| White House 01 May 2007 |
DownloadPresident Bush has vetoed more than $124 billion worth of funding for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq because the measure includes a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.
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| President Bush speaking at the White House, 1 May 2007 |
In a nation-wide address moments after vetoing the spending bill, the president called it a prescription for chaos and confusion.
"I believe setting a deadline for a withdrawal would demoralize the Iraqi people, would encourage killers across the broader Middle East, and send a signal that America will not keep its commitments," said President Bush. "Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure. And that would be irresponsible."
Because the measure passed the House and Senate by close votes, it is highly unlikely opposition Democrats can find the two-thirds majority to over-ride this veto.
Still, Democratic leaders sent the doomed legislation to the White House Tuesday to show their opposition to what Senate majority leader Harry Reid says are U.S. troops mired in the middle of an open-ended civil war.
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| Senator Harry Reid (left) and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi |
"But if the president thinks that by vetoing this bill he will stop us from working to change the direction of the war in Iraq, he is mistaken," said Harry Reid.
A public opinion poll by CBS News and the New York Times says more than 70 percent of Americans disapprove of how the president is handling the war. Two-thirds of those surveyed support setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
President Bush says he wants U.S. troops out of Iraq as well, but only when the government there is better able to handle its own security.
Mr. Bush vetoed the legislation on the fourth anniversary of his much-publicized appearance on the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln under a banner which read: Mission Accomplished. At the time, he told sailors that they had freed Iraq and made America more secure.
"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended," he said. "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."
Fewer than 200 Americans had been killed in Iraq when the president spoke four years ago. The death toll now is over 3,000.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino says the United States and its allies did prevail in terms of toppling the Iraqi army and Saddam Hussein. She accused Democrats of a trumped-up political stunt that is the height of cynicism for delaying the bill until this fourth anniversary of what has come to be known as the Mission Accomplished speech.
The president meets Wednesday with Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate to talk about how to move forward on new legislation to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
| State Department 01 May 2007 |
DownloadSenior U.S. and Japanese cabinet members Tuesday called on North Korea to immediately fulfill its part of the February six-party agreement on its nuclear program. The issue figured heavily in Washington talks Tuesday involving Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and their Japanese counterparts. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
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| Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, second from right, gestures during a news conference at the State Department in Washington 1 May 2007 |
Pyongyang was to have shut down its main reactor complex with 60 days of the March 13 agreement, under which North Korea committed to eventually scrapping its entire nuclear program, including weapons, in exchange for energy aid and other benefits.
But it has not yet closed the Yongbyon reactor, citing problems in collecting $25 million in frozen funds from a Chinese bank that had been sanctioned by the United States as a conduit for illicit North Korean financial activity.
Wrapping up talks involving herself, Gates, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, Rice said the allies - both parties to the six-nation talks - want to see immediate North Korean action.
She said the process of freeing the North Korean money was more complicated than anyone had expected, but that the implementation process is not open-ended.
"We are going to continue to consult," she said. "We don't have endless patience. We do recognize that North Korea has continued to publicly affirm its obligation under the February 13 agreement, and to affirm its intention to carry through. We expect them to do so."
Ms. Rice did not say what would happen if the impasse continues.
However last weekend at a Camp David meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Bush said if the North Korea fails to make the right choice, there is a strategy to assure that pressure initially applied to that government becomes greater.
North Korea entered into the February nuclear deal a few months after being hit with strict U.N. Security Council sanctions for the nuclear test it conducted last October.
On other issues, Rice, Gates and their Japanese counterparts pledged to make steadfast progress on the sweeping agreement reached last year to realign U.S. forces in Japan in order to reduce the burden American bases pose to the country's population.
A U.S. Marine Corps air station is being moved from next to a busy city in Okinawa to a more remote location, and several thousand Marines are being shifted from Okinawa to Guam, a U.S. Pacific territory.
A joint statement issued here called the U.S.-Japanese security relationship the bedrock of Japan's defense and the keystone of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.
It said North Korean provocations, including its nuclear test and missile launches last year, were stark reminders of the importance of transforming the U.S.-Japan alliance to ensure its continued effectiveness.
The statement also said it is a strategic objective of the two countries to encourage China to conduct itself as a responsible international stakeholder, to improve the transparency of its military affairs, and to maintain consistency between its stated policies and its actions.
Foreign Minister Aso reiterated concern over China's anti-satellite test in January, the first known test of a satellite-killer system in 20 years.
Defense Secretary Gates welcomed the Japanese decision, also in January, to elevate its defense agency to the status of a full ministry.
He said the move is a reflection of the importance Japan places on making a positive contribution to global peace and security.
| Dakar 01 May 2007 |
DownloadAs workers around the world mark May Day, in Liberia, a strike is ongoing at the rubber plantations of the Firestone tire company, highlighting long standing problems between the country's biggest private employer and its workforce. VOA's Nico Colombant has the story from Dakar, with additional reporting by Prince Collins in Monrovia.
