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US Military Confirms Body Found is That of Missing Soldier

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798EDC:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 And, in western
city of Fallujah Iraqi officials say a car bomb killed at least 26
people as mourners gathered for funeral for local man who opposed
al-Qaida The U.S. military in Iraq has confirmed that a body pulled
from the Euphrates River Wednesday was one of three U.S. soldiers
missing for nearly two weeks.

Iraqi men and a policeman try to pull a body from the Euphrates river
at Musayyib, Iraq, 23 May 2007

A military spokeswoman said Thursday that the body has been identified
as Private First Class Joseph Anzack Jr.

Anzack and two other soldiers are believed to have been captured by
al-Qaida-linked terrorists south of Baghdad on May 12.  The attack in
an area known as the "Triangle of Death" triggered a massive search
operation.

In the western city of Fallujah Thursday, Iraqi officials say a car
bomb blast killed at least 26 people, as mourners gathered for a
funeral for a local man who opposed al-Qaida.

In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead 11 people aboard a minibus, while north
of Baghdad, a roadside bomb blast killed six police officers.

Earlier, the U.S. military said two American soldiers were killed in
combat on Wednesday in al-Anbar province, west of Baghdad. 

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

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Israel Arrests More Than 30 Hamas Members as Crackdown Continues

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798EDB:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 Most prominent
leader arrested is Nasser Shaer, education minister in Palestinian
unity government Israeli security forces arrested more than 30 leading
members of Hamas, Thursday, in the occupied West Bank - part of a
continuing crackdown against Hamas for launching rockets into Israel
from the Gaza Strip. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from our Jerusalem
Bureau.

Nasser Shaer is escorted by Israeli soldiers after his release from an
Israeli jail at the Hawara Checkpoint near Nablus (Sept 2006 file
photo)The most prominent Hamas leader arrested is Nasser Shaer, the
education minister in the Hamas-dominated Palestinian unity
government. Israeli forces also detained the mayors of the West Bank
towns Nablus, Qalqiliya and Beita, as well as at least one former
cabinet minister and several sitting members of the Palestinian
legislature.

Speaking on Israeli Radio, Defense Minister Amir Peretz says the
arrests are part of an ongoing crackdown on Hamas for its continued
rocket attacks against the southern Israeli city, Sderot, from the
Gaza Strip.

Peretz says arrests are preferable to bloodshed. He says the
detentions send a message to Hamas leaders that Israel will not
tolerate the rocket attacks.

Israeli air strikes targeted currency exchange shops in the Gaza Strip
that Israeli military authorities say were being used to funnel money
to Hamas militants. The arrests and ongoing Israeli strikes in Gaza
were condemned by Palestinian officials, like presidential spokesman
Nabil Aburdeneh speaking on Palestinian radio.

Aburdeneh says the Israeli actions will not help Israel's security and
could only provoke Palestinians - saying international mediation is
needed to end the current crisis.

The Israeli actions on Thursday followed a meeting in Gaza between
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and moderate Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas. Media reports say the two men discussed declaring a
unilateral truce with Israel and the truce between the Palestinian
factions Hamas and Fatah that went into effect a few days ago.

Palestinian in-fighting, in the past two weeks, has led to the deaths
of about 50 people and sparked a surge in the firing of rockets
against Israel by Hamas - which in turn has led to Israeli reprisals
in the form of air strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip.

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Lebanese PM Vows to Uproot Islamic Terrorists in Refugee Camp

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798ED7:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 Fuad Siniora says
Lebanese army has been victim of 'terrorist organization'

Fuad Siniora (file photo)Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has
vowed to eradicate terrorism after fierce fighting between the
Lebanese army and militants in a Palestinian refugee camp.

In a nationally televised speech Thursday, Mr. Siniora said the
Lebanese army had been a victim of a "terrorist organization." He said
"we will work to eradicate terrorism, but we will protect our
Palestinian brothers."

