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US, Allies Attack Libya

2011-03-20T07:32:00.002+07:00

Photo: AP/U.S. Navy, Fireman Roderick Eubanks

This Saturday, March 19, 2011 photo provided by the U.S. Navy shows the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) as it launches a Tomahawk missile in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn from the Mediterranean Sea .

U.S.-led coalition forces have launched more than 100 Tomahawk missiles on key air defense sites across Libya as part of operations to protect the population from the forces of long-time leader Moammar Gadhafi.

U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney outlined what is being called "Operation Odyssey Dawn" several hours after he said the missiles started hitting more than 20 Libyan sites.

"The United States military has and will continue to use our unique capabilities to create the conditions from which we and our partners can best enforce the full measure of the U.N. mandate. Our mission right now is to shape the battle space in such a way that our partners may take the lead in execution," he said.

He said Admiral Sam Locklear was leading the operations from the USS Mount Whitney in the Mediterranean Sea.

A U.N. Security Council resolution was approved Thursday in New York allowing outside forces to use all measures necessary to protect civilians in Libya, where eastern rebel-controlled areas have been under attack.

Admiral Gortney said one British submarine was used as part of Saturday’s strikes as well as U.S. ships and submarines. He described Libya’s air defense sites as being built with old Soviet technology.

He said some countries who were taking part in the military operation had asked to be identified, while others wanted to announce their involvement themselves.

"Of the coalition, the countries that have asked us to mention their names, of course, the United States, UK, French, Italy and Canada. The other countries have asked for them, that they want to be able to make the announcement and it is the same for the Arab countries as well," he said.

A mediation delegation from the African Union was due in the capital Tripoli Sunday, but as sites in and around Tripoli were also reported hit, it was unclear if that mission would go ahead.

Earlier Saturday, French fighter planes which had departed from France flew over Libya bombing at least one tank that a senior French military official identified as belonging to forces loyal to Mr. Gadhafi.

Leaders from France, Britain and the United States have said the operations are necessary and that Mr. Gadhafi’s forces were still staging attacks despite warnings to stop.

Libya’s head of parliament, Abdul Qasim al-Zuai denied this, saying a ceasefire was in place and that the missile strikes were what he called a "barbaric aggression" from Western powers. He said civilian areas and civilian infrastructure were being targeted.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Gadhafi wrote a letter to President Obama and other world leaders saying they would regret what he called "intervention in the internal affairs of Libya."

Libyan state media said the strikes caused casualties in Tripoli.

At a summit earlier Saturday in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Libyans like other Arabs were fighting for democracy and freedom from oppressive regimes and that it was the duty of outside powers to help them.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron said British forces were helping end what he called "the appalling brutality" of Mr. Gadhafi’s government.

Several countries have spoken out against the operations including Russia and Venezuela. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said it was irresponsible to create more deaths and more war.

The International Committee of the Red Cross called on all warring parties to spare civilians and respect international humanitarian law.

The armed rebellion against Mr. Gadhafi began last month, following people power movements which successfully toppled long-time leaders in Egypt and Tunisia and spurred uprisings across north Africa and the Middle East.

Helicopters Douse Quake-Damaged Nuclear Plant with Water

2011-03-17T12:09:00.001+07:00

Photo: AFP - NHK

This screengrab taken off Japanese national broadcaster NHK shows a Japanese military twin-rotor cargo helicopter dumping water onto reactor no. 3 at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant on March 17, 2011.

A top U.S. nuclear official says there is a significant risk of dangerous levels of radiation from the plant, which was damaged last week in a massive earthquake and resulting tsunami. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko told lawmakers in Washington Wednesday that cooling systems inside the plant have failed, making it very difficult to keep the fuel rods cool.

Japanese officials have deployed military helicopters to dump water over the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to try to cool down overheated reactors inside.

The officials are trying to avert a catastrophic radiation leak from spent fuel rods inside the plant's reactors. Japanese television Thursday morning showed helicopters dumping water over the plant from huge buckets.

A top U.S. nuclear official says there is a significant risk of dangerous levels of radiation from the plant, which was damaged last week in a massive earthquake and resulting tsunami. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko told lawmakers in Washington Wednesday that cooling systems inside the plant have failed, making it very difficult to keep the fuel rods cool.

In Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency said temperatures in three of the reactors at the Japanese plant have been rising. It called the situation "very serious."
Nuclear fuel rods remain extremely hot for weeks or months, even when they are not in use. Without steady supplies of water to keep the fuel rods cool, their outer casings can melt and release large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.
At the time of the earthquake, only three reactors were in use at the plant. They were inside thick concrete-and-steel chambers designed to contain radiation, even if molten fuel rods melt down. Explosions have severely damaged the outer buildings of all three of the units.

Elsewhere, the plight of thousands of people left homeless by the earthquake and tsunami has worsened after a cold snap brought snow to the worst-affect areas. Officials report that supplies of water and heating oil are low at evacuation centers, where many survivors are bundled in blankets.

Tens of thousands of households in northeastern Japan are still without electricity in near-freezing weather. The government says at least 1.5 million households in the area lack running water.

Republicans Vote to Cut $61 Billion In Government Spending

2011-02-20T07:48:00.002+07:00

Photo: AP

Congressmen walk down the steps of the House of Representatives as they work throughout the night on a spending bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 18, 2011

Efforts to cut the U.S. federal budget to counter a rising deficit projected at $1.6 trillion this year are now moving to the Democratic Party dominated Senate.
The Republican controlled House of Representatives passed a bill early Saturday with about $60 billion in spending cuts.
During Saturday’s early morning debate House Speaker John Boehner said the next few months will be the most important Washington has seen in decades.
In a vote which ended at four in the morning, lawmakers voted almost entirely along party lines. Most Republicans were in favor of the bill to cut current spending by about 14 percent, while Democrats were in opposition.
The bill is a stop-gap measure known as a continuing resolution. It establishes spending levels for the rest of the fiscal year ending in September.
But Democratic lawmakers in the Senate have promised to remove many of the bill’s cuts.
These include eliminating spending to carry out President Barack Obama’s recently signed health care reform law. The cuts also target federal funding for family planning, the government’s ability to enforce environmental regulations, education programs, subsidies for the poor and foreign aid.
The bill does include increases, such as a nearly two percent rise for defense spending, despite some internal Republican opposition.
During the House debate, California Republican John Campbell was one of those urging deeper defense cuts. "There are many weapons systems funded in the Defense Department which the Defense Department does not want. They are there because of influential members of Congress who have put them in. Defense has always been the most earmarked section of the entire budget," he said.
Democratic lawmakers, such as Georgia’s Sanford Bishop, warned against cuts that would affect war veterans. “If this bill is signed into law it will hurt our economic recovery which in turn will affect our veterans. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 15 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are unemployed, far higher than the national jobless rate. If we follow through with some of these disastrous cuts we will see that rate go higher," he said.
The Senate is expected to spend the next few weeks debating and writing its own version of a government funding bill. Senate Democrats say they also want to begin shrinking the deficit, but not the way House Republicans voted for.
If no compromise is found by March 4, when current funding expires, a U.S. government shutdown becomes a possibility, unless all parties, including Democratic President Obama, can agree on a short-term spending bill.

