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Conference in Houston Highlights Latest in Offshore Drilling Technology

By Greg Flakus
Houston
12 May 2006
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One of the oil and gas industry's biggest annual events was held recently in Houston (May 1-5). It's the Offshore Technology Conference, which focuses mainly on methods of exploiting energy resources that are under water, whether along coastlines or out in deep-water environments. The search for such resources has intensified as demand for energy has grown and the price of oil has risen dramatically.

As the name of the conference implies, technology is the main topic here. And there are a lot of interesting devices, machines and materials to see.

A representative of PV Fluids described her purpose for attending and wearing a costume. "Hello, I am Aegis and I am here with PV Fluids and I am representing an aeromatic resistance elastomer."

That's a flexible rubber used in tubes. Tubes and pipes are a big part of this industry and improving their efficiency at moving oil and gas is a big focus of research and development.

Aspen Aerogels has a feather-light gel that is 95 percent air and is considered the best insulation material on Earth, but it's very fragile. Using nanotechnology applications, this company now produces this same insulating material in a flexible form that, when used in a pipe, reduces the size and cost considerably.

The Milton Roy Company brought some alternative energy to the hall. One device is a pump that can operate on its own, using either solar or wind power.

Tom DayCompany representative Tom Day says it can save offshore platform operators money by continuously pumping anti-corrosive chemicals into the oil extraction pipes. "You don't need a lot of it, but you need to inject it at a pressure greater than the wellhead pressure and that is what this will do."

Most participants come to the Offshore Technology Conference every year to hear speakers and panel discussions and to read papers on new technology and methods.

Osten OlorunsolaOsten Olorunsola, a Shell Oil executive from Nigeria, says there are two main reasons he comes. "One, it's really to see the trend of technology in oil and gas development and one, of course, is also to meet with people and share experiences."

More than 59,000 people came to this year's conference, drawn to a great extent by the chance to meet and talk with each other.

Izeusse BragaIzeusse Braga is Communications Director for Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras. "The Offshore Technology Conference is for us a very important event. As a matter of fact it is the most important event for the petroleum industry.  And for us it is a very important opportunity to meet a lot of people in only one trip. If we had to plan to see, to visit, all of these people in their own countries, probably it would take six months, seven months."

Petrobras has become a worldwide player in the energy business by developing cutting-edge technology, especially in deepwater operations. The Brazilian company is using its technology to compete with U.S. companies in the Gulf of Mexico.

The president of Petrobras America, Renato Bertani, is enthusiastic. "We are ready to drill. We have the rigs for that and we're gonna drill one, probably two wells [in the] second half of this year."

Bertani says floating platforms developed by Petrobras could be especially effective in the hurricane-prone Gulf. "You simply disconnect with two or three days notice, move out of the way, and once the hurricane passes, a week later or ten days later, you come back, reconnect and start producing again."

The promise of these new oil and gas-producing technologies is what gives participants in the Offshore Technology Conference something to celebrate.

Video courtesy: Petrobras

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Environmentalists Urge More Clean Energy for Asia

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
14 May 2006
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The Asian Development Bank says it will spend $1 billion to promote clean energy projects in Asia. Environmentalists say it is imperative for Asia to reduce its reliance on coal-based power plants, which pollute the atmosphere, and may contribute to climate change.

The Asian Development Bank's decision to invest $1 billion dollars in cleaner energy projects comes amid wide concern over Asia's steadily deteriorating environment.

A big part of the problem is the high use of coal, which fuels economic growth across the continent's expanding economies. Coal provides nearly two-thirds of China's, and half of India's energy. Coal-fired power plants also feed the energy needs of such smaller countries as Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines.

But coal pollutes the atmosphere with toxic particles and greenhouse gases, possibly contributing to global climate change. A recent World Bank report says the rapidly expanding economies of China and India have helped drive production of greenhouse gases to a new high over the last decade.

For this reason, the environmental group, Greenpeace, is urging the Asian Development Bank, or ADB, to stop supporting what it calls "dirty coal." The bank has funded a number of coal-based projects in Asia, including Thailand's state-run Mae Moh power plant.

Tara Buakamsri of Greenpeace cites the Mae Moh facility as a prime example of how coal-fired power plants adversely affect poor communities near them.

"A lot of people have been suffering from severe, chronic, long-term respiratory disease, resulting from toxic pollution from the burning coal from the power station," said Buakamsri.

Other environmentalists say the time has come for Asia to pay more attention to cleaner energy sources, such as small hydroelectric plants, solar and wind power, which currently contribute only a tiny percentage of the energy consumed in the region.

Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Geneva-based Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says clean energy is critical for Asia, because the region's huge population makes it especially vulnerable to the effects of rising global temperatures.

"By the end of this century, the increase in temperature would be a further 1.4 degrees to 5.8 degrees centigrade," he noted. I"f it is anywhere in that range, this will cause all kinds of impacts, most of which are undesirable. On water resources, for instance, the impact could have serious implications for agriculture, and just ordinary demand for water by human beings."

The Asian Development Bank says the billion-dollar fund will be used to identify and fund projects that ensure growth, while helping to slow climate change.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

Bush Addresses Graduates of Gulf Coast College

By Paula Wolfson
White House
11 May 2006
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President Bush paid another visit Thursday to the hurricane-ravaged U.S. Gulf Coast, this time to honor the graduates of one local college.  These students got their degrees in one of the communities hardest hit by hurricane Katrina.

The president gives several graduation speeches every year, usually to students at major universities.

But this year, he chose to visit a small, community-based school that found itself in the eye of a hurricane.

"I am proud to stand before some of the most determined students at any college or university in America," said Mr. Bush.

He spoke at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in the city of Biloxi, addressing the students in a stadium still under repair, near streets lined with temporary housing.

"Over the last nine months, you have shown resilience more powerful than any storm," he added.  "You continued your studies in classrooms with crumbling walls.  You lost homes, and slept in tents near campus to finish courses.  You cleared debris during the day, and you went to class at night, working past exhaustion to catch up."

Like community colleges across the country, Mississippi Gulf Coast offers a low-cost, locally based alternative to students of all ages, many of whom hold full-time jobs or are raising families.

President Bush urged the new graduates to take the skills they learned in school and use them to help their state and the region rebuild.

"I ask you to rise to the challenge of a generation:  Apply your skill and your knowledge, your compassion and your character, and write a hopeful new chapter in the history of the Gulf Coast," he said.

The president said he is convinced a new vitality will emerge from the rubble of Hurricane Katrina.  He said, in time, cities from Mobile, Alabama to Biloxi, Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana will be whole again.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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This story originally ran at VOANews.com

North, South Korea to Conduct Railway Test Runs

By VOA News
13 May 2006

North and South Korea have agreed to conduct a test-run of two cross-border railways for the first time since the peninsula was divided more than half a century ago.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said the two sides will conduct test runs May 25 on a small length of track on rail links on the east and west coasts of the peninsula.

The agreement was reached Saturday on the final day of inter-Korean talks in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.