On Wednesday, Lebanon's Defense Minister Elias Murr issued an
ultimatum to the Fatah al-Islam militants holed up in the Nahr
al-Bared camp, saying they must surrender or face further military
action.

The militants say they will abide by the truce announced Tuesday, but
will not surrender and will fight if attacked.

About 75 people - soldiers, militants and civilians - have been killed
since the fighting began Sunday.

Lebanese military officials say troops also sank two small boats the
militants were using to escape the besieged camp on Tuesday.

Relief workers say as many as half of some 30,000 residents of the
camp have fled since the fragile truce went into effect. Most headed
to the nearby Lebanese city of Tripoli and another Palestinian refugee
camp, Beddawi.

In other news, the new French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, is
expected to visit Beirut Thursday for talks with Mr. Siniora and other
senior officials, including the speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri.

The battles on the outskirts of Tripoli are said to be the worst
internal fighting since Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

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

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Arrests in Iran Seen as Warning to US

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798ED5:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 US officials and
professional colleagues say Haleh Esfandiari is only a scholar A
leading Iranian-American scholar is in prison in Tehran, charged with
plotting to topple the Iranian government.  Both U.S. officials and
professional colleagues say Haleh Esfandiari is only a scholar and
categorically deny that she is part of any U.S. effort against Iran. 
But, as VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports from Washington, even
benign actions by Americans are likely to be viewed with deep
suspicion in the power centers of Iran.

Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow
Wilson CenterThe United States has budgeted $75 million for what the
Bush administration calls "democracy promotion."  Officials in Iran
see the program as a plot to topple their government.

Ken Katzman, a Middle East analyst at the nonpartisan Congressional
Research Service, says the arrest of Haleh Esfandiari and other
Iranian-Americans is designed to warn Iranians not to accept U.S.
money or help, no matter how harmless the purpose.

"It's open money, it's all transparent, it's done through publicly
solicited contracts," he noted.  "But the regime sees this as a U.S.
overthrow effort.  And I think the regime is trying to put a brake on
anybody accepting any of these funds, any Iranians or now, even
Iranian-Americans or even Americans going anywhere near any of these
funds."

But neither Esfandiari nor her employer, the Woodrow Wilson Center for
International Scholars, has received any of those funds.  The Center
director, former Democratic U.S. Congressman Lee Hamilton says
Esfandiari and the Center have nothing whatsoever to do with fomenting
any kind of regime change in Iran.

"Haleh's work at the Wilson Center has been characterized as part of a
U.S.-backed plot to foment soft revolution in Iran," he said.  "There
is, of course, not a shred, not a scintilla of the truth to the
allegations against her. Iran is trying to turn a scholar into a spy.
Haleh is a scholar.  She has never been a spy."

As the director of the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson
Center for International Scholars, one of many non-governmental
academic centers, Esfandiari has been a leading scholarly analyst of
regional affairs, particularly those of Iran.  Esfandiari, 67, was in
Iran to visit her family when she was prevented from leaving the
country in December.  After months of interrogation and house arrest,
she was thrown into prison May 8th. 

The Bush administration has made no secret of its desire to see regime
change in Tehran, even though that term has slipped out of official
pronouncements of late.  The funds for "democracy promotion" are to go
to a variety of efforts, including increased radio and television
broadcasting to Iran.

Bill Samii, an analyst at the Center for Naval Analysis, says even
overt, non-military U.S. actions are viewed as sinister in the
corridors of power in Tehran.

"These are things that we see as fairly benign - you know, holding a
conference, or having someone come and give a talk about developments
in Iran," he said.  "That's pretty mild stuff.  But from the Iranian
perspective, when they hear about so-called 'velvet revolutions' and
so on, they'll latch on to anything that might be associated with
that."

