Short Story: 'The Last Leaf' by O. Henry

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A failed artist saves a life. Transcript of radio broadcast:

Now, the VOA Special English program AMERICAN STORIES.

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Our story today is called "The Last Leaf." It was written by O. Henry. Here is Barbara Klein with the story.

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STORYTELLER:

Many artists lived in the Greenwich Village area of New York. Two young women named Sue and Johnsy shared a studio apartment at the top of a three-story building. Johnsy's real name was Joanna.

In November, a cold, unseen stranger came to visit the city. This disease, pneumonia, killed many people. Johnsy lay on her bed, hardly moving. She looked through the small window. She could see the side of the brick house next to her building.

One morning, a doctor examined Johnsy and took her temperature. Then he spoke with Sue in another room.

"She has one chance in -- let us say ten," he said. "And that chance is for her to want to live. Your friend has made up her mind that she is not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?"

"She -- she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples in Italy some day," said Sue.

"Paint?" said the doctor. "Bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice -- a man for example?"

"A man?" said Sue. "Is a man worth -- but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."

"I will do all that science can do," said the doctor. "But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages at her funeral, I take away fifty percent from the curative power of medicines."

After the doctor had gone, Sue went into the workroom and cried. Then she went to Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling ragtime.

Johnsy lay with her face toward the window. Sue stopped whistling, thinking she was asleep. She began making a pen and ink drawing for a story in a magazine. Young artists must work their way to "Art" by making pictures for magazine stories. Sue heard a low sound, several times repeated. She went quickly to the bedside.

Johnsy's eyes were open wide. She was looking out the window and counting -- counting backward. "Twelve," she said, and a little later "eleven"; and then "ten" and "nine;" and then "eight" and "seven," almost together.

Sue looked out the window. What was there to count? There was only an empty yard and the blank side of the house seven meters away. An old ivy vine, going bad at the roots, climbed half way up the wall. The cold breath of autumn had stricken leaves from the plant until its branches, almost bare, hung on the bricks.

"What is it, dear?" asked Sue.

"Six," said Johnsy, quietly. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head hurt to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."

"Five what, dear?" asked Sue.

"Leaves. On the plant. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"

"Oh, I never heard of such a thing," said Sue. "What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? And you used to love that vine. Don't be silly. Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were -- let's see exactly what he said – he said the chances were ten to one! Try to eat some soup now. And, let me go back to my drawing, so I can sell it to the magazine and buy food and wine for us."

"You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. "There goes another one. No, I don't want any soup. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I'll go, too."

"Johnsy, dear," said Sue, "will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? I must hand those drawings in by tomorrow."

"Tell me as soon as you have finished," said Johnsy, closing her eyes and lying white and still as a fallen statue. "I want to see the last one fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."

"Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Mister Behrman up to be my model for my drawing of an old miner. Don't try to move until I come back."

Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor of the apartment building. Behrman was a failure in art. For years, he had always been planning to paint a work of art, but had never yet begun it. He earned a little money by serving as a model to artists who could not pay for a professional model. He was a fierce, little, old man who protected the two young women in the studio apartment above him.

Sue found Behrman in his room. In one area was a blank canvas that had been waiting twenty-five years for the first line of paint. Sue told him about Johnsy and how she feared that her friend would float away like a leaf.

Old Behrman was angered at such an idea. "Are there people in the world with the foolishness to die because leaves drop off a vine? Why do you let that silly business come in her brain?"

"She is very sick and weak," said Sue, "and the disease has left her mind full of strange ideas."

"This is not any place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy shall lie sick," yelled Behrman. "Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away."

Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down to cover the window. She and Behrman went into the other room. They looked out a window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other without speaking. A cold rain was falling, mixed with snow. Behrman sat and posed as the miner.

The next morning, Sue awoke after an hour's sleep. She found Johnsy with wide-open eyes staring at the covered window.

"Pull up the shade; I want to see," she ordered, quietly.

Sue obeyed.

After the beating rain and fierce wind that blew through the night, there yet stood against the wall one ivy leaf. It was the last one on the vine. It was still dark green at the center. But its edges were colored with the yellow. It hung bravely from the branch about seven meters above the ground.

"It is the last one," said Johnsy. "I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall today and I shall die at the same time."

"Dear, dear!" said Sue, leaning her worn face down toward the bed. "Think of me, if you won't think of yourself. What would I do?"

But Johnsy did not answer.

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The next morning, when it was light, Johnsy demanded that the window shade be raised. The ivy leaf was still there. Johnsy lay for a long time, looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was preparing chicken soup.

"I've been a bad girl," said Johnsy. "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I was. It is wrong to want to die. You may bring me a little soup now."

An hour later she said: "Someday I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."

Later in the day, the doctor came, and Sue talked to him in the hallway.

"Even chances," said the doctor. "With good care, you'll win. And now I must see another case I have in your building. Behrman, his name is -- some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man and his case is severe. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital today to ease his pain."

The next day, the doctor said to Sue: "She's out of danger. You won. Nutrition and care now -- that's all."

Later that day, Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, and put one arm around her.

"I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said. "Mister Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital. He was sick only two days. They found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were completely wet and icy cold. They could not imagine where he had been on such a terrible night.

And then they found a lantern, still lighted. And they found a ladder that had been moved from its place. And art supplies and a painting board with green and yellow colors mixed on it.

And look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it is Behrman's masterpiece – he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."

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ANNOUNCER:

You have heard the story "The Last Leaf" by O.Henry. Your storyteller was Barbara Klein. This story was adapted by Shelley Gollust and produced by Lawan Davis. You can read and listen to other American Stories on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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Faster Swimming Sinks High-Tech Speed Suits

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The sport's governing organization, FINA, will ban the disputed suits next year. Also, a roundup of sports news. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Swimmers broke many records this week at the world championships in Rome. But there was the swimsuit issue.

Start of the men's 200 meter individual medley race in Rome

FINA is the group that governs swimming. On Tuesday, its officers accepted a decision by FINA members to ban high-tech swimsuits next year.

Full-body suits first appeared in the two thousand Summer Olympics. But in Rome, German swimmer Paul Biedermann said the growing attention to the issue made him mad. "It's all about the suits. It's not about the swimmer anymore."

He said that after he defeated American Michael Phelps in the two hundred meter freestyle. And he did it faster than the world record time Phelps set last year at the Beijing Olympics.

Paul Biedermann, bottom, and Michael Phelps at the start of the 200 meter freestyle

Biedermann wore the newest speed suit. Phelps wore last year's version. His coach later said he would urge Phelps not to compete internationally until the ban takes effect next year.

That was all Tuesday. The next day, Michael Phelps competed in the two hundred meter butterfly. Again he wore last year's Speedo Racer. This time, he not only won, he broke his own world record.

Now, we turn to some other sports stories of recent days.

Mark Buehrle pitching his perfect game

In baseball, Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect game on July twenty-third. He threw to twenty-seven batters without one of them getting on base.

Buehrle pitched only the eighteenth perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball. The last one was in two thousand four. President Obama, a White Sox fan from Chicago, called to congratulate him.