Despite the test-runs, it is unclear if the two sides will formally open the railways, or how they will be used.

The announcement comes as South and North Korean generals prepare to meet next week for a new round of military talks. 

The three-day meeting begins Tuesday in the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

Graduates of University in New Orleans Hit by Hurricane Get VIP Sendoff

By Greg Flakus
New Orleans
13 May 2006
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The more than 2,000 graduates of Tulane University in New Orleans heard from not one, but two former U.S. presidents at their graduation commencement ceremony Saturday. Former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton both spoke at the ceremony, which also included live jazz performances and other celebrity appearances.

The mood was festive at the Tulane commencement, in large part because of the special circumstances surrounding this year's graduation. The university was closed down when Hurricane Katrina approached the city in late August of last year and remained closed for the entire first semester because of the massive flooding in the city. But when administrators managed to reopen Tulane in January, students flocked back by the thousands.

In his speech, former President Bush hailed the perseverance and dedication of the Tulane students and the city in general. "The flood waters may have breached the levees that surround this city, they may have destroyed home after home, block after block, but today we also know they could not break the spirit of the people who call this remarkable, improbable city home. The courage of the people of New Orleans is just fantastic!," he said.

Bush went on to praise students and faculty who devoted time and effort to the recovery. He said the self sacrifice and charity shown here refutes the notion that people have grown selfish and unconcerned about their neighbors.

"A lot of people out there like to talk about the cynical times in which we live, but as I look around this room and bask in the warmth of your welcome, I still believe there are people out there who care, who are willing to open their hearts to the pain and the need around them and do the hard work that makes a positive difference in our world," he said.

In his speech, former President Clinton also praised the city of New Orleans and those who have worked to help it recover. He noted that people around the world contributed money to help the city and its people following Katrina. He called on the Tulane graduates to continue their involvement in efforts to build better communities and a better world.

"As President Bush said, a lot of these decisions about building a more inter-dependent, integrated world, where you have shared benefits and responsibilities and values, has to be done by government, but an enormous amount can be done by people as private citizens. From the time our country was founded we have believed this," he said.

Clinton noted that, around the time Tulane was founded in the 1830's, French writer Alexis de Tocqueville observed the American propensity for citizen initiative. He said this idea is now spreading around the world.

President Clinton called on the graduates to embrace the increasing interdependence of nations and work to enhance its positive effects. "You live in the most globally interdependent time in history and it can be good, bad or both. Interdependence means that we cannot escape each other. We are all in the same boat, whether we like it or not. It is, therefore, quite clear that the major work of all citizens, but especially those who have good degrees and good potential, is to build the positive and reduce the negative forces of interdependence," he said.

Among the other celebrities on hand was Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira, Brazil's Minister of Culture, who is also a world renowned singer/songwriter and author. He received an honorary doctorate degree in Humane Letters.

The commencement was closed by a well-known comedian and New Orleans native Ellen DeGeneres, who arrived on stage in a white bathrobe. She explained that she had been told everyone would be wearing a robe to the event. Her advice to the students, in their formal black graduation robes involved personal hygiene and cosmetics. She told them to remember to exfoliate, moisturize, exercise and floss. To howls of laughter and applause, she then danced off the stage with Tulane president Scott Cowan and a Dixieland Jazz band.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

Nigerians Collect Bodies, Bury Dead After Pipeline Blast

By VOA News
13 May 2006

Nigerians are giving mass burials to as many as 200 people killed in a pipeline explosion.

Rescue workers were still uncovering charred bodies Saturday, several kilometers away from the site of the massive blast near the commercial capital, Lagos.

Authorities say vandals were siphoning oil from the pipeline in the waterside village of Ilado Friday when a spark triggered the blast. They say flames quickly ignited hundreds of oil cans nearby.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered a full investigation into the blast Saturday, and also ordered police to increase security near oil pipelines.

The Lagos police commissioner, Emmanuel Adebayo, estimates that between 150 and 200 people were killed, their bodies burned beyond recognition. Authorities are burying the victims in mass graves to prevent contamination.

Theft of gasoline and crude oil from pipelines is common in Nigeria, where the vast majority of people live in poverty despite the nation's oil wealth.

A Lagos-based journalist, Paul Okolo, tells VOA it is common for people to siphon fuel from burst or tapped pipes.

In one of the worst oil pipeline explosions in the country, more than one thousand people were killed in 1998 in the southern Delta region.

Some information for this report AP, AFP and Reuters.

 

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Landslide in Central Indonesia Buries 11

By VOA News
13 May 2006

Rescuers in Indonesia are searching for at least 11 sand miners buried in a landslide in central Indonesia.

Authorities say the men were digging a hill in a village in West Java province Saturday when an avalanche of sand fell on them.

It was not immediately clear what caused the landslide.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Cheney Note Cited in CIA Leak Probe

By VOA News
14 May 2006

A U.S. prosecutor investigating the leak of a CIA agent's name has presented a handwritten note from Vice President Dick Cheney referring to the agent before the leak took place.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald filed the note in court papers in the case against Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby.

The filing says Cheney made the notes on an article written by the agent's husband, Joseph Wilson, about a trip to Niger to probe alleged uranium sales to Iraq.

It says Cheney asked if officials had approved the trip, or if Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, had sent him on a "junket."

The court filing says the note shows that Cheney and Libby were "acutely focused" on Wilson's claims in the article and on rebutting his criticism of the White House.

In the article, Wilson says he found no evidence of uranium sales and charged the White House had manipulated intelligence to justify the war in Iraq.

He has said administration officials leaked his wife's name to reporters in an effort to discredit him, after the article was published.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Iraq's Parliament Set to Reconvene Sunday

By VOA News
14 May 2006

Iraq's parliament is slated to reconvene Sunday as Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki inches closer to forming a cabinet before a May 22 constitutional deadline.

Mr. Maliki had been expected to name his cabinet Thursday, but disagreements on who should head the oil, interior and defense ministries have fractured the Shi'ite coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, that dominates the 275-seat parliament.

In apparent hope that Mr. Maliki may succeed in forming a government before the deadline, Iraqi officials say an Arab League-sponsored national reconciliation conference will convene in Baghdad sometime next month.

Elsewhere, the governor of Basra, Muhamad al-Waeli, has asked the area's provincial council to fire the police chief and the defense ministry to dismiss an Iraqi army general.

The governor said the two have failed to rein in Basra's escalating violence.

Meanwhile, officials said at least four Iraqis were killed in sectarian and insurgent attacks Saturday. They also said the bodies of at least five people, either tortured or shot, have been found.

Also, the U.S. military said a roadside bomb killed an American soldier south of Baghdad. More than 2,400 American servicemembers have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Deadly Bomb Attacks Hit Iraqi Capital

By VOA News
14 May 2006

Iraqi and U.S. officials say insurgents killed at least 33 people Sunday in a wave of attacks across Iraq.