Ken Katzman was to go to Iran for a conference this week, but found
his visa suddenly revoked.  He believes Iran may also be trying to use
Esfandiari and the other detained Iranian-Americans as bargaining
chips for Iranians captured by U.S. forces in Iraq.  The United States
says the Iranians went to Iraq to arm and assist insurgents there.

The United States and Iran are scheduled to hold talks Monday on
stabilizing the situation in Iraq.  But analysts say the arrest of
Haleh Esfandiari and other Iranian-Americans will cast a cloud over
the talks.

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China Calls for Sudanese 'Flexibility' on Darfur Peacekeepers

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798ED4:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 Spokeswoman says
China's new special envoy for Africa pressed Khartoum government on
issue during recent trip to region The Chinese government says it is
urging Sudan to be more flexible in allowing U.N. peacekeepers into
Darfur.  A spokeswoman in Beijing says China's new special envoy for
Africa pressed the Khartoum government on the issue during his
just-completed trip to the region. Daniel Schearf reports from
Beijing.

China's special representative, Liu Guijin, has returned to China
after a five-day visit to Sudan that included meetings with Sudanese
leaders and stops at Darfur refugee camps.

Jiang Yu  China's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Liu
commended Sudanese leaders for working to improve the situation in
Darfur, but also pressed Khartoum to implement former U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to get U.N. peacekeepers into the
region.

"(The Chinese side) also hopes the Sudan side can exert more
flexibility in implementing the Annan plan, speed up and press ahead
with Darfur's political progress and further improve the humanitarian
and security situation in Darfur," Jiang said.

Khartoum has agreed in principle to the Annan plan, but has refused to
allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur to aid overwhelmed African Union
forces already in the region.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and two million made
homeless during four years of conflict in Darfur, where
government-backed militias have been accused of genocide and mass
rapes.

China has been accused of using its veto in the U.N. Security Council
to block international pressure on Sudan to allow a stronger U.N.
peacekeeping force.

China is a major buyer of Sudanese oil and supplier of weapons to
Khartoum.  The Beijing government has come under international
pressure to use its influence to press Sudan on Darfur.

China has become more vocal in publicly pressing Sudan to allow U.N.
peacekeepers, but maintains a deployment must have the consent of
Khartoum.  

 

------------------------------------------------------

Green Awareness Grows in Oily Niger Delta

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798EDA:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 Activists slowly
trying to reverse negative effects of living in an oil-rich but
impoverished region Environmental awareness is growing in Nigeria's
oil-rich Niger Delta, as well as anger over spills and drastic changes
to the region's ecosystem. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from the towns
of Ikarama and Odi in the Niger Delta.

Idoukumo stands in front of spillAbila Idoukumo walks in tall grass
just a few meters away from the Ikarama community in Bayelsa State,
onto a knee-deep oily swamp the size of several football fields.

"Since January, the crude was spilled here and it has not been cleaned
until this present date. It has not been awarded to any contractor,"
he said. "All the grasses, everything here has been damaged, fish that
were still living within the water cycle are all dead and there is no
way to utilize this place for our own farming system again."

Villagers say the oil seeped from underground pipelines operated by
Dutch-based oil conglomerate Shell.

" hspace=2
src="/english/images/Nigeria_colombant_environment_Shell_pipelines_24may07_eng_195.jpg"
width=185 vspace=2 border=0>

Nearby Shell pipelines blamed for spillShell officials in Nigeria
refused to comment, saying they were too busy dealing with threats by
militants who blow up oil installations and kidnap foreign workers.

Idoukumo, a plumber and father of seven, says children initially got
skin infections, measles, and coughs, while adults got headaches.

"In the evening, you cannot get a very good breath of air," he said.
"Children because of this have been getting sick from time to time and
these are things we have been crying to find an avenue to be rescued
from this problem. And so presently, you see with your eyes, that the
community is always in hazard."

Lambert Miebi is trained as a chemical safety engineer, but he says
the oil companies will not hire him, even though he believes he would
be a better choice than outsiders who care little about local
concerns.

