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Search results for: 1. Last month, President Clinton established the largest protected area for wildlife in the United States. 2. The protected area includes thirty-four-million hectares underwater around the northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. 3. President Clinton said the action is designed to save the area's coral reefs and other wildlife. 4. Corals are large groups of small organisms called polyps. 5. These polyps live in a cup-like skeleton made of a substance called limestone. 6. Corals are found in warm, tropical waters. 7. Millions of corals grow together to form coral reefs. 8. The coral reefs support many kinds of sea life. 9. They are important to some local and national economies. 10. Many people visit areas with coral reefs. 11. And the reefs protect coastal communities from severe storms. 12. The underwater preserve contains almost seventy-percent of the coral reefs in the United States. 13. The protection order bans oil and gas exploration in the underwater preserve. 14. It also bans placing any material in the water. 15. It prevents any changes to the seabed or coral in the preserve. 16. And it restricts fishing to recent or current levels. 17. Mr. Clinton said coral reefs are important for several reasons. 18. They support thousands of kinds of fish and other sea life. 19. They produce millions of dollars for the fishing and tourism industry. 20. And coral reefs provide new hope for medical discoveries. 21. But Mr. Clinton said the world's coral reefs are in danger. 22. He said pollution, coral hunters and fishing using explosives have damaged the coral reefs. 23. Coastal development and the effects of climate change also have harmed the reefs. 24. He said these harmful actions have already killed more than twenty-five percent of the world's reefs. 25. In some areas, such as the Indian Ocean, ninety-percent of the coral reefs have died. 26. Some members of the Hawaiian fishing industry opposed the creation of the new preserve. 27. They said the restrictions on current fishing levels would hurt the fishing industry in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. 28. But environmental groups said they believed Mr. Clinton's action did not go far enough. 29. Some groups wanted Mr. Clinton to declare the area a national monument. 30. This would give even greater protections. 31. They said such action would have banned fishing completely within the preserve. 32. This week, President Bush told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that the United States will not try to force peace on the Israelis and Palestinians. 33. Mr. Bush also ended the American Central Intelligence Agency's involvement with Israeli and Palestinian security services. 34. A National Security Council spokeswoman says the move is part of the adminstration's plan to urge direct talks between the Israel and the Palestinians. 35. Experts say the decision is a sign that the Bush administration will not be as intensely involved as the Clinton administration was in peace efforts. 36. In Washington this week, Mr. Bush and Mr. Sharon discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the most troubling issues in the Middle East.

37. Mr. Bush promised to work to bring together all nations responsible for peace in the Middle East. 38. But he said the United States would not try to force peace on the Israelis and Palestinians. 39. Mr. Sharon said the Israeli government wants peace. 40. He said, however, that serious negotiations could not start until the current violence decreases in the Palestinian territories. 41. Israeli officials say the violence is planned. 42. They say Mr. Arafat is using his security forces to attack Israelis. 43. More than four-hundred-thirty people have died in violence in the West Bank and Gaza in the past six months. 44. Most of them were Palestinians. 45. A top American official said President Bush agreed with Mr. Sharon that violence had to halt before peace negotiations could begin again. 46. But the Bush administration also says the Israeli government should ease travel restrictions on Palestinians that are causing severe economic problems. 47. Israel says the restrictions are necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. 48. Tensions are expected to increase because of Israel's plans to expand Jewish settlements in Jerusalem. 49. The Bush administration has criticized Israel for its actions, saying it harms peace efforts. 50. Mr. Sharon has promised not to begin any new settlements. 51. Yet he says he will not stop expansion of existing ones. 52. Palestinians say the expansion is Israel's effort to claim more Palestinian land. 53. An investigating committee of the United Nations Human Rights Commission released a report Wednesday. 54. It called on Israel to end its closure of Palestinian territories. 55. The report said Israel has used unnecessary force dealing with the Palestinian uprising. 56. Another international committee investigating Israeli and Palestinian violence says the situation in the Middle East is urgent. 57. The head of the committee, former Senator George Mitchell, appealed this week for peace talks to reopen. 58. The meat of wild forest animals, called bushmeat, has long been an important part of the diet of people in central and western Africa. 59. But hunters are killing too many of these animals. 60. The hunters are supported by the logging industry that cuts down trees for profit. 61. Environmentalists say animals such as gorillas and chimpanzees are especially at risk. 62. They say these animals are in danger of disappearing if the so-called bushmeat trade is not slowed. 63. Bushmeat is the main source of animal protein for a majority of people in Congo Kinshasa, Congo Brazzaville, Cameroon, and Gabon. 64. Experts say individuals who hunt meat for their families do not affect the number of animals in the African forests. 65. But they say this has changed in recent years because of over-hunting for the illegal bushmeat trade. 66. Bushmeat is sold in markets and eating places in African cities. 67. Bushmeat is also sold in local markets near logging settlements where it is popular among the thousands of workers. 68. Jane Goodall is an expert on gorillas in the wild. 69. She says the logging companies have made the situation worse because they have built roads deep into forests. 70. She says that has made it easier for hunters to reach endangered animals.