Four days later, baseball had another rare event. Josh Willingham of the Washington Nationals hit two grand slams in one game. He became just the thirteenth Major League player ever to hit a home run with the bases loaded twice in the same game.

In cycling, American Lance Armstrong announced he will return to the Tour de France next year with a new American-based team. The seven-time winner competed this year on the Astana team based in Kazakhstan.

Armstrong finished third last Sunday after a three-and-a-half year retirement. His Astana teammate Alberto Contador of Spain won his second Tour. Andy Schleck of Luxembourg finished second.

On July nineteenth, American Tom Watson aimed to become the oldest golfer to win a major event. The oldest man so far was forty-eight year old Julius Boros in nineteen sixty-eight.

The fifty-nine year old Watson needed to make a short attempt on his final hole to win the British Open. But he missed from about two and a half meters, and then lost in a playoff to American Stewart Cink.

And finally, this week Michael Vick won a conditional return to the National Football League. But no N.F.L. teams showed immediate interest in having him play. Vick recently served eighteen months in federal prison for running a dog fighting operation in which he also killed dogs. The former quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons was once the league's highest paid player.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

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Saudi Minister Takes Hard Line Against Peace Gestures to Israel

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Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal (right) with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 31 Jul 2009

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal Friday expressed strong opposition to interim confidence-building gestures toward Israel to advance U.S.-led efforts toward Middle East peace negotiations. In talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Saudi official did praise the Obama administration for its early focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

U.S. Middle East Envoy George Mitchell has been seeking conciliatory gestures toward Israel by Arab countries to ease Israeli concerns about concessions that the country will have to make to secure peace with the Palestinians and the broader region.

But at a press appearance following more than two hours of meetings with Secretary Clinton, the Saudi Foreign Minister stressed his support for the 2002 Arab peace plan that provides for political recognition and other gestures toward Israel only after a comprehensive agreement by Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian territories and dismissed the idea of interim steps.

"Incrementalism and a step-by-step approach has not, and we believe, will not achieve peace. Temporary security and confidence-building measures also will not bring peace. What is required is a comprehensive approach that defines the final outcome at the outset," he said.

Envoy Mitchell is understood to be seeking Arab gestures such as overflight rights for Israeli aircraft and invitations for Israeli scholars to attend academic meetings in Arab states.

But the Saudi minister said discussion of such "incidental issues" were an effort by Israel to shift attention away from the core issue, an end to the occupation of Arab lands and establishment of a Palestinian state.

For her part, Clinton said she did not see her Saudi colleague's remarks as a setback for Senator Mitchell's mission, and said both the United States and Saudi Arabia want a comprehensive peace.

"There is no substitute for a comprehensive resolution. That is our ultimate objective. In order to get to the negotiating table, we have to persuade both sides that they can trust the other side enough to reach that comprehensive agreement. We also know that there are a series of issues that have to be resolved as his Royal Highness said and I've just repeated. You have to take those issue by issue, but within the negotiation for the comprehensive peace agreement. That's not a contradiction," she said.

The Obama administration has pressed Israel for a halt to settlement activity to improve the climate for talks. Israel has countered with a demand to allow so-called "natural growth" of existing settlements.

Clinton, who was briefed by Mitchell Thursday on his latest trip to the region, said the envoy has been "making headway" with Israel and suggested there will be an understanding on the issue in a short period of time but said she was setting no deadline.

Prince al-Faisal said there was nothing discouraging about the state of U.S. diplomacy and said he appreciated the Obama administration's "early and robust" focus on the Middle East.

On other matters, the Secretary said she reaffirmed the United States' unwavering support for Saudi Arabia's security, and said they have shared concerns about Iran's "de-stabilizing role" in the region, the continued expansion of its nuclear program, and support for Middle East terrorism.

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Corazon Aquino, Former Philippine President, Dies

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Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino in 2008 file photo

The Philippines mourn the death of its first woman president, Corazon Aquino, who died early Saturday in Manila at the age of 76. Her son announced the death. His mother had been battling colon cancer for over a year. She is known as the woman who defeated a dictator.

Aquino returned from exile in Boston to Manila in August 1983 to bury her husband, Senator Benigno Aquino Junior. But she was thrust into the heart of a people's struggle against the Philippine dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

Her husband, a leading critic of Mr. Marcos, was assassinated upon his return to the Philippines.

His death shocked the nation, and as the grieving widow, Mrs. Aquino became the most potent weapon of the opposition against Mr. Marcos. Many Filipinos rallied to support her; in gatherings across the nation, crowds chanted her nickname "Cory, Cory, Cory".

Mrs. Aquino's critics belittled her abilities as a politician. Yet, three years later, she did the unthinkable - ran for president against Mr. Marcos.

In February 1986, the world watched as thousands of Filipinos faced tanks and armed soldiers on a section of Manila's main highway. They massed to protect a group of high ranking military and defense officials who defected from the government, and the crowd demanded Mr. Marcos step down for rigging the election.

After days of a stand-off, on February 25, 1986, Cory Aquino was sworn in as the country's new president, even as Mr. Marcos defiantly claimed a new term. That evening the Marcos family fled to the United States.

The peaceful removal of Mr. Marcos stunned the world, and President Aquino was welcomed as a beacon of democracy in a world then polarized by the Cold War.

But she was left with a country in disrepair - with a runaway national debt, widespread poverty and corruption, and rebel insurgencies. Later that year, she spoke before the U.S. Congress.

"To all Americans, as the leader of a proud and free people, I address this question: Has there been a greater test of national commitment to the ideals you hold dear than that my people have gone through? You have spent many lives and much treasure to bring freedom to many lands that were reluctant to receive it, and here you have a people who won it by themselves and need only the help to preserve it.

But the honeymoon ended quickly. Discontented soldiers, including some who helped catapult her into power, launched a series of coup attempts, nearly killing her only son in 1987. "We shall not entertain any offer to negotiate from those who have so shameless betrayed the solemn oath of a soldier to defend the constitution. We leave them with two choices: to surrender or die."

Mrs. Aquino was born in 1933 to a wealthy Chinese-Filipino family, the Cojuangcos. She was educated in the United States. She quit law school when she married the rising politician, Benigno Aquino Junior.

Mrs. Aquino used the political views of her husband as her guiding principles, saying she was fulfilling her husband's vision for the Philippines.

She restored the country's democratic institutions through a new Constitution, and decentralized the government. She signed a peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front, then the country's biggest Muslim separatist insurgency group. She also initiated an agrarian reform program, but it was criticized for still favoring big landowners, including her own family.

When she stepped down in 1992, she retreated to a low-key life. But she remained a steadfast defender of Philippine democracy, speaking out against alleged abuses of power by her successors.

News that she was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 was greeted with an outpouring of public support and prayers.

Her daughter, actress Kris Aquino, spoke of her mother's Catholic faith. "Over and above everything else she is a woman who had lived her entire life entrusting everything to the Lord and she has always been a woman of great faith," she said.

