SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS IN KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Press Availability on the D.R.C. and the Great Lakes Region

Press Availability

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

May 4, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody. I’ve just come from a productive, good meeting with President Kabila and Foreign Minister Tshibanda. We spoke candidly about the enormous opportunities and the challenges that are faced by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and we spoke very candidly also about the ways in which we can make progress going forward. I congratulated the president on the accomplishments that he and his government have achieved, together with the work of MONUSCO, but we also talked about the steps that now need to be taken to provide further stability; increased, broader democracy; greater justice; and a greater amount of economic development for the Congolese people.

The president expressed his vision and his commitment to each of these efforts, and I think it’s fair to say that he leaned forward on his commitment to make sure that the accords – the Kampala accords as well as the peace and security agreement are well implemented over the course of the days ahead.

The suffering in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the crisis in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo really continues to trouble all of us. The eastern D.R.C. has been the scene of some of the most horrific crimes of violence against women and girls that are imaginable. And it’s a powerful reminder of the obligations that we all face, that we all share with respect to not only ending the killing and the fear, but in order to work for the birth of a new generation of stability and of hope.

Achieving a lasting peace in the D.R.C. is a priority of President Obama and a priority of mine. And that is why we appointed a close colleague of mine from the Senate for 18 years, Senator Russ Feingold, who is here with us today, as the United States Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Russ brings enormous intellect, passion, commitment to this issue. And already, he has been able to have an impact on the ground. He has been working with the UN Representative Mary Robinson, with the leaders in the region, and we are very pleased that the Nairobi Declarations were achieved, as well as a reduction in violence.

But he would be the first to say that we have further steps to take in order to complete this task, and we all understand what they are. The efforts to disarm, to demobilize, to reintegrate – these are the priorities of the moment. I want to commend the Congolese military and MONUSCO for defeating the M23 and for taking the fight to the Allied Democratic Forces – the ADF, as we know them – and many other Congolese armed groups. The United States welcomes the Kabila government’s commitment to focus on the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, and we discussed with President Kabila the steps that need to be taken with respect to that.

But I need to be clear: Military force alone will not deliver stability to the D.R.C. Lasting peace will not grow out of the barrel of a gun. It will come from restoring state authority and state services, and providing the capacity building that is necessary in those areas that have been recaptured from armed groups. It will also come from demobilizing the combatants and returning them to civilian life. I welcome the government’s initial efforts on this front, and we look forward to working with them as we continue programs that will advance that initiative.
The United States also strongly supports the Peace, Security, and Cooperation Framework peace process. Now I can’t emphasize enough how important that process is in identifying and resolving the root causes of the conflict in the D.R.C. as well as in the entire Great Lakes region. It’s imperative that all of the signatories fully implement their commitments and support the ongoing broader process of bringing peace to the region. Peace cannot be delayed or deferred or denied, and I think the people of Congo – of the Democratic Republic of Congo made that clear.

It is not enough just to focus on the military side of this equation, and it’s not enough to focus only on the political stability or economic development side of it. We need to work on all of these at the same time, and we need to keep the pressure on the FDLR and the other armed groups. We need to support the parties as they try to implement the framework agreement. So we must provide partnership and leadership as we urge all of the parties to come together to create a political solution.

And that means free, fair, timely, and transparent elections. I encouraged President Kabila to work with his government and the parliament in order to complete the election calendar and the budget. And they need to do so in accordance with the constitution. The United States is committed to supporting the Congolese people, the government, and other donors as they work towards decisions that are credible, timely, and consistent with the current constitution. And obviously, it is very clear that the dates and the process need to be set and fully defined, and the sooner, the better.

As a sign of our commitment, I am pleased to announce that $30 million will be immediately made available from the United States in additional funding in order to support transparent and credible elections as well as recovery and reconstruction programs in the eastern D.R.C. This contribution comes on top of already substantial U.S. assistance for economic development for the Congolese people. USAID plans to invest $1.2 billion over the next five years in the D.R.C., focusing on improving political and economic governance and on promoting social development. Our programs will strengthen Congolese institutions and improve their ability to respond to the peoples’ needs, and that includes the delivery of critical healthcare and education services.

