Nigerian Security Forces Battle 'Foreign Extremists' in North

By Nico Colombant Kano, Nigeria 18 April 2007

Download

Authorities say elections should go on in Kano and elsewhere

A police official in northern Nigeria says security forces have chased away foreign religious radicals outside the main city of Kano, restoring order ahead of Saturday's presidential election. The clashes between security forces and suspected Islamic militants follow the killing of an influential Muslim cleric last week. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from Kano.

Police commissioner Atiku Kafur tells VOA army reinforcements helped chase away the several hundred insurgents who were lightly armed, spoke only Arabic and had holed up in a suburb of Kano. "The military started shelling their strongholds, they succeeded in killing some of them, and arresting some of them; so as I speak now, I can say the area is quiet. They have been seen running away," he said.

On Tuesday, police reported the assailants killed 12 policemen and one civilian.

Acts of violence have disrupted election process throughout Nigeria (VOA photo - N. Colombant)

Kafur, who took the job of police commissioner only several weeks ago, says he was completely surprised by the attacks. "It is quite a surprise, that is why we are even getting to find out when did they come, have they been here for a long time, or have they just arrived? That is what we are investigating right now," he said.

Kafur says he has strong evidence there is a link between the attack and the murder of Sheik Jaafar Adam, an influential Sunni cleric, last week. He says one of his top priorities is to find the killers. "We are spreading our tentacles to various angles, including political, legal, whatever. We will not leave any stone unturned. We will make sure that we get those who killed that Sheikh," he said.

Kano is predominantly Muslim

Kano is one of 12 predominantly Muslim states in the north of Nigeria. The south is mostly Christian and animist.

Waddah Mohammed, a Kano businessman, says the local residents blame outsiders for trying to disrupt the region ahead of the presidential ballot. "Whenever you ask, the people did not associate with them, with any of the Islamic sects in Kano. And they did not call anybody's name here in Kano. And they say they have only come to face the law enforcement agents so this is what confuses people," he said.

To cut down on violence, police have imposed a nighttime curfew.

In a quiet part of Kano, one motorbike taxi driver, waiting at a repair shop, says he is grateful for the curfew and the extra security. "If people are coming out, they will be fighting with police or some other people, and that this is why they are doing anything around. From 5:30, they are going back to their house and nothing is happening with (because of) the curfew," he said.

Opposition parties have called for protests and a boycott of Saturday's presidential elections unless last week's gubernatorial ballot that they claim was riddled with fraud is annulled.

But the election commission says the opposition leaders should address their grievances in the courts, and says the presidential elections will take place as scheduled.

UN Report Says Sudan Flying Weapons to Darfur

By Peter Heinlein United Nations 18 April 2007

Download

A United Nations report is accusing Sudan of flying weapons and heavy military equipment into Darfur in violation of Security Council resolutions. Correspondent Peter Heinlein at the U.N. tells us further sanctions against Khartoum are being considered.

Emyr Jones-Parry

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Emyr Jones-Parry, says a resolution is in the works that would push Sudan to halt the violence in its western Darfur region.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in London that talks on the resolution would begin Thursday.

Ambassador Jones-Parry, the Security Council president for April, says no decision has been made about whether the measure would include penalties against the Sudanese government.

"To the extent now that a sanctions resolution would help us and would encourage and penalize those people who should be penalized for what they've been doing is one of the questions that's being debated," he said.

"But what the U.K. is working on with the United States and France is the content of a resolution, and we're finalizing the resolution," he added.

Talk of possible sanctions comes a day before the expected publication of a report by a panel of U.N. experts accusing Sudan of flying arms and heavy military equipment into Darfur in violation of previous Council resolutions.

The report, including photographs, alleges that Sudan is painting its military planes white to make them look like United Nations or African Union aircraft.

The Khartoum government has denied the charges.

A leaked copy of the report is already available on the Web site of the New York Times newspaper, which published excerpts and pictures in its Wednesday edition.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas Wednesday said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is deeply concerned about the report's findings, and is asking Khartoum for an explanation.

"He is especially troubled by reports that private or national aircraft have been illegally provided with U.N. markings [for] military purposes," she said. "If further substantiated, such efforts would be in clear violation of international law and in contravention of the U.N's international status."

President Bush also warned Sudan Wednesday it must halt the violence in Darfur or face sanctions. But several powerful Security Council members say they would oppose further penalties at this time.

Vitaly Churkin

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, noted that only this week the Khartoum government had agreed to allow a contingent of U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.

"We don't think it's the right time," he said. "It would be very strange. After a long while we have this positive development in the dialogue between the U.N. and Khartoum and all of a sudden to come back with some sanctions would not be good."

China's deputy U.N. envoy Liu Zhenmin made a similar comment, saying it would be better not to move in the direction of sanctions.

South African envoy Dumisani Kumalo argued that penalties against Khartoum would be counterproductive.

"Now what is this, coming with sanctions now, I don't know, to achieve what," he said.

Fighting in Darfur began more than four years ago when rebels in the remote western region launched an uprising against the Khartoum government. Monitors say the violence has killed at least 200,000 people and displaced more than two million others.

Virginia Tech Gunman Sends Chilling Video, Photos to US Network During Massacre

By David Dyar Washington 18 April 2007

Download

The gunman who killed 32 people at a U.S. university Monday, before killing himself, mailed a chilling video to a U.S. TV network during the massacre. The package was received by the NBC TV network from Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui. VOA's David Dyar reports the package contained a rambling video in which the gunman engaged in an angry tirade about hedonism and rich kids along with several pictures of him holding guns.

NBC played excerpts from the video on its evening newscast. The gunman is seen talking angrily in the video in what the network described as an incoherent manifesto.

Image received by NBC news of Cho Seung-Hui

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today, but you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option, the decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off," he said.

Some of the pictures released by NBC showed Cho brandishing guns. One picture showed him holding two guns, one in each hand in a firing pose. In another picture, Cho points the barrel of the gun directly at the camera.

