FUNNY ENGLISH STORIES 2

 Report 1.
  Voters in the northeastern American state of Pennsylvania have voted in an important presidential primary contest. Experts say Senator Hillary Clinton must win to stay in the race. She is expected to win. However, she needs to win by a large number of votes if she is to narrow the lead of her opponent, Senator Barack Obama. He is ahead in the popular vote and in the number of the nominating delegates. Ms. Clinton says a victory in Pennsylvania along with her wins in California and New York will prove that Mr. Obama cannot win in states with large numbers of delegates. Mr. Obama said that he does not expect to win Pennsylvania. But, he believes he has already cut into her once large lead.
  Former United Nations chief Kofi Annan is warning that climate change is making the food crisis worse. He said this threatens political security. Mr. Annan spoke Tuesday in Geneva for the Global Humanitarian Forum, a new group that examines the effects of climate change. The former U.N. secretary general predicted more food strikes and demonstrations. Severe and unpredictable weather he says has hurt the ability of many areas to grow crops. He said poorer farmers are the most effected. Mr. Annan said countries that produce the most pollution should help poorer farmers deal with climate change. The United Nations food agency says rising food prices threaten more than one hundred million additional people around the world. The head of the world food program, Josette Sheeran, said the additional one hundred million people facing hunger within the past six months. She says a major and long-lasting action is needed to prevent a crisis. Such action she said should be like the emergency effort after a huge wave in the Indian Ocean destroyed many coastal communities in two thousand four.
  Hundreds of people, angry about the rising cost of food, have demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan. The protesters blocked a main road between the town of Jalalabad and the capital, Kabul. They demanded the government quickly act to decrease food prices. Earlier, the Afghan government announced it is putting aside fifty million dollars to buy wheat from other countries. Many protesters expressed anger at Pakistan for slowing, restricting its food exports. Pakistan did so because of its own worries over rising food prices.
  Countries near Iraq and other nations say they support efforts by the Iraqi government to increase security and expand the political process. The statement came at the close of talks in Kuwait. The statement also expressed support for Iraq`s national unity, territorial claims and the right to freely decide its political future. Delegates at the talks also praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for taking steps against militias loyal to clergyman Muqtada al-Sadr. American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Iraq on its progress. She said Iraq needs the support of its neighbors and countries around the world to succeed.
  A bomb explosion has killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded four others in the northern city of Mosul. The bomb was attached to a vehicle that Iraqi soldiers were inspecting. Earlier, a suicide bomber killed six people in an attack near a police station in Diyala province. Twelve others were wounded. Most of the victims were policemen. And, the United States military says two other bombs killed two American marines near the western city of Ramadi.
  The Chinese government says a ship carrying weapons meant for Zimbabwe may be returning to China. The ship has been waiting in the waters near the coast of southern Africa. It was permitted to enter the South African port of Durban last week. But, workers there refused to unload the weapons. Officials in Mozambique have also turned away the ship. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says the contract for the weapons was signed last year as part of normal military trade. She said the shipment is not connected to Zimbabwe`s political crisis.
  China and France are working to ease tensions. Their relations worsened after pro-Tibet activists demonstrated during the running of the Olympic torch in Paris earlier this month. Since then, some Chinese citizens have boycotted French goods and companies. Chinese officials on Tuesday praised how the French company Carrefour does business in China. The officials also thanked the company for supporting the Olympic games in Beijing.
  Sudan has begun a count and study of its population for the first time in fifteen years. The census is part of a peace agreement that ended the country`s twenty-one year civil war. The Sudanese government and the United Nations are paying for the census. It will help show how wealth and power is divided in the country. It will also set up voting areas before Sudanese elections are held next year. They will be the first democratic elections in the country in twenty-three years.
  President Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have ended a two-day meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. President Bush said the three countries have each gained from the North American Free Trade Agreement. He said now is not the time to renegotiate the agreement. President Calderon agreed with Mr. Bush`s comments saying this is a time to make the agreement stronger, not change or cancel it. Prime Minister Harper had similar comments. Critics of NAFTA, including both Democratic party presidential candidates, say the United States has lost manufacturing jobs because of the agreement.
  Briefly, here again is the major news of the hour.
  Voters in the northeastern American state of Pennsylvania have voted in an important presidential primary contest. Hundreds of people angry about the rising cost of food have demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan. And, countries near Iraq say they support efforts by the Iraqi government to increase security and expand the political process.
 




 Report 2.
  The main opposition party in Zimbabwe is claiming victory in general elections. But, election officials say the main opposition and the ruling party are tied. The latest result show the ruling party ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change each won twenty-six seats in parliament. Two hundred ten seats were to be decided in the vote Saturday. The MDC disputes the results. It says its own count shows the party winning seats in ninety-six of one hundred twenty-eight parliamentary areas where results have been announced. The MDC also says its founder, Morgan Tsvangirai, is leading President Robert Mugabe sixty to thirty percent. No official results from the presidential election have been announced.
  American Defense Secretary Robert Gates says recent violence in southern Iraq has not changed American plans to withdraw some troops from Iraq. The troops are expected to leave over the next few months. Mr. Gates spoke in Denmark. He praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki`s recent efforts against Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra. Iraqi and coalition forces in Basra and Baghdad fought street battles over the past six days with militants loyal to extremist Shiite Moqtada al-Sadr. About four hundred people were killed in the fighting.
  American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is urging Israel to stop building more homes on disputed land. She says Israel`s continued expansion of settlements violates the peace plan known as "the Road Map". Secretary Rice is in Jordan for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Abbas says he expects a peace agreement with Israel by the end of this year. On Sunday, Ms. Rice persuaded Israeli and Palestinian officials to ease restrictions on Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.
  President Bush has arrived in Kiev, Ukraine, the first stop on his European trip. The President will attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Romania. He is expected to urge NATO member countries to open membership to Ukraine and Georgia. But, Russia has said it does not want NATO expanding to its borders. NATO leaders are also expected to offer membership to Albania, Croatia and Macedonia.
  The constitutional court in Turkey says it will consider banning the ruling Justice and Development Party. The chief prosecutor has accused the party of violating the country`s tradition of separating the government from religion. He also believes that many members of the party should be banned from politics for five years. The Justice and Development Party denies violating the separation between the government and religion. The party has called the case anti-democratic.
  A leading international conflict resolution organization is urging East Timor to do more to settle one hundred thousand people displaced by unrest in two thousand six. The International Crisis Group says the country`s displaced population shows that the deeper causes of the conflict two years ago remain unresolved. The new ICG report says displaced East Timorese remain in camps because they fear new violence or they have no home to return to. Others are unable to reclaim their homes and depend on the free rice that the camps provide.
  The French Justice Ministry has announced the release from jail of all six French aid workers found guilty of attempted kidnapping in Chad last year. The ministry said they were freed just hours after Chadian President Idriss Deby pardoned them. The six were tried in a Chadian court last year and sentenced to eight years in prison. Chad agreed in December to let them serve their sentences in France. The aid workers were arrested in Chad while preparing to take one hundred three African children to France. They said the children had lost their parents and could be placed with European families. An investigation found that most of the children were Chadian and had at least one parent or guardian still living.
  A new study by the United States Department of Agriculture says American farmers will plant l