I also spoke with President Kabila about another issue which has been a concern of late, and that is the question of adoption for families in the United States and friends of mine in the Senate who know that there is important, required attention to this question of international adoption. Here in the D.R.C. since 2009, the number of American families able to provide a house to children who have lost their parents has grown each year. And today, I urged President Kabila to move as rapidly as possible in the review of the situation that raised some concerns, and also to lift the new freeze on international adoption from the D.R.C. We want to enable Congolese children, who seek to, to be able to be matched with parents abroad who are eager to provide them with a secure and happy future. And as someone – I have seen this firsthand. My sister has adopted a young child from China. I know how positive and important this can be for everybody concerned, and I think it’s an issue that’s important to all of us as a matter of basic human decency.

And we have to admit, all of us, we can have no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead. But even as we look down a complicated road, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a place of enormous potential. Its people provide enormous potential. And the people of Congo want a better future. The fact is that together, we have an ability to be able to work to support the people of the Congo, to build a more secure and prosperous future, which is a responsibility that belongs to all of us.

I can guarantee you that the United States, through the immediate efforts of our ambassador on the ground, our embassy, and particularly our special envoy, we will continue to work in every way that we know how to be a good partner in this effort, and we look forward to working with the people of Congo in that in furtherance of that objective.

So I’d be delighted to answer a couple of questions if there are a few.

MS. PSAKI: Great. The first question will be from Mimie Engumb from Radio Oakpi.

QUESTION: (In French.)

SECRETARY KERRY: (In French.)

QUESTION: (In French.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I think I just mentioned it, to be honest with you. There will be elections in many countries in Africa over the course of the next year or so. I think there are 15 presidential elections and some 37 elections in countries in Africa. And so every election is really critical and important, and it is important for the people to be able to know what the process is, to have confidence in that process.

And the United States position is very clear: We believe that the elections need to be free, fair, open, transparent, accountable; and the sooner the process is announced, the sooner that the date is set, the sooner people have an ability to be able to participate; and we believe that it ought to be done in keeping with the constitutional process of the country.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Nicolas Revise from AFP.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. You just announced your financial support for D.R.C. for its demobilization plan, but is there some conditions to this support? What are specifically these conditions? Did you ask specifically to President Kabila to give this green light to go after the FDLR still active in eastern Congo? And politically, is the U.S. support tied to the respect of the constitution? So did you ask specifically to President Kabila not to change the constitution and not to run for a third term? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me discuss all of that. But first of all, with respect to the conditions, obviously the demobilization is taking place in accordance with the agreement. And that agreement requires people to go back to their homes, where possible, where they sign, appropriately, an amnesty for those who qualify. And I think for those who don’t, it is clear that there remains – that is, people who may have been engaged in crimes against humanity, war crimes – those people remain liable for that. But others who sign the agreement and sign the amnesty are committed to and encouraged, obviously must return to their homes. That’s an important part of this demobilization effort.

With respect to the election process, the constitution, and the FDLR, we want to see the process of providing stability and completing the task of disarming the armed groups in the east completed. So that includes not just the completion of the efforts with the ADF, but also obviously, indeed making sure that the FDLR is held accountable and that the initiative with respect to them will commence.

The president – we did discuss it. The president made it clear that he intends to do that, and I think that there is a schedule. I don’t want to discuss it because I think it would be inappropriate to do so. But the answer is the president gave his word that that is not just on the agenda, but that he has a specific process in mind and timing.

And with respect to the constitutional process, we talked about the election. I believe the president’s legacy is a legacy that is very important for the country, and that he has an opportunity, which he understands, to be able to put the country on a continued path of democracy. And I believe it is clear to him that the United States of America feels very strongly, as do other people, that the constitutional process needs to be respected and adhered to. That’s how you strengthen a country.

I have no doubt that President Kabila’s legacy will be defined by the progress he has made in the – particularly the last year in addressing the security issues of the east, the economic issues of the country. And he’s a young man with an enormous amount of time to be able to continue to contribute to his country. And I’m quite confident that he will weigh all of those issues as he makes a decision about the future.