"When I see this every day, I cry," he said.

He adds that Shell often blames oil spills on sabotage to steal oil,
but he denies that took place here.

"They will always see that it is a sabotage. But sometimes let us take
a good analysis of what is going on if really this is a sabotage," he
said. "This pipe has been here for so long and none of these things
have been restructured. So if any spillage [occurs], they say it is
sabotage, but it is not all sabotage. So this thing has become a
nuisance to this community and even the entire Niger Delta. We are
talking about toxic substances that have degraded this environment.
And if you have talk about compensation about all these things, no it
has not been given to us."

Ibiba Don Pedro is the author of a book called Out of a Bleak
Landscape. It details violence and environmental degradation that
coincided with oil production in the Niger Delta.

Bathing in foul waters"They used to have large bodies of fresh water,"
he said.

Don Pedro accuses oil companies of causing other problems that are
less apparent, but sometimes even more troublesome in a context of
poverty.

"In the course of bringing in equipment and all that, they had to do
dredging projects, they dredged into areas that used to be fresh
water," he said. "Today, those areas have been inundated by salt water
so the people that had depended on the fresh water sources in those
areas, you can imagine how bad it is. You have to travel in canoes,
you see canoes in the Niger Delta, with women, men and children,
carrying plastic drums and so on, you know how slow the canoes are,
several-hundred kilometers away from their communities every day. That
is how bad it is."

Some activists are slowly trying to reverse the negative effects of
living in an oil-rich but impoverished region.

On a patch of jungle land with chirping birds near the town of Odi,
economist Gordon Abiama has a dream to build an eco-village.

Odi was razed by government forces in 1999 following the killing of a
dozen policemen. It was also here that violent militants first rose
against oil production in the 1960s, by blowing up an oil pipeline.

Abiama says he prefers constructive methods that empower people.

"The purpose of an eco-village is to encourage people to live a life
in terms of sustainable lifestyle, not ostentatious lifestyle like is
lived in developed countries, and that we are now trying to imitate,"
he said. "They are trying to come back to us, to have a sort of
community life where you know your next neighbor. That life, that
typical African tradition we want to keep it, but while embracing
modern technology, we do not want to draw away from our deep well of
traditional creativity, we want to fuse it together."

Abiama demonstrates how he has been making bricks to build houses in
the eco-village he wants to build.

One brick at a time for Abiama's eco-village"This brick is made of
cement, just about 10 percent cement, water and then this red soil and
it is manually produced using a brick machine and with this we could
build an ecological eco-house so to speak, to make the room very, very
cool. We are drawing this from our traditional house building system,
but this is using modern techniques as well," he said.

Roof tiles are being made with cement and coconut fiber.

Funding for this project has dried up though, and two years into
construction, little has been built, while Nigeria's oil production
climbs, and ecologists say environmental problems in the Niger Delta
worsen.

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Former US Justice Official Testifies About Attorneys Controversy

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798ED9:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 Monica Goodling
acknowledged to House Judiciary Committee that she 'crossed the line'
by taking political considerations into account in some hiring
decisions at the justice department Monica Goodling, a former
Department of Justice official and aide to U.S. attorney general
Alberto Gonzalez, has testified before Congress in the controversy
over the firing of eight U.S. prosecutors. VOA's Dan Robinson reports
from Capitol Hill, majority Democrats say the testimony prompts many
new questions, while Republicans say it failed to reveal any
information that would damage the attorney general

Monica Goodling testifies before t House Judiciary Committee on
Capitol Hill in Washington, 23 May 2007Monica Goodling was granted
partial immunity in return for her testimony before the House
Judiciary Committee after she asserted her constitutional right to
avoid self-incrimination.

Goodling said although she had the title of Justice Department White
House Liaison, her contacts with the White House were limited, and she
was not a decision-maker.

