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Microsoft Says Google Blocks Competition in Europe Search Market

Posted by admin on May 30th, 2011 at 08:50am This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. Microsoft has fought legal battles with officials in Europe and the United States over competition in the personal computer market. But now Microsoft is accusing Google of being anti-competitive. A complaint to the European Commission accuses Google of unfairly controlling the Internet search market in Europe. Google is already talking to the commission about the issue and says it is happy to explain to anyone how its business works. Google also faces other issues. Gmail users in China began reporting problems with Googles e-mail service in late February. The problems came as news of the revolutions in the Arab world filled the Internet and there were online calls for protests in China. Google said the government was interfering with its e-mail service. (SOUND) Last week, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu called the accusations unacceptable. But Google spokeswoman Jessica Powell said the company stood by its earlier comments. JESSICA POWELL: This is a government blockage, carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail. Google is the world leader in Internet search. But in China, the biggest search engine is Baidu. And this week, Chinas largest Internet media company, Sina, dropped Googles search engine from its website. Sina says it is using its own technology. An estimated four hundred fifty million Chinese are online about half of all Internet users in Asia.

Last year, Google said a cyberattack from China had attempted to get information from the Gmail accounts of human rights activists. Google also expressed concerns about censorship. So Google relocated its Chinese search engine from the mainland to Hong Kong. The company is also facing new problems at home. A federal judge in New York has ruled against its plan to put millions of books online. Google wants to create a digital library of all the worlds books. It reached a one hundred twenty-five million dollar deal in two thousand eight with groups representing writers and publishers. Google agreed to create a system to pay copyright holders when their works are used online. But Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed settlement. He said it gives Google monopoly control of the book search market. But he left open the possibility for a new plan. On a similar issue, Baidu says it has removed almost three million documents from its library. Writers have complained that Baidu did not have permission for their works to appear on its document-sharing site. And thats the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter and available online at voaspecialenglish.com. Im Steve Ember. ___

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What Now for al-Qaida After Death of bin Laden?

Posted by admin on May 28th, 2011 at 08:51am This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. Al-Qaida on Friday confirmed the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden. The SITE Intelligence group said al-Qaida released a statement on militant websites. The statement threatened more attacks on Americans and their allies. Al-Qaida also urged Pakistanis to rebel against their government. It urged them to cleanse the shame that has been attached to them by the death in Pakistan. American special-forces killed Osama bin Laden early Monday during a raid on a house where he had been living. BARACK OBAMA: Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. President Obama announced the news late Sunday night in Washington. Abbottabad is a two-hour drive from Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, and has a large military presence. But Pakistani officials say they had no idea the al-Qaida leader was there. Mr. Obama said his death does not mark the end of the threat. BARACK OBAMA: Theres no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must - and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad. As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not - and never will be - at war with Islam. Mr. Obama also had a message for families who lost loved ones to al-Qaidas terror. BARACK OBAMA: Justice has been done. This year is the tenth anniversary of the attacks against the United States on September eleventh, two thousand one. Almost three thousand people were killed. So now who, if anyone, will take control of al-Qaida? Osama Bin Ladens second-incommand, Ayman al-Zawahri, is considered a likely choice.

(SOUND) That was Ayman al-Zawahri in a message released in February. Mohamed Salah is editor of the al Hayat newspaper in London. He says Ayman al-Zawahri a surgeon is the real founder of al-Qaida. He says his experience organizing Islamists in Egypt is at least as important as the ideas and financing that Osama bin Laden provided. The two men met during the fight against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Now, American officials are studying documents and computers seized during the raid in Abbottabad. American officials said immediately after the raid that Osama bin Laden had been armed; they later said he was not armed. President Obama has rejected the release of photographs of the body, saying the images could incite violence. Officials say the body was buried at sea from a Navy ship. On Friday, two United Nations investigators urged the United States to provide more details about the death. They say whether or not American forces met international human rights standards when they killed Osama bin Laden depends on the facts. And those facts, they said, need to be brought out into the open. The American-based group Human Rights Watch agrees. Reed Brody from Human Rights Watch explains why his group has joined the debate. REED BRODY: I think it would be very important for the US to give more information, both to show its justification for the legality and also frankly to prevent a lot of other countries from hunting down their opponents either at home or abroad and using this as justification. And thats IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. For more on this story, go to voaspecialenglish.com. Im Steve Embe

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Nuclear Crisis in Japan Raises Worries About Radiation Risks

Posted by admin on May 26th, 2011 at 08:48am This is the VOA Special English Health Report. The crisis at the damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan has raised worries about radiation risks. We spoke Tuesday with Jonathan Links, an expert in radiation health sciences. He is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland. Professor Links says workers within the nuclear plant are the only people at risk of extremely high doses of radiation. JONATHAN LINKS: Of course, we dont know what doses theyve received, but the only persons at risk of acute radiation effects are the workers. For other people, he says, there may be a long-term worry. People can get cancer from low doses of ionizing radiation, the kind released in a nuclear accident. Professor Links says scientists can use computers to quickly model where radioactive material has blown and settled. Then they measure how large an area is contaminated. He says if the situation is serious enough, officials could take steps like telling people not to eat locally grown food or drink the water. JONATHAN LINKS: But that would only be the case if there was a significant release and, because of wind direction, the radioactive material was blown over the area, and then settled out of the air into and onto water, plants, fruits and vegetables.

