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It is twenty-two hours thirty, universal time. I’m Jim Tedder in Washington. Officials in the Gas Strip say Palastinine Groups have reached an agreement to stop fighting after days of violence. The tales of the agreement between ruling Hamas and the opposing Fata groups have yet to be announced. The fighting increased in Gas Strip following a call for a new election by Palasinine President Mohammed Abbas. Gunman kidnapped and killed security officer loyal Fatahh Party of the president earlier. The suspected Hamas Malitan fired pro-fighter demonstrators in the northern Gas Strip at president’s office in Gasa City. He was not there. They also fired Moters, one moter was killed and many others were wounded. Fatah Gunman also see control of two ministries controlled by Hamas. The prime minister called this attempt to overthrow the government.

Gunaman in Iraqi Army Close have kidnapped at least twenty-four people from the Right office in Bagdad. Official say at least six hostages have been released. The attack took place as the British Prime Minister, Tony Blare, made a surprise visit to the Iraqi capital. He spoke at a News Conference with Iraqi Prime Minister, Maliji. The British leader said the Britain will make sure Iraqi democracy is not destroyed by terrorists. He also said he discussed preparations for British troops in City to return to Iraqi forces next year.
Also in Iraq, representatives of the nations opposing Asnic and religious Groups held a second day on talks. Delegates are trying to find ways to stop violence among their groups.

Iraqi Soony Vice President says more American troops are needed for security in his country. Ir Hashimi spoke to CNN Television. He said Iraqi forces do not have the equipment to secure Iraq. He also said that suspected resistance fighters are operating with the force. Mr. Hashimi blame Bush Administration for dismissing the Iraqi army.

The incoming American Senate majority leader spoke on ABC Television. The Senator Hashimi says the conficts should be settled politically, but he would support more American troops in Iraq for a short time.

France says he will withdraw about 200 members of the military for special forces from Afganstan in the next few weeks. The French Defense Minister says the troops will leave their positions in eastern Afganstan. They have been involved in the fight against Taliban and all kinds of violence there in search of some hind leaders of some of Ben Ladens. More than 1500 other French soldiers are expected to remain in Afganstan. Taliban fighters have increased their attacks on NATO and Afganstan soldiers this year.
The top American diplomat on North Korea Nuclear Program is urging that country to get serious about ending the program. Christopher Hill spoke in Beijing that he will take part in six nations talks on the subject. The talks are to begin on Monday. He says he must choose diplomatic method for settlement or one that involves restrictions for North Korea. The six nations, North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, have not met in more than a year.

You are listening to the news in VOA Special English. Police in Central Pakistan say a fire at a wedding has led to the death of at least 27 people including the woman who was to be married. Crowds running to escape the fire crushed some people, others were killed under a wall that fell. Most of victims were woman and children who were singing for the ceremony near the town of Jokerist. Official suspects an electrical problem cause the fire.

Nigeria ruling party has chosen state governor to be its presidential candidate in elections next year and official of the ruling People’s Democratic Party says the Moslims from Northern Nigeria wander support 3000 of the 4000 Party delegates. From seeking to third term. Nigeria president is bard by the Constitution.

Zanbabuwei’s president has failed to influence his ruling party to officially extend his presidency until 2010. The presidential election is to be held in 2008. Mr. had argued the election should instead be held in 2010 at the same time as the parliamentary elections were held. Delegates at the PF Conference agreed, but they said such move should not purposely extend without an election. Mr. rules Zinbabuwei since 1980.

The new king of Butan has promised democratic reform for small Himilian country. king spoke to thousands of supporters in the capital. He talked about plans to surrender total power and change Butan into a parliamentary democracy. The 26-year-old king took power earlier this month. He replaced his father who resigned earlier than expected.

The United States officials have extended the visit of the shuttle Discovery to the international space station. Officials say astronauts will use the extra time to repair a device that gathers solar energy. Dis astronauts are expected to complete the work outside the station Monday. It will be there for four space walks this visit. During the first three, the astronauts rewared the space station to connected to new solar panels brought on earlier phases. The Discovery now is expected to return to earth on Friday, one day later than plan.
Briefly, here again is the major news. Officials in Palestinien groups say have reached an agreement to stop fighting after days of violence. Gunman in Iraqi army closed had kidnapped at least 24 people from eight group and the top American negotiator to North Korea Nuclear Program is urging that country to get serious about ending the program.
That’s the news in VOA Special English in Washington. This is Tome Tedder reporting.