But clearly, the United States of America believes that a country is strengthened, that people have respect for their nation and their government, when a constitutional process is properly implemented and upheld by that government. And we obviously believe – we’re a country with term limits. We live by them. We had several hundred years of transformation under that process, and we encourage other countries to adhere to their constitution.
MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN KINSHASA, CONGO

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at Pharmacy Supported by Micro-Finance

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

SINOCO Medical Supply Store

Kinshasa, Congo (Kinshasa)

May 3, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Patricia Nzolantima is a YALI graduate, this beautiful woman to my left here, which is the Young African Leaders Initiative that President Obama started. And she graduated from it in 2011?

MS. NZOLANTIMA: Yes. (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY KERRY: 2012.

MS. NZOLANTIMA: (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY KERRY: 2012, yeah. And Irene Mpoy is now in YALI, and she will be coming to Washington, right? No?

MS. MPOY: No.

SECRETARY KERRY: You’re not coming? Oh, I thought she was coming. (Inaudible.) There are 12 young leaders in the entire Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, who have been selected to take part in the Young African Leaders program. And they are an amazing group. When the Embassy here promoted the concept of the Young African Leaders program, there were a thousand applications very, very quickly to 12 positions. And these 12 leaders will be coming – a number of them be – they will be coming to Washington at the time of the African Leaders Summit, a two-day summit with President Obama. And I will be meeting, and other Administration people will be meeting with young African leaders in order to do as much as we can to promote this program, and mostly to promote entrepreneurship. I want to tell you about that.

Patricia, who is an entrepreneur – and you saw her magazine over here, which she publishes six times a year, once every two months, 10,000 issues. She does them free distribution, but the promotion – the 10,000 distribution guarantees the advertisement. And so she is a true entrepreneur. And she also provides to pharmacies, to a group of pharmacies – I think you have about 75, how many?

MS. NZOLANTIMA: Seventy-five.

SECRETARY KERRY: Seventy-five, yes. Seventy-five pharmacies. And what she does is buys her supplies, then she provides them to people like Irene. This is Irene’s store, her showroom. And here she sells both the major products that you see to clinics, hospitals, et cetera. But she also provides drugs, a pharmacy.

And you see a picture right here of one these pharmacy setups. It’s basically a sort of a predetermined concept where X number of drugs of different kinds that they know are going to be used are placed there. But what happens is Patricia is the one who provides the money to Irene to be able to pay for the drugs, and she buys them back from Patricia’s company at a discount. And her efforts are non-profit. She is trying to simply grow the ability of these women to be able to own their own pharmacy and own their own establishment. It’s a wonderful example of entrepreneurial activity. It’s the best of some independent initiative taking an enterprise and going out and making something happen.

We want this to happen all over the Democratic Republic of Congo, all over Africa. We want to grow the ability of young people, young people who are the future, to be able to create jobs, to have their own businesses, to have an idea and perhaps go out and fail, but at least be able to try and make a difference. That’s what makes entrepreneurial activity work for an entire country. And we’re going to try and support that.

So I’m very, very happy to be here and to celebrate this woman’s initiative and this woman’s willingness to take up her initiative and use her initiative to make it into something that serves the people. It’s a wonderful example of entrepreneurial activity.

We look forward to welcoming those who will come to Washington from the YALI program, and I know that President Obama is very excited about this initiative. I met with some YALI students this morning in Addis Ababa. They were all excited and ready to fire up and engage in their own entrepreneurial activity.

So I’m privileged to come here. I want to thank you. (In French.) And I’m really happy to be here, too. Thank you. Take care. Thank you all. (Applause.)

THE GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY

FROM:  NASA  

Named for American rocketry pioneer Dr. Robert H. Goddard, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight complex. In the 1960s, when this image was taken, Goddard focused on the development of tracking and communication facilities and capabilities for both the scientific satellites and the manned space flight program. Goddard became the hub of the massive, international tracking and communications network that involved aircraft, supertankers converted into mobile communications units, and a wide diversity of ground stations. A duplicate mission control center was also built at Goddard in case the computers at the main control room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas failed for any reason.  Image Credit-NASA.

U.S. AMBASSADOR ROBERT MIKULAK'S STATEMENT TO OPCW EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Statement to the Fortieth Meeting of the Executive Council

Remarks

Ambassador Robert P. Mikulak, United States Delegation to the Executive Council Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

The Hague, Netherlands

April 29, 2014

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Mr. Chairman, Mr. Director-General, distinguished delegates,
Last September, when this Council embarked upon the effort to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program, in the aftermath of the terrible August 21, 2013 attacks in the suburb of Damascus, I think all of us expected to be at a very different stage of the effort than we are today.