The reactors at Fukushima are on the Pacific coast. But Professor Links says people should not worry about any radioactive material leaking into the ocean. JONATHAN LINKS: Even in a worst-case scenario accident, the sea provides a very high degree of dilution. So the concentration of radioactivity in the seawater would still be quite low. Japan is the only country to have had atomic bombs dropped on it. That memory from World War Two would create a stronger psychological sensitivity to radiation exposure, Professors Links says. Next month is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the explosion and fire that destroyed a reactor at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The nineteen eighty-six event was the worlds worst accident in the nuclear power industry. A new United Nations report says more than six thousand cases of thyroid cancer have been found. These are in people who were children in affected areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The report says that by two thousand five the cancers had resulted in fifteen deaths. The cancers were largely caused by drinking contaminated milk. The milk came from cows that ate grass where radioactive material had fallen. And thats the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. To get the latest updates, go to voaspecialenglish.com. Im Steve Ember. ___ Contributing: James Broo

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Kids in Britain + Online Tutors in India = Divided Opinions

Posted by admin on May 24th, 2011 at 08:47am This is the VOA Special English Education Report. India was once a colony in the British Empire. But now Indian tutors are helping to teach math to some British children over high-speed Internet connections. Early results suggest that online tutoring may improve student performance. But not everyone is happy at this so-called outsourcing of tutors. (SOUND) Its three-thirty in the afternoon at Raynham Primary School in London. Students are gathering for their after-school math lesson. Five time zones and thousands of kilometers away, their math tutors are also arriving for class. (SOUND) Each pupil gets an individual online tutor. The students work with activities on their computer screen and wear a headset and microphone to talk to their tutor. Their classroom teacher, Altus Basson, says he has seen an improvement in results. ALTUS BASSON: Children who struggle to focus in class focus a lot better on the laptops.

Nine-year-old Samia Abdul-Kadir says she enjoys the online lessons. SAMIA ABDUL-KADIR: It helps me because sometimes when were doing it in class, I dont hear the teacher very much and I dont understand, but online is better. Her friend, Abdul-Fadil Badori, agrees. ABDUL-FADIL BADORI: Online, you can hear it, its not shared by everyone, everyone has different topics theyre learning. Tom Hooper started the company that provides the online tutoring. The company is called BrightSpark Education. TOM HOOPER: Children today feel very confident online, they feel very engaged, they feel very in control. And thats half the battle with education. Give them control, make them feel confident and enjoy their learning and youll see them start to improve and embrace it. Online tutoring costs between twenty and twenty-five dollars an hour. An online tutor is about half the cost of traditional face-to-face coaching. But some people say an Internet connection is not enough of a connection for teaching and learning. Kevin Courtney is deputy general secretary of Britains National Union of Teachers. KEVIN COURTNEY: We think theres something thats a really important emotional connection between a teacher and a child, whether its a whole class or whether its oneto-one. You need that immediacy of feedback, and were not convinced that that can happen across an Internet connection. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we think that we can afford to have teachers with the genuine emotional connection there with the children. BrightSpark Education says the online tutoring is used only as an addition to supplement regular teaching. The company says its service does not represent a threat to teachers jobs in Britain. Some parents say they are satisfied with the results. And what about the children? CHILDREN: I love it! I love it! I hate maths! So math or, as the British call it, maths is still not everyones favorite subject even with the latest technology to teach it. And thats the VOA Special English Education Report. You can watch a video of the online tutoring by going to voaspecialenglish.com. Im Steve Ember.

___ Contributing: Henry Ridgwell

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Thousands of US Teachers Lose Jobs as States Cut Budgets

Posted by admin on June 8th, 2011 at 07:41am This is the VOA Special English Education Report. Americas recession ended in June of two thousand nine but recovery has been slow. Many states face budget problems and have cut spending in areas including education. In California, thousands of teachers have lost their jobs. Veronica Pellegrin received a layoff notice in the mail. VERONICA PELLEGRIN: Getting the letter and seeing [you] will no longer be employed, your services will no longer be required it is very disheartening, to say the least, and frustrating. Sixty percent of the teachers at the Mariposa-Nabi primary school in Los Angeles have received layoff notices. Salvador Rodriguez, the school principal, has been able to provide computers for his students. SALVADOR RODRIGUEZ: We have to keep going and make it the best year possible with all these changes. But fewer teachers mean bigger classes at his school. Mr. Rodriguez says there used to be twenty students to a teacher. By next year, he expects nearly thirty students in a class. SALVADOR RODRIQUEZ: If you cut personnel, they can not give that individual attention.