"I did not hold the keys to the kingdom as some have suggested. I was
not the primary White House contact for purposes of the development or
approval of the U.S. attorney replacement plan. I never attended a
meeting of the White House judicial selection committee. The attorney
general and [his former chief of staff] Kyle Sampson attended those
meetings. To the best of my recollection I have never had a
conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Meiers while I served at the
Department of Justice, and I am certain that I never spoke to either
of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," he said.

Goodling said she did have discussions with staff members of Rove and
Meiers, in her words, "regarding specific aspects of the replacement
plan", and acknowledged she attended one meeting after the decision to
fire the attorneys was made, at which Rove was present.

But she denies ever recommending that specific prosecutors be added to
or removed from a list compiled by Kyle Sampson, and does not recall
any recommendations coming from the White House.

In resisting calls for his resignation, from Democrats as well as
Republicans, Attorney General Gonzalez has maintained that none of the
dismissed U.S. attorneys were removed for political reasons, although
he acknowledged the matter was handled badly.

Democratic House judiciary committee chairman John Conyers says
Goodling's testimony shows there is much more to be learned about
possible White House involvement in the firings.

"We have learned today that trust has been violated, that false
statements have been made under oath, not Monica Goodling's, and there
is a possible obstruction of justice, as well as perjury," he said.

Conyers was referring to Goodling's testimony that Attorney General
Gonzalez appeared to have made false statements to Congress, and that
a former deputy attorney general, Paul McNulty, withheld information
during an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But Congressman Chris Cannon, a Republican on the committee, assessed
the testimony this way. "There were no surprises here today. There was
nothing of interest even. Nothing to indicate any kind of corruption.
And the premise of all of the activity here is corruption, and we just
did not see that," he said.

In her testimony Wednesday, Goodling did acknowledge that she "crossed
the line" by taking political considerations into account in some
hiring decisions at the justice department.

Neither Paul McNulty, the former deputy attorney general mentioned in
Goodling's testimony, nor Kyle Sampson, the former chief of staff to
the attorney general, have testified before the House Judiciary
Committee.

But saying that plenty has gone wrong and contradictions are all over
the place, Congressman Conyers is raising the possibility of calling
both of those former officials to testify, along with a repeat
appearance by the attorney general.

Gonzales also faces possible no-confidence measures, introduced by
Democrats in the House and Senate, although these have yet to be acted
upon.

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Indonesian Earthquake Survivors Struggling After One Year

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798ED6:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 The 6.2 magnitude
earthquake killed nearly 6,000 people and disrupted hundreds of
thousands of lives One year after a massive earthquake struck
Indonesia's Java island, thousands of people hit hardest by the
disaster still struggle to rebuild their lives. As Chad Bouchard
reports from Yogyakarta, aid workers have turned their attention from
emergency needs to work programs for the most vulnerable groups.

An elderly woman stands next to her temporary shelter nearly one year
after an earthquake shuttered the region, 20 May 2007The 6.2 magnitude
earthquake killed nearly 6,000 people and disrupted hundreds of
thousands of lives. The temblor did more than $3 billion in damage and
triggered the world's largest international emergency response of
2006.

During the first months of recovery, local and international agencies
churned out tens of thousands of shelters to house more than 1.5
million people left homeless.

Government officials say less than 10,000 people in remote areas
remain without adequate shelter.

Phil Vine with the International Federation of Red Cross Agencies says
the housing operation here is a model for disaster response. The Red
Cross set up small teams to build houses out of local material, such
as bamboo, that is cheap, easy to use and earthquake resistant.

"What has happened here in the Yogyakarta earthquake has been seen
globally as a benchmark for recovery using local materials in a
low-cost way, in which the people themselves, based on the Javanese
tradition of helping each other, just put these things up and rebuilt
their lives in three months," Vine said.

But aid workers say as survivors focused on shelter and other
immediate needs following the disaster, critical long-term sources of
income were neglected.