Egyptians Celebrate Mubarak Departure, Look to Future

2011-02-13T14:00:00.000+07:00

Photo: AP

Egyptians celebrate on Tahrir Square in Cairo, February 12, 2011

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Egyptians Celebrate Mubarak Departure, Look to Future

Luis Ramirez | Cairo February 12, 2011

Photo: AP

Egyptians celebrate on Tahrir Square in Cairo, February 12, 2011

Egyptians are cleaning up after celebrations that followed the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's leader of nearly 30 years. The military, which assumed control of the country, on Saturday said Mr. Mubarak's Cabinet will remain in place for now while Egypt transitions to a democratic system. The military also vowed to "remain committed to all regional and international" accords including peace treaties, confirming Egypt's landmark 1979 peace treaty with Israel would remain intact.

Saturday was a day of cleaning at Tahrir Square and throughout Central Cairo even as celebrations were going on. Groups of people went to the streets and to the square with brooms and dustpans in hand to help clear up the filth and debris that built up during the 18 days of demonstrations.

Some wore banners on their clothing that said “yesterday I was a demonstrator, today I am building Egypt.”

24-year-old architect Rania Tamoum says it was important for her to show she wants to be a part of the rebuilding process. “It's our country. It's our responsibility, so we have to clean it,” she said.

Tamoum joined thousands of others in celebrating Hosni Mubarak's resignation. She said she has not thought about a blueprint for the future, since her only goal while demonstrating was to see Mr. Mubarak go.

“Actually, I cannot say what clearly I want. I can say that I want a better Egypt. I really want a new government. We don't want any of the icons or the symbols of the old government,” said Tamoum.

The mood was jovial Saturday, even as celebrations were winding down. A group of men sang an Islamic song, as they walked off the square. Some people began taking down the tents where they have been camping out, and preparing to go home. Some are staying.

Abdel Hamed Taha, an imam, said Mr. Mubarak's departure was only the beginning of the changes he wants to see. He will remain on the square.

He says he is at the square to follow up on what he says was the victory of the revolution. He said demonstrators have achieved only one of the demands, and he wants a dialogue with the army.

The transition is now in the hands of the military, which has promised to hand over power to an elected civilian government. The demonstrators demanded free and transparent elections in which all groups - including the banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood can participate. They also want a lifting of emergency laws, and a re-writing of the constitution.

A spokesman for Egypt's supreme council of the armed forces on Saturday said it has asked the existing Cabinet to stay in a caretaker capacity. He also said Egypt will respect its existing international agreements that include a peace treaty with Israel.

Over the past few days, the army has emerged as heroic in the eyes of many Egyptians for not cracking down on the demonstrators. On Saturday, tanks stayed in their positions throughout central Cairo. People took pictures with soldiers, and children handed them flowers.

Now, Egyptians are counting on the military to take the country to the next step, and deliver on the promises of a change for the better.

Fish Farms May Soon Supply More Than Half the World's Catch

2011-02-10T20:40:00.002+07:00

Photo: AP

Fishermen at a fish farm in central Hungary in December. Hungary is rich in waterways, but traditionally most Hungarians eat fish only at Christmastime.

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Traditional fisheries may no longer be the world’s most important provider of fish. A new United Nations report shows that fish farming or aquaculture may soon lead fish production.
The Food and Agriculture Organization says aquaculture is growing by a rate of 6.6 percent a year.
Aquaculture now produces forty-six percent of the world’s supply of fish. That represents a forty-three percent increase from two thousand six. The report also said aquaculture earned more money in two thousand eight than traditional fisheries.
The FAO headquarters in Rome published the document, "State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture."
In aquaculture, fish are raised in tanks or small bodies of water called ponds. They also are raised in cages or nets in oceans, lakes and rivers.
The report says increased aquaculture has helped people around the world eat record amounts of fish. The FAO says each person ate an average of almost seventeen kilograms of fish last year.
But the FAO says the current yearly wild-fish harvest of ninety million tons shows no improvement. Decreasing numbers of fish and stronger catch limits have reduced the possibilities for catching wild fish.
The FAO report says about thirty-two percent of world supplies are overfished, depleted or recovering. It said these supplies of fish need to be urgently rebuilt.
Some scientists have criticized aquaculture. They say the nets and cages permit fish diseases and pests to spread.
Some aquaculture critics doubt that aquaculture can keep growing at the current rate. But Wally Stevens of the trade group Global Aquaculture Alliance says the industry must continue developing to feed growing populations.
Mr. Stevens says a one hundred percent increase in fish farming over ten years is necessary to keep providing for people at the current level. He notes that aquaculture creates jobs and wealth, especially for people in coastal areas of China.
The FAO reports that China remains the world’s largest fish-producing nation. China produces more than sixty percent of the world’s farmed fish.
And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Bob Doughty.