NBC said it received the package Wednesday, but it contained a stamp indicating it was mailed about an hour and 45 minutes after he first opened fire on the university campus, killing two students.

Many of Cho's comments were laced with profanity and were spoken in an angry monotone voice.

"I didn't have to do it. I could have left. I could have fled," he was heard saying. "But now I am no longer running. If not for me, for my children and my brothers and sisters that you (expletive). I did it for them," The pictures and video are the latest in a series of disclosures about the gunman that have sufaced since the killing."

It was reported that he had two stalking complaints filed against him in 2005 and later a magistrate signed an order after an initial evaluation that found probable cause that Cho was a danger to himself or others as a result of mental illness.

NBC said it turned over the package to the FBI. The network released excerpts from the package just before the FBI released a statement about it.

Police said it was not clear when the recordings were made.

VOASE0418_The Making of a Nation

18 April 2007

Civil Rights Movement: In the 1960s, a Struggle for Equality Spreads in the US
Heroes of that effort included Martin Luther King Jr., James Meredith and Rosa Parks.

Download
Download

VOICE ONE:

This is Richard Rael.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Rich Kleinfeldt 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 for civil rights for black Americans.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

August 28, 1963: March on Washington

The day is August twenty-eighth, nineteen sixty-three. More than two hundred fifty-thousand people are gathered in Washington. Black and white, young and old, they demand equal treatment for black Americans. The nation's most famous civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, is speaking.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration of freedom in the history of our nation. "

VOICE TWO:

Early in its history, black Africans were brought to America as slaves. They were bought and sold, like animals. By the time of America's Civil War in the eighteen sixties, many had been freed by their owners. Many, however, still worked as slaves on the big farms of the South. By the end of the war, slavery had been declared unconstitutional. But that was only the first step in the struggle for equality.

VOICE ONE:

Most people of color could not get good jobs. They could not get good housing. They had far less chance of a good education than white Americans. For about one hundred years, blacks made slow gains. Widespread activism for civil rights did not really begin until after World War Two. During the war, black Americans earned respect as members of the armed forces. When they came home, many demanded that their civil rights be respected, too. An organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, led the way.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen fifty-one, the organization sent its lawyers to help a man in the city of Topeka, Kansas. The man, Oliver Brown, and twelve others had brought legal action against the city. They wanted to end racial separation in their children's schools. At that time, two of every five public schools in America had all white students or all black students. The law said all public schools must be equal, but they were not. Schools for white children were almost always better than schools for black children. The situation was worst in Southern states.

VOICE ONE:

The case against the city of Topeka -- Brown versus the Board of Education -- was finally settled by the nation's highest court. In nineteen fifty-four, the Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for black children were not equal to schools for white children. The next year, it said public schools must accept children of all races as quickly as possible.

VOICE TWO:

In September nineteen fifty-seven, a black girl tried to enter an all-white school in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas. An angry crowd screamed at her. State guards blocked her way. The guards had been sent by the state governor, Orville Faubus. After three weeks, a federal court ordered Governor Faubus to remove the guards. The girl, Elizabeth Eckford, and seven other black students were able to enter the school. After one day, however, riots forced the black students to leave.

VOICE ONE:

President Dwight Eisenhower ordered federal troops to Little Rock. They helped black students get into the white school safely. However, angry white citizens closed all the city's public schools. The schools stayed closed for two years.

In nineteen sixty-two, a black student named James Meredith tried to attend the University of Mississippi. School officials refused. John Kennedy, the president at that time, sent federal law officers to help him. James Meredith became the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

VOICE TWO:

Rosa Parks is fingerprinted after her arrest in Montgomery, Alabama

In addition to fighting for equal treatment in education, black Americans fought for equal treatment in housing and transportation. In many cities of the South, blacks were forced to sit in the back of buses. In nineteen fifty-five, a black woman named Rosa Parks got on a bus in the city of Montgomery, Alabama. She sat in the back. The bus became crowded. There were no more seats for white people. So, the bus driver ordered Missus Parks to stand and give her seat to a white person. She refused. Her feet were tired after a long day at work. Rosa Parks was arrested.

VOICE ONE:

Martin Luther King Jr.

The Reverend Martin Luther King organized the black citizens of Montgomery. They were the major users of the bus system. They agreed to stop using the buses. The boycott lasted a little more than a year. It seriously affected the earnings of the bus company. In the end, racial separation on the buses in Montgomery was declared illegal. Rosa Parks's tired feet had helped win black Americans another victory in their struggle for equal rights. And, the victory had been won without violence.

VOICE TWO:

The Reverend King was following the teachings of Indian spiritual leader, Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi urged his followers to reach their political goals without violence. One of the major tools of nonviolence in the civil rights struggle in America was the "sit-in". In a sit-in, protesters entered a store or public eating place. They quietly asked to be served. Sometimes, they were arrested. Sometimes, they remained until the business closed. But they were not served. Some went hours without food or water.

VOICE ONE:

Another kind of protest was the "freedom ride." This involved buses that traveled through states from the North to the South. On freedom rides, blacks and whites sat together to make it difficult for officials to enforce racial separation laws on the buses. Many freedom rides -- and much violence -- took place in the summer of nineteen sixty-four. Sometimes, the freedom riders were arrested. Sometimes, angry crowds of whites beat the freedom riders.

VOICE TWO:

Perhaps the most dangerous part of the civil rights movement was the campaign to win voting rights for black Americans. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution said a citizen could not be denied the right to vote because of race or color. Several Southern states, however, passed laws to try to deny voting rights to blacks for other reasons.

VOICE ONE:

Martin Luther King and his supporters demonstrated to demand new legislation to guarantee the right to vote. They held protests in the state of Alabama. In the city of Birmingham, the chief law officer ordered his men to fight the protesters with high-pressure water hoses and fierce dogs. People throughout the country watched the demonstration on television. The sight of children being beaten by policemen and bitten by dogs awakened many citizens to the civil rights struggle. Federal negotiators reached a compromise. The compromise was, in fact, a victory for the protesters. They promised to stop their demonstrations. In exchange, they would be permitted to vote.