Hadiwiyono, a farmer from the Mutihan Village in the hard-hit Klaten
district, stands ankle deep in a rice paddy, tending neat green rows
of shoots. The 57-year-old mother of five is one among thousands of
farmers who lost their homes in the quake. During last fall's growing
season, fields like this one were left fallow and choked with weeds.

Many farmers lost an entire planting cycle, and the fall crop was
about 40 percent below normal.

Hadiwiyono says she left the fields behind because she had to work on
her collapsed house. She says the first months after the quake were
chaotic, but with some fertilizer and seed donations from the Food and
Agriculture Organization she is able to go back to her life as a rice
farmer.

FAO officials say 132 farmers have received seed and fertilizer help,
but harvests remain below normal. The program will expand to help more
people.

Challenges also remain for more than 1,000 people who suffered
debilitating spinal injuries in the quake. Health care workers say
many of those left with limited mobility have suffered severe
depression. Dozens have attempted suicide.

Tatur Prianto is a Red Cross volunteer and an amateur radio hobbyist.
He decided to connect secluded patients over a radio network.

Prianto says two religious programs and one counseling show are
broadcast each day, and participants can talk about their lives and
connect with other severely injured survivors. He says they usually
share experiences on how to cope with their disabilities, or how to
sell flowers and other small business ideas. Sometimes they even talk
about sex. He adds that he wants to see the program include more
disabled people.

Phil Vine says the Red Cross will likely employ this model during
future disasters.

"I can only see it expanding. I mean it is just one of those smart
ideas. There is a lot of counseling that goes on, and there is a lot
of flirting that goes on," he said. "One of them is a budding romance
between this 23-year-old who had a spinal injury, totally lost the use
of her legs, and she is hooked up with one of the Indonesian ambulance
drivers. And they are engaged to be married."

The International Organization for Migration and other agencies have
stepped in to provide handicap-accessible housing and job
opportunities for the disabled.

Purniewen is the livelihood assistance coordinator for the U.N.
Development Program in Yogyakarta. He says relief agencies learned
important lessons from previous disasters in Indonesia, such as the
Indian Ocean tsunami in the country's Aceh province, where about
160,000 people died.

He says aid groups have learned to take advantage of community ties -
with neighbors volunteering to help rebuild each other's homes. He
says that helped get people back to their jobs so they could provide
for their families.

"One lesson is actually that social capital is quite important in
terms of fostering the recovery," he said. "Yogya has very strong
social capital. Eighty percent of people are already working - not
recovered, but already work again. That is an indication that social
capital played a role important in this case."

The U.N. and other agencies have revived small traditional industries
such as pottery, weaving, and furniture production for more than 4,000
households.

Aid workers say while thousands more still need assistance, restoring
livelihoods is the only way to leave behind a self-reliant community.

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Southeast Asian Nations Agree to Strengthen Fight Against Wildlife
Smuggling

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798ED3:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 ASEAN Officials
agree to focus on training law enforcement officials, raising general
awareness about wildlife trafficking

Tiger and leopard skins for sale in Sichuan, China, ( 2005 file
photo) Southeast Asian nations have announced increased cooperation to
reduce the thriving cross-border trade in smuggled animals and plants.
VOA's Nancy-Amelia Collins reports from Jakarta.

Officials from the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, or ASEAN, have agreed to set up regional interagency task
forces to combat the multi-million dollar trade in smuggled wildlife.

The announcement came Thursday at the close of a four-day conference
of ASEAN's Wildlife Enforcement Network, held in the Indonesian city
of Bogor.

Participants say the conference established a framework for political
and operational cooperation among the ten ASEAN countries. Officials
agreed to focus on training law enforcement officials and the judicial
sector, and raising general awareness about wildlife trafficking.