Jose de Jesus was a former Aquino cabinet minister. "All her thoughts and all her actions were for the good of the country," she said.

Mrs. Aquino believed in the power of prayer and of the people to bring about change. Over the years, she joined thousands of her countrymen in opposing attempts to tinker with the 1987 Constitution and erode the democracy that many Filipinos see as her greatest legacy.

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Bombs Target Shi'ite Mosques in Baghdad

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People gather around the wreckage of a car destroyed in a car bomb explosion in a parking lot next to a Shiite mosque in the neighborhood of Shaab in Baghdad, Iraq, 31 Jul 2009

A series of bomb blasts tore through crowds of Shi'ite worshippers as they left mosques after Friday prayers in Baghdad, killing at least 28 people and wounding more than 130. Shi'ite political leaders are accusing the government of negligence in protecting them.

Television images showed young men picking through the debris of one bloody explosion at the Shurufi Mosque in the Baghdad suburb of al Shaab. Prayer carpets were shredded and tattered, the ground was spattered with blood, and some of the rubble continued to smolder.

One young man said that an officer came with two soldiers to search the area just before the explosion. He says they searched one car, but not the one that later exploded.

A young woman, who identified herself as a supporter of militant Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the government was doing a poor job of protecting her area.

She shouts that someone must be held accountable in every area for what's going on.

Falah Shanshal, a member of the Iraqi parliament from the Sadr bloc also demanded accountability.

He says, "We demand the Iraqi government take responsibility by purging the security and defense establishments and punishing the criminals." He called for an investigation.

Separate explosions in the Baghdad districts of Zafaraniyah, Kamaliya and al Elam left several dead and over a dozen wounded. Back to back explosions near Diyala Bridge, south of Baghdad killed and wounded more than a dozen others.

The most serious and bloody bombings in recent months have targeted Shi'ite Muslim neighborhoods, leading to fears that al Qaida or other Sunni extremists may be trying to reignite sectarian strife.

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Rights Groups Urge Clinton to Back Rights on Africa Trip

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 24 Jul 2009

Human Rights Watch is urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to promote human rights, accountability and the rule of law during her seven-nation trip to Africa beginning next week. Allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses are widespread in the three East African nations Ms. Clinton is scheduled to visit.

Secretary Clinton's first stop will be in Kenya, where she is expected to address the U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum in Nairobi.

The State Department says the forum will highlight the various issues on the secretary's agenda for the trip, including discussing ways to encourage investment and sustainable economic growth on the continent. In talks with government leaders, the top U.S. diplomat is expected to emphasize, among other things, America's commitment to promoting good regional governance and partnering with regional leaders to prevent conflicts and violence.

A senior Africa researcher for the New York-based Human Right Watch, Tiseke Kasambala, says her group believes Secretary Clinton should also use the opportunity to urge African governments to show a greater commitment to human rights.

"Respect for human rights, the rule of law should be on the table, as well as promoting economic opportunities and growth, during her trip, because we think these are quite important aspects in providing the kind of conditions that are favorable to economic progress," she said.

In Kenya, Human Rights Watch says, people are losing faith that the power-sharing government of President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga will act against powerful politicians and business leaders accused of supporting and inciting ethnic violence in the aftermath of the disputed presidential elections in 2007.

More than 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes during several months of unrest. The rights group says the government's foot-dragging on calls for justice for the victims of post-election violence threatens to undermine Kenya's stability and impede future economic development.

Somali Islamist militants carry their weapons as they patrol the streets of northern Mogadishu (File)

Secretary Clinton is also scheduled to hold talks with Somali President Sharif Sheik Ahmed in Nairobi. The focus of those talks is expected to be on U.S.-Somali cooperation against Islamist extremists and insurgents, who are threatening to topple the government in Mogadishu.

The United States has provided about $10 million of military equipment and supplies to the Somali government, and the State Department's top envoy to Somalia says more assistance will be on the way.

Human Rights Watch says the international community, including the United States, has yet to address allegations that troops serving under the previous U.N.-backed government of President Abdullahi Yusuf killed, robbed and raped civilians in 2007 and 2008. Ethiopian forces that intervened to prop up the Somali government were also accused of committing war crimes.

Kasambala says such allegations eroded popular support for the Somali government, while boosting the ranks of insurgents. She says the United States must ensure the same mistakes are not made again.

"And this is why we are asking the United States to ensure that material assistance and training that is given to security forces in Somalia are accompanied by vetting of personnel and the creation of specific mechanisms to respond to serious abuses when they occur," said Kasambala.

Secretary Clinton is also scheduled to make a brief visit to Goma in eastern Congo, where government soldiers in North and South Kivu provinces have been accused of mass looting and raping countless civilians. Human Rights Watch says the secretary should urge the government in Kinshasa to prosecute all military personnel, regardless of rank, who have committed serious human rights abuses.

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Former Liberian President Denies War Crimes Charges

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Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is seen at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, Netherlands, 13 Jul 2009

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has testified at his war crimes trial in the the Hague that he never sent weapons to Sierra Leone. The trial has now finished its third week.

Prosecutors in the Hague have accused former Liberian President Charles Taylor of 11 counts of war crimes allegedly committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Among the allegations, prosecutors say he provided weapons to the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone in exchange for access to so-called 'blood diamonds."

But, on Thursday, the 61-year-old Taylor rejected the allegations of a prosecution witness who said Taylor had transported arms to Sierra Leone by road.

"I say it bluntly, it's a lie. Bluntly, that's as blunt as I can get," Taylor said.

He said there was not even a road from Liberia to that part of Sierra Leone.

"There is no such thing then, there is no such thing today in the Republic of Liberia," Taylor said. "That anyone in his sound mind and body can say that you can get in a truck and drive from Monrovia through Tubmanburg, Gborpolu, all the way through Fassama and come up to Salaye and Zorlewu. It's not possible. If you really want to make it up, fine, but it was not possible then, it is not possible now."

The former president also denied allegations that rebels under his command in Liberia engaged in cannibalism. Some witnesses have alleged that National Patriotic Front fighters in Liberia ate the organs of those they had killed.

He alleged that the U.N. wrongly linked him to Liberians fighting in Sierra Leone. He said that misconception had landed him in jail.

The former Liberian president first took the stand in his defense on July 14. He has dismissed the war crimes charges against him as "lies" and said he had nothing to gain from destabilizing Sierra Leone.

He is the first African leader to be tried at a U.N.-backed court.

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UN: Civilian Death Toll Rises in Afghanistan

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A new report finds the war in Afghanistan is taking an increasingly heavy toll on civilians. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, which has just released its mid-year report, says civilian casualties are rising as the conflict with Taliban militants and anti-government elements intensifies and spreads.

A 19 Jul 2009 file photo of the body of a civilian victim of a suicide attack being transferred in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province

The U.N. report finds more than 1,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in the first six months of this year, an increase of 24 percent over the same period in 2008.

United Nations investigators blame both anti-government and pro-government forces for the higher casualty rate. But, they say the Taliban militants have killed more civilians than have the Afghan security and international military forces.