VOICE TWO:

President Johnson signed a major civil rights bill in nineteen sixty-four. Yet violence continued in some places. Three civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi. One was murdered in Alabama. Martin Luther King kept working toward the goal of equal rights. He died working. On April fourth, nineteen sixty-eight, he was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee. He had gone there to support a strike by waste collection workers. A white man, James Earl Ray, was tried and found guilty of the crime.

VOICE ONE:

A wave of unrest followed the murder of Martin Luther King. Blacks in more than one hundred cities in America rioted. In some cities, areas affected by the riots were not rebuilt for many years. The movement for civil rights for black Americans continued. But it became increasingly violent. The struggle produced angry, bitter memories. Yet it also produced some of the greatest words spoken in American history.

MARTIN LUTHER KING: "When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children -- black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics -- will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!'"

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

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

VOICE ONE:

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

VOASE0418_Education Report

18 April 2007

The Formula for Becoming a Pharmacist
A look at pharmacy education in the US, and the requirements for foreign-trained pharmacists. Part 33 of our Foreign Student Series.

Download
Download

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Two listeners, Youngmin Kim in South Korea and Nestor Gastelo in Peru, would like us to talk about pharmacy education in the United States. This will be the subject today in our Foreign Student Series.

"Pharmacists are health professionals who assist individuals in making the best use of medications." That description comes from the Code of Ethics of the American Pharmacists Association.

The job may include filling doctors' orders and helping people choose medicines that can be sold without a prescription. A pharmacist might also answer questions from patients and work with medical devices and other technologies.

Community pharmacists work in drug stores. Pharmacists are also employed by hospitals and drug companies.

Pharmacists in the United States must meet the professional requirements of the state where they want to work.

Many universities have a college of pharmacy. Since two thousand four, these offer only a doctor of pharmacy degree. The program takes four years.

Students generally enter pharmacy school after two years of general courses. Pharmacy students must be skilled in mathematics and the sciences. They must also take the Pharmacy College Admission Test.

After they earn their degree, they must complete a residency training program in a hospital or other setting. One year is required, but a second year can be added in a specialty area like cancer care or infectious diseases.

After their residency, pharmacists must pass the licensing examination given by their state.

Foreign students who plan to train in the United States and return home should make sure their degree will be recognized there. In the same way, foreign-trained pharmacists who want to work in the United States must be sure that their degree will be recognized here.

Even so, they will have to complete a residency in the United States. For more information, check with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, at ashp.org.

Foreign-trained pharmacists must also pass a certification process. More information about that is available from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, on the Web at nabp.net.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. We will have links to these two sites at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also get the full details from VOA News about the killings Monday at Virginia Tech. I'm Bob Doughty.

European Parliament Members Defend Criticisms of Rendition

By Dan Robinson Capitol Hill 18 April 2007

Download

Members of the European Parliament have gone before US Congress to defend the findings of a report criticizing the practice of extraordinary rendition, in which terrorist suspects have been transferred by U.S. authorities to other countries for interrogation. VOA's Dan Robinson has a report from Capitol Hill.

Since revelations emerged in U.S. media of the increased use of rendition after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has faced intense criticism from human rights groups, European governments and politicians.

The transport of suspects by the CIA to countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Morocco and Uzbekistan has come in for particular criticism, along with the use of formerly secret detention facilities in east European countries and use of European airspace by CIA aircraft.

Critics allege prisoners are deliberately sent to places where they would be subject to torture, outside of the confines of the U.S. judicial system.

Bush administration and CIA officials have said the United States does not conduct or condone torture, and that interrogation measures are conducted lawfully, adding that the U.S. seeks assurances from foreign governments that torture will not be used.

But witnesses appearing before the House human rights subcommittee defended a European Parliament report, which found among other things that rendition involved such things as incommunicado detention and torture.

Jonathan Evans, chairman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with the United States, asserts that rendition is viewed in the United States as well as Europe as a violation of due process.

"Let's never forget, we are allies who share common values, of freedom, democracy and the rule of law," said Jonathan Evans. "In promoting these values elsewhere in the world, we must ensure the maintenance of those values in our own countries."

In its report released earlier this year, the European Parliament said many European states tolerated what were called illegal actions by the CIA, and criticized several European governments for an unwillingness to cooperate with investigations.

Baroness Sarah Ludford (2006 photo)

European Parliament member Baroness Sarah Ludford:

"We did undertake a sound and thorough inquiry, and our conclusion, our core conclusion, that systematic breaches of human rights, took place in Europe and affecting European citizens and legal residents, with the collusion of European governments, is well-founded," said Baroness Ludford.

Congressional critics say rendition, first used during the Clinton administration as a tool against extremists, has been abused under President Bush.

Democratic Congressman William Delahunt chairs the House panel, and says the practice undermines the ability of the U.S. to speak credibly about respect for democracy and the rule of law.

"The people across the globe have admired our historical commitment to freedom and the rule of law," said William Delahunt. "But they are appalled at our hypocrisy when we betray our values."

Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher calls rendition a perfectly-acceptable method that must be used to protect citizens of all countries in a new kind of war.

He describes as anti-American vitriol a portion of the European Parliament report that mentions the trial in June of 26 U.S. citizens, including the CIA chief in Italy and other CIA agents and nine Italians, in connection with the 2003 rendition to Egypt of a radical Islamist cleric:

"When people who are defending us, who put their lives in jeopardy, but then to put them in jeopardy of being paraded through a foreign court and tossed in jail for doing what our government has asked them to do, and what our government asked them to do in cooperation with those very same European governments, this is a travesty, we should be supporting these people rather than trying to make their job more difficult," said Congressman Rohrabacher. "Is is truly a disappointment."

Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA special unit on Osama Bin Laden, defends rendition, saying the program was strengthened for the better by President Bush, and had this harsh assessment criticisms of Europe where he said, terrorists have safe haven:

"Indeed, it is strange that European leaders are here today to complain about a very successful and security-enhancing U.S. government counter-terrorist operation, when their European Union presides over the earth's single largest terrorist safe-haven [in Europe] and has done so for a quarter century," said Scheuer.

Tuesday's hearing coincided with a report in The Washington Post saying CIA Director Michael Hayden complained last month to European diplomats about criticisms by officials in their countries of the U.S. rendition program.

Quoting un-named diplomats and officials, the newspaper said Hayden asserted that fewer than 100 people had been held in secret detention facilities since 2002, and that fewer than half had been subjected to what President Bush described as "alternative procedures" during interrogations.

Virginia Tech Students Gather for a Candlelight Vigil

By Paula Wolfson Washington 17 April 2007

Download

Virginia Tech is mourning its dead as the university and the nation learn more about the 23-year-old student behind the worst mass shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. VOA's Paula Wolfson reports Cho Seung-Hui, a South Korean native, killed 32 people Monday before taking his own life.

Students attending memorial service at Virginia Tech

One day after the massacre, members of the Virginia Tech community came together to remember and to grieve.

They held onto each other for comfort and strength. Zenobia Hikes, a university official, spoke for them all. "With the help and support of each other, and our brothers and sisters all over the world, we will eventually recover. But we will never, ever forget," she said.

Students, teachers and staff filled a university arena - some still in shock over the senseless violence.

President Bush (l) and Laura Bush, second from left, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (r) participate in a convocation to honor the victims of a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, 17 Apr 2007

Political and religious leaders sat with them and spoke to the gathering. President Bush offered condolences on behalf of the nation. "We have come to express our sympathy. And in this time of anguish, I hope you know that people all over this country are thinking about you, and asking God to provide comfort for all who have been affected," he said.

Meanwhile, the investigation into the massacre at the largest university in the eastern state of Virginia is continuing. Early Tuesday Virginia Tech police Chief Wendell Flinchum told reporters that ballistic evidence indicates Cho Seung-Hui was the gunman, responsible for both an early morning shooting at a dormitory, and a second bloodbath in a classroom building. "A nine-millimeter handgun and a 22-caliber handgun were recovered from Norris Hall. Lab results confirm that one of the two weapons seized in Norris Hall was used in both shootings," he said.

Two Virginia Tech students at the memorial convocation, 17 Apr 2007

In interviews with national newspapers and television networks, witnesses painted a chilling portrait of the gunman, who shot his victims with a serious, but calm look on his face.

Cho, a fourth-year student majoring in English literature, arrived in the United States from South Korea as a child in 1992 and was raised in a Washington, D.C. suburb. He was living in the country as a legal resident alien, retaining his South Korean citizenship.

A grieving Virginia Tech student, 17 Apr 2007

There was no mention of Cho at the gathering at the university coliseum - only words of sympathy for the victims, and determination to rise above the tragedy. Poet Nikki Giovanni - who teaches at Virginia Tech - rallied the audience with a call to come together as a family. "We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to stand tall tirelessly. We are brave enough to bend to cry. And sad enough to know we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech!," said Nikki Giovanni.

As she walked away from the podium, the students erupted into a school cheer - a recognition that healing will take time, but they will heal as one.

WHO: More People With HIV/AIDS Getting Treatment

By Lisa Schlein Geneva 17 April 2007

Download

A new WHO/UNAIDS report shows access to HIV anti-retroviral therapy in poor countries grew significantly in 2006. The report says more than 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS are now receiving treatment. This is a 54 percent increase over the previous year. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from WHO and UNAIDS headquarters in Geneva.

A baby sleeps in her mother's arms next to the anti-AIDS drug nevirapine

The report shows countries in every region of the world are making substantial progress in increasing access to HIV treatment. It says the greatest advances have been made in sub-Saharan Africa, the region most affected by AIDS.

UNAIDS official Peter Ghys says more than 1.3 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving treatment in December 2006.

"We notice that there has been a very dramatic increase in access to treatment," he said. "Where it was only two percent three years ago, the treatment coverage has increased to 28 percent by the end of 2006. And this is the most dramatic increase by region."

At the same time, the report notes the goal of providing universal access to comprehensive prevention programs, treatment, care and support is still a long way off. One of the major concerns is providing medicine to pregnant HIV/AIDS mothers to prevent their newborns from getting infected.

World Health Organization care and treatment expert Charlie Gilks says a very small percentage of HIV-positive pregnant women in poor countries are receiving the drugs they need to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

"The report notes that about less than 10 percent of women who are pregnant have received an HIV test as part of their routine antenatal care," he added. "This is one of the reasons why prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs are not moving forward as they should. And, a survey in 12 countries has noted that only 12 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, that only about 12 percent of men and unfortunately even fewer women, 10 percent of women know their HIV status."

Gilks says people who do not know their HIV status are likely not to get access to treatment and stop the infection from spreading.

The World Health Organization says the price of anti-retroviral drugs has gone down about 40 percent, making them more affordable in developing countries. The report notes injecting drug use is a major mode of HIV transmission in several regions. It is a particularly big problem in eastern European countries. However, the report warns that HIV among injecting drug users is emerging as a concern in Africa.

Experts Say Global Warming Likely to Affect Africa Most Severely

By Scott Bobb Johannesburg 17 April 2007

Download

Experts say global warming is likely to affect people living in Africa more than on any other continent and warn that African policymakers must begin to prepare for such an event. An international panel of experts on climate change made the projection Tuesday in its latest report. Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from Johannesburg.

A child is carried by his mother as she harvests her maize crop early due to a food shortage caused by drought in Kampimphi, 68 kms north of Lilongwe, Malawi (file photo)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, says global warming could upset the livelihood of as many as 250 million Africans in the next 13 years by reducing access to water and food, degrading forests, mangroves and coral reefs and causing large migrations of people.