A Fatter World, Yet Fewer Cases of High Blood Pressure

2011-02-10T20:37:00.002+07:00

Photo: AP

People taking part in Argentinian TV show "A Matter of Weight" in 2007

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Last week a study of one hundred ninety-nine countries and territories confirmed what many people may have already noticed. People around the world are getting fatter. The study found that obesity has almost doubled since nineteen eighty.
Majid Ezzati at Imperial College London led the research team. He says the results show that obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are no longer just found in wealthy nations. These are now worldwide problems.
The study appeared in the Lancet. It shows that in two thousand eight, almost ten percent of men were obese. That was up from about five percent in nineteen eighty. That same year, almost eight percent of women were obese. By two thousand eight, the rate of obesity among women was almost fourteen percent.
Obesity is commonly measured by body mass index, or BMI. This is a measure of a person's weight in relation to height. A person with a BMI of twenty-five to twenty-nine is considered overweight. The World Health Organization defines obesity as a body mass index of thirty or more.
Pacific island nations have an average BMI of around thirty-five -- the highest in the world.
But the study found that the United States had the single highest average among wealthy countries. Men and women had an average BMI of over twenty-eight. New Zealand was next. Japan had the lowest, at about twenty-two for women and twenty-four for men.
The report had some good news, however, about high blood pressure,. The percentage of people with this major cause of heart attacks and strokes has fallen since nineteen eighty. Dr. Ezzati credits improved testing and treatment in wealthy countries. He says a decrease in the use of salt and unhealthful fats probably also helped.
In the United States, new guidelines urge Americans to reduce salt, sugar and fatty meats and to eat more fish and whole grains. People are being urged to choose water over sugared drinks and to make fruits and vegetables half of a meal. But whatever they eat, Americans are being urged to follow new advice from the government: eat less.
Lynn Goldman, dean of public health at George Washington University, praised the dietary guidelines released last week.
LYNN GOLDMAN: "This is a call to go back to older ways of eating, to eating whole foods, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, more healthy foods. And hopefully these guidelines will be noticed worldwide and people will take steps to both increase their physical activity and to eat healthier."
And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.

'Lincoln Portrait': Music of Copland, Words of a Leader

2011-02-10T20:36:00.000+07:00

Photo: AP

A National Park Service ranger at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington talks about the 16th president on February 12, 2010, his 201st birthday

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Shirley Griffith. This week on our program, Rich Kleinfeldt and I tell the story of President Abraham Lincoln. His birthday is February twelfth.
(MUSIC)
RICH KLEINFELDT: Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth American president. He is considered one of the greatest leaders of all time. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky in eighteen nine. He grew up in Illinois. His family was poor and had no education.
Abraham Lincoln taught himself what he needed to know. He became a lawyer. He served in the Illinois state legislature and in the United States Congress. In eighteen sixty, he was elected to the country's highest office.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: President Lincoln led the United States during the Civil War between the northern and southern states. This was the most serious crisis in American history.
President Lincoln helped end slavery in the nation. And he helped keep the American union from splitting apart during the war. President Lincoln believed that he proved to the world that democracy can be a lasting form of government.
RICH KLEINFELDT: In eighteen sixty-three, President Lincoln gave what became his most famous speech. Union armies of the North had won two great victories that year. They defeated the Confederate armies of the South at Vicksburg, Mississippi and at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Ceremonies were held to honor the dead soldiers at a burial place on the Gettysburg battlefield.
President Lincoln spoke at Gettysburg for only about two minutes. But his speech has never been forgotten. Historians say the speech defined Americans as a people who believed in freedom, democracy and equality.
Abraham Lincoln wrote some of the most memorable words in American history. He was murdered a few days after the Civil War ended in eighteen sixty-five. Yet his words live on.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Here is Christopher Cruise reading the Gettysburg Address:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow, this ground – The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.
It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen forty-two, orchestra conductor Andre Kostelanitz asked composer Aaron Copland to write a piece of music about Abraham Lincoln. Copland was one of the best modern American composers. He wrote many kinds of music. His music told stories about the United States.
Aaron Copland wrote "Lincoln Portrait" to honor the president. Copland's music included parts of American folk songs and songs popular during the Civil War. Here is the Seattle Symphony playing part of "Lincoln Portrait."

(MUSIC)

RICH KLEINFELDT: Aaron Copland added words from President Lincoln's speeches and letters to his "Lincoln Portrait." It has been performed many times in the United States. Many famous people have read the words.
To celebrate Presidents Day, here is actor James Earl Jones reading part of Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait."

(MUSIC)

JAMES EARL JONES: “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.” That is what he said. That is what Abraham Lincoln said: “Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We – even we here – hold the power and bear the responsibility … “

Lincoln was a quiet man. Abe Lincoln was a quiet and melancholy man. But, when he spoke of Democracy, this is what he said:

He said: “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of Democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.”

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of these United States, is everlasting in the memory of his countrymen, for on the battleground at Gettysburg this is what he said:

He said: “That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion: that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; and that this nation under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Our engineer was Al Alevy. I’m Shirley Griffith.

(MUSIC)

RICH KLEINFELDT: And I'm Rich Kleinfeldt. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program THIS IS AMERICA.

A Saddle Maker and a Poet: How They Put Their Creativity to Work

2011-02-10T20:34:00.000+07:00

Photo: Sadie Babits

Carving patterns into leather is a skill that saddle maker Nancy Martiny first learned as a teenager while watching her father tool leather

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Christopher Cruise.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I’m Faith Lapidus. Some jobs require little or no creativity. Other jobs are all about creativity. This week on our program, we meet two Americans who put their imaginations to work in very different ways. One is a saddle maker. The other is a poet.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Nancy Martiny has worked with horses all her life. She learned riding and roping when she grew up on a cattle ranch.
NANCY MARTINY: "From whenever I was a little kid I was always doing what the men did. And then as I got older and rodeoed and into producing rodeos, I’ve always worked with men."
Ms. Martiny started making western saddles for fun as a hobby. Now, she has a waiting list. People have to wait up to three years to buy one of her saddles.
NANCY MARTINY: "I’ve had people ask me that they think you have to be big and strong and tough to build saddles, and you don’t. You have to have a sharp knife."
FAITH LAPIDUS: A sharp knife is just a tool. A good saddle maker also has to have an artistic sense for carving and shaping designs into leather.
NANCY MARTINY: "Like here, at the start, I’ll hit it pretty hard and then I want that to look like there's some contour to that petal."
She cuts the leather into complex patterns of flowers and leaves. This is a skill she first learned as a teenager. She watched her father tool leather.
NANCY MARTINY: “So when I was fifteen, I talked him into helping me get started tooling. And then I kind of took his tools and made myself a belt and of course my friends at school they had to have a western belt and it kind of started just like that.”
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: She began by making things like belts and purses. Then she met one of the best saddle makers around, Dale Harwood. He made her a saddle tree. A tree is the form for a saddle that all the leather gets attached to.