While we recognize the accomplishment reflected in the removal of 92 percent of the declared stockpile, this job is not done until it’s fully done. Although the international community quickly readied an operation to transport and destroy Syria’s declared chemical weapons program, the Assad regime has delayed the operation at every opportunity. As a result, multiple dates established by the Council by consensus have been missed. Now Syria has not even met its own schedule for completing removal on 27 April. Almost 100 tons of Priority 1 and Priority 2 chemicals still remain in Syria, which represents approximately eight percent of the total declared material. And the international effort to actually destroy this deadly material is on hold and costing all involved significant sums every day.

Our understanding is that Syria has yet to even undertake the packing and other actions necessary to prepare the chemicals at the final site for transport. The excuse that the site, which is occupied by Syrian Government forces, is “inaccessible” was not acceptable before, and is not acceptable now. The Asad regime needs to develop and implement without further delay a plan to meet its obligations. We need to see immediate and tangible signs that Syria intends to transport, in the very near future, the remaining chemicals from the last site. Such signs could include, for example: destruction of the remaining isopropanol; prepositioning transport equipment; decanting chemicals; beginning packing and site preparations; and maintaining a readiness posture at the port of Latakia. These actions should already have taken place. They should be implemented immediately in order for Syria to demonstrate good faith that the regime is taking its obligations seriously, and is not playing political games. The international community cannot wait indefinitely for Syrian action.

Mr. Chairman,

Despite the destruction deadlines established in this Council by consensus, twelve chemical weapons production facilities declared by Syria remain structurally intact. Why is that? The answer is Syria’s intransigence and refusal to even discuss the matter with other delegations over the past weeks. The Technical Secretariat has helpfully contributed its expertise, but it cannot negotiate a final document in place of this Council. The United States continues to hope that a mutually acceptable approach can be found in the near future, but Syria must come to the table to discuss possible approaches. Our delegation is ready to actively and constructively participate in discussions to reach an acceptable solution.

Unfortunately, Syria’s position seems to be that the destruction requirements should be substantially lower for Syria than they were for other countries. This cannot be the case, especially in light of the Syrian regime well demonstrated willingness to use chemical weapons. In 2001, for example, the Technical Secretariat informed the United States that “any underground structure designated for locating any equipment related to the CWPF shall also be destroyed or filled in, and provided with permanent cover.” The same requirement should apply to underground structures in Syria. In its 27 September decision, this Council made clear that the Syrian CW situation demanded stringent verification measures and, to that end, we must ensure that these facilities can never be used by the Syrian regime to retain or restart a chemical weapons program.

Mr. Chairman,

Up to this point, the elimination effort has been focused solely on the chemical weapons and associated equipment and facilities disclosed by Syria to the OPCW Technical Secretariat and States Parties. The fundamental goal of the 27 September decision of this Council, UN Security Council Resolution 2118, and indeed the Convention itself is the prevention of further regime use of chemical weapons through the total elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons program. Questions remain unanswered about the information provided by Syria. Therefore, additional attention will need to be focused on verifying the accuracy and completeness of Syria’s submissions. We welcome the initiative to send an OPCW team that has recently begun working on this task in Damascus. States Parties will also have an important role to play during this verification phase. This Council will need to monitor this effort closely as an essential part of its diligent oversight of the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons program.
Mr. Chairman,

As we reflect upon what still needs to be done to ensure the complete elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons program, nothing is more disturbing than the recent reports of chemical weapons use. As we are all aware, there are public reports and videos indicating the use of a toxic chemical – probably chlorine – in Syria this month against the opposition-dominated village of Kafr Zayta. These reports are too serious to be ignored by this Council or the international community at large. The United States considers them to be a matter of serious concern requiring an immediate international effort to determine what has happened. We commend the leadership of the Director-General in seeking to establish the facts surrounding the recent allegations of chlorine CW use against Kafr Zayta, as he has just informed us that he will. This Council should welcome these efforts and call upon Syria to immediately and fully cooperate.