Between January and June 2009, the data show anti-government elements killed 59 percent of civilians compared to 35.5 percent by pro-government forces. This represents a significant shift from 2007 when government allies were responsible for 41 percent of civilian casualties and the Taliban for 46 percent.

U.N. Asia-Pacific Unit coordinator, Rori Mungoven, says the bulk of civilian deaths come from suicide attacks and the use of improvised explosive devices by anti-government groups.

"And, although such attacks are frequently directed at military or government targets, they often are carried out in crowded areas with apparent disregard for the high levels of death and injury that they cause to civilians," he said. "UNAMA [U.N. Assistance Mission In Afghanistan] remains concerned that anti-government elements base themselves in areas where civilians are concentrated, in order apparently to deliberately blur the distinction between combatants and civilians."

Mungoven says this appears to be a deliberate policy on the part of the Taliban to get the international forces to respond militarily in areas where civilians are likely to be killed or injured.

He says it is important to look behind the statistics at the human impact of this conflict. He says attacks by anti-government elements on humanitarian workers, government employees, including medical and educational staff is hampering the delivery of health care, shelter and other services essential for survival.

"This has a particular impact on women and children living in the conflict areas. Large parts of South, South West, South East, East and Central regions of the country have become extreme risks for humanitarian agencies conducting relief work," he said. "Schools, particularly those for girls, have come under increasing attack, depriving thousands of students, especially girls of the right to education. According to UNICEF, there were some 16 improvised explosive device explosions in school premises over this six-month period."

Presidential candidate and current Pres. Hamid Karzai (L) greets supporters at an election rally in Kabul (File)

Afghanistan's presidential and provincial council elections are scheduled to take place in late August. The United Nations warns the conflict is likely to heat up as the election approaches. And, civilian casualties are likely to rise in the months ahead.

U.N. Human Rights Officials are appealing to all combatants to take measures to protect civilians, and to ensure the independent investigation of all civilian casualties.

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British Man Accused of Hacking US Computers Loses Extradition Appeal

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Gary McKinnon leaves the High Court in London after a hearing to prevent his extradition, 14 Jul 2009

Britain's High Court Friday rejected an appeal by a British man against his extradition to the United States to face charges of hacking into military computers. Gary McKinnon was arrested in 2002 and has been fighting to stay in Britain.

Briton Gary McKinnon lost his long legal battle Friday, and could face extradition to the United States as early as September.

McKinnon is charged with hacking into the computer networks of NASA, the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies in 2001 and 2002 soon after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

McKinnon's lawyers had argued that their client, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, would be at risk of a mental breakdown or suicide if sent to the United States.

But the judges ruled that the extradition was lawful and proportionate to his crime, which U.S. prosecutors have called "the biggest military computer hack of all time."

Outside the court, McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp, called the ruling a disgrace and made a plea to U.S. President Barack Obama for leniency.

"This is from the Bush era," she said. "It's not of Obama. He would not want this to happen. Robert Gates from the Pentagon said there's tens of thousands of extraditions every month. Are they going to extradite everyone? Or just one guy who has got Asperger's [syndrome] and was looking for UFOs, who had the naiveté to admit to computer misuse with no lawyer? And they thought, 'Soft touch, he'll do.' That's a reality."

In interviews with British media in 2006, McKinnon said he was looking for secret UFO technology.

"I was in search of suppressed technology, you know, laughingly referred to as UFO technology," he said. "I think it's the biggest kept secret in the world because of its value. Meanwhile, secretive parts of the secret government are sitting on suppressed technology for free energy."

McKinnon's lawyer said she would review the judgment and could appeal the High Court decision to Britain's Supreme Court or European courts on humanitarian grounds.

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India Says Economy Has Weathered Economic Downturn

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India says its economy has weathered the economic downturn triggered by last year's global financial crisis, and is showing signs of revival.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (left) holds up a briefcase containing the country's 2009-10 budget that he would present at the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, 06 July 2009

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament this week the economic slowdown has halted. He said the economy is expected to grow by 6.7 percent this year.

There is reason for his optimism. Many of the signals about the economy in recent days have been positive, with several large companies turning in better than expected profits for the first three months of the fiscal year.

The biggest cellular telephone company, Bharti Airtel, reported profits of 24 percent, and the leading automobile maker, Tata Motors, posted a surprise profit of nearly 60 percent.

Economist P.K. Choudhury, of the domestic rating agency, ICRA, says companies that depend on domestic demand appear to have weathered the global economic crisis.

"I would say that what was expected, [was] that the first quarter would be much more dismal than what it is now. So in that context, in a relative way, many of them are doing quite well," said Choudhury.

However, sectors that depend on overseas customers, such as India's information technology sector, have not been so lucky. The deep recession in Western countries, from where I.T. companies get lucrative contracts, has hurt most companies, which saw revenues grow much more slowly compared to previous years.

Small export units suffered even more as demand in Western countries for textiles and jewelry dried up.

Indian women harvest tea leaves at a plantation in Kondoli, some 17 km from Nagaon in the northeastern state of Assam, 19 June 2009

Other anxieties remain. Below average monsoon rains have cast a shadow on hopes the economic turnaround will be brief. Rains have been patchy in the northern region, which produces much of the country's food, and there are widespread worries that the agriculture sector will be adversely affected, dragging down growth.

But there is growing confidence that Asia's third largest economy will post relatively healthy growth in the coming year. The confidence is reflected in the buoyant share market, with the benchmark Sensex rallying by more than 50 percent since March.

Economist Choudhury says swift interventions by the government when the global economic crisis began to unravel last year has helped stem the decline.

"What happened, government reacted very fast. Whatever action [had] to be taken, at right point of time, grants or subsidies or interest rate reduction, monetary policies, fiscal policies, everything was positively tuned towards an immediate action for recovery," he said.

However, economists warn that it may take at least three years before the country returns to the high growth path of nearly nine percent seen in the years preceding 2008.

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Asia Marks 30 Years since World Declared Free of Smallpox

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Some of the key health workers who eradicated smallpox in Asia have re-united to commemorate 30 years of freedom from the incurable disease which was a scourge on humanity for many centuries.

Asian medical officers, physicians and epidemiologists gathered at the World Health Organization's regional headquarters to mark the three decades since smallpox was declared vanquished. Those in the room were deemed "world health warriors" who isolated the remaining few cases in the 1970s and creating a ring of immunization around them.

WHO's regional director, Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang, told them they achieved a significant historical accomplishment.

Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director

"We gather here today to reaffirm the first unequivocal and total victory of a public health program," he said. "The victory over a major cause of human suffering and death is of the greatest achievements of public health during the 20th century."

An American epidemiologist played a key role in developing the eradication strategy for the incurable and disfiguring disease. Dr. William Foege, who later became the director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States, says it took more than science to beat smallpox. Putting aside cultural and ideological difference was key and that is an approach, he says, that can benefit humanity in other ways.

