[ti:Corruption Digs Deepest in Countries in Conflict]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:WWW.51VOA.COM]
[00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:05.86]in VOA Special English.
[00:08.75]Transparency International
[00:10.90]is out with its
[00:12.44]two thousand nine report
[00:14.85]on corruption around the world.
[00:17.58]The nongovernmental organization
[00:20.37]has released its Corruption
[00:22.91]Perceptions Index each year
[00:25.89]since nineteen ninety-eight.
[00:27.84]This year the country seen
[00:30.49]as least corrupt is New Zealand.
[00:33.58]New Zealand shared first place last year
[00:37.56]with Denmark and Sweden.
[00:40.25]This year Denmark is ranked second,
[00:43.48]and Sweden shares third place
[00:46.87]with Singapore.
[00:48.31]At the bottom of the list,
[00:50.65]ranked last for the third year,
[00:53.29]is Somalia.
[00:55.53]The order of the list is based
[00:58.41]on how corrupt a country's government
[01:01.70] is considered by a number
[01:03.89]of international organizations.
[01:07.09]These include the World Bank,
[01:09.49]the World Economic Forum and the Asian
[01:13.57]and African development banks.
[01:16.85]Transparency International,
[01:19.29]based in Berlin,
[01:21.23]works to fight corruption
[01:23.97]and increase public awareness.
[01:26.86]Its yearly report has grown
[01:30.05]to a list of one hundred eighty countries.
[01:33.93]The group says unstable countries damaged
[01:38.36]by war and ongoing conflict continue
[01:42.44]to be those most affected by corruption.
[01:46.58]Those countries include Afghanistan and Iraq,
[01:51.86]two nations that receive billions
[01:56.17]of dollars in international aid.
[01:59.25]Iraq moved up two places this year
[02:03.68]and is now ranked fourth
[02:06.42]from the bottom,
[02:07.71]along with Sudan.
[02:09.76]But Afghanistan fell three places
[02:13.04]to just above Somalia,
[02:15.43]meaning Afghanistan is seen
[02:18.13]as the second most corrupt country.
[02:21.61]Transparency International says
[02:24.61]people have to pay bribes
[02:27.04]to receive basic services.
[02:29.53]A lack of government enforcement
[02:33.21]against corruption is blamed
[02:35.46]for helping the Taliban gain supporters.
[02:39.37]The United States has approved close
[02:43.20]to forty billion dollars
[02:45.14]in aid for Afghanistan
[02:48.07]over the past eight years of war.
[02:51.26]President Obama is preparing
[02:54.10]to announce his new war plan on Tuesday.
[02:57.93]The plan is expected
[03:00.53]to include thousands
[03:02.28]of additional American troops.
[03:05.06]Afghan President Hamid Karzai
[03:08.70]began a second term last week
[03:11.39]after an election in
[03:13.39]which widespread cheating was found.
[03:16.42]He is under increased international
[03:19.55]pressure to fight corruption.
[03:22.03]Last week his government announced
[03:25.57]new efforts to investigate top officials.
[03:29.32]A group of current
[03:32.01]and former cabinet ministers
[03:34.15]are reportedly under investigation.
[03:37.49]In this year's corruption report,
[03:41.03]the United States dropped one place,
[03:44.32]to nineteenth from eighteenth last year.
[03:48.65]Yet the score actually improved
[03:51.68]by two-tenths of a point.
[03:54.67]Transparency International says
[03:57.67]there are many concerns
[03:59.91]about supervision of the
[04:02.06]American financial industry.
[04:05.14]Many of the countries
[04:07.08]at the bottom of the list
[04:08.97]are in sub-Saharan Africa.
[04:12.06]Patrick Berg is a program coordinator
[04:15.54]for Transparency International.
[04:18.03]PATRICK BERG : "Where you find poverty,
[04:20.12]corruption usually hits people the hardest.
[04:22.07]In some of the more affluent countries,
[04:24.56]corruption may be a major problem.
[04:26.40]But it does not keep people
[04:28.10]from getting health care
[04:29.10]or clean water to their houses."
[04:30.64]But he says some countries
[04:32.53]-- including Botswana,
[04:34.28]Mauritius and Cape Verde
[04:36.58]-- have worked hard
[04:37.93]to improve their governance.
[04:40.22]As a result,
[04:41.36]they have improved
[04:42.71]their standing on the list.
[04:44.67]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:47.20]in VOA Special English,
[04:49.84]written by Brianna Blake.
[04:51.93]I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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