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Christmas a Jolly Season for Tree Farmers
By Jerilyn Watson / Broadcast: Tuesday, December 19, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Tall or short. Fat or thin. Real or plastic, or metal. Whatever the choice, two thousand million dollars worth of Christmas trees were sold last year in the United States.

Christmastime in the city brings forests of trees already cut and waiting to be sold. But some people like to drive to tree farms.

Others wait for their tree to come to them. They order one from the pages of a catalog or on the Internet.

Fraser firs, wrapped in plastic, on their way to market as Christmas trees from Pennsylvania

Some say the easiest thing of all is to buy a manmade tree with Christmas lights already on it. No falling needles to have to clean up.

The University of Illinois Extension service says in two thousand two, artificial trees outnumbered real ones in American homes more than two to one. One-third of homes had no tree.

The National Christmas Tree Association says thirty-three million real trees were sold last year, compared to nine million artificial ones. Artificial trees generally cost more, but they can be re-used. Most natural trees are cut up and recycled, but some people buy trees that can be planted.

Most Christmas trees are now grown on farms instead of in forests. Twenty-one thousand tree farmers in the United States grow Christmas trees on more than one hundred eighty thousand hectares. Oregon was the leading producer last year.

The Illinois Extension says the trees take seven to ten years to grow. The most popular pines include Scotch, Virginia and white. Other big sellers are Fraser, balsam and Douglas firs.

Twenty-two percent of people who bought real trees last year chose them at a farm. Two percent of those people cut the trees themselves.

The next most popular places were big stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Groups like the Boy Scouts also sell Christmas trees.

But some people pay nothing for theirs. They steal it.

Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has many pretty evergreens. Some years ago, a university employee found a way to keep them there. A month before Christmas, workers treated them with "pink ugly mix."

It contains water, hydrated lime, a tree protectant and red food color. The bright color starts to disappear after about a month. It can take longer, however. Cornell decided not to use the mix this year, but the idea has spread.

Some places protect their trees another way. The University of Nebraska at Lincoln uses a mixture made with fox urine. The trees smell fine in the cold air, but not in a warm home.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Pfizer Halts Testing of New Cholesterol Drug Because of Dangers
By Nancy Steinbach and Brianna Blake / Broadcast: Tuesday, December 19, 2006

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, we report on two medical studies, including one for an experimental drug. We also tell how officials in some American cities are fighting climate change.

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VOICE ONE:

Pfizer headquarters in New York. Researchers say it is not known yet if similar drugs being developed are dangerous, or just torcetrapib.

Earlier this month, the drug company Pfizer stopped tests of an experimental medicine because of possible health dangers. The medicine is called torcetrapib. It was developed as a way to prevent heart disease by changing cholesterol levels in the blood.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance. The human body uses cholesterol to help build and operate cells. All the cholesterol a person needs is produced in one organ, the liver. This cholesterol goes into the blood so that cells can get some when they need it.

VOICE TWO:

Low density lipoproteins, also known as L.D.L., carry cholesterol into the blood. Cholesterol in the blood that cells has not been used is considered bad cholesterol. High density lipoproteins are called H.D.L. They gather up the unused cholesterol and take it back to the liver to be destroyed.

High L.D.L. levels are evidence that the H.D.L. has been unable to remove some cholesterol from the blood. The extra cholesterol sticks to artery walls. This can block blood flow and cause a heart attack or stroke. High H.D.L. levels mean that the unneeded cholesterol is being moved out of the blood and back to the liver. This prevents cholesterol from sticking to the arteries.

VOICE ONE:

Torcetrapib was designed to increase the amount of good cholesterol in the blood. Pfizer was testing the drug on fifteen thousand heart patients when the study ended. The patients were divided into two groups of seventy-five hundred each.

One group took torcetrapib and Lipitor -- a drug that reduces bad cholesterol. The other took Lipitor alone. A Pfizer official said the group taking the torcetrapib experienced too many heart problems and deaths for the study to continue. He said eighty-two people died in the group taking both drugs. Fifty-one people died in the group taking only Lipitor.

VOICE TWO:

Reports say torcetrapib was causing concerns among researchers because another study showed it could increase blood pressure in some persons. Still, it is not known why the patients taking the drug suffered unacceptable levels of health problems.