Sadie Babits

One of Nancy Martiny's saddles

Nancy Martiny had tooled saddles before. But she had never made one herself. She worked on the leather design at home. Then she would go to Dale Harwood’s shop for advice.
NANCY MARTINY:“He’d walk me through things and I’d make little notes, and then I had my little notebook after I got through this first saddle.”
That notebook became her best tool.
NANCY MARTINY: "I got my nerve up and I started on a kid’s saddle and [I would] look at my notebook. And when I’d get in a real wreck I’d call Dale, and when he had time he’d help me and I’d get through. Well, I got them saddles built, and then somebody would say 'Hey, why don’t you build me a saddle?'"
FAITH LAPIDUS: That was how Nancy Martiny got into the saddle making business twenty years ago. People usually learn about her from others. She does not have a shop. She lives and works in the Pahsimeroi Valley near May, Idaho. She lives on a ranch that has been in her husband’s family for one hundred twenty years.
The ranch has a barn where she keeps her own saddle and the ones she has made for her family. She says most of her customers are ranchers and cowboys and cowgirls who live in the area.
NANCY MARTINY: "I guess that's probably part of my success as a saddle maker, and why men don’t hesitate to order a saddle from me. Because a lot of the people that order saddles from me know me, or they know of me, enough to know that I can rope a little bit, you know. And when we’re talking about horns, I know what you’re talking about, and fitting your horse.”

Sadie Babits

Some of Nancy Martiny's saddles have complex flower designs

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Some of her saddles have silver and detailed flower designs. But many others are more simple.
NANCY MARTINY: "I want a plain saddle to be considered beautiful as well as a full-flowered saddle, so if someone says, 'Oh, your work is beautiful,' I want that to mean all of the work. I hope that's what it means. That's what would be my goal."
Nancy Martiny also makes other leather goods, including purses. She may work with cowboys, but she says that does not mean she cannot make something more feminine once in a while.
(MUSIC)

Jared C. Benedict

Poet Robert Pinsky

FAITH LAPIDUS: Robert Pinsky was born in nineteen forty. He grew up in New Jersey, in the working-class town of Long Branch near the Atlantic coast. He found happiness playing jazz in the high school band. That experience also led him to find happiness in poetry.
ROBERT PINSKY: “When I was a teenager, just about the only thing I could do right was play music. In my high school graduating class, I certainly was not voted most literary boy. I was voted most musical boy. And the one thing led to the other.”
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Mr. Pinsky says jazz and poetry are similar.
ROBERT PINSKY: "Jazz and poetry both involve a structure that may be familiar and to some extent predictable. And then you try to create as much surprise and spontaneity and feeling and variation while also respecting that structure.”
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: For Robert Pinsky, poetry is not just an emotional experience but also a physical one. He moves back and forth as he reads one of his poems, called "The Want Bone." The bone is a shark jaw that he found on a beach. Here is part of that poem:

ROBERT PINSKY:
The bone tasted of nothing and smelled of nothing,
A scalded toothless harp, uncrushed, unstrung.
The joined arcs made the shape of birth and craving
And the welded-open shape kept mouthing O.
The beach scrubbed and etched and pickled it clean.
But O I love you it sings, my little my country
My food my parent my child I want you my own
My flower my fin my life my lightness my O …
FAITH LAPIDUS: Robert Pinksy says poetry is also like dance -- an art form where the medium is the human body itself.
ROBERT PINSKY: “And that makes it very intimate on that human scale. It’s my advice for people who have, alas, somehow learned that poetry is difficult or think they’ve learned that they don’t have a taste for it, say it aloud. You feel what it’s like to say it with your breath and your tongue and your voice box. And, all that. And along with that intimacy, there is something social about it.
“I try to make works of art out of something everybody uses all day: dollar bills and quarters and credit cards. We use words all day long. 'Is that your car? I think it’s blocking mine.' 'I love you but not that way,' or, 'How good is the soup of the day today?' You’re using words!”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Mr. Pinsky has a doctorate from Stanford University. He taught at Wellesley College and the University of California, Berkeley, before coming to Boston University. He is a professor in the creative writing program.
His books include poetry collections, criticism and translations. His honors include awards for his nineteen ninety-four translation of Dante's "Inferno" from Italian.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: In nineteen ninety-seven, the librarian of Congress named Robert Pinsky as poet laureate of the United States. Mr. Pinsky is the only laureate to have been reappointed twice. He served as the nation's official poet until the year two thousand.
The position at the Library of Congress has existed under different names since the nineteen thirties. The current poet laureate is W.S. Merwin.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Robert Pinsky is proud that something he started called the Favorite Poem Project is still popular. That project invites everyday people to introduce a poem that is meaningful to them, and then read it on video.
The videos can be found online at favoritepoem.org.
In one video, a United States Marine officer named Steve Conteaguero reads a poem. He reads "Politics" by William Butler Yeats, who died in nineteen thirty-nine.
STEVE CONTEAGUERO:
How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?
Yet here’s a travelled man that knows
What he talks about.
And there’s a politician
That has read and thought.
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war’s alarms.
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms!
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: A new collection of selected poems by Robert Pinsky will be published in April. Here he is reading part of a poem first published in nineteen ninety-nine. The poem is called "Samurai Song."
ROBERT PINSKY:
When I had no roof I made
Audacity my roof. When I had
No supper my eyes dined.
When I had no eyes I listened.
When I had no ears I thought.
When I had no thought I waited.
When I had no father I made
Care my father. When I had
No mother I embraced order.
When I had no friend I made
Quiet my friend. When I had no
Enemy I opposed my body.
When I had no temple I made
My voice my temple. I have
No priest, my tongue is my choir …
(MUSIC)
FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was written and produced by Brianna Blake, with reporting by Sadie Babits and Adam Phillips. I’m Faith Lapidus.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher Cruise. You can find transcripts and MP3s of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. We'll post a link to favoritepoem.org and show you pictures of Nancy Martiny and her saddles. You can also stay in touch with us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

American History: Hoover Wins in 1928

2011-02-10T20:27:00.000+07:00

Photo: loc.gov

Herbert Hoover, right, and the president he followed in office, Calvin Coolidge

BOB DOUGHTY: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
The presidential election of nineteen twenty-eight gave American voters a clear political choice. The Democratic Party nominated Al Smith. He was the popular governor of the state of New York. The Republican Party chose Herbert Hoover. He was an engineer and businessman who served as secretary of commerce for presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
This week in our series, Rich Kleinfeldt and Harry Monroe tell us about the presidential election of nineteen twenty-eight.
RICH KLEINFELDT: Governor Alfred Smith of New York had campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in nineteen twenty-four. But he was defeated at the party convention by a compromise candidate, John Davis.
Four years later, however, Smith could not be stopped. He had a strong record as governor of the nation's most heavily-populated state. He campaigned for the presidency on a policy of building new electric power stations under public control.
Smith knew that many conservative Americans might be worried by his new ideas and his belief in strong government. So he chose as his campaign manager a Republican industrial leader who had worked with General Motors, DuPont and other major companies.
Smith hoped this would prove his faith in the American private business system.