The U.S. military says two suicide car bombs killed 14 people near a U.S. base in western Baghdad. Several other car bombs in the capital killed at least 14 more people, including two American soldiers.

To the north, a car bomb killed two Iraqis in Mosul and a roadside bomb in Udaim killed three bodyguards assigned to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

The violence came as Iraq's parliament met for a third time as lawmakers try to agree on a cabinet. But a Shi'ite political party and a Sunni Arab bloc both threatened to pull out of any future unity government because of differences over which group should get which ministries.

Iraqi authorities also found the bodies of five blindfolded men with gunshot wounds near Karbala.

And the British Defense Ministry announced Sunday that two British soldiers were killed late Saturday in a roadside bomb in the southern city of Basra.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Bomb in Eastern Turkey Kills Two Children

By VOA News
13 May 2006

A bomb blast in eastern Turkey has killed at least two children and wounded another.

Authorities say the bomb went off Saturday near a garage where the children were playing. It is not clear who planted the bomb.

Earlier, officials said a Kurdish guerrilla and four Turkish soldiers were killed in an overnight clash near the Iraqi border.

They said the clash occurred in a mountainous region in southeastern Sirnak province. Turkey has massed troops along the border as part of an offensive against the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Members of the PKK regularly cross from Iraq to attack Turkish forces and other targets.

The PKK has been battling for autonomy for more than two decades in Turkey's southeast. Those clashes are blamed for killing more than 30,000 people since 1984.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

Child and Maternal Mortality High in Developing Countries of Asia

By Claudia Blume
Hong Kong
14 May 2006
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Families around the world celebrate Mother's Day Sunday. But being a mother can be difficult in the developing countries of Asia, where many children die soon after their birth, or before they reach the age of five.

In developing countries, childbirth is often a life and death struggle for both mothers and children.

The charity, Save the Children, says more than four million infants worldwide die in their first month of life each year, mostly due to infections. A third of the deaths occur in Southeast Asia. South Asia has the highest rates of newborn deaths in the world, next to Africa. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example, up to six percent of infants die in their first month.

Many women also do not survive complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

Amy Weissman, a health expert for Save the Children in Vietnam, says the mothers most at risk are young, uneducated women who give birth at home, without the help of skilled professionals.

"The things that really make a difference around a woman's survival are her level of education, her access to quality health care and her use of modern family planning," said Weissman. "So, those things really need to be in place for a woman and her child to survive and thrive."

Children who survive the first few weeks are still at risk in many developing countries of Asia.

The World Health Organization says about 3,000 children under the age of five die each day in the western Pacific region. Most of the countries with a high child mortality rate spend less than five percent of their gross domestic product on health.

Marianna Trias, advisor on child health at the WHO regional office in Manila, says common diseases, such as pneumonia and diarrhea, cause most childhood deaths. In some countries, Laos and Cambodia, for instance, malaria is a major killer.

She says tools that can save children's lives, such as immunizations, nutritional supplements and insecticide-treated bed nets, are well known and inexpensive.

"But what is needed is the infrastructure, the human resources and financial resources to put this all in place and deliver the life-saving interventions through the health system," explained Trias.

Trias says some countries in the region have made good progress in recent years on reducing the number of childhood deaths. They include China, Mongolia, Vietnam and the Philippines, where governments have implemented plans to improve child and maternal health.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Vietnam State Media: Hanoi Reaches WTO Agreement With Washington

By VOA News
14 May 2006

Vietnamese and U.S. officials say the countries have reached an agreement that will pave the way for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization.

The Vietnam News Agency says Hanoi concluded the 12th round of trade negotiations Saturday in Washington following a week of intense discussions. Vietnamese officials in Washington say the deal is expected to be signed in June.

U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman called it a "good agreement" for the United States. He says it opens a new and growing market for American agricultural goods, financial services and manufactured products.

As part of the deal, Vietnam has agreed to scrap $4 billion subsidy plan for garments and textiles when it becomes a WTO member.

Vietnam wants to join the global trade body before hosting a summit of the regional economic bloc APEC in November.

The U.S. Congress must first grant Vietnam permanent normal trade relations before it can enter the world trade body.

Some U.S. lawmakers are expected to scrutinize Vietnam's human rights record before they upgrade the communist country's trade status.

Vietnam reached a trade deal with Mexico last month, leaving the United States the only country Hanoi needs to conclude bilateral negotiations.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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US Military Studies Security Options on Mexican Border

By VOA News
13 May 2006

President Bush will address the nation Monday on the immigration issue as the Senate renews debate on immigration reform that could provide a path to citizenship for millions of people living in the United States illegally.

The announcement of Mr. Bush's Monday evening address came Friday as U.S. military officials said they have begun to explore options for using troops, such as the National Guard  and equipment to help secure the border with Mexico.

Also Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met at the Pentagon with his Mexican counterpart, National Defense Secretary General Gerardo Ricardo Vega.

Last year, the House of Representatives passed a measure that would make illegal immigration a felony and calls for a fence along a large section of the U.S.-Mexico border.  The House and Senate must reconcile differences between their versions of immigration legislation.

The debate over immigration in the U.S. has triggered large demonstrations across the country, including one in Los Angeles, California, earlier this year that drew some 500,000 people supporting immigrants' rights.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

52 Dead During Attacks on Brazilian Police

By VOA News
14 May 2006

Brazilian officials say at least 52 people have been killed, including 35 police and prison guards, during a series of attacks by an organized crime group.

Authorities blamed the gang (called First Command of the Capital) for ordering the attacks in response to the transfer of several imprisoned gang leaders to maximum security facilities.

They say gang members used machine guns, grenades and home-made bombs in 100 attacks on police stations and other sites across Sao Paulo state beginning Friday.  Police say they detained 16 suspected attackers and killed 14 others.

Meanwhile, inmates took hostages in 36 prisons in the state to protest the prisoner transfer.

Officials said late Saturday that they had regained control of several prisons, but new disturbances were reported Sunday at 18 facilities.

Brazilian authorities say jailed gang leaders often direct gang activity, including arms and drug trafficking and prison rebellions.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

Preval Inaugurated as Haiti's President

By VOA News
14 May 2006

Haiti's President Rene Preval has been sworn in, becoming the nation's first elected leader in two years.

Mr. Preval took the oath of office Sunday in a ceremony in the capital, Port-au-Prince, which included representatives from the United States and several other countries.

Moments earlier, gunfire was reported inside a nearby penitentiary, where some prisoners were seen on the building's roof. No casualties were immediately reported in the apparent disturbance.

Mr. Preval was elected president in a February vote, about two years after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted.

He has vowed to work to reunify the Caribbean nation, which has suffered waves of violence since the 2004 uprising.

The 63-year-old former president will take over from an interim administration that is backed by United Nations peacekeepers from Brazil.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Report Questions Effectiveness of US Aid to Egypt

By VOA News
13 May 2006

A new U.S. government report is questioning the effectiveness of U.S. aid to Egypt, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.

The report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) acknowledges benefits from the U.S. relationship with Egypt, but says the Bush administration has yet to assess how well Egypt is using military equipment purchased with U.S. aid.