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| Billboard of Firestone, Liberia's biggest private employer |
A protest leader, Ida Collins, expressed her dismay.
Several others were arrested. Protest leaders are asking for their release, as well as higher salaries and the removal of a top manager.
James Makor, a Monrovia human rights activist, says Firestone, a subsidiary of Japanese tire giant Bridgestone, has also prevented the establishment of a union independent of management.
"Firestone will do everything to suppress workers on grounds that they do not want rapid change into their system," he said. "They want their people to remain silent so they can use them as much as they want to, to maximize their own systems."
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| Firestone gets rubber the traditional way at its plantation in Liberia |
"Firestone when it started, there was a virtual agreement between it and the government of Liberia to recruit workers, illiterate workers from the interior, more or less on a forced labor basis, and the modifications have been minimal," explained Byron Tar, a former government official.
Information Minister Laurence Konmla Bropleh says that with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf now at the helm of Liberia it is not business as usual.
"The workers cannot be subjected to dehumanizing conditions, that is one aspect of it. The other aspect is how is management [is] treating them in terms of their employment circumstances," he said.
"The Ministry of Labor, and Ministry of Agriculture, are at the current moment working with Firestone to make sure these various concerns are hammered out and that the proper solutions have been in the interest of workers, yet understanding the Firestone investment needs to be protected. But we will not protect the Firestone investment at the detriment of the Liberian workforce," he added.
But some Liberian lawmakers, like Dave Kumeh, believe the government should be more pro-business and prevent any outbreaks of violence by workers.
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| Children of Firestone workers in Liberia also go to work |
Firestone's concession agreement was renegotiated during Liberia's post-war transitional period, but is being reviewed again.
The government is also looking into complaints chemicals from the plantations are causing serious environmental degradation to local waterways.
Officials from Firestone refused requests to be interviewed for this report. They have said they are continually striving to improve the conditions of the workforce and deny wrongdoing.
| Jerusalem 01 May 2007 |
DownloadThere is political turmoil in Israel after an official probe issued a damning report on the government's handling of last year's war in Lebanon. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, Israel's embattled leader is in the hot seat.
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| Israeli PM Ehud Olmert during a swearing in ceremony for incoming Israeli Police Commissioner David Cohen, 01 May 2007 |
The Prime Minister suffered a further blow when Cabinet Minister Eitan Cabel quit.
"Ehud Olmert must resign," Cabel said. "I cannot sit in a government headed by Ehud Olmert."
Cabel is a member of the Labor Party, the senior coalition partner in the government. Some members of Mr. Olmert's own Kadima party are also calling for his resignation, though most are standing behind the Prime Minister. Cabinet Minister Avi Dichter.
Dichter praised Mr. Olmert for the way he led the country in the months after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a sudden, massive stroke in January of 2006.
Nevertheless, Mr. Olmert is taking the blame for Israel's failure to deal a knockout blow to some 5,000 Hezbollah guerrillas during a 34-day air and ground assault on Lebanon. The report said he acted hastily by going to war after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. It said he did not have a detailed military plan and did not ask for one.
"There were mistakes and failures...and they will be fixed," Mr. Olmert said. "But to resign, he added, would be inappropriate."
The Israeli public sees things differently. A poll shows that 69 percent believe Mr. Olmert should resign.
01 May 2007| Discovery Could Ease Blood Shortages in Hospitals | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Scientists may have found a way to reduce shortages of type O blood. Type O is the kind of blood that hospitals most often need. What the researchers are testing is an easier way to make type O blood out of other kinds of blood.
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| Health worker collects freshly donated blood |
Type O is known as the universal blood type. It can be safely given to anyone. So it is commonly used when a person is injured or sick and has to have a blood transfusion.
Type O is the most common blood group. But the supplies of it available in hospitals and blood banks are usually limited. This is because of high demand. Type O blood is used in emergencies when there is no time to identify the patient's blood type.
Giving A, B or AB to someone with a different blood type, including O, can cause a bad reaction by the person's defense system. Their immune system can reject the blood. This immune reaction can be deadly. For example, people may die if they receive transplanted organs from someone with the wrong blood type.
The difference between blood types is related to whether or not red blood cells contain certain kinds of sugar molecules. These molecules are found on the surface of the cells. They are known as antigens. These antigens are found with type A, B and AB blood but not with type O.
More than twenty-five years ago, scientists found that the antigens could be removed to create universal-type cells. They could be removed with chemicals called enzymes. But large amounts of enzymes were required to make the change.
Now, a report published in Nature Biotechnology describes two formerly unknown bacterial enzymes. The scientists say these enzymes remove the antigens more easily. To find these enzymes, the researchers examined more than two thousand five hundred kinds of bacteria and fungi.
Doctor Henrik Clausen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark led the study. He worked with researchers from France, Sweden and the United States.