loc.gov

Al Smith

HARRY MONROE: Al Smith was a strong political leader and an effective governor. But he frightened many Americans, especially conservative citizens living in rural areas.
They lived on farms or in small towns. Al Smith was from the city. And not just from any city, but New York City, a place that seemed big and dirty and filled with foreign people and strange traditions. Al Smith's parents came from Ireland. He grew up in New York and worked as a salesman at the Fulton Fish Market.
Smith was an honest man. But many rural Americans simply did not trust people from big cities. Al Smith seemed to them to represent everything that was new, different, and dangerous about American life.
But being from New York City was not Al Smith's only problem. He also opposed the new national laws that made it illegal to buy or produce alcoholic drinks. And he had political ties to the New York political machine. But worst of all, in the eyes of many Americans, Al Smith was a Roman Catholic.
RICH KLEINFELDT: From George Washington through Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and up to Calvin Coolidge, every American president had been male, white, and a Protestant Christian. Of course, there was no law requiring a candidate to be Protestant. But millions of traditional Americans just were not ready to give their vote to a Roman Catholic.
Opponents of the Smith campaign generally did not speak openly about his religion. But many of them were afraid that Smith would take his orders from the Vatican in Rome, instead of working with the Congress in Washington.
Al Smith fought back. He told the country, "I am unable to understand how anything I was taught to believe as a Catholic could possibly be in conflict with what is good citizenship. My faith," he said, "is built upon the laws of God. There can be no conflict between them. "
HARRY MONROE: But many Protestant Americans thought there was a conflict. And they looked to the Republican Party to supply a strong candidate to oppose Smith and the Democrats.
The Republicans did just that. They nominated former secretary of commerce Herbert Hoover, one of the country's most popular men. Hoover was well-known to Americans. People trusted him. And they liked the way he had gained great personal success from poor beginnings.
In fact, Hoover's life story would have pleased Abraham Lincoln, another American who rose from a poor family to fame.
Hoover was born in the farm state of Iowa in eighteen seventy-four. His father was a poor metal worker who kept moving his family from state to state.
Herbert Hoover's father died when the boy was just six years old. His mother died four years later. Young Herbert had to move to the western state of Oregon to live with his mother's brother.
Herbert's uncle was luckier in life than Herbert's parents. He had made money in the land business. And he helped the boy gain admission to Stanford University in California. At the university, Herbert showed great skill in mathematics. And he decided to go into business as a geologist studying the science of the earth.

loc.gov

Herbert Hoover

RICH KLEINFELDT: After college, Herbert Hoover got a job as a mine worker. During the next several years, Hoover spent most of his time working as an engineer in foreign countries. And he succeeded beyond his greatest dreams. By the time he was forty years old, he had earned more than one million dollars.
After World War One, he organized the effort to provide food for starving people in Europe. He did an excellent job, winning praise from people in Europe and the United States alike. Next, Hoover joined the administration of President Warren Harding, serving as the secretary of commerce. Again, he did a very good job.
Hoover left the cabinet in nineteen twenty-five. But two years later, he organized efforts to provide relief for victims of a flood in the southern state of Mississippi. And again, Americans all around the country took note of this quiet, serious man who did such effective work in so many different kinds of situations.
Some Americans, however, did not like Hoover, including some people who usually supported Republicans.
For example, many professional Republican politicians did not trust him, because he had spent most of his life in business, not politics. Some stock market traders thought Hoover might change the rules on the New York Stock Exchange. And many farmers believed Hoover had no new ideas about how to solve their growing economic problems.
HARRY MONROE: This, then, was the choice Americans faced in nineteen twenty-eight. On the one hand, Al Smith. A Democrat. A Roman Catholic. A politician from the city. A man wanting some social change.
And on the other hand, Herbert Hoover. A Republican. A businessman who had proven the dream that even a poor boy could become great in America. A man who seemed to succeed with every effort he touched.
The main issue in the campaign was not economics or religion, but the new national laws banning alcoholic drinks. Hoover was for the laws; Smith against them. The two candidates also argued about how to provide aid to struggling farmers, and how to increase electricity and water supplies.
RICH KLEINFELDT: Herbert Hoover won the election of nineteen twenty eight. It was one of the greatest victories in presidential history. Hoover won fifty-eight percent of the votes. Smith got just forty percent. And Hoover captured four hundred forty-four electoral votes to Smith's eighty-seven.
And so it was that the engineer and businessman Herbert Hoover entered the White House in nineteen twenty-nine. There was some trouble the day he moved in. Outgoing President Coolidge was a man who watched every dollar he owned. And he accused some White House workers of stealing his shoes on the day of the inauguration. But -- finally -- safe, conservative, business-like Herbert Hoover was leading the country.
HARRY MONROE: The nation's stock market reacted by pushing stock prices to record high levels. Everyone expected that economic growth would continue and expand. But the happy times were just a dream. Within one year, the stock market collapsed. Millions of people lost their jobs. The nation fell into the worst economic crisis it had ever faced.
Herbert Hoover was not personally responsible for the crisis. In many ways, it was his own bad luck to be elected just before the disaster struck. But it was his job to guide the nation through its troubled waters. And he would prove to be the wrong person to give such leadership.
His four years in office would be one of the most difficult periods in the nation's history. We will look at President Hoover's administration in our next program.
(MUSIC)
BOB DOUGHTY: Our program was written by David Jarmul. The narrators were Rich Kleinfeldt and Harry Monroe. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.
___
This is program #175

Jakarta Holds Southeast Asian English Olympics

2011-02-10T20:22:00.000+07:00

Photo: AP

A Malaysian woman reads at a book fair in Kuala Lumpur

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
The Southeast Asian English Olympics begin Monday in Jakarta. High school and university students will compete to demonstrate their English skills at the Anggrek campus of Binus University.
The Bina Nusantara English Club at the university started the English Olympics in two thousand five. The yearly competition was formerly known as the Nationwide English Olympics.
This year the club invited other Southeast Asian schools to send "ambassadors" to join students from Indonesia. The organizers hope to have four hundred or more students take part.
There are six areas of competition. One is based on Scrabble, the board game where players try to form words from letters with different point values. Other areas include speech, storytelling and newscasting. Students will be judged on their ability to present the news.
Yohanes Napis is the twenty-year-old chief executive officer of next week's Olympics. He says the biggest event is the debate competition, which will include international judges. He says the competition will use the British parliamentary system but debaters can use either British or American English.
Organizers of the Southeast Asian English Olympics are getting support from the American Embassy in Jakarta and VOA. The finals will take place Saturday, February nineteenth, in a new high-tech American cultural center called @america. It opened in December in the Pacific Place Mall in Jakarta.
There are also plans for one hundred Indonesian high school students to come to the @america center next Friday. They will choose their favorite entry in the sixth area of competition, short movie making. But adult judges will choose the winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals.
Yohanes Napis says the Southeast Asian English Olympics might expand next year into the Asian English Olympics.
YOHANES NAPIS: "Two months ago we already have participants from Bangladesh, but unfortunately we cannot accept them because this is actually the Southeast Asian English Olympics. We already have participants as well from China, who already asked if they are eligible to join this Olympics. But unfortunately we have to refuse them, and also from Bangladesh as well. So I think we have a good chance to actually expand the scale into Asian for next year."
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by June Simms. If you're going to the English Olympics in Jakarta next week, we would love to have you send reports. You can post comments at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook at VOA Learning English, where you can also upload pictures and videos. I'm Steve Ember.

