It is twenty-three hours thirty Universal Time and here is the news in Special English. ▼ In the United States, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor faced a second day of questioning at her confirmation hearings. Republican party senators are concerned about her judicial beliefs and have questioned how she would make decisions. The Republican senators fear that Ms. Sotomayor would be an activist justice, instead of one who follows the law. She told the Senate Judiciary Committee, “The job of a judge is to follow the law, not make it.” Ms. Sotomayor also said she does not think any racial or ethnic group is better than any other when it comes to making wise judgments. She was explaining a comment she made that “a wise latina might make better decisions than a white man without the same life experiences.” Ms. Sotomayor said she made the comment years ago to excite a group she was talking to.
The United States Department of Defense says it is changing the operations of some troops being deployed to Iraq. The Department of Defense says the changes will show the new importance of supporting Iraqi troops. Spokesman Brian Whitman said four of seven groups going to Iraq will operate as advisory and assistant brigades, not as a brigade combat team. He said these groups will have extra military engineers, civilian specialists and top officers to work co-operatively with Iraqi officers. In other news, an American military commander in southern Iraq says most Shiite militia groups in the area are receiving much less support from Iran [than before]. Colonel Butch Kievenaar says the Shiite militias are no longer the threat that they once were.
Iranian state media say President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn in for his second term the first week of August.
Parliament's first deputy speaker announced the ceremony Tuesday. The swearing-in is to be held a day after Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, confirms the president. Demonstrations began after Mr. Ahmadinejad won his June re-election by a large majority. In other news, defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi plans to begin a political reform group. His assistant says the group will oppose the political establishment.
An American military commander says United States and South Korean forces are ready to answer any North Korean attacks. General Walter Sharp said he believes that the joint forces could defeat any possible North Korean land invasion or missile attack. General Sharp is the commander of United States forces in South Korea. He spoke to reports by video from New York City. North Korea has stopped taking part in international talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program.
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has given evidence for the first time at his war crimes trial in the Netherlands. The former president told the tribunal for Sierra Leone that the case against him is based on lies. He said that it was very, very bad that lawyers for the court would depend on what he called misinformation and stories about his part in Sierra Leone's ten-year civil war. He also talked about his fourteen children when he said he had fought all his life to do what he thought was right. Charles Taylor is accused of supporting the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone. Court lawyers say he secretly gave weapons to the group in exchange for what they called, “blood diamonds.” You are listening to the news in VOA Special English. The President of Costa Rica says talks aimed at ending the political crisis in Honduras will restart Saturday. President Oscar Arias is negotiating talks on the crisis over the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The Costa Rican president urged Mr. Zelaya to give the negotiations more time. On Monday, Mr. Zelaya said he would consider the negotiations a failure if he is not returned to office within a week. The Honduran military ousted Mr. Zelaya and sent him into exile in Costa Rica on June twenty-eighth. The United States and the Organization of American States have called for Mr. Zelaya to be permitted to return to office.
Talks between the United States and Cuba have restarted after six years. Representatives from the two nations met Tuesday in New York to discuss how best to carry out the safe, legal and orderly movement of people between the two countries. The State Department later released a statement about the American delegates. It said the delegates discussed areas of successful co-operation in migration and identified issues that have blocked the full operation of migration agreements.
Two French security advisors were kidnapped from a hotel in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday. Witnesses say at least ten gunmen raided the Sahafi Hotel, disarmed hotel guards and took the two men from their rooms. At first, the kidnapped men were thought to be news reporters. Later, the French Foreign Ministry said they were on an official visit and providing help in security issues to Somalia's temporary government. The French government has condemned the beating of ten women in Sudan. Sudanese officials accused the women of violating law by wearing trousers instead of traditional women's clothing. The French Foreign Ministry urged Sudanese officials not to take legal action against three other women who face the same charge. Sudanese police arrested the thirteen women Friday in the city of Khartoum. One of the three women who chose to fight her case in court works for the United Nations office in Sudan. The ten others were beaten and ordered to pay about one hundred twenty dollars for violating Islamic law.
And, the Chinese government is dismissing reports that unrest involving Muslim Uighurs could harm its relations with Islamic countries. A Foreign Ministry spokesman says the unrest was not the result of religious differences. ▲ And now briefly, here again is the major news of the hour.
President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is facing a second day of questioning at her confirmation hearings. Two French security advisors were kidnapped from a hotel in Mogadishu on Tuesday. And, Iranian state media say President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn in for his second term the first week of August.
That's the news in VOA Special English from Washington. Source: VOA Special English July 14, 2009 2330UTC