71. Environmentalists say hunting is only one of the problems facing the animals. 72. The animals are also threatened by millions of central Africans who have been displaced by civil wars in the past ten years. 73. Armed citizens are killing wildlife because they are unable to get other kinds of food. 74. Environmentalists say logging companies need to be pressured to ban the export of any threatened animals. 75. And they say local people need to be educated about the dangers of eating bushmeat. 76. Some bushmeat has been shown to contain the deadly Ebola virus and the AIDS virus. 77. Environmentalists say the bushmeat trade can be reduced by providing other kinds of animal meat for people to eat. 78. But they say this can only be done with the help of international aid organizations. 79. Jane Goodall says many animals in central Africa could disappear in the next twenty years without efforts to deal with the bushmeat problem. 80. An international group called the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force is working with other organizations to develop a plan of action. 81. The federal judge who found Microsoft guilty of breaking the law now wants to decide soon on the future of the company. 82. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has set hearings to begin in Washington on May Twenty- fourth. 83. He will decide how to reduce Microsoft's control of the computer software industry. 84. He has asked for proposals from the federal government and the nineteen states that brought action against Microsoft. 85. Judge Jackson ruled Monday that the world's largest maker of computer programs violated faircompetition laws. 86. He called its measures "oppressive." 87. Microsoft will appeal the ruling. 88. The appeals process can take months. 89. But earlier this week Judge Jackson told lawyers for both sides that he did not want the case to continue that long. 90. He suggested the possibility of an appeal directly to the United States Supreme Court. 91. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, however, says he believes the issues in the case are too difficult to be considered in a hurry. 92. The company plans to base its arguments on a Court of Appeals decision in Nineteen-Ninety-Eight. 93. That decision supported Microsoft. 94. Judge Jackson ruled that Microsoft illegally protected its Windows operating system against competition. 95. He also ruled that the company illegally linked its Internet Explorer software to Windows. 96. He said Microsoft attempted to completely control the market for browser programs for Internet users. 97. The judge said these activities violated anti-trust laws. 98. Such laws were written to prevent any one company from unfairly controlling a whole industry. 99. The judge supported Microsoft on only one small point. 100. Judge Jackson's ruling was widely expected. 101. He had presented similar findings last November, after months of trial. 102. Since then, four months of talks between Microsoft and government lawyers failed to produce a settlement. 103. Investors reacted to the ruling by selling shares in Microsoft and other technology companies. 104. On Tuesday, Microsoft shares lost more than fourteen-percent of their value.