'Green' Cities Are Organizing to Protect the Environment

2011-02-10T20:20:00.000+07:00

Photo: Reuters

Green ideas are finding their way into many American cities. Here, a man stands on a green roof on a building in Washington, DC

STEVE EMBER: I’m Steve Ember.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we explore ways in which local governments around the world are working to protect the environment.
These “green cities” are working to reduce energy use and pollution in inventive and effective ways. Such efforts by city governments not only help reverse the effects of climate change. They also help governments save large amounts of money on energy costs. And, cities that are leaders in this green movement set a good example to their citizens about the importance of environmental issues.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement aimed at reducing the release of harmful gases believed to cause climate change. The United States is not part of the agreement. But since two thousand five, more than one thousand mayors across the country have agreed to sign their own version of the protocol.
It is called the United States Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement. Local leaders have agreed to follow the suggestions of the Kyoto Protocol in their communities. They have also agreed to urge state and federal governments to follow these suggestions. One goal is to reduce air pollution to nineteen ninety levels by two thousand twelve.
A “green” city might work on several kinds of environmental goals and programs. These include air quality, reducing electricity use, green building, public health, the reuse of materials, water quality and clean transportation.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The Natural Resources Defense Council works to protect the environment through activism, law and science. One of its online projects is called Smarter Cities. This web site gives a list of cities that have made important environmental steps. Its two thousand ten list includes twenty-two cities that have supported investing in green power and reducing energy use. The list is divided into large, medium and small cities.
STEVE EMBER: Boston, Massachusetts was second on the big city list. It is the largest city buyer of wind power in New England. It is also using its own wind resources to produce electricity. There are twenty small wind turbines at Logan International Airport. And there are other wind projects around the city.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Austin, Texas leads the large city list, while Chicago, Illinois is third. Both cities have made big efforts to reduce a problem called urban heat islands. An urban heat island is a city area that is warmer than its surrounding rural area. This is caused by several things, such as dark colored roofs which absorb heat from the sun during the daytime, and release that heat at night. Air conditioners cooling the inside of buildings add to the increased temperatures by generating hot air outdoors.
Austin has launched an Urban Heat Island Mitigation Project to improve the situation. The city is planting more trees. And it is rewarding businesses and individuals who have reflective roofs. This kind of surface absorbs less heat.
STEVE EMBER: Chicago has long been interested in green roofs. In two thousand, city officials decided to replace the black tar roof on the city government building with a planted garden. The aim was to reduce energy costs, improve air quality and control the amount of rainwater entering the city’s waste system. Green roofs also help reduce urban heat islands.
During hot weather, the building's tar roof could reach temperatures of up to seventy-six degrees Celsius.
With the garden, the temperature of the roof area was reduced by at least thirty degrees Celsius. Chicago has since created over three hundred thousand square meters of green roofs.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Washington, D.C. is also a leading city for green roofs, with over ninety two thousand square meters of green rooftops. The city also launched a program called “Skip the Bag, Save the River.” Stores charge people a five cent tax for using plastic or paper shopping bags instead of reusable bags. Money from the tax will be used to clean up a local river.
New York City is using water as a renewable energy source. For several years, the city has experimented with using waves in the East River to create energy. Officials operating the program recently asked for permission to put into place thirty river turbine devices.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: The people of Portland, Oregon are among the top recyclers in the nation. People living there recycle over half of the waste they throw out. The city has also worked to provide green transportation by providing safe bike paths and free parking spaces where electric cars can recharge.
In Oakland, California, you can ride on one of several public hydrogen-powered buses. These buses release zero pollution into the air. However, they cost about five times more than common buses.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Cost is also a major issue in creating green buildings and systems. Green building materials and systems usually cost more money than normal ones. However, homeowners are increasingly willing to pay more money to have lower energy costs in the future. And, builders are offering more green building methods and products as they become more important to buyers.
Many cities offer money for homeowners who put in place green technologies such as solar power systems. This helps support green efforts by reducing the cost to homeowners.
Investors are also taking a big interest in the growing importance of clean technologies. The Cleantech Group researches the clean energy industry. It said that North American companies in two thousand ten raised over five billion dollars for investment in clean technologies. This is an increase of forty-five percent from two thousand nine.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: The United States Green Building Council is changing the way people build in cities. This nonprofit organization has a rating system for making environmentally safe public and private buildings. It is called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. Many cities now require that new buildings be built according to LEED environmental requirements.
LEED is not the only rating system for green buildings. For example, the National Association of Homebuilders has its own set of rules. And, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy joined to create the Energy Star program.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Energy Star gives ratings to devices for the home based on how they use energy. And the program helps homeowners learn how to make changes to their houses to use energy effectively. Energy Star estimates that in two thousand nine it helped Americans avoid the release of harmful gases equal to what thirty million cars would produce. And, it says Americans saved seventeen billion dollars on energy costs.
STEVE EMBER: One small town in Kansas is about as green as its name. In May of two thousand seven, a tornado windstorm destroyed most of the town of Greensburg, Kansas. The town decided to rebuild in a better way, using green methods.
Greensburg officials decided that all public building projects would follow LEED top-level requirements. For example, the 5.4.7. Arts Center is completely powered by energy from the wind and sun. It was named after the date the tornado struck. The television station Planet Green aired a program on the town called “Greensburg.” Over three seasons, the show told about the town, its people, and the green building efforts.
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The United Arab Emirates has taken green building a step further with the Masdar City project. Its aim is to be the greenest city in the world. The city will meet environmental rules set by the World Wide Fund for Nature’s One Living Planet and the company BioRegional. Masdar City is about seventeen kilometers from the capital, Abu Dhabi. The goal for Masdar City was to produce no waste, no carbon pollution and contain only electric cars. The city is to create renewable energy from the wind, sun and other technologies.
However, economic troubles have slowed the project. The city was expected to be completed by twenty sixteen. But officials now say the city will be completed in stages. And, the city will not at first be completely carbon-neutral.
One important part of the city is Masdar Institute. This research university is being developed in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The goal of the university is to make the United Arab Emirates a leader in renewable energy technologies. Experts say developments like this may lead to a greener future for all cities in the world.
(MUSIC)
STEVE EMBER: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Steve Ember.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Protests, Strikes Spread as Egypt's Regime Stiffens

2011-02-10T20:13:00.000+07:00

Photo: AP

An anti-government protester wakes up after spending the night in front of the main gate of the Egyptian Parliament in Cairo, February 10, 2011

Thousands of anti-government protesters remain in Cairo's Tahrir Square and outside Egypt's parliament building Thursday as they continue their campaign to oust embattled President Hosni Mubarak.