Researchers say other drugs to increase good cholesterol are also being tested. But they say it is too early to tell if all such drugs are dangerous or if it was just something about torcetrapib that caused the problem.

In fact, an already approved drug raises good cholesterol without causing serious health problems. That drug, Niaspan, is made by Kos Pharmaceuticals.

VOICE ONE:

A study done two years ago found that Niaspan taken with drugs to reduce bad cholesterol stopped blocked arteries from getting worse. The study also involved two groups of patients. One took only a drug that lowers bad cholesterol. The other took that drug and Niaspan. The study showed fewer health problems among those who took Niaspan.

Today, Kos Pharmaceuticals and America's National Institutes of Health are carrying out a similar test. It involves more than three thousand patients at about sixty medical centers.

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VOICE TWO:

Another study is expected to change the way doctors treat people with severe back pain from a herniated disk. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons says disks are soft substances found between the bones of the back. These bones extend from the back of the head in a line down the body. In the center of this line of bones is a space that contains the spinal cord and other nerves. Disks help the back to move. They also protect the spinal cord and the nerves.

VOICE ONE:

Disks in the lower back have a thick, outer covering and a softer, gel-like substance on the inside. A disk is said to herniate when some of the gel-like substance pushes through the outer covering. This puts pressure on the nerves. The result is pain or weakness in one or both legs.

Spinal disks reduce in size as people age. The spaces between them get smaller, and the disks are able to move less easily than before. So a fall or any sudden movement can damage them. The most common sign that this has happened is a sharp pain from the top of the back of the leg all the way down to the foot. Other signs include weakness or a lack of feeling in one or both legs.

VOICE TWO:

Normal medical treatment of a herniated disk is to operate and remove it. A study concerning this treatment was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study looked at patients who suffered a herniated disk in the lower back. It compared those who had the operation with those treated with a combination of rest, light exercise and pain medicine. Both groups reported improvement after three to six months. After two years, about seventy percent of the patients in both groups reported major improvement in their conditions.

The researchers say the study showed that people with this kind of disk damage often recover, even when they do not have the operation. The study did find that operating soon after the injury appeared to ease the pain more quickly than waiting. But it found that using other methods to ease the pain did not cause any real damage to the body.

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VOICE ONE:

Many cities in the United States are competing against each other to be the greenest. The cities are attempting to limit the industrial gases they release into Earth's atmosphere.

Studies have shown that average temperatures are slowly rising worldwide. Many scientists believe industrial gases are to blame. But other scientists are unsure how such gases affect the climate.

Industrial gases are also known as greenhouse gases. Greenhouses are clear glass or plastic buildings used to grow plants. The glass or plastic traps the heat of the sun.

Earth's atmosphere acts like a greenhouse. Carbon dioxide, water vapor and other gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun. Some human activities have been shown to increase production of these gases.

VOICE TWO:

Recently, officials in cities like Seattle, Washington have been setting goals for carbon dioxide reduction. They are also urging people to use methods of transportation other than cars.

The city of Chicago, Illinois, for example, is planting trees and creating grassy areas on building tops where plants and flowers can grow. And, the mayor of New York has announced plans to make his city the leader in reducing greenhouse gases.

In all, mayors of more than three hundred American cities have said they will recognize the goals of the Kyoto Protocol. The treaty was reached nine years ago at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Kyoto, Japan.

VOICE ONE:

At the conference, major industrial nations agreed to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they release into the atmosphere. The reductions are to take place between two thousand eight and two thousand twelve.

The United States Senate never approved the Kyoto Protocol. The main reason is because President Bush said the reductions would hurt the American economy. The Bush administration says it supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gases as long as they are done by choice, and not required by law.

VOICE TWO:

Yet some local governments are making changes. One of the biggest examples is in the state of California. Earlier this year, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law requiring reductions in the state's release of greenhouse gases. The plan limits major industries, including coal-burning producers of electric power. Others include oil and gas processing centers and producers of building materials.

Recently, the United States Conference of Mayors announced an agreement with the American Institute of Architects. They plan to cut in half the amount of oil, coal and gas used to build and operate buildings by two thousand ten. They then want to continue with reductions. By two thousand thirty, they want make buildings that will completely end their use of such fuels.

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VOICE ONE:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach and Brianna Blake, who also served as our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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