105. The Nasdaq Composite Index of technology stocks fell by almost eight percent. 106. By the end of the trading week, however, both Microsoft and the Nasdaq Index had gained strength. 107. On Wednesday Bill Gates attended a White House conference on the nation's economy. 108. President Clinton invited the world's richest man to talk about how to spread technology to the poor. 109. The next day, Mister Gates appeared in the first of a series of paid thirty-second messages on television. 110. He does not talk about his company's legal troubles. 111. Instead, he talks about how Microsoft began with the idea of using the personal computer to improve people's lives. 112. On April twenty-fifth, African leaders will gather in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. 113. They will plan action to fight a disease that affects the African continent more than any other. 114. Malaria kills more than one-million people each year. 115. The majority of those victims are the children of Africa. 116. Malaria is spread by a kind of mosquito. 117. The disease can cause fever, head pain, stomach sickness and uncontrollable shaking. 118. The most deadly form of malaria often causes a severe lack of iron in the blood. 119. This is the most common reason for death from the disease. 120. The World Health Organization says malaria attacks poor people more than any other disease. 121. It is a public health problem in ninety countries. 122. However, more than ninety percent of malaria cases are in African countries south of the Sahara Desert. 123. The WHO says the cost of the disease in Africa is high. 124. The disease prevents adults from working. 125. It prevents children from going to school. 126. Malaria can cause nutritional problems in children that damage their physical and mental development. 127. Two years ago the WHO, United Nations Children Fund, UN Development Program and World Bank started a program to end the disease. 128. The program is called Roll Back Malaria. 129. Its goal is to reduce the rate of malaria around the world by half. 130. Organizers of the program say one way to do this is to protect people from mosquitoes while they sleep. 131. They say people should surround their beds with material that has been treated with chemicals to kill mosquitoes. 132. Research shows that children who sleep under such bednets are fifty percent less likely to get malaria. 133. Roll Back Malaria is working to increase local production of the bednets to help reduce the cost. 134. The program plans to provide bednets for sixty-million African families during the next five years. 135. However, the organizers of Roll Back Malaria say bednets are just part of the answer. 136. They say communities, governments, health services and development organizations have other responsibilities. 137. They must make sure that every village and town can get effective medicines to treat malaria.

138. They also must create systems for spreading new information about malaria correctly and quickly. 139. A leading American research scientist died last month at his home in Virginia. 140. Edward Knipling [nip-ling] was ninety-one years old. 141. Mr. Knipling was a world famous expert in the study of insects. 142. Most of his work was done for the Agricultural Research Service, the chief research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture. 143. During his lifetime, Mr. Knipling received many awards, including the National Medal of Science and the World Food Prize. 144. Last year, Progressive Farmer magazine named him among twenty-one scientists who most influenced American agriculture in the past one-hundred years. 145. Mr. Knipling developed effective ways to control insects without using harmful chemicals. 146. His efforts resulted in the disappearance of the wild screwworm population from North America. 147. This has helped to prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to farmers around the world. 148. The screwworm fly lays its eggs in cuts in the skin of cows and other farm animals. 149. When the young insects are born, they feed on the living tissue of the animals and cause serious wounds. 150. Unless treated, an adult cow can die within a few days. 151. Mr. Knipling and another American researcher, Raymond Bushland, developed a method to stop the spread of the insects. 152. They used radiation to make male screwworm flies unable to reproduce. 153. Then they released the treated males to mate in the wild with fertile female flies. 154. The eggs from the females could not become fertilized and did not produce young screwworm flies. 155. As a result, the number of the insects dropped sharply. 156. This method is now used worldwide to kill other insects harmful to agriculture, such as Mediterranean fruit flies. 157. In Africa, the method is used to control the tsetse fly, which spreads sleeping sickness. 158. Mr. Knipling also helped develop the idea of using some kinds of insect enemies to control harmful insect populations. 159. Some harmful insects are more easily treated with biological controls than with chemical ones. 160. This idea has grown to include other methods that do not harm the environment. 161. They include interference with the mating of insects and the use of natural substances to control insects. 162. Today, we tell about the disease multiple sclerosis. 163. Multiple sclerosis is not very easy to say. 164. Those who suffer from the disease may also have difficulty naming it. 165. One of the chief signs of multiple sclerosis is losing the ability to speak clearly. 166. It is estimated that more than one-million people around the world suffer from multiple sclerosis, which also is called MS. 167. MS is a disease of the brain and spinal cord. 168. The cause of the disease is not known. 169. In patients with the disease, the covering of the nerves is destroyed. 170. This temporarily blocks signals that pass through the nerves to the muscles of the body and back to the brain. 171. MS especially affects the ability to see, the sense of touch and the use of the arms and legs.