One of the main authors of the report, Guy Midgley, says at the same time Africa is among the regions least able to address such a crisis.

"It's a continent which is most vulnerable to climate change because of its low adaptive capacity," he said. "You have fairly weak institutional control and inputs and at the same time high levels of projected climate impact. Put those two things together and you end up with substantial vulnerability."

The IPCC was formed nearly 20 years ago to assess scientific studies on climate change. The latest report was compiled over the past six years by hundreds of authors from 130 countries. It is meant to serve as a tool for policymakers.

Midgley says that research is growing and increasingly in agreement. It shows that surface temperatures on land and sea have risen by one to two degrees in the past 34 years and are already affecting weather and ecosystems around the world.

He says in Africa, fish populations have declined in major lakes and coastal areas. The amount of land available for agriculture is shrinking and growing seasons are shorter. The report projects that crops from rain-fed agriculture in some countries could be reduced by as much as 50 percent by 2020.

At the same time, rising sea levels could threaten coastal and island communities and affect industries such as tourism. The report says some adaptation has already begun but the cost could amount to as much as 10 percent of gross domestic products.

He says a major concern in Africa is that so many people are living at subsistence levels.

"A lot of people in Africa are not living buffered by insurance, buffered by savings, by credit availability," Midgely said. "So when resources become less available people potentially could be quite mobile. And that's always a problem for social security, for unrest, etc."

He notes that in a major irony, warming temperatures may actually boost agriculture and water supplies in temperate zones such as the northern hemisphere.

Last November, then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke at the opening of the climate change meeting in Nairobi. He said the impact of climate change will fall disproportionately on the world's poorest countries, many of them here in Africa. He added that these people already live on the front lines of pollution, disaster and the degradation of resources and land.

Suspected Taleban Insurgents Hit UN Vehicle in Afghanistan, Killing Five

By Benjamin Sand Islamabad 17 April 2007

Download

The United Nations has come under attack in Afghanistan. Officials there say a roadside bomb ripped through a U.N. vehicle, killing five people. From Islamabad, VOA correspondent Benjamin Sand reports.

Afghan police officers check the destroyed United Nation's vehicle after it was hit by a road side bomb in the main city of Kandahar province, 17 Apr 2007

U.N. spokesman Aleem Siddique says the blast Tuesday morning was in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.

"The blast has claimed the lives of an Afghan driver and four Nepalese contractors working with the U.N. Office for Project Services," he said.

The U.N. vehicle was driving down the main road just outside Kandahar city.

The United Nations says the bomb was apparently detonated by remote control and was not a suicide attack.

The southern provinces are the Taleban's traditional stronghold and fighting there has continued unabated since U.S.-led forces ousted the Islamic militants from power in 2001.

Taleban commanders have already claimed responsibility for the explosion. U.N. officials sharply condemned the attack.

"Intentional attacks on civilians are a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the United Nations will be pursuing full accountability for those who are behind this," said Siddique.

The blast was the first deadly attack on the United Nations in nearly 11 months.

Security experts say Taleban attacks on civilians in general have surged dramatically, with more than 700 non-combatants killed in the past 15 months and thousands more seriously injured.

2006 was Afghanistan's deadliest year in more than half a decade and this year shows no signs of any improvement.

The fighting eased during the recent winter months when heavy snows restricted the Taleban's movement. But Afghan officials say attacks are again on the rise and the insurgency appears to be back with a vengeance.

On Monday, a suicide bomber in the northern city of Kunduz killed at least nine policemen and injured more than 25 others.

Officials there say it was the first large attack in the relatively stable northern provinces in several months and the deadliest since 2001.

US Hopes for New Nepal Election Date Soon, Expresses Caution Toward Maoists

By Steve Herman Kathmandu 17 April 2007

Download

The U.S. ambassador to Nepal understands the need for a delay in elections in the Himalayan kingdom. In the meantime, he says, the United States will conditionally cooperate with government ministries now being run by Maoists - who had been labeled terrorists by the U.S. VOA's Steve Herman reports from Kathmandu.

Ambassador James Moriarty (file photo)

U.S. ambassador James Moriarty says Nepal's government "ran out of time" to hold free and fair elections on June 20. No new date has been set for polling to select a constituent assembly that is to decide the fate of the country's unpopular monarchy.

Moriarty, in a VOA interview on Tuesday, expressed his desire to see the eight parties in the interim government formed this month quickly set a new election date.

In the meantime the United States and other foreign governments are dealing with a Nepalese government in which Maoists control several ministries. The United States has designated the Maoists as a terrorist group.

Ambassador Moriarty says a pragmatic decision has been made to not immediately sever ties with those ministries.

"We have decided we will not punish the people of Nepal for the sins of the Maoists," he said. "We'll look at the ministries that are controlled by the Maoists, see what we're doing with those ministries, see whether we need to change the way we work with those ministries in order that Maoist ministers don't get the credit for what we end up doing with those ministries."

Maoist leaders watch as an officer of the Election Commission registers the party's official name of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in Kathmandu, 10 Apr 2007

Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries, sandwiched between China and India. It maintains good relations with both countries, as well as the United States.

A Maoist victory in an election certified as free and fair would put the United States in a further quandary. The ambassador tells VOA News that Washington would have to accept any outcome of such an election.

"If they achieve that through a free and fair election, we will welcome it if that's really the will of the people of Nepal," he said. "I tend to have my doubts that's really the case. You don't win peoples' hearts and minds by brutalizing them and that's been the favorite Maoist tool."

The ambassador, a former senior official of the U.S. National Security Council, says the Maoists have what he calls a frightening agenda of collectivization, mass re-education and nationalization of key industries that would be a "recipe for disaster." Such programs, if implemented, he says, would bring into question whether the United States "in good conscience" could continue to support Nepal.

Annual support to Nepal through the U.S. Agency for International Development is about $40 million.