The report says the U.S. has not measured how Egypt is integrating and operating its military equipment or modernizing its military.

The report, issued on Friday, came one day after Egyptian riot police beat and arrested pro-democracy demonstrators in Cairo.  The U.S. State Department expressed "deep concern" over how the demonstrations were crushed.

The GAO report does not question the U.S.- Egyptian relationship, which it says has benefits such as use of the Suez Canal and Egyptian support in training Iraq's security forces.

Egypt, along with Israel, is one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid.

Aid to Egypt began as a result of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.  U.S. military aid to Egypt has totaled $34 billion over the last 20 years.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

UNICEF: Cholera Epidemic Worsening in Angola

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
13 May 2006

The United Nations Children's Fund says a cholera epidemic in Angola is worsening and more than a third of the victims are children under the age of five.  Official figures put the number of cholera cases at more than 32,000, with nearly 1,200 deaths.

Even in the best of times, Angola has one of the highest under-five mortality rates in the world.  UNICEF reports malaria kills 23 percent of Angola's children every year, followed by diarrheal diseases, which account for 18 percent of child deaths.

UNICEF spokesman Damien Personnaz says the current cholera epidemic is taking an especially heavy toll on children.

"UNICEF has done some preliminary estimates that 35 percent of the cholera victims are children below five years old, which means that basically we have a total number of 11,000 cases of cholera among children below five years old in Angola," he said.

Personnaz says children are particularly vulnerable to dehydration from diarrhea caused by cholera.  He says if it is not treated promptly, they will die within two to three days of getting the disease, whereas, an adult can last four or five days without treatment.

The Angola government reports about 500 new cases every day.  UNICEF says those numbers are expected to rise during the rainy season.  It warns that well over 70,000 people could get infected by then if action to contain the outbreak is not sustained.

The epidemic started in February in the capital, Luanda.  Cholera is largely due to poor sanitation, a shortage of safe drinking water, bad hygiene and overcrowding.  Personnaz says Angola's 27-year-old civil war destroyed the country's water and sanitation facilities.  He says few systems have been rebuilt.  This has led to the rapid spread of the disease throughout the country.

"Now, basically, all the provinces are affected, and it can even cross the borders," he added.  "To this extent, we can fear that the border with neighboring DRC, Congo and Zambia can also be a problem.  So, we do hope that the disease will be contained by then." 

UNICEF, the World Health Organization and private aid agencies such as Doctors Without Borders are working together to come to grips with this crisis.  They have created special areas to isolate sick people so they don't spread the disease to the general public. 

The groups are providing antibiotics, distributing oral rehydration salts and water purification tablets.  They are also mounting information campaigns to teach people how to prevent cholera and what to do if someone gets the disease.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

Fighting in Mogadishu Eases as Somali Mediators Call for Talks

By VOA News
14 May 2006

Fighting has eased in Somalia's main city Mogadishu as local clan elders and Islamic leaders call for talks between the warring parties.

Since last Sunday, street clashes between Islamic militias and an alliance of warlords have killed more than 140 people - mostly civilians. Thousands more have fled the city.

The battles have drawn criticism from politicians and clan leaders, who called for a meeting with both sides Sunday.

Somalia's interim president Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed recently warned that representatives of the armed groups may be excluded from his Cabinet.

Many Somalis say the recent violence is the worst in years and is being fueled by outside countries. U.N. arms monitors recently said weapons are flowing "like a river" into Somalia, despite an international arms embargo.

Locals say anti-American sentiment in Mogadishu has grown over allegations that the United States is secretly supporting the warlord alliance. American officials have declined to comment on any relationship, but have said that they support the alliance's goal of rooting out terrorism.

Warlords accuse the Islamic militias of having ties to al Qaida. The Islamic militias accuse the warlords of being pawns of the United States.

Somalia has been lawless for some 15 years, and U.S. officials have long viewed the country as a possible terrorist haven.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.

 

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Tornadoes, Way Above Average in Number
By Paul Sisco
Washington, DC
19 April 2006
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Several weeks of unusual and severe weather in the U.S. are not being specifically linked to global warming but they are causing damage in large parts of the United States.

North, South, East and West: unusually severe weather across North America has been claiming homes, businesses and lives. Across the South and Midwestern United States particularly, people have been bracing for, cleaning up from, or weathering violent storms almost without relief.  So far this year nearly 400 tornadoes there, about four times more than during the same period in 2005.

"It's devastating.  I have never actually experienced one of these," says one storm victim. "Everybody's scared to death right now,' says another.

Government meteorologist Dan McCarthy says, "So far in 2006 this is way above average."  

Unofficially, the storm season begins in April or May.  On average, there are about 85 damaging tornadoes reported each year in the United States

Scientists say this current cycle is the result of a remarkably warm winter in the South, and warmer than usual temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.  When moist weather in the South, collides with cold fronts from the North and West, the result is: funnel clouds and tornadoes.  

Scientists are not suggesting the severe U.S. weather is a direct result of global warming trends or conditions, only that these weather patterns are likely to continue as is for the near future.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Suriname Declares Disaster in Flooded Regions
By VOA News
10 May 2006

Suriname's government has declared a disaster in several parts of the South American country, after massive flooding caused by days of heavy rain.

The flooding is most severe in central and southwestern Suriname, where several rivers have burst their banks. At least 150 villages have been submerged under as much as two meters of muddy water.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says at least three deaths have been reported in Suriname. The Red Cross also says 25,000 people have been affected by rising water levels since the start of the month.

Suriname's military has sent troops to the worst affected areas to help thousands of displaced villagers move to higher ground. Villagers say food is becoming scarce in some areas.

Aid agencies in the Netherlands have launched appeals to raise money for the flood victims. Suriname is a former Dutch colony.

The flooded areas are predominantly populated by descendants of West African slaves, known as Maroons.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Verbrugghe Takes Giro 7th Stage
By VOA Sports
13 May 2006

Belgian cyclist Rik Verbrugghe has won the seventh stage of the Tour of Italy, but Ukraine's Serguei Gonchar has regained the overall lead.

Verbrugghe sprinted away from a pack of riders five kilometers from the finish line and completed the 240-kilometer ride in 6 hours, 42 minutes, 15 seconds.

Two-time Tour of Italy champion Paolo Savoldelli of Italy was second, 0:14 seconds back with Luca Mazzanti of Italy third.

Gonchar finished seventh, and re-took the overall lead from teammate Olaf Pollack. The Ukrainian leads Savoldelli by 0:05 seconds in the overall standings with Ivan Basso of Italy third, :11 seconds off the lead.

Sunday's eighth stage covers 171 kilometers and ends with a ride up the 1,300-meter Maielletta in the Apennines Mountains. The Tour ends in Milan May 28th.

Some information provided by AP.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Earth Day 2006: Climate Change Tops the Agenda
By Andrew J. Baroch
Washington, D.C.
21 April 2006
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Three and a half decades after the first rally for the planet, the annual Earth Day celebrations are bigger than ever. But, say organizers of Earth Day 2006, so are the environmental challenges. 