Mr. Chairman,

It was 99 years ago this month that chlorine was used as a chemical weapon near Ypres, Belgium. The Chemical Weapons Convention was designed specifically to eradicate those kinds of attacks, whether they use sarin, chlorine, or any other toxic chemical to harm or kill. The name of the very room where this Council meets today – the Ypres room -- is meant as a reminder to all of us both of the horrors of chemical weapons and the imperative, for the sake of all mankind, that we do everything in our power to ensure such heinous weapons are never used again in Syria or anywhere else.
Mr. Chairman,

I ask that this statement be considered an official document of this Executive Council meeting and placed on the OPCW website and external server.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

WOMAN SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR ROLE IN LOTTERY SCHEME TARGETING THE ELDERLY

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Florida Resident Sentenced in Connection with International Lottery Scheme That Defrauded Elderly Americans

Charmaine Anne King was sentenced in connection with her role in a fraudulent international lottery scheme that targeted U.S. citizens, the Justice Department announced.  King was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami to serve 57 months in prison and 5 years supervised release.  A hearing on restitution has been scheduled for June 5, 2014.  King was convicted by a federal jury in Miami on Feb. 5, 2014, of one count of conspiracy, three counts of mail fraud, and two counts of wire fraud.

King’s prosecution is part of the Department of Justice’s effort, working with federal and local law enforcement, to combat international lottery fraud schemes preying on American citizens.  According to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Americans have lost tens of millions of dollars to fraudulent foreign lotteries.

“The Justice Department will continue to hold criminals accountable for fraudulent lottery schemes,” said Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “This illegal conduct creates significant financial harm to people throughout the country, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute such crime, and bring those responsible to justice.”

A federal grand jury in Miami returned an indictment against King and co-conspirator Althea Angela Peart on Oct. 31, 2013.  Judge Moore adopted a report and recommendation accepting Peart’s guilty plea on Feb. 4, 2014, and on March 20, 2014, he sentenced Peart to 33 months’ incarceration.  As part of her plea agreement, Peart acknowledged that a co-conspirator, believed to be located in Canada, mailed letters to elderly victims in the United States falsely informing the victims that they had won more than a million dollars in a lottery.  These letters purported to be from an actual sweepstakes company in the United States.

“International lottery fraudsters have cheated Americans out of tens of millions of dollars,” said Wifredo Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  “In this particular scheme, the fraudsters convinced the victims to deposit counterfeit checks into their bank accounts in order to pay fees to collect their purported lottery winnings.  After the victims sent the money to King, the counterfeit cashier’s checks bounced and they lost their money.  Such fraud will not be tolerated.  Together with federal and local law enforcement, we are working to put an end to this type of scheme.”

The evidence at King’s trial showed that a co-conspirator sent fraudulent lottery letters to the victims and included counterfeit cashier’s checks made out to the victims for thousands of dollars.  These letters instructed victims to call “claims agents” who were actually co-conspirators, and when the victims called the purported claims agents, the agents informed the victims that they had to pay several thousand dollars in fees in order to collect their purported lottery winnings.  The claims agents told the victims to deposit the cashier’s checks in the victims’ bank accounts in order to purportedly cover the money they had to pay.  The co-conspirators instructed the victims on how to send and wire this money to King and others.  The cashier’s checks that victims received from the fraudulent lottery had no value.  The evidence demonstrated that after the victims sent money to King, the counterfeit cashier’s checks bounced.  Victims never received any lottery winnings.

Evidence presented at trial showed that King kept a percentage of the money she received from victims and sent the rest of the money to a co-conspirator.  King continued to participate in this scheme even after the U.S. Postal Inspection Service verbally informed her that she was participating in unlawful activity, and after she later signed a Cease and Desist Order requiring that she stop receiving money from victims of fraud.  The order that King signed described the lottery related activity that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service explained was unlawful.

Assistant Attorney General Delery commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Marshals Service.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Director Jeffrey Steger and Trial Attorney Kathryn Drenning with the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Consumer Protection Branch.

NSF AND THE VIRUS PIRATES

FROM:  THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Undersea warfare: Viruses hijack deep-sea bacteria at hydro-thermal vents

Unseen armies of viruses and bacteria battle in the deep

More than a mile beneath the ocean's surface, as dark clouds of mineral-rich water billow from seafloor hot springs called hydrothermal vents, unseen armies of viruses and bacteria wage war.