The next step, they say, is to complete safety tests. The team is working with the American company ZymeQuest to test the new method. If it meets safety requirements and is not too costly, it could become a widely used life-saving tool to increase the supply of universal blood.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Brianna Blake. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
01 May 2007| Discoveries Throw New Light on Stonehenge, but Mysteries Remain | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
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VOICE ONE:
For thousands of years, the circle of ancient stones called Stonehenge has been one of the most mysterious places on Earth. Scientists say Stonehenge has stood in England for at least four thousand years. Millions of people from all over the world have visited the ancient monument.
Stonehenge is the best known of a number of such ancient places in Britain. It stands on the flat, windy Salisbury Plain, near the city of Salisbury, England. Early Britons built Stonehenge from bluestone and a very hard sandstone called sarsen. Experts believe the builders of Stonehenge knew about design, engineering and sound. These ancient people did not have highly developed tools. But they built a huge monument of heavy stones.
VOICE TWO:
Some of the monument's standing stones have lintel stones on top. The lintels lie flat on the standing stones. Most of the stones of Stonehenge stand in incomplete formations of circles. They differ in height, weight and surface texture. One of the largest stones weighed about forty thousand kilograms. Some stones are more than seven meters high. Other broken stones lie on the ground.
Work on Stonehenge may have started as early as five thousand years ago. Scientists believe it was completed over three periods lasting more than one thousand years. Archeologists have studied Stonehenge for many years. For centuries, people have questioned the meaning of the stones.
VOICE ONE:
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| A woman celebrates the winter solstice at Stonehenge last December 22 |
The huge monument did not stand alone. Stonehenge may have been part of a larger religious complex. The theory also proposes that people held events in the village and at Stonehenge to celebrate the change of seasons and honor the dead.
The scientific process of radiocarbon dating found that the village is about four thousand six hundred years old. The archeologists believe the inner circle of Stonehenge was also built at about that time. The timing led them to believe that the people of the village could have built Stonehenge.
VOICE TWO:
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| Durrington Walls |
Mike Parker Pearson was the main archeologist for the Stonehenge Riverside Project. Mister Parker Pearson said placing the plan of Stonehenge over that of the wooden structure at Durrington Walls proves the great similarity of design.
VOICE ONE:
The team of researchers discovered the remains of several houses. Mister Parker Pearson says his team found remains of stone tools and bones of humans and animals in the houses. The researchers also found jewelry and broken clay containers. The large amount of animal bones and pottery suggested that the people might have been taking part in a celebration. The floors had marks that showed where fires had been built.
Julian Thomas of Manchester University discovered the remains of two houses that were separated from the others. They lacked all the objects and remains found in the other houses. Mister Thomas said religious leaders might have lived in the two houses. Or the houses might have been religious centers. Study of the area is far from finished. As many as twenty-five or thirty houses may be found in and near Durrington Walls over time. The Stonehenge Riverside Project will last several more years.
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VOICE TWO:
Researchers believe that no people ever lived at Stonehenge. So the village might have provided places to stay for the people attending celebrations at Stonehenge. Many scientists believe the early people gathered in the area to mark the change of seasons -- the winter and summer solstices.
The winter solstice takes place when the sun reaches its most southern point. It is the shortest day of the year. The summer solstice happens when the sun reaches its most northern point. It is the longest day of the year.
VOICE ONE:
The researchers also found a stone road near Durrington Walls. The road is about thirty meters wide. It goes to the Avon River. A similar road goes from Stonehenge to the same river. Mister Parker Pearson said Stonehenge and the Durrington Walls area had many similarities.
For example, Stonehenge was in line with the sunset during the winter solstice. The wooden structure at Durrington Walls was in line with the sunrise that same day. The road from Stonehenge to the Avon River was aligned with the sunrise during the summer solstice. The road from Durrington to the Avon was in line with that day's sunset.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Parker Pearson said he believes the discoveries show that Durrington and Stonehenge may have represented the living and the dead. The temporary wooden circle at Durrington represented life. The permanent stone monument at Stonehenge represented death.
Mister Parker Pearson said he believes that the ancient people had celebrations at Durrington. Then they went down the road and placed human remains or dead bodies in the Avon River. The river carried the remains downstream to Stonehenge.
The people traveled by boat to Stonehenge. There they burned and buried the remains of the dead. Scientists have found evidence of funeral fires near the Avon River not far from Stonehenge. Earlier discoveries produced burned remains at Stonehenge. And the Stonehenge Riverside Project uncovered burned remains of about two hundred fifty people.
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VOICE ONE:
Joshua Pollard of Bristol University and his team discovered a sandstone formation that marked an ancient burial area. They found a sarsen stone almost three meters long. It was lying in a field next to the Avon River, about three kilometers east of Stonehenge. The scientists say it had been standing upright, like the stones that form the main structure of Stonehenge.
They also found partly burned remains of two people buried next to the stone. And they found stone tools, clay containers and a rare rock crystal. Mister Pollard said the crystal possibly came from as far away as the Alps mountains.
