried to lead a big protest against emergency rule declared last Saturday by President Pervez Musharraf. Instead, the former prime minister spent the day under house arrest.

Benazir Bhutto, top center, and her supporters try to push through a police barrier

She tried to leave her home in Islamabad to attend the demonstration that she organized in nearby Rawalpindi. But she could not get past barriers and hundreds of police around her home.

Late in the day, however, Benazir Bhutto was freed. The government said the detention order had been withdrawn. In Rawalpindi, police clashed with several hundred protesters who violated a ban on demonstrations.

Benazir Bhutto says she still plans to lead a protest march early next week from Lahore to Islamabad. She returned to Pakistan last month after eight years of exile to avoid corruption charges. Before she returned, she had been negotiating with President Musharraf on a possible political alliance.

Last weekend, the president dismissed the Supreme Court. He has placed the chief justice and other judges under house arrest. He also suspended the constitution and shut down privately owned television news stations. And he gave wide powers to officials to crush dissent.

Protests have been suppressed, sometimes violently, by police in recent days. How many people have been detained is unclear. The number is in the thousands, including opposition members, human rights activists and lawyers.

Pervez Musharraf

The opposition is demanding that President Musharraf end emergency rule, retire as army chief and hold elections in January. World leaders, including President Bush, have also called on him to do these things.

President Bush considers the leader of the nuclear-armed nation an important ally against terrorism. Since two thousand one the United States has given Pakistan almost ten billion dollars in aid, mostly for its military.

National elections were planned for early January. This week, General Musharraf said elections would now be held by February fifteenth. He also said he will resign as army chief before he is sworn in again as president. He said he will keep that promise once the new Supreme Court confirms his re-election.

Benazir Bhutto said the election announcement was simply an attempt to quiet growing dissent.

General Musharraf seized power in nineteen ninety-nine. Later he was elected to a five-year term. And, last month, lawmakers elected him to another term. Many political observers say he declared emergency rule because he feared that the Supreme Court would cancel his re-election.

The court had been considering whether he was permitted by law to run for president while serving as army chief. General Musharraf says he declared emergency rule because of a growing threat from Islamic militants and activist judges.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. For more news about Pakistan, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

VOASE1108_Economics Report

08 November 2007

Citigroup's Prince Resigns as CEO
Biggest U.S. bank estimates write-downs of up to $11 billion in the current quarter on mortgage-related investments.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Last week, we told you about big losses at the investment bank Merrill Lynch. But the losses may be even bigger at the nation's biggest bank, Citigroup.

Citigroup estimated this week that it would take losses of eight billion to eleven billion dollars on investments in risky housing loans. Many people who bought houses with subprime mortgages are now unable to pay them back.

The estimated write-downs are for the bank's current period, October through December. Citigroup says they represent five to seven billion dollars after taxes. The bank reported six and a half billion dollars in credit-related losses for the third quarter of the year.

Charles Prince

Charles Prince, Citigroup's chief executive officer, resigned under pressure on Sunday. He led the New York-based bank since two thousand three. He took over for Sanford Weill who built Citi into one of the world's largest financial groups.

Win Bischoff, chairman of Citi Europe and a British and German citizen, will serve as chief executive for now. Former United States treasury secretary Robert Rubin was named chairman of the board. He will help lead the search for a permanent replacement for the C.E.O.

Charles Prince was the second head of a major bank to be forced out in recent days. Last week, Stan O'Neal resigned at Merrill Lynch after his company reported a loss for the third quarter of over two billion dollars. Merrill Lynch had to write-down eight billion dollars in mortgage-related losses.

Citigroup announced that it has fifty-five billion dollars worth of investments directly related to subprime mortgages. Forty-three billion dollars of that is in complex investments called collateralized debt obligations.

A big problem for banks is putting a value on the mortgage-related securities that they hold. Investors are no longer interested in trading these securities. This has frozen the market for them. So banks like Citigroup depend on mathematical models to place a value on these complex investments.

Credit rating agencies reacted to this week's bad news. Moody's Investors Service lowered Citigroup's credit rating one level to its third highest rating. Moody's said the expected write-downs would result in a sizeable quarterly loss for Citigroup.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. To learn more about the problems with subprime mortgages, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE1107_The Making of a Nation

07 November 2007

American History Series: How a Desire for Religious Freedom or Land, or Both, Led to Colonies
Puritans from England settled Massachusetts. The Dutch settled the area now called New York State. And Quakers, unwelcome in England, settled Pennsylvania.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Sarah Long with the MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

(MUSIC)

Today, we tell about the movement of European settlers throughout northeastern America. And we tell how the separate colonies developed in this area.

VOICE ONE:

The Puritans were one of the largest groups from England to settle in the northeastern area called Massachusetts. They began arriving in sixteen thirty. The Puritans had formed the Massachusetts Bay Company in England. The king had given the company an area of land between the Charles and Merrimack rivers.

The Puritans were Protestants who did not agree with the Anglican Church. The Puritans wanted to change the church to make it more holy. They were able to live as they wanted in Massachusetts. Soon they became the largest religious group. By sixteen ninety, fifty thousand people were living in Massachusetts.

Puritans thought their religion was the only true religion and everyone should believe in it. They also believed that church leaders should lead the local government, and all people in the colony should pay to support the Puritan church. The Puritans thought it was the job of government leaders to tell people what to believe.