Like pirates boarding a treasure-laden ship, the viruses infect bacterial cells to get the loot: tiny globules of elemental sulfur stored inside the bacterial cells.

Instead of absconding with their prize, the viruses force the bacteria to burn their valuable sulfur reserves, then use the unleashed energy to replicate.

"Our findings suggest that viruses in the dark oceans indirectly access vast energy sources in the form of elemental sulfur," said University of Michigan marine microbiologist and oceanographer Gregory Dick, whose team collected DNA from deep-sea microbes in seawater samples from hydrothermal vents in the Western Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California.

"We suspect that these viruses are essentially hijacking bacterial cells and getting them to consume elemental sulfur so the viruses can propagate themselves," said Karthik Anantharaman of the University of Michigan, first author of a paper on the findings published this week in the journal Science Express.

Similar microbial interactions have been observed in shallow ocean waters between photosynthetic bacteria and the viruses that prey upon them.

But this is the first time such a relationship has been seen in a chemosynthetic system, one in which the microbes rely solely on inorganic compounds, rather than sunlight, as their energy source.

"Viruses play a cardinal role in biogeochemical processes in ocean shallows," said David Garrison, a program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research. "They may have similar importance in deep-sea thermal vent environments."

The results suggest that viruses are an important component of the thriving ecosystems--which include exotic six-foot tube worms--huddled around the vents.

"The results hint that the viruses act as agents of evolution in these chemosynthetic systems by exchanging genes with the bacteria," Dick said. "They may serve as a reservoir of genetic diversity that helps shape bacterial evolution."

The scientists collected water samples from the Eastern Lau Spreading Center in the Western Pacific Ocean and the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California.

The samples were taken at depths of more than 6,000 feet, near hydrothermal vents spewing mineral-rich seawater at temperatures surpassing 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Back in the laboratory, the researchers reconstructed near-complete viral and bacterial genomes from DNA snippets retrieved at six hydrothermal vent plumes.

In addition to the common sulfur-consuming bacterium SUP05, they found genes from five previously unknown viruses.

The genetic data suggest that the viruses prey on SUP05. That's not too surprising, said Dick, since viruses are the most abundant biological entities in the oceans and are a pervasive cause of mortality among marine microorganisms.

The real surprise, he said, is that the viral DNA contains genes closely related to SUP05 genes used to extract energy from sulfur compounds.

When combined with results from previous studies, the finding suggests that the viruses force SUP05 bacteria to use viral SUP05-like genes to help process stored globules of elemental sulfur.

The SUP05-like viral genes are called auxiliary metabolic genes.

"We hypothesize that the viruses enhance bacterial consumption of this elemental sulfur, to the benefit of the viruses," said paper co-author Melissa Duhaime of the University of Michigan. The revved-up metabolic reactions may release energy that the viruses then use to replicate and spread.

How did SUP05-like genes end up in these viruses? The researchers can't say for sure, but the viruses may have snatched genes from SUP05 during an ancient microbial interaction.

"There seems to have been an exchange of genes, which implicates the viruses as an agent of evolution," Dick said.

All known life forms need a carbon source and an energy source. The energy drives the chemical reactions used to assemble cellular components from simple carbon-based compounds.

On Earth's surface, sunlight provides the energy that enables plants to remove carbon dioxide from the air and use it to build sugars and other organic molecules through the process of photosynthesis.

But there's no sunlight in the deep ocean, so microbes there often rely on alternate energy sources.

Instead of photosynthesis they depend on chemosynthesis. They synthesize organic compounds using energy derived from inorganic chemical reactions--in this case, reactions involving sulfur compounds.

Sulfur was likely one of the first energy sources that microbes learned to exploit on the young Earth, and it remains a driver of ecosystems found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, in oxygen-starved "dead zones" and at Yellowstone-like hot springs.

Dick said the new microbial findings will help researchers understand how marine biogeochemical cycles, including the sulfur cycle, will respond to global environmental changes such as the ongoing expansion of dead zones.

SUP05 bacteria, which are known to generate the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, will likely expand their range as oxygen-starved zones continue to grow in the oceans.