172. Most forms of the disease are described as progressive. 173. This means that the disease gets worse as time passes. 174. The central nervous system of the body includes the brain and the spinal cord. 175. The system contains millions of nerve cells joined together by long thin fibers, like wires. 176. Electric signals start in nerve cells and travel along these fibers to and from the brain. 177. A fatty substance called myelin covers and protects the fibers. 178. Myelin works in the same way that protective coverings work on electric wires. 179. In patients with MS, the myelin becomes infected. 180. It swells, or grows larger, and loses its connection with the nerve fibers. 181. As time passes, the unconnected myelin is destroyed. 182. Hardened tissue called scar tissue then forms over the nerve fibers. 183. The process of hardening is called sclerosis. 184. The word is from Latin and means scar. 185. The many areas of hardened or scar tissue give the disease its name. 186. In people with MS, when nerve signals reach a damaged area, some of the signals are blocked or delayed from traveling to or from the brain. 187. This results in problems in different places throughout the body. 188. These problems may appear and then disappear, sometimes resulting in long periods when there are no problems at all. 189. Or, they may happen more and more often and become worse. 190. Doctors do not know what causes this process. 191. Health experts say the disease affects women two times as often as men. 192. And the experts say the average age of people found to have the disease is between twenty and forty years old. 193. For many years, doctors believed that the cause of multiple sclerosis was environmental. 194. They believed this because a majority of those suffering from the disease lived in northern Europe and the northern half of the United States. 195. In recent years, however, they have changed their beliefs about the causes of MS. 196. Studies support the theory that there are several causes of multiple sclerosis, instead of a single gene problem or one environmental cause. 197. The studies appear to show that genetic problems are involved in making people likely to get the disease. 198. The studies also appear to show that environmental causes such as viruses or bacteria also may be involved. 199. However, researchers have not identified just what those causes might be. 200. Another likely cause is a problem within the body's defense system, when the defense system misunderstands signals and attacks the body. 201. Multiple sclerosis is different from many other diseases. 202. The signs or symptoms of the disease are not always the same. 203. Sometimes symptoms of MS appear and then disappear for a long time. 204. For example, one of the symptoms is a lack of feeling in one part of the body or another. 205. Two other symptoms of the disease are muscle weakness or tiredness. 206. However, these signs also could be caused by other health problems that are not MS. 207. Other signs include a loss of the ability to move normally, or a loss of balance. 208. A person suffering from MS also may have difficulty seeing well or speaking clearly.

209. Doctors who suspect a patient has MS must carry out a number of tests and study the patient's history of health problems. 210. Signs of MS can depend on where the nerve scars are in the body's central nervous system. 211. And some of these signs are not always easy to see. 212. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is one way to tell if a patient has multiple sclerosis. 213. The test, also known as MRI, involves studying the magnetic signals from all the cells in the body. 214. An MRI can show if there are scars from MS along a patient's nerves. 215. A doctor can use this test to tell if a patient might have the disease, as well as by studying the patient's medical history. 216. There are five main kinds of multiple sclerosis. 217. The first kind is called Benign. 218. This is the form of MS that is not progressive. 219. In ten to fifteen percent of MS patients, the symptoms are moderate and not severe. 220. The problems do not grow worse. 221. They do not lead to a person becoming permanently disabled. 222. The second kind of MS is called Relapsing-Remitting. 223. About eight-five percent of MS patients begin with this form of the disease. 224. More than half of MS patients have this form at any one time. 225. These patients have one or two major MS-related problems every one to three years. 226. Then they have periods with no signs of the disease. 227. The symptoms appear suddenly and last a few weeks or months before slowly disappearing. 228. However, the signs of the disease may become worse each time they appear. 229. The third kind of MS is called Primary Progressive. 230. In this form of MS, the signs of the disease appear and begin to grow worse, with no periods of disappearance. 231. About ten to fifteen percent of patients begin their struggle with MS this way. 232. The fourth kind of MS is called Secondary Progressive. 233. This form of the disease affects about fifty percent of those with the Relapse-Remitting form of MS. 234. It begins to affect them several years after they have had Relapse-Remitting MS. 235. When the disease changes to Secondary Progressive, the disease begins to grow worse and worse. 236. The fifth kind of MS is called Progressive Relapsing. 237. It is the worst form of multiple sclerosis. 238. New signs of MS can appear while existing ones grow worse. 239. This form of the disease is rare. 240. It affects only five percent of MS cases. 241. Scientists say multiple sclerosis does not appear to be passed from parents to children. 242. However, it does appear to be found in families. 243. As many as twenty percent of people with MS have at least one affected family member. 244. And, people whose close family members have the disease have as much as a forty percent chance of also developing MS. 245. It does not appear that one gene is responsible for MS. 246. Instead, several genes may increase the possibility that a person will develop MS.