The first Earth Day - April 22, 1970 -- is credited with launching the modern environmental movement. It was a day of peaceful, mass demonstrations by millions of people across the United States calling on the government to adopt policies to clean up and protect the environment.

U.S. government officials responded: Congress enacted laws to clean the air and protect drinking water, wildlife habitats, and the ocean. Congress also created the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, to oversee the nation's progress on the environment.

EPA administrator Stephen Johnson remembers the first event in 1970. " Approximately 20 million people across America celebrated the first Earth Day," he recalls. "It was a day and time when our cities were literally buried under their own smog and polluted rivers caught on fire."

Thirty-five years later, Johnson says, due to the work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the nation, indeed, our air is cleaner, our water is pure, and our land is better protected.

Johnson says that the EPA is currently spending most of its seven-and-half billion dollar yearly budget on research and technology to reduce the threat of climate change -- so-called global warming -- which many scientists blame on our industrial emissions of carbon dioxide.

"Climate change is an important issue," he says. "It's an important issue for the president, for the entire [Bush] Administration. As an Administration, we are devoting about five billion dollars worth of resources both to understand the science...and to focus on the technologies that will ultimately address climate change issues. Clean coal technology is very, very important - so we can have both energy security and also have a clean and healthy environmental energy supply as well."

Earth Day 2006 poster art by Jacob Adriaan LeeuwenburghToday, Earth Day is an international observance, and its concerns are global as well. Climate change is a major focus of Earth Day activities this year -- according to Kathleen Rogers, the president of the Earth Day Network.  The grassroots environmental group is coordinating many of the global events -- and, says Rogers, is sounding the alarm.

"Almost all of the developing world stands to lose as a result of climate change," she says emphatically. "Everything. Only the richest countries will survive this disaster. Even the United States will have problems. But the economies of these [poorer] countries are just not going to be able to expand and develop because they'll have energy needs that will not be met. They'll have economic woes as a result of the shrinking market place around climate change. In agricultural countries, because of climate change, they will see both shrinking -- and destroyed, in some cases - domestic markets to feed their own people. But, in addition, they will not be able to participate in the international marketplace."

Rogers says education is a major component of the Earth Day activities her group is coordinating in many parts of the world. In the western African country of Togo, for example, she says, "We're doing training for environmental journalists on climate change. We're doing a training workshop for about 700 teachers about climate change. We're doing radio programs in six different areas of Togo. The focus of 90 percent of this is on creating expertise among the citizenship and journalists on climate change. Our focus is on citizen participation, building a better infrastructure for dealing with climate change, and heading towards a fully informed democratic system for public participation around the environment."

Rogers believes that informed citizens in Togo and other countries will be better able to pressure their governments to adopt environmentally sound policies. "We focus on environmental protection and building free citizens, citizens who have control of their communities and of their governments' agenda," she says. "We've been able to go to countries, either working democracies or aspiring democracies and get environmental protection to be front-and-center as we build active and civically-minded people."

Rogers is confident the magnitude of this year's worldwide Earth Day observances will send a timely message to government officials about the need for environmental policies to put the brakes on climate change. "How many people are going to go out and do something? I'm not kidding: I think it's over a billion people!" she says. "But there's certainly more than that -- [for example,] finding out about Earth Day and being educated about Earth Day and the issues. At least two-and-a-half billion people! Think about that. It's the biggest secular event in the world by a long shot."

Kathleen Rogers of the Earth Day Network says the tone of this year's Earth Day is different from any other she's been involved in. She says that for many participants, it's not going to be a festive event because they believe the Earth -- and its inhabitants -- are in serious trouble. People, she says, are very serious about climate change. about civic engagement. very serious about Earth Day.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Hurricane Katrina Leaves Mental Scars in New Orleans
By Greg Flakus
New Orleans
11 May 2006

A survey released this week in New Orleans indicates that alcohol and drug use has increased and many more people suffer from mental health problems as a result of devastation and displacement caused by Hurricane Katrina last year.

The annual survey released by the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, or CADA, for the New Orleans area shows a strong increase in drug and alcohol abuse linked to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. The study shows about one in seven people who responded to the survey are drinking more than they did before in order to cope with emotional stress. One in nine say they are using more prescription drugs than before.

CADA Executive Director John King says mental stress is especially high for people who have returned to flood-damaged homes.

"We consistently see evidence of frustration and anger and depression among returnees to their homes," said John King.

King says the results of the survey coincide with observations he and other CADA staff members have made in the area over the past several months. He says local clinics and treatment facilities are understaffed and ill-equipped to deal with the problem. He argues that the federal government should be doing more in general to provide treatment and rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abusers.

"The federal government spends about 70 percent of its dollars in its so-called war on drugs in protecting our borders, throwing people in jail and keeping them there," he said. "Most policemen would tell you that simply throwing people in jail is not sufficient."

King says mental health practitioners are also under increased stress as a result of Katrina's effect on them and their families and the increased demand for their services. He says they expect an even greater increase in stress-related disorders when the new hurricane season begins on June 1.

Close to 25 percent of the 603 people selected randomly for the survey said their homes or families were severely affected by Katrina. The study also shows an increase in drug use among transient workers who came to the city after Katrina to work on recovery projects. But about two thirds of those polled also expressed optimism about the city's eventual recovery and indicated that it will once again be a good place to live.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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UN Extends Mission in East Timor Following Riots
By VOA News
13 May 2006

The U.N. Security Council has unanimously approved a one-month extension of the U.N. mission in East Timor following deadly riots in the capital, Dili.

The council agreed Friday to keep the mission going until June 20. It had been scheduled to shut down on May 20.

The 15-member body also asked U.N. chief Kofi Annan to brief the council by June 6 on the situation in East Timor and on what role the United Nations should play there in the future.

Riots erupted in Dili late last month after the government dismissed about 600 soldiers from the tiny nation's army. U.N. officials say five people were killed in the violence and thousands fled their homes.

East Timor became independent four years ago following years of Portuguese and Indonesian rule.  U.N. peacekeeping efforts have been scaled back in recent years.

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

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Bush Defends CIA Nominee, Domestic Eavesdropping
By Michael Bowman
White House
13 May 2006
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President Bush has defended his choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as controversial domestic eavesdropping efforts designed to prevent terrorist attacks.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Mr. Bush said General Michael Hayden is eminently qualified to lead the CIA, an agency he described as essential to the security of the American people.

General Michael Hayden"For the last year, he's been our Nation's first deputy director of national intelligence, and has played a critical role in our efforts to reform America's intelligence capabilities to meet the threats of a new century," said Mr. Bush. "He has more than 20 years of experience in the intelligence field. He served for six years as director of the National Security Agency and has a track record of success in leading and transforming that large intelligence agency."