The meeting was also attended by officers from Interpol and officials
of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

ASEAN'S Wildlife Enforcement Network aims to protect Asia's plants and
animals through exchanges of intelligence among regional police,
customs, and environmental agencies. This was the second meeting of
the network, which was set up in December 2005.

James Compton is Southeast Asia regional director of Traffic, a
private group that monitors the international trade in wildlife. He
says the task requires closer cooperation than before, what he calls a
"holistic approach" among the region's law enforcement agencies.

"What we're looking at here is the use of accurate and timely
intelligence to try to disrupt these middlemen, trades that are
involved in smuggling wildlife from the forests, from the reefs, and
from the various environments, to their ultimate market destination.
So I think it has to be a holistic approach," said Compton. 

Smugglers trade in a wide range of animals, from bears and snakes, to
endangered species as orangutans, cockatoos, elephants and tigers. The
trade is driven in large part by the demand for animal parts used in
traditional medicines, especially in China.

Conservation groups say wildlife smuggling is increasing in Southeast
Asia, and urgent action is needed to stop it.

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Hollywood Remembers Film Star John Wayne on Birth Centennial as
Embodiment of US Values

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1798ED8:0CD412E1D281094A3EA5588C464ECBBD9574F7DCC14957C0 Forty-eight John
Wayne films are being re-released on DVD to commemorate the centennial
of the actor's birth The American film star John Wayne was born 100
years ago this month (May 26, 1907). A classic movie cowboy, Wayne
represented, for his fans, the American frontier values of honesty,
fair play, and individualism. He died in 1979, but Mike O'Sullivan
reports, John Wayne remains a Hollywood icon.

John WayneKnown to friends and fans as Duke, John Wayne was born May
26, 1907, as Marion Morrison in a rural town in the midwest U.S. state
of Iowa.

Beginning with small uncredited parts in silent films, he appeared in
more than 170 pictures during a 50-year period, playing a war hero, an
airline pilot, and in movie after movie, a classic American cowboy.

Wayne's daughter-in-law, Gretchen Wayne, heads Batjac Productions, a
company the actor founded. She says whether football coach or
gunslinger, Wayne played characters with integrity, a sense of humor,
and a love for their country.

Gretchen Wayne"He played various kinds of characters, but he was
consistent within the values of those characters and he never deviated
very much from the man he was if you sat across the table from him,"
she said. "He treasured loyalty, honesty, he thought this country was
the greatest country in the world because he started out in a very
humble way, and he was able to achieve the success that he had because
he lived here."

Forty-eight John Wayne films are being re-released on DVD to
commemorate the centennial of the actor's birth. The films include
True Grit, which earned him an Oscar, and the Western classic Hondo.
The film was originally shot in 3-D, a simulated three-dimensional
format, and a restored 3-D version is being shown at this year's
Cannes Film Festival.

Hal AckermanHal Ackerman teaches screenwriting at the UCLA School of
Theater, Film and Television, and he says Americans idolized Wayne the
way they did their sports stars.

"He was that rugged individualist," he said. "He epitomized the sort
of baseball ethos that guided America, which was, let the better team
win. He was a fair fighter. And I think that we really stood for that
, and the world believed that we stood for that at that time. And he
just became that brand."

Gretchen Wayne says generations of Americans grew up with the actor.

"His films go back into the late '20s, early '30s, so you are
familiar," she said. "And he has been there all along. He did not have
a five-year career, a 10-year career. So he is part of your family."

There have been other movie cowboys, from Gene Autry and Roy Rogers to
Gary Cooper, but cinema professor Hal Ackerman says Wayne's legacy in
Hollywood is lasting.

"It is hard to say because everyone has a different opinion, but I
think that he will endure," he said. "He has become such an iconic
figure that anyone else who is that type will be compared to him, not
to anybody else. He is the watermark."

John Wayne placed third in a recent Harris Poll of America's favorite
stars, after Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks. Gretchen Wayne says he
offered fans consistent entertainment that was suitable for families,
and his films still have appeal today.

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