In addition to Anantharaman, Dick and Duhaime, co-authors of the Science Express paper are John Breir of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Kathleen Wendt of the University of Minnesota and Brandy Toner of the University of Minnesota.

The project was also funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School Faculty Research Fellowship Program.

-NSF-
Media Contacts
Cheryl Dybas, NSF

LABOR SECRETARY PEREZ MAKES REMARKS ON APRIL EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS

FROM:  U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT 

Statement of US Secretary of Labor Perez on April employment numbers

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued the following statement about the April 2014 Employment Situation report released today:
"This morning's report demonstrates that the economy continues to rebound after a brutal recession that began in 2007. The economy generated 288,000 new jobs in April. The 273,000 created by private employers brings us to 9.2 million total new private-sector jobs over the last 50 months. Unemployment fell to 6.3 percent, the lowest since September 2008.

"I'm encouraged by this report, but we can't let one month of strong numbers diminish our sense of urgency or distract us from helping people who are still hurting. I meet too many working families who are barely getting by, let alone getting ahead. Their hard work and responsibility aren't being rewarded with the opportunity they deserve.

"To expand opportunity and ignite further economic growth, we need willing and engaged partners on Capitol Hill. But Congress continues to choose obstruction over action. While long-term unemployment remains near historic highs, it is now four months and counting since Congress took the unprecedented step of letting emergency unemployment benefits expire. Just two days ago, a minority of senators blocked a federal minimum wage increase embraced by a majority of Americans.

"President Obama is working every day to help more people climb ladders of success and punch their ticket to the middle class. He's fighting for infrastructure investment, immigration reform and other job-creating initiatives that enjoy broad public support. At the Labor Department this year, we will put on the street roughly $1 billion in new, targeted job-driven training funds that will help more people acquire the skills they need to succeed in the jobs of today and tomorrow.
"The president is committed to making this a year of action. He and I are eager to work with members of both parties to create more jobs, a stronger recovery and opportunity for all."

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S WEEKLY ADDRESS FOR MAY 3, 2014

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 

Weekly Address: The President's Year of Action

WASHINGTON, DC – In this week’s address, the President provided an update on the work his Administration has done to strengthen the economy and expand opportunity for hardworking Americans in this Year of Action. While Republicans in Congress are setting records in obstruction, the President is making progress for the American people and has taken more than 20 executive actions since January. The President vowed to continue taking action on his own wherever possible, but underscored that much more progress could be made if Republicans in Congress were less interested in stacking the deck in favor of those at the top, and more interested in expanding opportunity for all.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
May 3, 2014

Hi, everybody.  My number one priority as President is doing whatever I can to create more jobs and opportunity for hardworking families.  And yesterday, we learned that businesses added 273,000 jobs last month.  All told, our businesses have now created 9.2 million new jobs over 50 consecutive months of job growth.

But we need to keep going – to create more good jobs, and give middle-class families a sense of security.  And I want to work with Congress to do it.

But so far this year, Republicans in Congress have blocked or voted down every serious idea to create jobs and strengthen the middle class.  They’ve said “no” to raising the minimum wage, “no” to equal pay for equal work, and “no” to restoring the unemployment insurance they let expire for more than two million Americans looking for a new job. 

That’s not what we need right now.  Not when there are still too many folks out of work and too many families working harder than ever just to get by. 

That’s why, in my State of the Union Address, I said that in this Year of Action, whenever I can act on my own to create jobs and expand opportunity for more Americans, I will.  And since January, I’ve taken more than 20 executive actions to do just that.

I acted to raise more workers’ wages by requiring that workers on new federal contracts earn a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour – and as long as Republicans in Congress refuse to act, I’ll keep working with cities, states, and businesses to give more Americans a raise.  I acted to encourage more pay transparency and strengthen enforcement of equal pay laws, so that more women have the tools they need to earn fair pay.  And I’m modernizing regulations to make sure that more Americans who work overtime get the pay that they’ve earned.  I’ve launched new hubs to help attract more high-tech manufacturing jobs to America – and ordered a reform of job training programs to make sure more Americans can earn the skills that employers need right now.  I’ve brought together business leaders to help us connect more classrooms to high-speed internet, and give more of the long-term unemployed a better shot at finding a job. 

Each of these steps will make a difference.  You can check out the full list at whitehouse.gov.