Mr. Bush, who left the White House Friday for the Camp David presidential retreat, nominated Hayden to replace outgoing CIA Director Porter Goss earlier this week. Hayden is expected to face sharp questions at his Senate confirmation hearing following reports about the federal government's domestic spying activities in pursuit of suspected terrorists.

More questions arose Thursday when a U.S. newspaper, USA Today, reported that the National Security Agency has obtained millions of telephone records from major U.S. telephone companies. General Hayden headed the NSA when the agency is alleged to have initiated the program in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The White House has neither confirmed nor denied that such a program exists. But, in his radio address, President Bush once again defended the NSA's practice of eavesdropping on conversations involving suspected terrorists at home and abroad.

"Americans expect their government to do everything in its power under our laws and Constitution to protect them and their civil liberties. That is exactly what we are doing," he said. "And so far, we have been successful in preventing another attack on our soil."

Mr. Bush said the intelligence activities he has authorized are lawful, and that Americans' privacy is "fiercely protected." A recent public opinion survey shows a majority of Americans approve of the government obtaining domestic telephone records to track down terrorists.

In the Democratic Party response to the president's radio address, a Florida lawmaker said a federal program championed by President Bush to help retirees afford prescription medication is confusing to many senior citizens.

State Senator Ron Klein urged an extension of the Monday deadline to sign up for the program, saying that numerous retirees need more time to sift through the enrollment details.

The Bush administration estimates the program will save senior citizens an average of more than $1,000 a year on prescription drugs. Klein, who is running for a seat in the U.S. Congress this year, described the program as a financial giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Liverpool Wins FA Cup Title
By VOA Sports
13 May 2006

Liverpool has won its seventh English Football Association Cup title by rallying from a two-goal deficit and beating West Ham, 3-1, on penalties in Cardiff, Wales.

Dietmar Hamman, Steven Gerrard and John Arne Riise converted for Liverpool in the shoot-out.

Gerrard scored twice in regulation - including in the last minute to tie the match at 3-3 and send it into extra time. Gerrard's efforts earned him man-of-the-match honors.

An own-goal by Jamie Carragher and a score by Dean Ashton had given West Ham the lead. Djibril Cisse and Gerrard evened the match by early in the second half. Paul Konchesky made it 3-2 for West Ham in the 64th minute, but Gerrard's heroics gave Liverpool the trophy.

This is the first time "the Reds" have won the F-A Cup - the world's oldest and most famous cup competition - since 2001. Liverpool captured the European Champions League title last year with a 3-2 penalty shoot-out win over A-C Milan.

Some information provided by AP.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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African American Women Form Support Group for Stay-At-Home Moms
By Faiza Elmasry
Washington DC
12 May 2006
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Cheli English-Figaro and her husband Michael moved from New York to Maryland just before she gave birth to their first son, Brandon. Like many other career women, she expected to return to work a few months later. With no relatives or friends nearby to call on for help, she started looking for childcare. "I just didn't find anything that I was satisfied with," she says. "I was very nervous about leaving my child with a stranger, a complete stranger."

So English-Figaro decided to stay home and take care of Brandon herself. She was the first lawyer in her family, and she says it wasn't easy for her parents to accept her decision to give up her career. "My mother and father were initially a little surprised," she says. "My father, especially, was stunned. He couldn't believe I'd quit working even for a small period of time. But my mother understood and my father has come around. A lot of the other relatives said 'Anybody can take care of a baby, you need to be a lawyer.' And that was the reaction, initially. It was really my husband who encouraged it."

African American mothers have worked outside the home for generations, usually because their families needed the income. So, when English-Figaro decided to stay home, she didn't have a role model. She says the transition from lawyer to stay-at-home mother was also challenging because a woman's career is a huge part of her identity. Gradually, though, she met other women who'd made the same choice she had, and started to feel less alone. "I'd done some preliminary research and found that the numbers of the stay at home moms were going up for the first time since the 1950s," she says. "So that was really encouraging."

In 1997, Cheli English-Figaro and three of her friends started a group to provide other stay-at-home mothers with emotional, educational and social support. They called it Mocha Moms. "Mocha actually is coffee and milk," she says. "So, it refers to women of color. Initially we decided it would be a group of African American mothers who are at home. Then, in 1998, we broadened it and we said all mothers of color. We welcome women and men of all races and all nationalities."

Thanks to women like Kuae Mattox, who quit her job as a TV producer to care for her three children, Mocha Moms has grown. "I joined the Mocha Moms organization in 2001," she says. "And then decided I wanted to start a chapter in my area. So I started the Essex County, New Jersey, Chapter."

Mocha Moms includes more than 2,500 members in more than 100 chapters across the country. Mattox says Mocha Moms serves as an extended family for its members.

"I'll give you a classic example," she says. "In our chapter, when a mom has a baby, there is someone from our chapter who shows up at her home every single day for the first two weeks that she's home from hospital to bring her and her family a hot meal. So our moms are making meals for other moms. They are staying in their homes, allowing moms to take a shower, helping them clean. They are supporting each other in any way they can."

Mattox says her Mocha Moms Chapter started with only 10 members. Now, they number more than 60 and are engaged in a wide variety of activities. "We meet on a weekly basis for what we call Mother Support Group meetings," she says. "We bring our kids with us. We bring snacks, and we just chat. Sometimes we pick a topic to discuss, other times we have a guest speaker to come in and talk with us on a variety of things. We also have monthly Moms Only get-togethers, no children allowed. It's a chance for us to get together and kind of let our hair down and spend some time with each other."

Mocha Moms also support their communities. "That's probably one of the most important components because it's important for us to give back to the communities in which we live," she says. "So we're doing everything from holding canned food drives for food pantries, to gathering gifts for foster kids, gifts for children of incarcerated parents. We're volunteering in the schools in our various communities. We're working on a grass roots level with lots of local organizations. We're doing as much as we can to give back to the community."

Kuae Mattox is still enjoying her job as mother of three. Joining Mocha Moms, she says, helped her feel supported and confident enough to make other choices. She recently decided not to go back to her 9 to 5 job, and started working from home as a freelance writer.

Mocha Moms has taken its mission on-line, to help more mothers find support, share experiences and be proud of their parenting choices.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Television Technology Enters New Era
By Craig McCulloch
Vancouver
13 May 2006
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In February of 2009 all television stations in the United States are required to convert to digital transmission. This move will bring an end to traditional analog television that has been the standard for decades. The television industry is optimistic the costly transition will be successful.

For the past several years, the television industry in the United States has been facing the looming date of February 17, 2009. On that date, less than three years from now, all TV stations are to shut off their analog transmitters and hand the licenses for them back to the government.

Extended from the original date by six years, the broadcasting industry is optimistic this change is going well. Many stations, especially in bigger metropolitan areas, will also upgrade to High Definition television, commonly known as HDTV.

At a recent convention in Las Vegas of the National Association of Broadcasters, products featuring HDTV technology played an important role.

FCC Commissioner Jonathan AdelsteinJonathan Adelstein is a commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the regulatory authority that governs all broadcasting and telecommunications in the United States.