Dr. William Foege, former CDC director

"This does not have to be a world of plagues, disastrous governments, conflicts and uncontrolled health risks," he said. "It is possible to plan a rational future. And smallpox eradication is a constant reminder that we should settle for nothing less."

The last known naturally occurring case of the more deadly strain of smallpox, Variola major, was detected in the offshore island district of Bhola, in Bangladesh in 1975. Rahima Banu Begum was less than two years old. She attended the commemoration Friday in New Delhi, briefly speaking at the event and posing for photographs with the medical officers who personally confronted the last smallpox cases in Asia.

She tells VOA News the disease continues to haunt her.

Rahina Begum poses next to a poster showing her after surviving smallpox at age 1 1/2

The mother of four recalls being ostracized in her village. When she married at age 18 her in-laws did not like her because she had suffered from smallpox. She begins crying as she says people continue to treat her badly because of this.

The World Health Organization began an intensive eradication program in 1967 against the disease, which was also a major cause of blindness. It targeted four endemic areas: sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Indonesian archipelago and Brazil.

In India and neighboring countries, health personnel eventually went house to house to detect smallpox and offered rewards to villagers who reported new cases.

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Little Kids Making a Big Difference Through Community Service

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Also: Music from the international album ''Playing for Change.'' Transcript of radio broadcast:

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson.

Today, we play music from a CD that brings together more than one hundred musicians from around the world.

But first, we report about some special young people who have taken on some big causes.

(MUSIC)

Kids With Causes

HOST:

While many American children are climbing trees and playing at the pool this summer, a few others are helping people in need. Mario Ritter has our report about kids with causes.

MARIO RITTER:

Asperger's syndrome is a kind of autism, a brain disorder found in children. People with Asperger's have limited communication skills. They may have trouble relating to others on an emotional level.

Amanda LaMunyon

Amanda LaMunyon lives in Oklahoma. She is fourteen years old. She was identified with Asperger's syndrome at the age of eight. She had been having trouble at school. Her teachers said the little girl knew all the rules but could not seem to follow them.

Then, Amanda says, art changed her life. When she started painting she discovered she could express herself with color and canvas. Her art teacher discovered that Amanda had great skill.

Amanda decided to use her art to help children with learning problems. She wants children to know that "their challenges may also become a gift."

Amanda created a Web site to sell her art. She donates the earnings to organizations that help sick children. She also speaks at events to increase information about Asperger's and other autism disorders. Amanda says she does not want children to ever give up because they do not know what they can do until they try.

Zach Bonner knows just how far trying can get you. Earlier this month the eleven year old completed his biggest charity project to date. He walked almost two thousand kilometers from his home in Florida to Washington, D.C., to raise money for homeless children in America.

He called his project "From My House to the White House." He carried a message to President Obama and lawmakers. He asked for help for the more than one million homeless children in the United States. The walk raised tens of thousands of dollars for Zach's cause.

His mother says Zach has always enjoyed community service work. She says it began when Hurricane Charley hit Florida in two thousand four. Zach decided to help victims by walking around his area with his little red wagon collecting and giving out bottles of water. He got the nickname "Little Red Wagon Boy."

Zach Bonner

Now, "Little Red Wagon" is the name of Zach's foundation. It has raised money for playgrounds and shelters for homeless children. Zach also gives out thousands of backpacks. He fills each "Zachpac" with a toy, personal cleaning supplies, socks, sewing supplies, a first aid kit and food.

Zach has won many awards, met several presidents and been on television. But that is not why he wants to help people. Zach Bonner says if you have a good heart you have to use it. And, he says, charity work is a lot of fun.

Eighteen year old Christina Johnson and her older sister Geneva started their project, "Bring It On," in the Bronx area of New York City in two thousand four. They wanted to improve the place where they lived. The area was so dangerous their parents would not let them play outside.

The girls started a program to empower children in their community. "Bring It On" organizes environmental "jams" to clean up waste in the area. The group also holds classes and talks on health, leadership, how to set up small businesses and other issues. "Bring It On" receives money and other support from local businesses and other sponsors.

These young people are not alone in their efforts. The Corporation for National and Community Service released a report this week. It said young people are leading the way in volunteering in the United States. The study said community service by young adults increased by four hundred thousand volunteers last year, more than any other age group.

Playing for Change

HOST:

Who knew a single idea could result in a musical world union. Mark Johnson's idea, "Playing for Change," is now a CD, a DVD, a documentary film, a nonprofit organization and a company. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Mark Johnson is a Grammy Award-winning musical producer and engineer. Over the past four years he traveled around the world with recording equipment and video cameras in an effort to unite people through music. He used modern editing technology to combine voices and instruments into a global music experience.

Mark Johnson

His idea started when he heard two religious workers playing music for free in New York City's underground transportation system. He was surprised by the large number of busy people in the subway who stopped to listen.

Mister Johnson decided to record musicians around the world to unite people with different instruments and cultures. He believes music has the power to break boundaries.

Here is part of the American song "Stand by Me." It includes over thirty-five musicians from countries including the United States, South Africa, Brazil and Russia. The video of "Stand by Me" has received more than eleven million views on YouTube.

(MUSIC)

The CD "Playing for Change" has ten songs performed by a total of more than one hundred musicians from five continents. Mark Johnson made the songs by recording one part of the song at a time. Then he added more musicians and instruments from other countries.

Bob Marley's song "War/No More Trouble" includes musicians who have lived during wars and conflicts. The musicians are from Israel, India, Zimbabwe and other countries. The famous Irish singer Bono from the group U2 also performs on this song.

(MUSIC)

Pierre Minetti

Many of the songs on "Playing for Change" are versions of famous older songs. But this song, "Don't Worry," was written for the album by Pierre Minetti of Spain. It includes over twenty musicians from four continents who are connected through the message in the music.

(MUSIC)

Playing for Change is not just about sharing music with the world. Mark Johnson wanted to help the musicians and their communities. So he created a non-profit group, the Playing for Change Foundation two years ago. Last year, he established Timeless Media, a for-profit company that pays for and extends the work of Playing for Change.

Mark Johnson writes on the CD: "As a human race we come together for birth, we come together for death. What brings us together in between is up to us. Stop and listen to the universal language of music and bring that positive energy with you everywhere you go."

We leave you now with Bob Marley's "One Love" from "Playing for Change."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program. It was written by Kim Varzi and Caty Weaver, who was also the producer. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

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California Gets a Budget

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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a spending plan with billions in cuts, but concerns remain about the state's financial future. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The recession may be easing, but American states are still feeling the pain. Most of the fifty states began their budget year July first. Almost all states require balanced budgets. Already, some predict new deficits.

Congress included state aid in the two-year stimulus plan approved in February. But states have had to find other ways to fill budget holes.

The recession has hit especially hard in California, home of the world's eighth largest economy and one out of eight Americans.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signing the state budget on Tuesday

On Tuesday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new budget to solve his state's deficit. But spending cuts in the eighty-five billion dollar budget might still not be enough to solve long-term problems.