VOICE TWO:
Today, the work of the Stonehenge Riverside Project is increasing knowledge about ancient life in Britain. The research team says there is evidence from old maps and ancient sources for other similar monuments near Stonehenge and connected to it. Another theory says that people from other areas in Europe traveled to Stonehenge for the observances held there.
Some day, researchers may be able to tell the whole story of the ancient village and the stone and wood monuments. But until that day, Stonehenge and its ancient partners are keeping many secrets.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. You can read scripts and download audio on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.
30 April 2007| Stopping Bird Flu by Spreading Knowledge About Protective Steps | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
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| Health officials in Kuwait bury hundreds of chickens earlier this year after several cases of bird flu were confirmed |
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VOICE ONE:
The World Health Organization says the world is closer to a pandemic of the influenza virus than at any time since nineteen sixty-eight. In a pandemic, the flu virus would spread quickly to large numbers of people in many countries. Right now, a deadly bird flu virus is not spreading among people very easily. But that could change. The W.H.O. and other health organizations believe people can help stop the spread of bird flu if they have more information about the disease.
VOICE TWO:
By the end of March, one hundred seventy people had died of bird flu in twelve countries. Vietnam had a very high number of deaths at first. But the country has had no human cases of bird flu since late two thousand five.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says animal health officials in Vietnam have been able to prevent the virus in farm birds from spreading to people. Part of the reason is better communication at all levels about the causes and prevention of bird flu.
VOICE ONE:
Most bird flu cases in human beings have resulted from people touching infected farm birds, such as chickens, ducks or turkeys. Last year, for example, bird flu killed three members of a family in Egypt. They lived in the same house. All three persons had helped to kill and clean infected ducks.
The Egyptian government has offered important advice for people who work with live birds. The government says protection from bird flu comes partly from knowing how to recognize the disease and strong prevention efforts. It says protection also results from stopping the spread of the virus, and informing health officials when you suspect bird flu.
VOICE TWO:
In many countries, chicken and other farm birds are an important part of the diet. Farm bird sales are important to the economies in these countries. So some governments have organized campaigns to tell people to continue eating well-cooked chicken.
Some health officials and governments have had problems when they attempt to give advice about bird flu. When bird flu is reported in a country, the government usually announces how people can prevent the disease in their own families. Other announcements say it is safe to eat chicken and eggs as long as they are completely cooked. Yet people often do not follow the rules about preventing bird flu. For example, they may stop eating chicken and eggs. A writer in The Scientist magazine noted recently that people’s feelings sometimes are stronger than the facts.
VOICE ONE:
In Africa, many families keep chickens and other birds near their homes. Many people buy live chickens from markets. So everyone could be at risk.
Here is the best information about ways to protect yourself and your family from bird flu. First, children and women who are pregnant should stay away from farm birds. Children like to play with birds and other animals, but they are not careful about what they touch. Children should not play with birds or gather their eggs.
Do not swim in or use water that may have been used by birds. Heat any of this water to a very high temperature before drinking it or using it for cooking.
Wear protective clothing on your body and hands when working with farm birds. Remember to clean your shoes or feet before going in the house. Keep birds away from areas where people eat or sleep. In fact, it is best not to bring farm birds into the house at all.
VOICE TWO:
It is also important to follow rules of good health and cleanliness when preparing and eating meat or eggs from farm birds. Keep the meat of birds that have not been cooked away from other foods. After cutting uncooked meat, use soap and water to wash hands, knives and cutting surfaces. If possible, use a strong cleaning agent like bleach.
Be sure that meat and eggs from farm birds are completely cooked before eating them. The yellow and white parts of the egg must be cooked until they are solid. Freezing or keeping meat cold will not kill the bird flu virus. Only complete cooking will kill the virus.
VOICE ONE:
You can also protect farm birds from bird flu. When buying chickens, keep them away from the birds you already have for at least two weeks. Cover the water your birds drink so that it is not used by wild birds. Clean the areas where farm birds stay. As soon as a bird looks sick, remove it from the area. If you take birds to the market and bring some of them home, temporarily keep them away from your other birds.
Owners of farms also can take preventative steps. They should not borrow equipment from other farms. If vehicles enter your farm, wash the wheels so they cannot bring in dirt that might contain the bird flu virus. When you return from a market, wash the boxes or containers that were used to carry farm birds.
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VOICE TWO:
You need to know the signs of bird flu in a chicken or duck. Birds will appear tired and refuse to eat. The skin around a bird’s head may become blue. The head and legs may become larger. Birds infected with bird flu may produce more waste than usual. They usually make very few eggs and may die suddenly. The shells of their eggs may be very soft.
Prevent the spread of bird flu by putting dead farm birds into closed containers or bags. Do not throw dead birds into lakes, rivers or other waterways. Do not eat or sell any part of a bird that has died from disease. Bury dead farm birds or their body parts far away from homes and farms.
It is important to report dead birds to animal health officials as soon as possible. If there is bird flu in your area, do not visit other farms or let visitors come to your farm.