Despite recent statements by Maoist leaders to work for the abolition of the monarchy and other goals through the democratic process, Moriarty says they continue to "use violence on a fairly massive scale every day" in Nepal to shake down merchants and intimidate political opponents.

The Maoists waged a decade-long violent campaign to topple the monarchy. The violence left 14,000 people dead. In a landmark peace deal last year the Maoists agreed to enter the political process and have sent their militias and arms into camps under United Nations supervision.

VOASE0417_Health Report

17 April 2007

Vaccines: How They Work (and How Caterpillars Could Help)
Most influenza vaccine is made in chickens eggs. But scientists are testing a design made from caterpillar cells.

Download
Download

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Most vaccines are designed with the same goal in mind. That is, to help the

body's own defense system prevent a disease by producing antibodies against it. Antibodies are disease-fighting proteins. The immune system produces them in reaction to viruses, bacteria and other invaders.

The vaccine tricks the body into thinking it has already successfully defeated the disease. To activate the immune system, vaccines commonly introduce the disease-causing virus or bacteria into the body. But they use weakened or killed versions.

Weakened viruses are used, for example, in vaccines against chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella. To prevent polio, the Sabin vaccine uses a weakened form of the virus; the Salk vaccine uses a killed version.

Experts say vaccines that use killed or inactivated virus can be safely given even to people with damaged immune systems.

Researchers may spend years working on a vaccine. They have still not succeeded against, for example, H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, or against malaria, but they are trying.

And not all vaccines offer long-term protection. The tetanus vaccine is a good example. It offers protection for only about ten years. Then a person must be immunized again.

Some vaccines are made with animal material. For example, influenza vaccine is grown in chicken eggs. This can be a problem for people who are allergic to eggs. Also, the process is complex.

But things could change in the future. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that flu vaccine could come from insect cells.

Researchers in the United States tested a flu vaccine made from caterpillar cells. The study involved four hundred sixty people. There were two versions of the vaccine, one stronger than the other.

The people were not told whether they were getting the vaccine or a substitute, a placebo. Here is what the scientists reported: Seven people in the placebo group caught the flu. So did two people who received the lower strength vaccine. But no one in the stronger vaccine group got the flu.

Protein Sciences, a vaccine maker, paid for the study. The company plans to begin testing the experimental flu vaccine on a larger group in order to seek government approval.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, along with transcripts and audio files of our reports, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0417_Explorations

17 April 2007

Eleanor Creesy Helped Guide One of the Fastest Sailing Ships Ever Built
In 1851 the Flying Cloud set a record for sailing from New York City to San Francisco.

Download
Download

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Shirley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Eleanor Creesy. She helped to guide one of the fastest sailing ships ever built.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The name Eleanor Creesy is almost unknown today. But in the middle eighteen

Painting of the Flying Cloud from eraoftheclipperships.com

hundreds she was a famous woman. Those were the days of wooden sailing ships. It was a time before ships had engines. Cloth sails were used to catch the wind to move a ship through the water.

A ship that sailed from New York to San Francisco had to travel around the bottom of South America. Such a trip could take two hundred days to complete. Not all ships completed the trip. The high winds and angry seas in this area of the world created deadly storms. Ships often sank. No one could survive the freezing waters in this dangerous area if the ship went down.

VOICE TWO:

One hundred fifty years ago, women did not receive much education. Most women were expected to learn to read and write. But they almost never held positions of great responsibility.

Eleanor Creesy was different. She was the navigator for a ship. A navigator is responsible for guiding a ship safely from one port to another.

Eleanor’s father taught her to navigate. She wanted to learn this difficult skill because she liked the mathematics involved. A navigator also had to know how to use a complex instrument called a sextant. It was used to gather information about the sun, moon, and some stars to find a ship’s position at sea.

Eleanor married a captain of a ship, Josiah Perkins Creesy, in eighteen forty-one. It was not unusual for a ship captain to take his wife with him on long trips. A captain’s wife often acted as a nurse, which Eleanor did. But she did a lot more. Josiah Creesy quickly learned that his wife was an extremely good navigator.

Eleanor was the navigator on each ship that Josiah commanded during all their years at sea. They were husband and wife, but they also enjoyed working together.

VOICE ONE:

Eleanor and Josiah Creesy are forever linked to one of the most famous ships in American history. That ship is the Flying Cloud. It was designed and built at the shipyard of Donald McKay in the eastern city of Boston. Grinell, Minturn and Company bought it. Captain Creesy worked for Grinell, Minturn. Company officials chose him to be the captain of the new ship.

The Flying Cloud was a new kind of ship. The front was very narrow and sharp. This helped it cut through the water. The ship itself was narrow and long. This also added to its speed. A New York newspaper wrote a story about the ship when it was new. The paper said it was extremely beautiful. The world soon learned it was one of the fastest sailing ships ever built.

The large number of sails the Flying Cloud could carry increased the speed of the ship. It usually carried at least twenty-one large sails. The crew often added many more to increase the speed.

VOICE TWO:

It was the second day of June, eighteen fifty-one. Goods and passengers had been loaded on the Flying Cloud. The ship quietly sailed out of New York City on its way to San Francisco.

Very quickly it became evident the ship was special. Part of Eleanor Creesy’s work was to find out how far the ship had traveled each day. This involved doing complex mathematics and usually took Eleanor several hours. The first time she completed her work, she could not believe the results. She did the mathematics again, carefully looking for mistakes. There were none.

The ship had traveled almost four hundred eighty kilometers in twenty-four hours. This was an extremely fast speed. Few ships had ever sailed this fast.

VOICE ONE:

The captain of a ship keeps a written record of each day’s events when a ship is at sea. This record is called a ship’s log. On May fifteenth, just seventeen days after leaving New York, Captain Creesy wrote this in the Flying Cloud’s log:

“We have passed the Equator in two days less time than ever before. We have traveled five thousand nine hundred and nine kilometers in seventeen days!”