This was what Governor Schwarzenegger said last week when he proudly announced a deal with lawmakers.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: "The budget that would have no tax increases, a budget that is cutting spending -- we deal with the entire twenty-six billion dollar deficit, around fifteen billion dollars in cuts that we are making."

That was in addition to fifteen billion in cuts passed in February.

But the Republican governor angered some Democrats when he vetoed several additional spending items before he signed the budget. The money will be held as an emergency reserve. The governor himself compared the budget to the old Western movie "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

Education faces the biggest reductions. Prisons and health care also face big cuts.

California's finances have become so bad, this month the state began to buy goods and services with promises to pay later. Now, California has a budget. The state can seek loans to pay its bills until more tax money comes in later this year.

But California also has the lowest credit rating of any state. All of the rating agencies still rate California as worthy of investment. However, downgrades have increased its borrowing costs.

Some people blame Californians themselves for the current troubles of the Golden State. There is debate over "budget by ballot" -- putting tax questions to popular votes. Voters in the last few years, and most recently in May, have rejected several ballot measures that would have raised taxes.

California may rewrite its tax system. The state depends heavily on income tax. But those revenues fall sharply in bad economic times.

Critics say even with the budget agreement, California is still in trouble. They say some of the cost cuts are simply accounting tricks that cannot be repeated next year.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

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Health Care Debate Dominates US Politics

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President Obama speaks on healthcare to American Association of Retired Persons, 28 Jul 20099

President Barack Obama has been busy in recent weeks waging the most important battle so far in his young presidency - reforming the U.S. health-care system. Republicans generally oppose the Obama plan as too costly and argue that it would lead to too much government involvement in health care. The battle is likely to drag on for months and will be waged at the grass-roots level as well as in the halls of Congress.

Each week they come by the busload from all across the country. Their demand is that Congress act now to expand health-care insurance to the estimated 47 million Americans who do not have it.

That was the reason Gordon Duvall came to Washington from his home in Denver, Colorado.

Duvall recently waged a successful battle against prostate cancer, but faced the prospect of losing his health insurance when he lost his job.

Duvall says he takes the issue of health care reform personally.

"Yes sir, it is, " said Gordon Duvall. "It is very personal. These organizing groups have given people, normal grass roots people, a voice. This is our government. It is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and the by the people piece needs to get back into it."

But opponents of Mr. Obama's health-care reform effort are just as determined to kill the president's plan.

They object to the cost of the proposal, which could go as high as $one-trillion over 10 years, and they want to stop what they see as an expanding role for government in administering health care.

Opponents have already spent millions of dollars on television ads aimed at whipping up grass-roots opposition to the Obama plan.

"What will happen to your family's health care? This government run-plan could crush all your other choices. It could put a bureaucrat in charge of your medical decisions," warned one of the TV ads.

New public opinion polls suggest Republicans are making some headway in raising doubts and questions about the president's reform effort.

Polls by the New York Times and CBS News and the Wall Street Journal and NBC News show growing public concern that efforts to cover uninsured Americans could reduce the quality of health care for those who already are covered by health insurance.

Matt Dallek is a political expert at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington.

"I think a lot of Americans probably are quite torn," said Matt Dallek. "A lot of people have health insurance, and yet they believe that the system has all kinds of problems and they would like to see major reform happen. And yet, they are concerned that the debate as it is playing out is not going to get costs under control and maybe it will limit their choices someway, so I think there is just a kind of unease."

Mindful that political momentum appears to be slipping, President Obama has stepped up his efforts to win support for health care reform in recent weeks with a series of campaign style events around the country.

"Nobody is talking about some government takeover of health care," said President Obama. "I am tired of hearing that. If you like your doctor, you keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. These folks need to stop scaring everybody."

Democrats concede the political stakes on the health-care issue are very high, both for the president and for the Democratic majorities in Congress.

Mr. Obama promised reform in last year's presidential campaign, and congressional Democrats want a success they can boast about during next year's midterm congressional elections campaign.

Democratic Congressman Howard Berman of California is a guest on VOA's Press Conference USA program.

"It is very important," said Howard Berman. "I think the failure to pass health-care legislation this year will be a tremendous setback for the administration and for the leadership in Congress."

House Democrats have made some progress in recent days in bridging differences between liberal lawmakers focused on covering the uninsured and more conservative party members concerned about the cost of the reform effort.

A competing plan is being drafted in the Senate.

Congress will take its annual long recess in August, and Democrats hope to use the time to build support for health-care reform around the country.

But opposition Republicans will be busy too, trying to point out what they see as the flaws in the Obama approach when they meet with voters.

Congressman Paul Ryan is a Republican from Wisconsin.

"What is wrong with going home for August and having town hall meetings, listening to our constituents and then coming back in September and doing this right," said Paul Ryan.

Former Democratic Senator Tom Daschle has long supported health-care reform. But he told Bloomberg television that he is worried that Republicans will try to derail the president's plan during the congressional recess.

"Well, this is critical," said Tom Daschle. "The risk of defeat goes up during this time because you have got, in essence, a political campaign. You are going to take this entire issue and boil it down to 30 second ads."

In 2007, expenditures on health care totaled about one-sixth of the entire U.S. economy, and even top congressional leaders acknowledge that attempting to rein in health-care costs while at the same time expanding health-insurance coverage is a daunting task.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid is the Democratic majority leader:

"Would I like to move more quickly? Of course, but this is very, very difficult legislation," said Harry Reid. "In fact, I am not the first to have said it is the most difficult legislation probably in the last century because it affects literally everybody in America."

Democratic congressional leaders hope to agree on a final version of health-care reform by September or October, once they reconcile competing plans that emerge from the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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Nigerian Authorities say Islamist Sect Fleeing

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A building that allegedly housed Islamic extremists is reportedly burnt by military in Maiduguri, 30 Jul 2009

Nigerian government forces say they are in hot pursuit of a fundamentalist Islamic sect in the northern city of Maiduguri.

Sounds of heavy and light machine gun fire rattled Maiduguri as Nigeria's army pounded suspected hideouts of the Islamic rebels in a bid to flush out remnants of the militant Boko Haram sect. Army commanders say it is only a matter of time before the Taliban-style group would be completely destroyed.

Security forces have also launched a door-to-door search for members of the group. State officials say the leader of the militants, Mohammed Yusuf, may have escaped the military onslaught and fled with hundreds of his supporters.

Government forces say they killed the deputy leader of the sect and appealed to the public to help in tracking fleeing members of the group.

Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, has been the center of violence in northern Nigeria that started Sunday when militants attacked a police station in Bauchi.

President Umaru Yar'Adua had ordered troops to crush the movement "once for all." But many were not impressed with the government's response to the crisis.

A security analyst in Lagos, Patrick Keku, says the government has not paid enough attention to security issues, despite the country's numerous crises.

"In the present dispensation [situation] we are in this country, we are pregnant with a lot of problems," he said. "With that, I expect the security agencies to be 24-hours alert. But sometimes I would say, the government does not take security seriously enough unless it happens. Because certain things that government should provide to enhance those people doing the job are not there."