VOICE ONE:
There are also rules for hunters and people who work with birds for sport. Wash your hands completely when touching birds used for sport or wild birds. Do not touch any of the bird’s blood or body fluids. Cover your nose and mouth when cleaning areas where birds have been fighting.
If you hunt birds, do not use dogs. Dogs can become infected with the bird flu virus when they carry infected birds. Do not hunt wild birds in areas where there have been cases of bird flu. When you are cleaning birds you have killed, cover your nose, mouth and hands. Be sure to wash your hands and all your tools after you are finished.
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VOICE TWO:
What happens if you follow all these rules and someone in your family gets sick? How will you know if it is bird flu? People who could be infected with the bird flu virus will have difficulty breathing. They may have a very high body temperature, an eye infection and pain in their throat or muscles.
If someone you know has these problems, care for the person without touching him anymore than you need to. Do not sleep in the same room with a person who may have bird flu. Take the person to a doctor as soon as possible.
VOICE ONE:
There are medicines that can help make the bird flu sickness less severe. Scientists are working to make a medicine to protect against bird flu. There are some such vaccines for farm birds. Last month, American health officials approved a vaccine that offers some people protection against bird flu. But scientists are working to develop a more effective vaccine.
VOICE TWO:
Finally, it is important to find good ways to share information about bird flu. For example, a group of parents in Indonesia started their own campaign to educate other parents. A leader of the group said too many families do not have televisions to see announcements from the government. So the group organized a four-hour program in a local school. One parent said she wanted to share the information she learned so that there would be no more bird flu deaths in Indonesia.
Another leader said the group wants to educate workers who collect waste and people who sell goods on city streets. She said these people could talk to other people and help spread information about the disease. As one school official has noted, more people will die if public knowledge about bird flu is lacking.
VOICE ONE:
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Karen Leggett. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Bob Doughty. Join us again next week at this time for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
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30 April 2007| Seed Collection Effort Aims to Safeguard 21 Food Crops | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
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| A boy carries cassava in the Democratic Republic of Congo |
This is a joint project of two organizations, the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the United Nations Foundation. Cary Fowler, the director of the trust based in Rome, says it will be the largest such effort ever made.
The aim is to collect seeds or reproductive material from one hundred sixty-five thousand varieties of the crops. Organizers say the effort will secure more than ninety-five percent of the endangered crop diversity represented in gene banks in developing countries.
They say the fight against hunger cannot be won without securing crops that are in danger of being lost. Many of the crops are known as "orphan crops." Orphan crops do not get much attention from modern plant breeders but are especially important in poor countries. These include cassava, sweet potatoes, yams, taro and coconut.
Some orphan crops cannot be grown from seeds. Instead, cuttings, roots and cell cultures will be gathered from gene banks. And the project will finance research into lower-cost ways to protect these crops.
The project will also finance an information system for plant breeders to search gene banks worldwide. They will be able to look for plants with the right qualities to resist new diseases and the effects of climate change.
Still another goal is to improve communications between farmers and plant breeders. The organizers say they look forward to a time when breeders in Africa can find the same crop genetic information as those in Europe and North America.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has agreed to provide thirty million dollars for the project. Norway will provide seven and one-half million dollars.
The Global Crop Diversity Trust says at least four hundred fifty thousand seed samples will go into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The trust and the government of Norway are building this in the side of a mountain on an island near the North Pole.
Seeds from around the world will be stored there in case the planet suffers a terrible disaster. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is expected to open in March of two thousand eight.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.
| Islamabad 29 April 2007 |
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Hundreds of outraged protesters chanted anti-American slogans in eastern Afghanistan after U.S. and Afghan forces accidentally killed two female civilians. From VOA's South Asia news center in Islamabad, Correspondent Benjamin Sand reports the U.S.-led raid was targeting a suspected car-bomb cell. 
An Afghan boy cries after his parents were allegedly killed during a raid in Bati Kot area of Nangarhar province, in Afghanistan, 29 Apr 2007
U.S. officials say they launched the raid early Sunday after receiving a tip that militants in the eastern province of Nangarhar were planning a series of suicide attacks in the next few weeks.
Major William Mitchell says the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces came under attack as they approached the militants' compound and returned fire, killing four militants.
"Unfortunately an adult woman and a teenager were also killed in the crossfire between militants and Coalition forces," he said. "A young child and a teenage female were wounded during the firefight and are being treated at a Coalition medical facility."
He says coalition forces found multiple AK-47 machine guns and bomb-making materials inside.
U.S. officials also released a written statement expressing concern over the loss of civilian lives. They accused the militants of endangering innocents by hiding among their families.
The incident provoked a massive protest in the area. Hundreds of local men chanted "death to Bush" and temporarily blocked the region's main highway.
This is the second time in recent weeks that U.S. led forces are being blamed for civilian casualties in Nangarhar, one of the key battleground states in the fight against the five year old Taleban insurgency.
On March 4, U.S. Marines killed 12 people after being attacked by a suicide car bomber.