Mr. Adelstein believes the conversion over to digital is going well.

"There's all kinds of new content that's coming on," he said. "Consumers are buying new HDTV sets in droves; it's going to be the biggest new consumer product on the consumer electronics industry shelves by 2009.  I think it's moving forward.  We need to do more to educate the public to be prepared for it.  But, I think consumers are going to find all kinds of great new content. High definition, better sound quality, new offerings that are going to make it worthwhile for them to make the switch. They are already voting with their wallets by purchasing all kinds of new digital television sets and taking advantage of these new digital offerings."

One of the biggest supporters of the conversion from analog to digital is the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Broadcasters.  Spokesperson Dennis Wharton says that only 200 American TV stations have yet to make the conversion.

NAB Spokesman Dennis Wharton"There are about 1,700 TV stations in the United States," he noted.  "Over 1,500 have already made the digital television transition. Which means they are either simulcasting a digital signal along with their analog signal, but most of them are doing High Definition television during a lot of the day parts.  Most of prime time, for example, is in High Definition television; all of the major sporting events are in High Definition television, late night shows are all in High Definition television.  I'm not going to be Pollyannaish and not admit that there are some challenges still to go, but considering where we were and where we are now, things are going great."

Mr. Wharton says the biggest problem has been the cost, especially to stations that serve smaller population areas. He estimates a basic conversion from traditional analog to what is called SDTV (Standard Definition digital television) costs a station at least $2 million. To go all HDTV with good equipment can push that price tag up to $10 million.

Veteran producer Randall Dark has been working in HDTV for years. A longtime advocate of the technology, he says the price has dropped rapidly in the last few months.

He says this price drop is allowing stations to produce their local news, usually the most expensive part of a local station's operations, in HDTV.

Mr. Dark feels this development will be the impetus for stations to go all digital HDTV, which is broadcast in widescreen, or a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Randall Dark"It's a very competitive marketplace for stations in every major city," said Mr. Dark.  "They always say, they got the first Doppler [radar], they got the first helicopter, and they're always looking for that competitive edge. Now, all of a sudden you've got consumers everywhere that got these [HD]TVs and they 're not going to watch a four by three newscast on a 16:9 television. And they' re not going to watch in digital low resolution when they can watch it digital High Definition."

Mr. Dark says the impending release of HD DVDs and BlueRay technology will also advance digital HDTV.

Both these type of technologies will allow consumers to play DVDs in High Definition. Current units can only double the lines of resolution of non-HD DVDs. Along with falling production costs, Mr. Dark says this will encourage companies to start advertising in HDTV, as they will not want to showcase their products in lower resolution.

He also says these advances will allow stores to properly display HDTV and encourage more people to buy higher end television sets.  This conversion will also make traditional television sets, in use for decades, useless.

The NAB's Dennis Wharton says that by the time February 17, 2009 arrives, many people would have replaced their traditional TV sets with news sets anyway. With most of the current sets on store shelves having built-in digital decoders, he feels consumers will embrace the new technology.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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College Transfer Rates Skyrocket
By Maura Jane Farrelly
New York
10 May 2006
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According to a study published by the U.S. Department of Education, as many as 60 percent of American college students attend more than one school before they graduate with a Bachelor's degree. The college transfer rate has been rising steadily for the last two decades, but in recent years, admissions officers have seen an explosion in transfer applications - and they say the reasons are clear.

Miranda Spradlin is a second-year student at New York University, where she is studying communications and public relations. She grew up in California, but says she decided to go to school in New York, because she wanted something different. After just two months here, though, she started to feel that the move may have been a mistake.

"I just wasn't happy with NYU," Spradlin says as she sits in a coffee shop after a morning of classes. "Despite the fact that they don't have a campus, they said 'we make up for it; we're still a community; you see students all the time.' And I really didn't get that. I'd go out on the weekends, and I'd be with 30-year-old men at the bars that knew college girls were going to be there and stuff, and it just wasn't very appealing."

She stuck it out for the year, but when she found she still was not happy at the start of her second year at NYU, Miranda Spradlin decided to transfer. She has applied to three schools in the state of California's university system. "They're much more social schools, much more community-oriented," she says. "I like the idea of having Greek Life (i.e. fraternities and sororities) - not necessarily to be in a sorority, but just because it kind of brings the students together. I like the idea of having sports teams, because it does the same thing. And they're closer to home."

Homesickness and a general dissatisfaction with their social lives are two big reasons college students transfer -- but they are not the only reasons. Many switch schools because they can no longer afford to stay where they are. And according to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly two-thirds of college students who transfer these days say they are doing it because they want a more prestigious degree, or because they want an educational program that is not offered at the school they first entered.

Nicholas Sharac

That is the case with Nicholas Sharac, who is finishing his first year at Fordham University. The school has a tightly-defined core curriculum that requires students to take a number of Humanities courses. But Sharac says he has decided he wants to concentrate on the sciences.

"In the beginning, when I first came to college, I was happy with the core (curriculum), because it enabled me to not have to pick a path, as far as education goes," he says. "But now that I want to get into biology and more into science courses, I don't really feel the need to learn about theology, or spend time on courses that don't really have to do with what I want to do."

Sharac says he is not surprised to learn so many college students choose to transfer. He says when you are in high school, you do not always know what you like, or what you are good at - and sometimes you are forced to make a decision about college before you really understand who you are.

"You can't really know how you're going to be doing or what you're going to be thinking in college, when you're in high school," Sharac says. "So the way high school is set up now, you can't really make a great decision as far as college goes. In my case, high school didn't really motivate me to pick any direction at all. So that's kind of why I couldn't pick a direction in high school."

Indeed, that may be why some students start out at a two-year community college, where they get an Associate's degree, and then transfer to a four-year institution, to get their Bachelor's.

But teenaged aimlessness is not a new thing - and by itself, it cannot explain the explosive increase in college transfer rates. Lehigh University, for example, has seen the number of transfer applications increase by 30 percent in the last three years, according to Eric Kaplan, Director of Admissions at Lehigh.

Eric Kaplan

Kaplan says the transfer rate may be up because colleges are doing a much better job of marketing themselves - and recent changes in technology have helped them do that. "There are lots of resources that are devoted to marketing," he says, "Either through institutional print pieces or through websites - which is a great example of something that in the mid 1990s students didn't have access to, that now are one of the key sources of information for high school students."

But something else may also be at work. The average cost of tuition and housing at a private university in the United States has gone up 40% in the last five years. At NYU - where Miranda Spradlin goes to school - it costs more than $43,000 a year to get a Bachelor's degree.

"My parents are paying for college," she says with conviction, "And I think it's unfair to them for me to be somewhere that I don't want to be, and they're spending all this money - you know, that's just dumb."

In this sense, a college education may have become just another commodity for America's consumer-savvy young adults - who are not willing to pay good money for a jacket. a pair of shoes. or an education that does not suit them.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Electronic Entertainment Expo Highlights Game Industry
By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
11 May 2006
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Fifty thousand video game players, developers and marketing executives are meeting in Los Angeles for the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo. Hundreds of software makers and Big Three hardware rivals - Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft - are promoting their latest products.