About 300 people have been killed in four days of clashes between security forces and militants seeking to impose Islamic law throughout Africa's most populous nation. Nigeria's 150 million people are roughly split between Muslims and Christians.

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Iranian Opposition Holds Silent Memorial for Protest Victims

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Iran's opposition movement is holding what is being described as a "silent memorial" to remember the victims of the unrest that erupted following last month's contested presidential election. The Iranian government banned the gathering, leading to fears of more violence.

Iranian security forces are once again clamping down hard on an opposition demonstration in a Tehran cemetery called to honor those slain during weeks of unrest, following the June 12 election.

Iranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi during a press conference after polls closed in Tehran, 12 June 2009

Eyewitnesses say police and paramilitary basij forces carrying clubs beat demonstrators at Tehran's Behesht-e-Zahra cemetery, arresting dozens and dispersing dozens of others.

A video, posted on opposition leader and presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi's Facebook website showed scores of demonstrators waving the "V" for victory sign, and chanting "Mir Hossein", as they faced off against riot police.

An Iranian émigré radio station in Los Angeles, spoke with a man who said he was at the demonstration, and indicated opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi had visited the cemetery before being escorted to his car by police.

Another man, who said he was at the cemetery, told an Iranian opposition website that police were chasing young people who were chanting "death to the dictator", while others were "throwing flowers at the police, asking them to support them."

Al-Arabiya TV reported Iranian security forces also attacked defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi's car, as he was arriving at the cemetery.

According to émigré radio, Ayatollah Karroubi told supporters at the cemetery to head towards Tehran's Grand Mosalla mosque, where a mourning ceremony had originally been planned.

Mehdi Karroubi

On their websites, Mr. Moussavi and Ayatollah Karroubi urged supporters to go ahead with the planned "silent memorial", despite being refused permission for the gathering by Iran's interior ministry.

Thursday marks the 40th day after bloody and bitter clashes between demonstrators and police, in which many were killed or wounded. The 40-day anniversary of a death is traditionally used for mourning, in Islam.

Opposition supporters also prepared a video, set to music, on Mr. Moussavi's Facebook website, honoring those slain during weeks of unrest and clashes with police. It showed demonstrators covered with blood and others writhing in pain after being shot by police.

Iranian government TV ignored the protests, talking instead about the upcoming August 3 inauguration of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. He was officially credited with 64 percent of the vote, amid charges of widespread vote-rigging.

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Bomb in Iraqi Political Party Office Kills 8

Iraqi police say eight people were killed and 10 others wounded Thursday in a bomb attack on a Sunni political party's office in Baquba, north of Baghdad.

Police say the bomb exploded inside the headquarters of the Reform and Development Party in Diyala province around the time that some party members were holding a meeting.

In western Iraq, police say a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle, killing at least five people and wounding 15 others. Authorities say the attack happened close to a police station in al-Qaim near the Iraq-Syria border.

A police official said multiple houses collapsed after the bomb exploded, and several civilians are trapped under the rubble.

Violence in Iraq has dropped sharply during the past year, but attacks increased in the weeks leading up to and following the June 30 withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities.

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S. Korea Demands Return of Crew from Fishing Boat Seized by North

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South Korea is demanding that North Korea return a fishing boat and its crew that crossed into the North's waters in a possible case of mistaken navigation. The demand has not yet received a response.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said Thursday the fishing boat was towed into a North Korean port by a police boat early in the morning.

He says the boat apparently experienced technical problems with is satellite navigation system. Chun says the South Korean government has confirmed the boat did indeed cross into the North's territorial waters.

Chun says Seoul has asked the North to return the boat and the crew "as soon as possible," saying there is a clear precedent for such a return. He says there have been two cases this year in which North Korean boats crossed into South Korean waters, and the South released them immediately on humanitarian grounds.

Park Sung-woo is a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea's military. He says the South Korean boat did not respond to initial communications from the South Korean navy.
He says the fishing boat was relatively small, and made of reinforced plastic. Those factors made it very difficult for radar to detect the vessel before it crossed into North Korean waters.

Thursday's incident took place in waters west of the Korean peninsula - one of the tensest maritime regions in the world. North Korea has never accepted a United Nations-mandated border there, and the two Koreas have fought two deadly naval battles in the area in the past 10 years.

The capture adds another complication in what has been a steady deterioration of North-South ties since last year's inauguration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. North Korean media often label Mr. Lee a "traitor". He curtailed nearly 10 years of uncritical South Korean aid and investment in the North, pending progress in efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons programs.

Some here in South Korea fear the four fishing boat crew members will be added to a list of other detainees Pyongyang may use for diplomatic leverage. The North has held a South Korean executive and two American journalists for nearly four months.

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Kenya Forest at Center of Tribal Dispute

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A fight to save a sensitive Kenyan forest is threatening to derail one of the major tribal alliances within Kenya's government. But this time a frustrated Kenyan population is running out of patience with political power plays. Environmentalists say nothing less than the very future of the country is at stake.

Kenya's Rift Valley gathers attention

A Kenya Wildlife Service, KWS, ranger inspects a section of Mt. Longonot National park, near the lakeside town of Naivasha in the Kenyan Rift Valley (File)

Sitting in the heart of Kenya's Rift Valley, Mau Forest has become the focus of an intense conservation fight. But this turf war is not about saving trees. It is a struggle between one tribe's claim to questionably acquired land and the rest of a region's reliance on a main water source.

As the largest water catchment area in the country, the Mau supports an ecosystem stretching across East Africa. The forest is the source of 12 rivers, including the famous Mara River, responsible for Kenya's biggest tourist attraction and home to one of the world's seven natural wonders of the world.

But lax conservation enforcement and political nepotism have contributed to the systematic destruction of the forest. Politicians grabbed pieces of the land or gave it away to fellow tribesmen, who often then sold the land to poor settlers who have slowly pushed back the boundaries of the forest.

Government to address Mau Forest issue

Led by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Kenya's government appears finally to have found the political will to address the Mau issue. With a severe drought on Kenyans' minds and amidst growing pleas from environmentalists, the timing might finally be ripe for action.

But with a quarter of the forest already cleared as lumber and charcoal to make way for farming, environmentalists say that time is not on Kenya's side.

Charles Peter Mwangi, a Mau Forest specialist for the Kenyan environmental group Green Belt Movement, says that the region's loss of water due to the deforestation is already at an emergency level.

"Something needs to be done immediately. People need to get out. The question of resettlement can actually be handled much later," said Mwangi. "But we need first of all to tell people to get out, outside the forest. Now they can negotiate with the government whether they will be compensated or not, but first of all they need to be outside the forest so we can start rehabilitation work."

Former regimes exploited forests

In many ways, Kenya is still suffering the sins of regimes past. Macharia Munene, a local history professor, says that former president Daniel Arap Moi, a member of the Kalenjin tribe which populates much of the Rift Valley, used his near-dictatorial powers to exploit the forest for his and his friends' personal gain.