Local eyewitnesses say the American forces fired indiscriminately into groups of Afghan cars and pedestrians as they tried to escape the ambush.
The U.S. military subsequently determined the Marines used excessive force in the incident and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission recently accused the Marines of violating international humanitarian law.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly denounced U.S. and coalition military action that harms civilians, which is a major point of concern for Afghans following more than three decades of foreign invasion and civil unrest.
| Jerusalem 29 April 2007 |
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Israel's embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is facing growing calls for his resignation before the publication of an official inquiry into last year's war in Lebanon. But despite expectations of a highly critical report, the prime minister's aides say he has no intention of stepping down. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem. 
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is seen as he chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, 29 Apr 2007
Parliamentarians across Israel's political spectrum are demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign, after an official inquiry reportedly describes his handling of the Lebanon War as a failure.
The five-member Winograd Commission will publish its interim report on Monday. According to portions of the document leaked to Israeli media, the panel concludes that Mr. Olmert made hasty and ill-advised decisions from the outset of the war.
"The political level, the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister, they carry the major burden of the fiasco of the Second Lebanese War. They should resign," said former Defense Minister Moshe Arens of the opposition Likud party.
Mr. Olmert's office declined comment until official publication of the report on Monday. But his aides say he will not resign.
"I am sure that the commission's report will not prevent him from leading the country and leading the government," said Tzachi Hanegbi, who is from the Prime Minister's Kadima party.
Hanegbi, who heads the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, also denies allegations that Mr. Olmert mishandled the war.
"I am convinced that the decisions that he made were the right ones. I am convinced that he made those decisions based on the data, on the information given to him by the chief of staff and by the generals, the head[s] of the army," he said.
The inquiry commission sees things differently. It reportedly concludes that Mr. Olmert failed to question the army's battle plans, publicly stated his war aims without ensuring that they were attainable and did not have an exit strategy.
Israeli forces entered Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas began firing thousands of rockets into Israel. Despite a 34-day air and ground assault, the Israeli army failed to defeat about 5,000 guerrillas in southern Lebanon. In addition, reserve soldiers returning from the battlefield complained of poor preparations and a lack of food and ammunition.
Media reports say the commission does not recommend that the prime minister resign. But if he stays in power, analysts believe he will be weak and ineffective.
| Hollywood 29 April 2007 |
DownloadFor even the most popular movies, fame is often fleeting; but every so often - perhaps once or twice in a generation - a film transcends entertainment to become part of the culture. That is certainly the case for an outer space adventure that premiered in May 1977. The film's writer-director recently joined many of his technical experts and cast members for a special anniversary event at the Motion Picture Academy. Alan Silverman has more on 30 years of "Star Wars."
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| Mark Hamill, who starred as Luke Skywalker in the first three "Star Wars" films, poses in May 2005 in front of an actor dressed as Darth Vader |
"Star Wars" was an old-fashioned adventure, borrowing liberally from the traditional western, but, un-traditionally, was set in outer space:
It gave us Jedi knights dueling with light sabers, spacecraft that made the jump to hyper-space (once the navi-computers were set), a long-haired and volatile Wookiee co-pilot, eccentric 'droids' or robots, white-armored storm troopers and a spiritual concept called "The Force:"
Screen veteran Sir Alec Guinness played venerable Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, the guide and mentor to fresh-faced young Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill. The characters are well-known today, but writer-director George Lucas admits until opening weekend 30 years ago, he was not sure that many people would get to see them. "We were in 32 theaters. I felt that science fiction usually does pretty well in the first week so we were kind of expecting to do okay; but then it just went crazy. There were lines around the block and people trying to get in. They immediately had to start releasing it in more theaters just because there was such a demand for it," he says.
Subtitled "Episode Four: A New Hope," it was the first in a cycle that would span six films; and Lucas says it succeeded in creating what he calls 'a modern mythology'. "It makes me feel very good. The whole idea was to create a modern myth that families could watch together and provoke certain questions between kids and their parents that would allow them to ask some of the more interesting questions in life and have some enjoyment - give a young person some inspiration and something to feel good about," he says.
"A lot of it was just happy circumstance, you know ...like anything else that clicks on levels you did n-o-t expect," says Mark Hamill, who was 25 when he first played Luke Skywalker, one of his first feature film roles. His career since spanned movies, TV and the Broadway stage; but Hamill says "Star Wars" scenes like the rowdy cantina at Mos Eisley Spaceport ("a wretched hive of scum and villainy") stood out even amid the costumed chaos of the film set. "It 'pops' in the screenplay. People forget that it was all on the page ...everything was. You talk about that cantina sequence: it immediately arrests you in the screenplay because it's one of those movies where you're waiting for 'the monster' and then out of nowhere you go through a door and it's not just one monster, it's thousands of monsters."