Carolyn Rauch of the Entertainment Software Association says video games are an $11 billion business in the United States and more than double that worldwide. She says this annual meeting is the largest event in the industry, with 400 exhibitors.

"We have every kind of game and interactive entertainment software that's ever made here," said Carolyn Rauch. "So we have cell phone games, we have console games, we have PC games, we have online games, any kind of interactive entertainment, you'll be able to see here on our show floor."

Expo floor The annual convention assaults the senses with sounds and colored graphics on overhead screens. Gamers are in heaven as they try the latest games and hardware.

"Unbelievable, really cool," said one.

Much of the interest here focuses on the three big console makers, including Microsoft, which launched its Xbox 360 console at this expo last year. Market leader Sony is introducing its Playstation 3 at this year's convention. Sony spokesman Alex Armour says the new platform will build on the success of Playstation 2, which has sold more than 100 million units. The new device will go on sale in November, with a new ultra-fast processor and Sony's Blu-ray high definition video system.

Alex Armour "So what does this all mean for the consumer? It really gives them a more immersive game-play experience," said Alex Armour. "There's going to be better shading, better graphics, animations, facial animations that we're going to put people right into the game and make it more realistic for them."

Playstation 3 and Nintendo's new game console, called Wii, both have motion sensors, letting players determine the action by moving handheld controllers. In Nintendo's case, players can swing their arms to play virtual games of golf or tennis.

Game sales have slowed down as gamers await the new consoles, unveiled at this convention. But game software remains the heart of the industry, says Angela Emery of Buena Vista Games.

Angela Emery "We're the interactive entertainment arm of the Walt Disney Company," said Angela Emery. "So therefore we can make games based on all of the Disney films, television shows from ABC, the Disney Channel, to publishing and all the ancillary businesses within the Walt Disney Company."

The company has games based on the films The Incredibles, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

It is also creating games with fresh characters and story lines, like one called Spectrobes, made for the Nintendo DS dual-screen portable console.

Staples Center, site of the Electronic Entertainment Expo"There are over 500 characters in the Spectrobes universe, and you uncover, unearth, excavate them, utilizing your stylus on the touch-pad, as well as awaken them by telling them their name and using your voice to command them to wake up," she said.

Most of those attending the game expo are young, but the average age of players is rising. Carolyn Rauch of the Entertainment Software Association says the typical gamer is now in his or her mid-30s.

"And both men and women play games," she said. "What we've found is that people who have grown up with games are bringing them with them into their adulthood. As my generation, television was the most natural thing in the world, for them video games are the most natural thing in the world. They played as kids and they're playing as adults and they'll play their whole lives through."

She says despite the slowdown in sales in this year of transition to new game consoles, video gaming is still the fastest growing sector of the entertainment business.

 

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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US Senators Hope to Give Dalai Lama a Congressional Gold Medal
By VOA News
11 May 2006

Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill to give Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the legislature's highest civilian award.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California and Senator Craig Thomas, a Republican from Wyoming introduced the bill Thursday. In a statement, the senators said the bill has support from 73 of the nation's 100 senators. At least two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, plus the U.S. president, must support a move to give someone the award.

The medal can be awarded for a singular achievement or a lifetime of service. Recipients do not have to be U.S. citizens.

The Dalai Lama has been a controversial figure for decades. Earlier Thursday, China's foreign ministry accused him of using a trip to Latin America to promote Tibetan secession from China.

In a statement, a foreign ministry spokesman said the Dalai Lama is not a purely religious figure but a political exile engaged in activities designed to split China. The spokesman urged Latin American nations to be - in his words - on "high alert" for what he called the Dalai Lama's secessionist activities.

The Dalai Lama is currently wrapping up a Latin American tour that has included stops in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com

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Tourism Industry Begins Rebuilding in Indian-Controlled Kashmir
By Patricia Nunan
Srinigar, Kashmir
10 May 2006
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Kashmir, the disputed border region between India and Pakistan has long been considered off limits to all but the most adventurous of tourists.

In recent years that's begun to change. Now, officials say, more and more tourists are taking advantage of the two powers' push toward peace to reach a beguiling holiday destination. VOA's Patricia Nunan has more from Srinigar, in Indian-held Kashmir.

Srinigar's Dal Lake - an oasis of tranquility on a weekend afternoon.

It's long been a spot popular with Kashmiris, who ply the lake's waters in traditional wooden boats.  Now, increasing numbers, including foreign tourists, come to stay in some of the 1,200 houseboats moored here  - charming reminders of India's colonial past.

Azim TuzmanAzim Tuzman, is head of Kashmir's Houseboat Owners' Association says houseboats are important for the tourism industry, "Houseboats have served as the backbone of the tourism industry in Kashmir for the last 140 years -- when Kashmir was introduced to Britishers as as holiday resort."

Officials say that between 2003 and 2005, the number of tourists coming to the Kashmir Valley has nearly tripled - and is expected to reach more than a million in 2006.

The houseboats, Tuman says, are a large part of the appeal. "You live in concrete blocks - back home, in the hotels and everywhere. You do not get, you know, the freshness and fragrance of cedarwood. And then you know, living in a

houseboat is equal to living in a bird sanctuary.  And you are living away from hustle and bustleand the soaking smell of cement. That's why houseboats are very, very popular."

But they haven't been as popular as they could be.

For the past 17 years, India has fought an Islamic insurgency in the two-thirds of Kashmir it controls. Militants want independence for Kashmir, or for it to merge with Pakistan, which controls Kashmir's remaining third.  The militants have carried out terrorist attacks in the heart of Srinigar.

And that's not all.

Since British colonial rulers left the sub-continent in 1947, India and Pakistan have gone to war over Kashmir twice, and came close to a third time in 2002. Each of the nuclear-armed rivals wants full ownership of Kashmir, and each has forged its national identity in part, by decades of resistance to the other.

That means Dal Lake, and the communities, which make their living on it, have remained largely hidden to all but the most adventurous  - and the friends with whom they share their stories - like these Singaporeans who commented, "We have some friends who also came back from Kashmir not long ago. They said it's safe to go."

Saleem BegSaleem Beg is Kashmir's Director General for Tourism. The problem with Kashmir's tourism industry, he says, is not safety - but infrastructure. "Things have to happen locally first. If the place for locals, it becomes safe for national tourists. If the place is safe and secure for national tourists, it carries a message internationally. Until last year we didn't have a very good air capacity for Kashmir This only happened in the last four months that about seven airlines coming to Kashmir. Last year it was four. And it was jampacked during the season when tourists used to come."

Recently, India and Pakistan have agreed to a series of measures to ease tensions between them, as a step towards an eventual resolution of the Kashmir conflict. Right now, Kashmir remains largely a hidden treasure.  But perhaps not for long.

This story originally ran at VOANews.com