"In general there was a lot of recklessness at the government level, and people in the top echelon were simply grabbing whatever they can get," said Munene. "The bigwigs gave themselves, not just the Mau, but a lot of the forest areas, and then they would resell some of it. So it has been a systematic process."

The question of compensation has been a crucial sticking point to the negotiations between Mr. Odinga and Rift Valley parliamentarians, who are a key part of the shaky ethnic coalition behind the political party Mr. Odinga leads. Growing discontent between the two sides have led some Mau area leaders to threaten to pull out of the party.

Both sides claim to agree that only those small scale farmers who paid for title deeds should be compensated. But sifting through the claims of legitimate versus illegitimate title owners will likely prove to be an arduous, and potentially explosive, task.

To many Kenyans, though, the complaints raised by the Kalenjin politicians have little to do with the poor they claim to be helping and everything to do with political opportunism on an issue many of their countrymen view as far too serious for use in populist games.

Worse, some of the area leaders are suspected of being major beneficiaries of the illicit land grabbing. In a move to put more pressure on the local politicians stalling government action, Mr. Odinga has released the names of identified major land owners in the forest. The list includes two ministers of parliament and a number of politically-connected companies.

According to Mwangi, the region's drought is not unrelated to the forest's destruction. The subsequent shifts in the local micro-climate has meant that areas that used to receive plentiful rainfall can no longer expect much rain.

Mau is important to Kenya and other countries

The Mau, with its 12 rivers, is crucial not just for Kenya. Lake Natron in Tanzania, a major breeding ground for flamingoes and a significant tourist draw, is sourced from a Mau river. Lake Victoria, which supports the livelihood of fisherman in a number of East African countries and feeds into the Nile River, is also a recipient of much of the Mau precipitation.

Mwangi asserts that the tide of destruction is not irreversible. If the settlers are evicted from the forest area and resettled elsewhere, then he says a renewed conservation effort can begin to expand the forest back to its original boundaries.

It is possible to revoke the situation, because all we need to do is secure the boundaries of the forest and do enrichment planting. And therefore we can actually be able to reclaim our forest back. But political goodwill has to be there, politicians have to agree to agree.

With fellow members of parliament beginning to publicly heckle the Rift Valley representatives for their Mau stance, the prime minister seems to have secured the political momentum for the moment. Local Kenyan media has been strongly supportive of the government's new found resolve to tackle the Mau issue.

Yet many obstacles remain. Even Mr. Odinga does not seem to know where the government will find the money to pay for the settlers' compensation. And it is unclear if settlers will voluntarily leave without the use of force.

For the estimated 5.5 million people who depend on the Mau as a water source, however, more government stalling is not the option they are hoping for.

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Jakarta Governor Says City Returning to Normal After Bombings

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An armored vehicle stands posted outside the re-opened Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, 30 Jul 2009

It has been nearly two weeks since suicide bombers attacked two luxury hotels in Indonesia. The blasts killed seven people and injured more than 50, but appears to have had little long-term economic or political impact. The governor of Jakarta said measures were taken to increase security and quickly restore confidence following the terrorist attacks.

On the day two bombs exploded at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, the Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo attended the opening of a conference. He said he went to send a message the people of Jakarta would not be intimidated by acts of terrorism.

"There is a tremendous crowd, I think 100,000 people attending the opening," said Bowo. "I was asking them if they had this feeling, fear for bombing, nobody responded by saying yes."

The bombings seem to have had little long term impact on the city. The hotels that were attacked have reopened. Foreign investment in the Indonesian economy remains strong. And the Governor says the hotel occupancy rate in Jakarta is back up to between 60 and 70 percent. The reason for the speedy recovery, he says, has been the government's quick reaction to the attacks.

"We have been increasing our intelligence services, that is for sure," said the Jakarta governor. "And secondly we retrain and re-inform all the security officers up to the grassroots level about the standing operation procedure that we have, that it is up to the international level that we have."

Governor Bowo said the investigation into the bombings is being handled at the national level, and he is confident that in time the perpetrators will be apprehended.

A poster bearing image of Southeast Asia terror ringleaders Noordin M. Top (l) and Azhari bin Husin is put on a tree in Jakarta (File)

Police suspect the Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiyah is responsible for the blasts. Analysts say Malaysian fugitive Noordin Mohammed Top, associated with a militant break-away faction of the group, is the likely organizer. Top's wife is being questioned by authorities.

Police are also investigating an Internet message claiming responsibility for the bombings by a group calling itself al-Qaida Indonesia, which was purportedly signed by Noordin Top.

The Governor of Jakarta said this first bombing in Indonesia in nearly four years, is a reminder the threat of terrorism is always there.

"We should be aware that the soul of terrorism never dies, it will always be there moving from one place to another place, but I think we should be alert of it. We should increase the awareness of people at large," he said.

Governor Bowo says life in Jakarta is returning to normal, in part, because of increased security, but also because the people of Indonesia refuse to live in fear.

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Moldova's Ruling Communists Face Defeat

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Election officials count votes after polls closed in Chisinau, Moldova, 29 Jul 2009

According to preliminary election results from Moldova, a group of pro-Western parties has narrowly defeated Europe's last ruling Communist Party in parliamentary elections.

With most of the votes counted, Moldova's four main opposition parties have won nearly 51 percent and a combined 53 seats in the country's 101-member parliament. The Communists won just over 45 percent of the vote and 48 parliamentary seats.

Outgoing President Vladimir Voronin dissolved the parliament in June and called new elections after his Communist Party's presidential candidate twice fell one vote short of the 61 votes in parliament needed to win the presidency.

The opposition boycotted both those votes, saying that parliamentary elections won by the Communists in April were rigged. The Communist victory in those elections triggered violent demonstrations in the capital, Chisinau.

Tudor Sorochanu, a journalist with the Russian-language newspaper Nezavisimaya Moldova, says the four liberal parties, even if they manage to form a ruling coalition, will not have the 61 seats in Moldova's parliament needed to choose the country's president. He also says the pro-Western parties will be unable to deal effectively with the global economic crisis, which has hit particularly hard in Moldova, where the average monthly wage is only $350.

Sorochanu says that people "who worked before and know today's real situation" must now unite to pull Molodova out of its political and economic crises. He said there are such people in the current government of President Voronin, who must leave office after serving the maximum two four-year terms allowed by the constitution.

Carnegie Moscow Center Deputy Director Sam Greene says Mr. Voronin and the Communist Party will remain influential, despite losing the parliamentary election and that the democratic parties will have to reach an accommodation with them over choosing a new president

"That means taking into account the fact that the communists, although they no longer control the parliament, remain the biggest party in the country and the strongest political force in Moldova," said Greene. "And by virtue of having been in power for so long, they retain a significant amount of influence and will be able to have an impact on how the country is governed even if they are not in government."

But Greene says the democratic parties will also benefit from the communists having been in power for eight years.

"It is certainly true that they are entering into a very difficult situation," he said. "On the other hand, many in Moldova believe it would be hard to mismanage the economy worse than the communists did over the last eight years."

Official turnout for Thursday's vote was just under 59 percent.

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