"It did not behave itself, that movie ...it was a great script," says Carrie Fisher, who co-starred as spunky Princess Leia. Her career path took her behind the scenes to become a leading Hollywood screenwriter and, in the anniversary panel discussion at the Motion Picture Academy, she recalls wondering how Lucas would be able to film his "Star Wars" vision. "I read it out loud with a friend of mine who is an actor, Miguel Ferrer, and it was extraordinary and I wanted to do it ...I wanted to play Han Solo, but since that part wasn't available, I wanted to do it to see how he would do that. I'd never seen anything like what the script was talking about. I thought it would be a film I would really like to see and that is all I knew. I thought 'I'll want to see this and it will be like this groovy cult film.'
Far, far away from suffering the fate of a midnight 'cult' favorite, that original "Star Wars" became the second-highest grossing film in history ("Titanic" is number one). It also helped make George Lucas very, very wealthy and he believes its unexpected success has had a lasting effect on film entertainment. "It diversified the audience for films. They used to make films for a very small group of people and now they realize that there is room for movies for all ages. They kind of relegated children's films to Disney, but now all of the studios are doing it. We now have art films that we never had when we were doing "Star Wars." I think it has broadened the whole arena of cinema in the United States," he says.
The thirtieth anniversary screening and discussion of "Star Wars" launched this year's edition of the Motion Picture Academy series titled "It's Great To Be Nominated," spotlighting films that received the most Oscar nominations, but did not win Best Picture. At the 1978 ceremony that Award went to "Annie Hall." "Star Wars" had ten nominations and won six Academy Awards, including one to John Williams for his original musical score.
| Phnom Penh 28 April 2007 |
DownloadThe first textbook written by a Cambodian on the history of the Khmer Rouge has been published by the Documentation Center of Cambodia. Previous accounts of the Khmer Rouge era have all been written by foreign scholars and reporters. The book aims to educate Cambodians about the rise and fall of the genocidal regime that killed almost 2 million people in the late 1970s. Rory Byrne reports from Phnom Penh.
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| Skulls of Khmer Rouge regime victims are displayed at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields memorial in Choeung Ek |
Even those Cambodians who lived through the regime don't know the whole story, and more than 70 percent of the population has been born since the Khmer Rouge was ousted in 1979.
The new book is entitled A History of Democratic Kamphuchea, the name the Khmer Rouge gave the country after taking power in 1975.
The book is published by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group that documents Khmer Rouge crimes. It relies heavily on first-hand testimony of survivors and perpetrators of Cambodia's genocide.
The book's author, Khamboly Dy, says propaganda and differing interpretations of events have clouded people's understanding of the regime itself, and of the Vietnamese-led action that drove it from power.
"That part of history is very political, and so far we don't have the common agreement on the content of [that] history, because there are a lot of interpretations on the history of the Khmer Rouge, like the 1979 event - whether it is the invasion, or the liberation of Cambodia," he explained. "So there are a lot of interpretations."
The book was written for high school teachers and their students. It is part of a wider process being conducted by various private groups aimed at helping Cambodians to better understand the history of the "Killing Fields" era. The book was published as United Nations-backed trials of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are approaching.
Khamboly Dy says the aim is to present the plain facts, as opposed to trying to interpret them.
"We introduce the facts about the Khmer Rouge - we don't use the interpretation, we don't use propaganda, we use facts. And we try to balance, to make the book neutral, not to take sides," he added. "That is very important, to know exactly what happened in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, and the real events: not the propaganda, not the hatred, because from now on we need to focus on peace and reconciliation, and justice, not on hatred or any propaganda."
Cambodia's Education Ministry has approved the book as a "core reference" guide for history textbooks, but not yet as part of the official school curriculum. However, there are discussions about producing a condensed version of the book's material, to be included in future textbooks.
29 April 2007| Queen Elizabeth to Mark 'America's 400th Anniversary' at Jamestown | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. Next month is the four hundredth anniversary of Britain's first permanent settlement in America. Today, we tell the story of Jamestown.
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VOICE ONE:
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| Artist's rendering of James Fort |
In all, there were one hundred four men and boys. They immediately began work on a settlement on the shores of the James River. They named it Jamestown.
King James the First in England had agreed to let the explorers from the Virginia Company establish a settlement in North America. They were told to find gold and a way to sail to the Orient.
The four hundredth anniversary of Jamestown is being honored with eighteen months of cultural and educational programs around Virginia. They began in May of last year and are meant to show how a struggle for survival changed the world. Many parts of the Jamestown story are being retold to mark what the organizers call "America's 400th Anniversary."
VOICE TWO:
The Jamestown Settlement that people visit today is a re-creation of the colony and a nearby Powhatan Indian village. The state of Virginia built the Jamestown Settlement in nineteen fifty-seven to celebrate the three hundred fiftieth anniversary.
Visitors can stop at the Jamestown Settlement, or drive down the road to a place called Historic Jamestowne on Jamestown Island. The National Park Service and a Virginia historical group jointly operate the island.
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| Archeological discovery of James Fort |
VOICE ONE:
Several months after arriving in America, the colonists built a three-sided fort along the edge of the island. For years, researchers believed that the structure had worn away into the James River.