247. Common viruses or bacteria may also increase the chances that some people will develop the disease. 248. As with many diseases, early discovery and treatment can make a major difference in a person's life. 249. MS does not always result in severe disability. 250. Many people are able to live normal lives. 251. There is no cure for multiple sclerosis. 252. However, there are new treatments for MS that ease the symptoms of the disease. 253. Some new treatments also can slow the progression of the disease. 254. Several kinds of drugs are used to treat MS. 255. Some drugs reduce the swelling in nerve tissue. 256. Drugs known as beta interferons also are used to treat MS. 257. Interferons are genetically engineered copies of proteins found naturally in the body. 258. These proteins help fight viral infections and help the body's defense system against disease. 259. Some MS patients inject these beta interferon drugs. 260. However, this treatment is very costly. 261. And some patients develop side effects. 262. Scientists around the world are working to develop new treatments for MS. 263. Researchers in the United States are carrying out more than twelve studies of possible treatments. 264. Doctors are hopeful that new treatments will help patients with multiple sclerosis in the future. 265. On Saturday, hundreds of millions of people around the world will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Earth Day. 266. More than four-thousand organizations are planning events in almost two-hundred countries. 267. Earth Day Two-Thousand is expected to be the largest environmental event in history. 268. Earth Day is a yearly call for people to work together to save the planet. 269. The first Earth Day took place in the United States on April twenty-second, Nineteen-Seventy. 270. Former Senator Gaylord Nelson started Earth Day because he believed few public officials were concerned about the environment. 271. He organized a nationwide effort to educate people about environmental issues. 272. Twenty-million Americans took part. 273. The first Earth Day helped make the environment an important political and social issue. 274. It led to the passage of important legislation in the United States. 275. Those laws included the clean air and clean water acts and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. 276. Experts say the environment in the United States is better than it was thirty years ago. 277. There are stronger laws and better technologies. 278. And more people are concerned about the issues. 279. But experts say there are major threats around the world. 280. These include overpopulation, the reduction in animal and plant species and the rising temperature of the Earth. 281. Air and water pollution are still serious problems in many developing countries. 282. The Earth's growing population is putting more pressure on land and water supplies. 283. The destruction of tropical forests threatens rare kinds of animals and plants. 284. And, scientists say that burning fuels such as oil and coal is causing a dangerous warming of the Earth.

285. They say global warming could be affecting the weather, increasing water levels and changing the planet's structure. 286. Denis Hayes helped organize the first Earth Day in Nineteen-Seventy. 287. He has rejoined the campaign for Earth Day Two-Thousand. 288. He says the goal this year is to work toward the use of cleaner forms of energy for transportation, heating and lighting. 289. The campaign also will deal with global warming and its effect on health, air, water and wildlife. 290. Some environmentalists question whether Earth Day will be effective. 291. But Mr. Hayes says he is hopeful this year's event will lead to international action on clean energy. 292. Today we tell about the world's largest nonprofit scientific and educational organization -- the National Geographic Society in Washington, D. C. 293. Millions of people around the world depend on the National Geographic Society for information. 294. Exhibits and modern technology in this museum help them learn about the Earth and its environment. 295. The National Geographic Society produces maps, books, and magazines that are popular around the world. 296. It produces films and television shows. 297. It makes computer programs and videos for schools. 298. The society's Committee for Research and Exploration gives money to scientists working in subjects from archaeology to zoology. 299. The National Geographic Society supports the teaching of geography -- the study of the Earth. 300. It helps train teachers in geography.