In addition to the prolonged protests in the capital, the opposition has turned to labor actions across Egypt affecting tourism, textiles, railways and the government.

The protesters are seeking to pressure Mr. Mubarak, who has been in power for 30 years, while also demanding the resignation of lawmakers elected late last year in a vote widely condemned as rigged in favor of the ruling party.

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has said the government will not tolerate prolonged anti-government protests in Tahrir Square. He warned activists not to attempt more civil disobedience, calling it "extremely dangerous."

Protest organizers said they are working on plans to move to the state radio and television building Friday, when another mass demonstration has been called.

On Wednesday, more than 6,000 disaffected workes demonstrated against low wages and poor conditions at five companies owned by the Suez Canal Authority, which is a major component of the Egyptian economy. Two thousand textile workers demonstrated in Suez, while thousands hurt by the collapse of the tourism industry held protests in Luxor.

Hundreds of slum dwellers in the Suez Canal town of Port Said set fire to parts of the governor's headquarters, angry over the lack of housing.

Anti-Mubarak protests resulting in several deaths also erupted in the desert oasis of Kharga, 600 kilometers south of Cairo, as demonstrators burned police stations and other government buildings.

Thousands of government workers from the health and telecommunications offices protested in several locations across Cairo Wednesday. Many were contractors, demanding full-time work and benefits.

Meanwhile, the nation's largest circulation newspaper, the iconic al-Ahram, began to shift from its pro-government reporting. On Wednesday, the front page, which had sought for days to downplay the protests, called recent attacks by pro-Mubarak supporters on Tahrir Square an "offense to the whole nation."

Protesters have turned the square into a sprawling tent city, complete with medical facilities, charging stations for mobile phones, sound stages and a radio station.

A committee of judges and legal scholars appointed by Mr. Mubarak agreed Wednesday to propose six constitutional amendments and said further articles could also be changed.

But Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood, which broke ranks with the opposition to meet with Mr. Suleiman, rejected what it said were half-measures by the regime.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Egyptian Protesters, Government Dig In

2011-02-10T16:45:00.000+07:00

Photo: VOA - J. Sokolovsky

Protesters in Tahir Square, Cairo, 8 February 2011

A steady flow of protesters converged on Cairo's Tahrir Square again Wednesday, while some spread to new areas, with new supporters joining the demonstrations. Continuing government concessions seem not enough to bring the opposing sides any closer.

New positions

Some demonstrators have moved out from Tahrir Square, taking up positions in front of Egypt's parliament. They vow not to stand down until President Hosni Mubarak and the government do the same.

New groups are taking up the anti-government banner. Factory and government workers are making an appearance, demanding higher wages. And some unions are joining in, with workers striking in other parts of the country, from Helwan, south of Cairo, to Suez.

Key demands

The political protesters' key points remain the same: an overhaul of the government system, with real constitutional change and an end to the emergency law, which has allowed for arbitrary arrest, detention and alleged torture for nearly 30 years.

Mohamed Ismail, a doctor who has been helping tend to the protesters, says he has no trust in the government's concessions so far.

Ismail does not believe the constitution will be reformed as promised, because the current parliament, he says, is a fraud. He adds the government will not lift the emergency law because of the new excuse of the protests.

The doctor says the two sides are deadlocked.

Not that Egypt's government is oblivious to the demonstrations, now in their third week, and authorities say, costing the country more than $300 million a day.

Government response

State media announced Wednesday that authorities have released 34 political prisoners. Among them are members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, whose leadership is engaged in unprecedented dialogue with the government.

But as for the core demand, Vice President Omar Suleiman said again late Tuesday that President Mubarak is not going to step down. Suleiman warned that the only alternative to the dialogue underway is a coup.

But as the government digs in, so too, do the protesters.

Another doctor on the square dismisses the argument that if Mr. Mubarak leaves, chaos would ensue.

Kamal Abu Sena urges the president to live with dignity and "abdicate," as he put it. There will be no chaos, he says, adding, suppose Mr. Mubarak dies in the morning? He argues there are laws and institutions and "lots of honest people" who can protect the country.

Slideshow of photos from Tahrir Square

White House Presses Egyptian Leaders For More Change

2011-02-10T13:04:00.000+07:00

Photo: AP

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs briefs reporters about the situation in Egypt (file photo)

U.S. officials say Egypt’s leaders are not making a minimum amount of reforms their people demand. The Obama administration continues to push President Hosni Mubarak’s government for greater change.

President Barack Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters Wednesday the demonstrations in the streets of Cairo will continue to grow until Egypt’s government makes adequate reforms.

"I think it is clear that what the government has thus far put forward has yet to meet a minimum threshold for the people of Egypt," said Gibbs. "That is why many of you reported that the crowds in yesterday’s [Tuesday] protests were bigger than even those on Friday."

Gibbs says the United States is calling on President Mubarak to begin an orderly transition immediately, and allow his people to have basic civil and political rights.

"Unless or until that process takes hold, I think you are going to see the continued pictures that all of us are watching out of Cairo and other cities throughout Egypt," he said.

Administration officials say they have been in contact with not only members of Mr. Mubarak’s government, but also leaders of Egypt’s civil society.

One of the more recent high-level contacts was a telephone call Tuesday between Vice President Joe Biden and his Egyptian counterpart, Omar Suleiman.

Vice President Suleiman’s efforts to talk with protesters about proposed reforms have broken down in recent days. He warned Tuesday that what he called a "coup" could take place unless demonstrators agree to negotiate.

Gibbs told reporters Wednesday the Egyptian people’s concerns cannot be met by violence, and that immediate and irreversible change is needed. He also said the situation will not be resolved if the government is not willing to change and the protesters are not willing to negotiate.