As the Flying Cloud sailed south, each day was extremely exciting. As it neared the South Atlantic, however, storms began to cause great concern.

For Eleanor Creesy to learn the correct position of the ship each day, she had to be able to see the sun, the moon or stars. This was impossible when the ship entered an area of storms. It was then that her greatest skill as a navigator became extremely important.

VOICE TWO:

When bad weather prevented navigators from seeing the sun, moon or stars, they had to use a method called “dead reckoning” to find the ship’s position.

Dead reckoning is not exact. A navigator would take the last known position of the ship, then add the ship’s speed. The navigator also had to add any movement of the ship to the side caused by waves or the wind. But this information was only a guess. Even a good navigator could be wrong by many kilometers.

If a ship was sailing in the middle of the ocean, a navigator could make mistakes using dead reckoning and no harm would be done. However, when a ship was near land, dead reckoning became extremely dangerous. The ship might be much closer to land than the navigator knew. In a storm, the ship could be driven on to land and severely damaged or sunk. Using dead reckoning near the southern most area of South America called for an expert.

The Flying Cloud was near land at the end of the South American continent. Eleanor Creesy used all her skill to find a safe path for the huge ship.

VOICE ONE:

Captain Creesy was responsible for the safety of the Flying Cloud, the passengers and crew. He would be blamed for any serious accident. Most captains did their own navigating. Perhaps no other captain sailing at that time would think to have a woman do this extremely important work. However, Josiah Creesy never questioned his wife’s sailing directions.

He would often stand on the deck of his ship, in the cold rain and fierce winds. He would shout below to Missus Creesy and ask for a new sailing direction. She would quickly do the work required for a new dead reckoning direction and pass the information to her husband. Captain Creesy would give the orders to turn the big ship.

VOICE TWO:

The storm began to grow. The crew put out the fires used for heat and cooking. Fire was a great danger at sea. No fires were ever permitted on a ship during a storm. Not even lamps were lit. Everyone ate cold food. The temperatures were now near freezing.

Hour after hour Eleanor Creesy worked to find the ship’s dead reckoning position.

When the storm ended, the crew of the Flying Cloud could see the very southern coast of South America -- a place called Tierra del Fuego. They could see the snow-covered mountains and huge amounts of blue ice. It was an area of deadly beauty. And, it was only eight kilometers away. Eleanor Creesy had guided the ship perfectly.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Flying Cloud sailed north toward San Francisco traveling at speeds no one thought possible. On July thirty-first, the ship traveled six hundred and one kilometers in only twenty-four hours. No ship had ever sailed that far in one day. The Flying Cloud had set a world record. That record belonged to the ship, the crew, the captain and the navigator.

On August thirty-first, the Flying Cloud sailed into San Francisco Bay. The Flying Cloud had set a record for sailing from New York to San Francisco. It made the trip in eighty-nine days, and twenty-one hours. Newspapers across the country spread the news. Josiah and Eleanor Creesy were famous.

Newspapers wrote stories about them and their beautiful ship. People wanted to meet them. But soon the two were back at sea.

Two years later Captain Creesy and his wife again took the Flying Cloud from New York to San Francisco. This time they made the trip in eighty-nine days, eight hours. This record would stand unbroken for more than one hundred years.

VOICE TWO:

Josiah and Eleanor Creesy went on to sail in other ships. They continued to work as a team until they left the sea in eighteen sixty-four. They retired to their home in Massachusetts.

Captain Josiah Creesy died in June of eighteen seventy-one. His wife lived until the beginning of the new century. She died at the age of eighty-five, in August of nineteen hundred.

Eleanor Creesy is remembered by anyone who loves the history of the sea. She is honored for her great skill as navigator of the Flying Cloud, one of the fastest sailing ships the world has ever seen.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Cynthia Kirk. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Shirley Griffith. You can read scripts and download audio on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Bush Says America Shocked by University Shooting

By Paula Wolfson White House 16 April 2007

Download

America is in shock and mourning, following the worst mass shooting in the nation's history. VOA's Paula Wolfson has the latest on a day of bloodshed at Virginia Tech University that left 33 people dead, including the gunman.

SWAT team members head to Norris Hall, the site of a shooting on campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, 16 Apr 2007

A blustery spring morning turned into a living nightmare at Virginia Tech.

A gunman opened fire in a dormitory. Two hours later, he struck again in a classroom.

Students fled in panic as police rushed in. Buildings across the sprawling rural campus were locked down. And the nation mourned as the death toll increased over and over again.

"Our nation is shocked and saddened by the news of the shooting at Virginia Tech today," the president said.

President Bush reacting to shooting at Virginia Tech, 16 Apr 2007

President Bush gave a voice to the thoughts of the American people.

"Today, our nation grieves with those who lost loved ones at Virginia Tech," he said. "We hold the victims in our hearts, we lift them up in our prayers, and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering today."

Across Washington, in the halls of Congress, political foes joined in a moment of silence for the dead - first in the Senate and then in the House.

The top Democrat in the Senate - Harry Reid - spoke of the senselessness of the shootings. He said many questions remain unanswered.

"What we do know breaks our hearts and shakes us to our very core," he said. "So for now all we can do is offer our thoughts and our prayers in a very individual way."

For members of Virginia's congressional delegation, the shootings literally struck close to home. Virginia Tech is the largest university in the state with roughly 25,000 students. Virginia's long-time senior Senator - Republican John Warner - spoke of the loss in personal terms.

"This tragedy is an incomprehensible situation," he said. "It is an incomprehensible, senseless act of violence."

The federal government has offered to help Virginia with its investigation of the tragedy. Officials at Virginia Tech - which is state-owned and run - have defended their handling of the crisis. Students have complained the school was slow to get out information about the first shooting and that a general warning might have prevented further loss of life.

Until Monday, the worst campus shooting in U.S. history was the 1966 massacre at the University of Texas, where a student killed 16 people. Eight years ago, two teenagers murdered 13 people at their high school in Colorado before committing suicide. And just last year, a gunman killed five young girls at an Amish school in Pennsylvania.