But in nineteen ninety-four, archeologists began a project called Jamestown Rediscovery. They discovered part of the fort. Since then, they have located the positions of all three sides, along with several deep wells.
More than one million objects dating back to the first colonists have come out of the ground. These include tobacco seeds and plant remains. Many of the artifacts can be seen in a new museum called the Archaearium on the grounds of Historic Jamestowne.
VOICE TWO:
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| Jamestown Church in Historic Jamestowne |
The colonists built the church out of wood in sixteen seventeen. Then, in sixteen thirty-nine, they replaced it with a church made of stone.
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VOICE ONE:
Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second came to Jamestown for the three hundred fiftieth anniversary in nineteen fifty-seven. It was her first visit to the United States as queen.
A memorial cross was raised on the eastern coast of Jamestown Island. It marked the difficult first few years of life at Jamestown. The colonists did not have enough food. They suffered from diseases. They also fought with the Native Americans who lived in the area.
VOICE TWO:
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| Archaearium at Historic Jamestowne |
Kevin Crossett works for a Virginia agency that is helping organize Jamestown events with local, state and national groups. He says officials have taken special care to include all the cultures involved in the earliest years of the settlement.
Past anniversaries at Jamestown have mainly centered on the European experience. But with this anniversary, Kevin Crossett says, each culture gets to tell its own story in its own words.
American Indian groups are involved in the anniversary events. But, as Kevin Crossett notes, they do not consider the observance a celebration. After all, the Native Americans lost land and people when the English arrived.
The idea of a "celebration" might not appeal much to black Americans either. The first black people to arrive in Jamestown were slaves from Africa.
VOICE ONE:
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| Artifacts seen in the Archaearium at Historic Jamestowne |
Last week, a historical re-creation called "Journey Up the James" began at Virginia Beach. When the three ships first arrived in America, they landed at Virginia Beach before heading farther up the James River.
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VOICE TWO:
Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, plan to be in Virginia on May third and fourth. This will be the queen's first visit to the United States in sixteen years.
But the main event of the Jamestown observance, a three-day anniversary weekend, begins Friday, May eleventh. Organizers have invited President Bush to speak. The honorary chairwoman for the events is former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
The weekend will include music and cultural performances. Artists will demonstrate glass-making from the seventeenth century.
Earlier events for the Jamestown anniversary have included Indian and African-American cultural programs. There was also an educational program called "Jamestown Live." This was a one-hour Internet broadcast in November involving history experts and others. Organizers say more than one million students around the world took part in the program.
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VOICE ONE:
The first settlers at Jamestown imagined that it would become a great city. In fact, after less than a century, it burned to the ground in a rebellion led by a colonist named Nathaniel Bacon. The colony never recovered and the capital of Virginia at that time moved to Williamsburg. Still, England had established a permanent presence in North America.
VOICE TWO:
As part of the Jamestown observance, a special program will take place in September in Williamsburg. The gathering will examine the role of democracy in world politics. Leaders and students from around the world have been invited to discuss the future of democracy in the developing world.
VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Jill Moss and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. For a link to the Jamestown anniversary Web site, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts and audio archives of our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
29 April 2007| Clearing a PATH to Better Health in Developing Countries | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.
This year is the thirtieth anniversary of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, or PATH. PATH is a nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington.
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| A Young HIV positive orphan lies in his cot at the Nyumbani children home, a hospice for AIDS orphans in Nairobi, Kenya |
It has programs in sixty-five countries. PATH works with local partners to design and test new technologies. It also works with companies to manufacture and sell them.
One of its products is called the BIRTHweigh scale. This is used to identify babies who have a dangerously low birthweight, less than two and one-half kilograms.
The scale was designed for health workers with low reading skills. At first it used colors to show different weight levels. But tests in Indonesia found that it also had to be readable in low-light situations, like at night in a house without electric power. The handheld scale was redesigned so a person could feel a button sink into the handle if a baby is a healthy weight.
Now the scale is being designed to provide a guide to the right amount of nevirapine to give a baby. Nevirapine is a drug that can prevent the spread of H.I.V. from an infected mother to her child. H.I.V. is the virus that causes AIDS.
Teresa Guillien at PATH says the group will spend about one hundred sixty million dollars on its programs this year. PATH gets money from the United States government and other countries and international agencies. Donations also come from companies, individuals and foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Last Wednesday, on Africa Malaria Day, PATH marked the first year of an expanded campaign to prevent malaria in Zambia. The aim is to provide protective bed nets to about eighty percent of the population.
PATH has also developed a nutritionally enriched grain called Ultra Rice. Ultra Rice is being used in Colombia, Brazil and India.
Among other projects, PATH is trying to make sure the new cervical cancer vaccine is available in developing countries. And, in the future, Teresa Guillien says PATH hopes to work more on strengthening health systems in those countries.
And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. To learn about other groups working in the developing world, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Shep O'Neal.