Since the demonstrations began about two weeks ago, Mr. Mubarak has said he will not seek re-election in September. Also, Vice President Suleiman announced that the president’s son, Gamal Mubarak, would not be a candidate for national office. And the leadership of the president’s National Democratic Party stepped down.

However, U.S. officials say Egypt’s leaders need to listen to the demonstrators in the streets and implement wider reforms.

US: Egypt Must End Emergency Law, Broaden Talks

2011-02-09T12:24:00.000+07:00

Photo: AP

Egyptian anti-Mubarak protesters shout slogans as they march in Alexandria, Egypt, Feb 8, 2011

The United States says the Egyptian government must do more to address the demands of opposition groups. It is calling for Cairo to immediately repeal an emergency law allowing detention without charge, and to allow greater participation in transition talks.

The White House says Vice President Joe Biden spoke to his counterpart in Egypt Tuesday to emphasize that the Egyptian government must stop beating, harassing and detaining protesters and those reporting on the massive demonstrations.

Biden also told Omar Suleiman that Egypt should broaden the range of opposition groups included in developing a plan for transitioning the government, and immediately rescind the country's deeply unpopular emergency law, in place since Mr. Mubarak took office in 1981.

In New York Tuesday, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said the Egyptian people are frustrated and demanding "bold reforms" that should be implemented quickly - "the sooner the better." He said all parties must avoid violence and he repeated his call for an "orderly and peaceful transition."

Mr. Ban said Egypt and its president, Hosni Mubarak, are key players in the Middle East peace process, and that he hoped Cairo will continue to play an important stabilizing role in a volatile region.

Earlier, in his first public comments on the unrest, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised the Egyptian military for its restraint, reiterated the need for an orderly and steady transition, and prodded other Arab governments in the region to reform.

Gates said the pro-democracy demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia should inspire other Middle Eastern governments to begin moving in a "positive direction" toward addressing the political and economic grievances of their people.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called for a transition in Egypt that engages all parties and leads to democratic practices, free and fair elections, and a representative government that is responsive to the grievances of the people.

U.S. government figures indicate the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided $1.5 billion in assistance to Egypt last year, mostly for security. The budget request for 2011 is about the same. U.S. officials say there are no plans to cut off the aid, but caution the assistance will be reviewed as events unfold.

Mr. Mubarak, who has been president for nearly three decades, has responded to the protests by declaring that he will not run for a sixth term in a September election.

Despite Talks in Egypt, Protests Continue

2011-02-08T13:33:00.000+07:00

Photo: AP

Anti-government demonstrators gather in Tahrir Square, the center of anti-Mubarak protests, in downtown Cairo, Egypt, February 7, 2011

Talks between Egypt's opposition and the government of President Hosni Mubarak have failed to stop thousands from demonstrating and calling for his immediate removal.

The Egyptian capital appeared to be desperate to get back to a normal routine. Traffic was snarled during commute times, with drivers sometimes having to go around army tanks and burned out vehicles - reminders of violent demonstrations.

Banks opened for a second day, but there was still no trading on the stock exchange.
Just as some people want things to return to normal, the demonstrators want to ensure that pressure is sustained on Mr. Mubarak to go, and that their efforts do not fade away.

On day 14, they continued to stream into Tahrir Square.

The opposition, like the protesters, says it is not satisfied with the outcome of talks between opposition groups and Mr. Mubarak's government. Those groups include the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been banned for decades.

One of the key leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood group told VOA dialogue can continue only if the government responds to the opposition's demands for deep political reform.

Earlier, another group spokesman, Isaam Eryan, met with reporters. He said no sane person or politician can reject dialogue, but he said this dialogue must be serious, representative and productive.

The Muslim Brotherhood is one the main backers of the demonstrations.

Pressure during the past 14 days has forced Mr. Mubarak to make concessions. He has named a Vice President, announced he will not seek reelection this year, and his party has seen the resignation of its top leaders.

But Egypt's opposition has failed to come up with a united front, and it is divided on how the transition of power should occur.

Some, including the protesters at Tahrir Square, want Mr. Mubarak to depart immediately, and some want him to leave the country or be put on trial. Others want him to stay and say they are grateful for the political stability his government has maintained over three decades, as well as for government entitlements that some have received during his tenure.

A third group includes many of those in the Egyptian capital who went back to work this week hoping for democratic change, but who say they want it in an orderly way that will soon return this country to normal.

Obama Courts US Business Leaders

2011-02-08T13:07:00.000+07:00

Photo: White House - C. Kennedy

President Obama record his weekly address for February 5, 2011

President Barack Obama is continuing his efforts to reach out to some of his sharpest critics in the U.S. business community. The president is hoping to ease some business leaders’ opposition to his economic plan and his re-election bid.

America’s top business leaders, many of whom are Republicans, have been skeptical about President Obama’s economic policies from the start.

One of the most consistent critics has been the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is based two blocks from the White House. The Chamber represents more than three million businesses, and calls itself the world’s largest business federation.

Lately, the president has been trying hard to win over the Chamber and other business leaders to his proposals to make American companies more competitive globally.

His next step in that effort will be a speech at Chamber of Commerce headquarters on Monday. Administration officials hope the visit will mark a turning point in the president’s relationship with corporate America.

In his weekly address Saturday, Mr. Obama said he will tell the corporate leaders that government has certain responsibilities to help promote American businesses. Among those responsibilities, he says, are providing the world’s best schools, the best infrastructure and the best incentives to innovate.

He said he will also tell the executives that they have responsibilities as well. “If we make America the best place to do business, businesses should make their mark here in America. They should set up shop here and hire our workers and pay decent wages and invest in the future of this nation. That is their obligation," he said.

Mr. Obama’s outreach to business has gained momentum since he and Republicans in Congress reached a compromise in December to extend the life of tax cuts begun during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Another move seen as pro-business was the appointment of William Daley as White House Chief of Staff. Daley had served as Commerce Secretary during Bill Clinton’s administration, and since held a high-ranking position at the large bank JP Morgan Chase.

President Obama has harshly criticized Wall Street bankers in the past for accepting big salary bonuses while their firms received government bailouts. The Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, made large contributions to Republican candidates in last November’s midterm elections, in which numerous Democrats were swept out of office.

Meanwhile, some liberal Democrats are furious about the president’s pro-business turn, saying he has abandoned their party’s principle of fighting for the well-being of workers.

Mr. Obama is trying to strike a balance on the issue, talking with workers at factories that produce equipment for alternative energy, and also hosting a day-long summit for executives of the nation’s largest companies.

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