The ESL Free Press

Iranian President Calls Israel Racist

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said on Monday that Israel was a "racist state". He was speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. The Council was discussing racism. Several people walked out while he was speaking.

Robert Wood of the U.S. State Department says his country would still like to talk with Iran, but Ahmadinejad's words don't help.

High Tech in Iraq

Nine executives from high tech companies traveled to Iraq on Sunday. They will meet with Iraqis to talk about using technology to help Iraqi society.

They come from AT&T, Google, Howcast, Meetup, YouTube, Twitter, Automatic/Wordpress, and Blue State Digital.

The U.S. State Department helped arrange the trip. The group will be there until Thursday.

Gates Says U.S. Can't Disarm

The U.S. is getting ready to take its troops out of Iraq. But it has to stay ready for war, says Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Gates spoke to students and staff at the Naval War College on Friday. He said that, at the end of each war or conflict in the 20th century, the U.S. disarmed (cut back on its military). This was a mistake.

Gates says "Experience is the ability to remember a mistake when you make it again." He says that, this time, he hopes the U.S. remembers that the nature of humans has not really changed, and there will always be people who want to take freedom away from Americans and their allies.

Read more here.

Earth Day

April 22nd is Earth Day. People celebrate the planet, and think about the work that still needs to be done on it.

 

Earth Day, New York, New York, c.1970 Photographic Print

Buy at AllPosters.com

The first Earth Day was held in 1970, "a time when rivers caught fire and cities were hidden under dense clouds of smoke", says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Short Break

We will not publish on Thursday or Friday, but will be back on Monday, April 20th.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Nuclear Inspectors Thrown Out of North Korea

North Korea has ordered International Atomic Energy Agency and U.S. inspectors to leave the country.

The U.S. team was overseeing the shutdown of the nuclear plant at Yongbyon. The IAEA team was there to watch the process. North Korea was doing this after many meetings with five other countries (South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the U.S.). The other countries offered food and other help in exchange for an end to North Korea's nuclear work.

North Korea recently test launched a missile. Other countries, and the United Nations, spoke out against this.

Robert Wood of the U.S. State Department says North Korea will have to deal with the consequences of its act. He would not say what the consequences might be.

Read more here.

U.S. Ships Confront Pirates Again

Somali pirates fired on a U.S. merchant ship on Wednesday. Once again, the warship USS Bainbridge came to help.

The ship, the Liberty Sun, was taking food to Kenya. The food came from several charities, such as World Vision.

The pirates fired guns and grenades at it. The crew put out a distress call. The pirates left before the Bainbridge got there. Sailors from the Bainbridge boarded the Liberty Sun to protect it on the rest of its trip.

Richard Phillips, the captain of the Maersk Alabama, who had been taken hostage by pirates and rescued by the U.S. Navy, was aboard the Bainbridge. Because of this incident, he will be getting home later than expected.

Read more at DefenseLink.

Exercise Machine in Space Named After Comedian

The International Space Station has a treadmill (machine for running in place) to help the crew exercise. It's getting a new one, which will be named the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill -- C.O.L.B.E.R.T.

This is really named after Stephen Colbert, an American comedian. He tried to get NASA to name a module (part) of the space station after him. NASA held a online poll to find a name for the module. Colbert asked his viewers to suggest his name -- and it got more votes than any other.

But the module was finally named "Tranquility" after the Sea of Tranquility on the moon. Bill Gerstenmaier of NASA says, "We don't typically name U.S. space station hardware after living people and this is no exception." But NASA will invite Colbert to Florida for the "launch" of the treadmill.

Read more

Image: NASA

Ship's Captain Saved, But Piracy Goes On

The captain of a U.S. commercial ship, who was taken hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia, was rescued by the U.S. Navy on Easter Sunday.

The captain, Richard Phillips, had offered himself as a hostage when pirates boarded his ship. The ship, the Maersk Alabama, was taking donated food to Kenya.

Three pirates took Phillips away in a lifeboat and held him for four days. (A fourth pirate was captured by the ship's crew.) The warship U.S.S. Bainbridge brought special operations troops to the area. They saw the pirates had a rifle pointed at Phillips. They shot the pirates to death and freed him.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates says the pirates were "untrained teenagers with heavy weapons". He says piracy is still a problem in the area, and the U.S. will have to study ways to stop it.

Read more here, here, and here.

Soldiers of the North Dakota National Guard build a wall of sandbags around a house on a riverbank in their State. The area has been hit with floods.

U.S. Army photo