Some people did not agree with the Puritans who had become leaders of the colony. One of those who disagreed was a Puritan minister named Roger Williams.

VOICE TWO:

Roger Williams wrote several documents stating his views on religious liberty

Roger Williams believed as all Puritans did that other European religions were wrong. He thought the Native Indian religions were wrong too. But he did not believe in trying to force others to agree with him. He thought that it was a sin to punish or kill anyone in the name of Christianity. And he thought that only church members should pay to support their church.

Roger Williams began speaking and writing about his ideas. He wrote a book saying it was wrong to punish people for having different beliefs. Then he said that the European settlers were stealing the Indians' land. He said the king of England had no right to permit people to settle on land that was not his, but belonged to the Indians.

The Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony forced Roger Williams to leave the colony in sixteen thirty-six. He traveled south. He bought land from local Indians and started a city, Providence. The Parliament in England gave him permission to establish a new colony, Rhode Island, with Providence as its capital. As a colony, Rhode Island accepted people of all religious beliefs, including Catholics, Quakers, Jews and even people who denied the existence of God.

Roger Williams also believed that governments should have no connection to a church. This idea of separating church and state was very new. Later it became one of the most important of all America's governing ideas.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Other colonies were started by people who left Massachusetts to seek land. One was Connecticut. A group led by Puritan minister Thomas Hooker left Boston in sixteen thirty-six and went west. They settled near the Connecticut River. Others soon joined them.

Other groups from Massachusetts traveled north to find new homes. The king of England had given two friends a large piece of land in the north. The friends divided it. John Mason took what later became the colony of New Hampshire. Ferdinando Gorges took the area that later became the state of Maine. It never became a colony, however. It remained a part of Massachusetts until after the United States was created.

VOICE TWO:

The area known today as New York State was settled by the Dutch. They called it New Netherland. Their country was the Netherlands. It was a great world power, with colonies all over the world. A business called the Dutch West India Company owned most of the colonies.

The Dutch claimed American land because of explorations by Henry Hudson, an Englishman working for the Netherlands. The land the Dutch claimed was between the Puritans in the north and the Anglican tobacco farmers in the south.

The Dutch were not interested in settling the territory. They wanted to earn money. The Dutch West India Company built trading posts on the rivers claimed by the Netherlands. People in Europe wanted to buy goods made from the skins of animals trapped there.

In sixteen twenty-six, the Dutch West India Company bought two islands from the local Indians. The islands are Manhattan Island and Long Island. Traditional stories say the Dutch paid for the islands with some trade goods worth about twenty-four dollars.

The Dutch West India Company tried to find people to settle in America. But few Dutch wanted to leave Europe. So the colony welcomed people from other colonies, and other countries. These people built a town on Manhattan Island. They called it New Amsterdam. It was soon full of people who had arrived on ships from faraway places. It was said you could hear as many as eighteen different languages spoken in New Amsterdam.

In sixteen fifty-five, the governor of New Netherland took control of a nearby Swedish colony on Delaware Bay. In sixteen sixty-four, the English did the same to the Dutch. The English seized control of New Amsterdam and called it New York. That ended Dutch control of the territory that now is the states of New York, New Jersey and Delaware.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Most of the Dutch in New Amsterdam did not leave. The English permitted everyone to stay. They let the Dutch have religious freedom. The Dutch were just not in control any more.

The Duke of York owned the area now. He was the brother of King Charles the Second of England. The king gave some of the land near New York to two friends, Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley. They called it New Jersey, after the English island where Carteret was born.

The two men wrote a plan of government for their colony. It created an assembly that represented the settlers. It provided for freedom of religion. Men could vote in New Jersey whatever their religion. Soon, people from all parts of Europe were living in New Jersey. Then King Charles took control of the area. He sent a royal governor to rule. But the colonists were permitted to make their own laws through the elected assembly.

The king of England did the same in each colony he controlled. He collected taxes from the people who lived there, but permitted them to govern themselves.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

One religious group that was not welcome in England was the Quakers. Quakers call themselves Friends. They believe that each person has an inner light that leads them to God. Quakers believe they do not need a religious leader to tell them what is right. So, they had no clergy.

Quakers believe that all people are equal. The Quakers in England refused to recognize the king as more important than anyone else. They also refused to pay taxes to support the Anglican Church. Quakers believe that it is always wrong to kill. So they would not fight even when they were forced to join the army. They also refuse to promise loyalty to a king or government or flag or anyone but God.

The English did not like the Quakers for all these reasons. Many Quakers wanted to leave England, but they were not welcome in most American colonies. One Quaker changed this. His name was William Penn.

VOICE ONE:

William Penn came to America in 1682. He established Pennsylvania as a place where people could enjoy freedom of religion.

William Penn was not born a Quaker. He became one as a young man. His father was an Anglican, and a good friend of the king.

King Charles borrowed money from William's father. When his father died, William Penn asked that the debt be paid with land in America. In sixteen eighty-one, the king gave William Penn land which the King's Council named Pennsylvania, meaning Penn's woods.

The Quakers now had their own colony. It was between the Puritans in the north and the Anglicans in the south. William Penn said the colony should be a place where everyone could live by Quaker ideas.

That meant treating all people as equals and honoring all religions. It also meant that anyone could be elected. In most other colonies, people could believe any religion, but they could not vote or hold office unless they were a member of the majority church. In Pennsylvania, all religions were equal.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This MAKING OF A NATION program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

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