One Iraqi Woman Stands Up to Sectarian Intimidators

By Margaret Besheer Baghdad 16 April 2007

Download

In the Iraqi capital, illegal Sunni and Shi'ite groups are trying to shift the sectarian balance of neighborhoods to their favor. They use intimidation and executions to force residents of different sects to flee their homes. From Baghdad, VOA's Margaret Besheer has the story of one woman who would not be driven away.

Iraqi women hold portraits of relatives killed in clashes during protest by displaced Sunnis in Baghdad's al-Adil neighborhood (file photo)

Ala'a sits in her nearly-dark living room, just one lamp running off the generator. She is a Sunni Arab who lives in a predominantly Shi'ite neighborhood of northwestern Baghdad. In the last few weeks, Shi'ite militiamen targeted her and the few remaining Sunni families in the area.

Ala'a fidgets with her headscarf as she tells how her ordeal began on an ordinary morning when she discovered a red "X" painted on the small shop her family owns nearby. At first she thought it was just some mischievous teenagers, but then two days later, another red "X" appeared on her house. Written under it was "Leave, your blood is wanted."

Next a note was left in their front yard. It said, "You came back? Are you challenging us? We will burn you and kill you because you are Nawasib" - a derogatory name Shi'ites use against Sunnis.

Frightened, Ala'a called the American army unit responsible under the new Baghdad security plan for her neighborhood. Captain Benjamin Morales, the commander of Company B of the 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division responded.

"We went there, we talked to the family. They had a death threat note on the door and they gave it to us," he said. "We gave them our tip number and said if they ever came by again give us a call. About a week later they said they were outside and they were spray- painting graffiti and yelling at them again."

Captain Morales says there were seven armed men, five in a car, and two on a motorcycle. They were threatening the other Sunni families in the neighborhood and had sprayed graffiti glorifying the Mahdi Army on four or five other Sunni houses.

The Mahdi Army is the militia of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Many Sunnis blame its members for intimidation and executions in their neighborhoods.

A few days later the men returned.

Ala'a says she and her family were sitting in the front garden when they began shooting at the house. The family fled inside and then the militiamen locked them in using chains and padlocks.

They told Ala'a and her family they would be back to kill them. Ala'a called Captain Morales and his men responded immediately.

"We shot the locks off the doors and freed the families. There were multiple Sunni families that were locked into their houses," he said. "They went to every Sunni family in that neighborhood and locked them into their houses and said they would be back within 48 hours to kill them."

Amazingly, once Ala'a and her family were freed, they did not leave their home despite fears the gunmen would return.

That night, the American troops watched Ala'a's house from a distance. Four men returned and the soldiers arrested them.

Captain Morales says he cannot yet confirm whether they were Mahdi Army, only that they were criminals. But Ala'a has no doubts they were from the Mahdi Army, which has a strong presence in her neighborhood.

She says the militia has become much quieter in the area since the Americans arrested some of their members.

But she says persistent fear of the militia is keeping her from going out much. She says the militiamen have threatened her saying the Americans cannot protect her forever and they will kill her soon.

She remains in her home with some other female relatives and their children. They sent their husbands away weeks ago when the threats began. They say if the men had stayed they would certainly have been killed and then who would have taken care of them? They never imagined that women and children could be targets of such violence.

Ala'a says she has many good Shi'ite neighbors, but they too fear the militia, which tells them not to associate with Sunnis.

Captain Morales says his men have detained a total of 10 suspects and none are likely to be released anytime soon. But he cautions that senior leaders remain on the loose and that his unit is continuing to work to make the area safer for all its residents - Sunni and Shi'ite - and end the troubling trend of sectarian intimidation and displacement.

Sadr Ministers Quit Iraqi Cabinet Pressuring Maliki

By Margaret Besheer Irbil, Iraq 16 April 2007

Download

Six cabinet ministers loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr quit the Iraqi government Monday to protest the prime minister's refusal to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. and other coalition forces, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's already beleaguered government. From northern Iraq, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.

Nassar al-Rubaie, head of the Sadr bloc in parliament read the statement to the assembly.

He said, in the interest of the Iraqi people and in order to alleviate their suffering, we find it necessary to order the Sadr bloc ministers to immediately withdraw from the government and give their posts to independent men who have the Iraqi people's interests in mind.

The move only affects the cabinet, not the 30 seats that supporters of the radical, anti-American cleric hold in the 275-member legislature. But it is likely to put more pressure on Prime Minister Maliki, who relied on Sadr's support to get his job.

Radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks near the Shi'ite Holy city of Najaf, Iraq (File)

Moqtada al-Sadr has significant influence on the country's majority Shiites, and Monday's move is designed to pressure Mr. Maliki to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces from Iraq. Mr. Maliki said last week during a visit to Japan that he sees no need for such a timetable.

Sadr's announcement may not be the only political storm brewing for Mr. Maliki.

Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told VOA Monday, that the Kurdish bloc, which has about 58 seats in the Iraqi parliament, would rethink its support of Mr. Maliki if the prime minister goes ahead with a plan that would effectively delay resolving the status of the disputed oil rich-city of Kirkuk, which lies just outside the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

A committee in the parliament is responsible for making recommendations about implementing Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution. That article deals with determining the city's future within the central government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Under the constitution Mr. Maliki has the authority to implement those recommendations, but says he will instead refer them to the parliament for a vote.

Prime Minister Barzani says the moment these guidelines are sent to the parliament the normalization process will become further complicated and it will not help the implementation process.

He says he sees this as a step backwards on Mr. Maliki's part from implementing Article 140, and if he insists that the issue should be addressed in this way by the parliament, the Kurdish bloc would review its position on its alliance.

A referendum is due to be held on the city's future by the end of this year. Kirkuk's population is a mix of mainly Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. Its vast oil and natural gas deposits make it a very valuable city.