Teachers say this is true especially in schools with large immigrant populations where English is not the first language of many students. Los Angeles has the nations second-largest public school system after New York City. The district has dismissed ten to twelve percent of its staff during the past two years. About half of those laid off were teachers, says John Deasy, the head of the Los Angeles Unified School District. JOHN DEASY: The recession has had an enormous impact on the state budget and we have had a huge drop in funding. An education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, John Rogers, says other states have also laid off teachers. JOHN ROGERS: Some projections estimate that across the country, one hundred sixty thousand teachers have received layoff notices this spring. But he says the situation in California is worse because the state was already facing a budget deficit before the recession. Also, California was spending less per student than the national average. Primary and secondary schools in California receive most of their funding from the state government. AJ Duffy is president of the United Teachers Los Angeles union. Mr. Duffy says the amount of funding each year depends on the economy. AJ DUFFY: In the past two and a half to three years, we have lost twenty billion dollars in funding for public education. And Superintendent John Deasy expects more changes if the state budget does not improve. JOHN DEASY: We are cutting all of our librarians, our nurses. We would be forced to close and consolidate schools. Most California school districts have already reduced the number of days per year that students must attend classes. Other states are also talking about shortening the school year to save money. And thats the VOA Special English Education Report. You can read and listen to this program and watch a related video at voaspecialenglish.com. Im Steve Ember. ___

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Doctors Lack Many Ways to Treat Radiation Exposure

Posted by admin on June 10th, 2011 at 07:43am This is the VOA Special English Health Report. Countries across Asia and beyond are reporting small amounts of radiation from the disabled nuclear reactors in Japan. But officials say these levels are not a threat to public health. On Tuesday, Chinese officials reported low levels of radioactive iodine-131 in areas of southeastern China. These include Guangxi, Guangdong and Shanghai. Earlier tests found the material in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. In South Korea, nuclear safety officials say they have found radioactive iodine in Seoul and several other areas. Traces from the Fukushima power station have also been found as far away as Britain and the eastern United States. Radioactive iodine loses half its strength in a week. But a more dangerous material, plutonium, has also been found in soil near the power plant.

Some medicines, like Prussian blue pills, can help expel radioactive elements from the body. But there are not a lot of treatments for radiation exposure. The best known is potassium iodide. The pills flood the thyroid gland with nonradioactive iodine. The thyroid gland is a small organ in the neck that requires iodine for good health. Bottles of potassium iodide sit on the shelf of the Texas Star Pharmacy in Plano, Texas, March 15, 2011 AP But people exposed to high levels of radioactive iodine can get thyroid cancer. The pills block the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine and reduce the cancer risk. But the pills are not a cure for radiation sickness. And they work only if the radioactive iodine has been taken into the body through food or drink. The World Health Organization is warning the public not to use potassium iodide unless health officials advise them to. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl says the pills have their own risks. GREGORY HARTL: Indiscriminate use of the product can cause side effects such as inflammation of the salivary glands, nausea, rashes, intestinal upset and possible severe allergic reactions. It can also interact with other medications, especially certain types of cardiovascular medications such as ACE inhibitors, receptor blockers and potassiumsparing diuretics. The crisis in Japan is the result of damage from the March eleventh earthquake and tsunami. In the United States, the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute is looking for more-effective treatments for radiation exposure. The institute is working with a company called Onconova on one possible treatment known as Ex-Rad. Onconova officials say Ex-Rad has shown promise in tests on animals, but several more years of research are needed. And thats the VOA Special English Health Report. To read and hear more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com from your computer or mobile device. Im Steve Ember.

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Gold Keeps Shining, 40 Years After Nixon Ended Gold Standard

Posted by admin on June 12th, 2011 at 07:51am This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. The best example of something is often called the gold standard. It sets the standard against which other things are measured. In economics, the term describes how major trading nations once used gold to set currency values and exchange rates. Many nations continued to use the gold standard until the last century. In the United States, people could exchange paper money for gold from the eighteen seventies until nineteen thirty-three. President Richard Nixon finally disconnected the dollar from the value of gold in nineteen seventy-one. Some politicians from time to time call for a return to the gold standard. But in nineteen seventy-eight the International Monetary Fund ended an official gold price. The IMF also ended the required use of gold in transactions with its member countries. Since that time, gold prices have grown, but unevenly. Prices uncorrected for inflation are now at record highs. The current price is above fourteen hundred dollars an ounce. But people keep buying. Neang Chan Nuon is a gold shop owner in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. NEANG CHAN NUON: Some of my customers have even bought more as they believe the price will probably go higher. I sell more gold at these higher prices. Some people are gold bugs. These are investors who say people should buy gold to protect against inflation.

People have valued gold for thousands of years. The soft, dense metal polishes to a bright yellow shine and resists most chemical reactions. It makes a good material for money, political power and, more recently, electrical power. If you own a device like a mobile phone or a computer, you might own a little gold in the wiring. The gold standard was the subject of one of the best-known speeches in American political history. It took place at the eighteen ninety-six Democratic National Convention in Chicago. William Jennings Bryan wanted the country to use both gold and silver as money. The idea was to devalue the dollar and make it easier for farmers to pay their debts. Here is Bryan reading his speech much later, in nineteen twenty-one. WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold. The speech made William Jennings Bryan famous. He was a presidential candidate three times. But he never won. And thats the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Im Steve Ember.