But we could do a lot more if Republicans in Congress were less interested in stacking the deck in favor of those at the top, and more interested in growing the economy for everybody.  They’ve now voted more than 50 times to take apart the Affordable Care Act – imagine if they voted 50 times on serious jobs bills.

That’s why I’m going to take action on my own wherever I can.  To grow our economy from the middle-out, not the top down.  To give every American who works hard a chance to get ahead. 

That’s what this Year of Action is all about, and that’s what I’m going to keep fighting for. 

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS ON U.S. COMMITMENT TO AFRICA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Commitment to Africa

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Gullele Botanic Park

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

May 3, 2014

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Hallelujah, thank you very much for a spectacular introduction. Thank you for even getting out of the city and up into the mountains. And everything is so beautiful. This is an extraordinary building, and I just had the pleasure of walking out on the veranda here and enjoying the view. I understand this is the first green building, totally green building. So I congratulate the Gullele Botanical Gardens, and I particularly congratulate the University of Addis Ababa. Thank you, Mr. President, for being here. And thank you, all of you, for treading up the hill to join me this morning. I saw a couple of donkeys out there. Did some of you come up on the donkeys? (Laughter.) But a lot of buses and cars, and I am very, very appreciative.

It’s really good to be back in Addis, and I want to thank the Prime Minister and -- Foreign Minister Tedros and Prime Minister Hailemariam for a very generous welcome. And I want to thank them particularly for their terrific support in efforts not just with our development challenges and the challenges of Ethiopia itself, but also the challenges of South Sudan, the challenges of Somalia, the challenges of leadership on the continent and beyond.

I was here last spring to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the African Union and it was an appropriate time to take note of the meaning behind the AU’s significant emblem, the red rings that remind us all of the blood that was shed for an Africa that is free, and the palm leaves that remind us of the fact that the blood was not just shed for freedom, but it was shed for peace. And then the gold that symbolizes the promise of natural resources and economic potential. Today, as I come here to this hilltop, it’s important to understand how we will fulfill the promise of still another symbol of the African Union’s crest, the interlocking rings of green that embody all of Africa’s hopes and dreams.

These are the dreams I believe absolutely can be realized if we are, all of us, together, prepared to make the right choices. And it is a matter of choice. There is no pre-determined destiny out there that pushes us in a direction; this is up to the will of the people, and the will of leaders. We need to make certain that we grab the choice that seizes the future, and we need to refuse to be dragged back into the past.

I have absolutely no doubt that this could be an inflection point for the new Africa, a time and a place where Africans bend the arc of history towards reform, and not retribution; towards peace and prosperity, not revenge and resentment. And it’s important to acknowledge -- at least I feel it's important to acknowledge candidly -- that for too long the ties between the United States and Africa were largely rooted in meeting the challenges and the crises of a particular moment. But we’re discovering that, at the beginning of the 21^st century, we both want a lasting and more grounded relationship, one that is not reflective, but visionary and strategic.
And for many Americans, Africa was too long a faraway place on a map, a destination for philanthropy, an occasional and harrowing image on the TV screen of starvation and war, a place of distance and some mystery. The fact is that today Africa is increasingly a destination for American investment and tourism, that African institutions are increasingly leading efforts to solve African problems. All of this underscores that dramatic transformations are possible, that prosperity can replace poverty, that cooperation can actually triumph over conflict.
But even as we celebrate this progress, we are also meeting at a time of continued crisis. Conflicts in South Sudan, which I visited yesterday, Central African Republic, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the events that we've just seen in Nigeria, these are among some of the things that are preventing millions of Africans from realizing their full potential. And in some places they are plunging the continent back into the turmoil of the past.

Now, some things are absolutely certain as we look at this panorama: Africa has the resources; Africa has the capacity; Africa has the know-how. The questions that Africa faces are similar to those confronting countries all over the world: do we have the political will, the sense of common purpose, to address our challenges? Are we prepared to make the hard choices that those challenges require?

The continent’s course is ultimately up to you. It's up to Africans. But we firmly believe that the United States is Africa’s natural partner. One thing we know for sure, the United States could be a vital catalyst in this continent’s continued transformation, and President Obama is committed to that transformation.

The United States is blessed to be the world’s epicenter for innovation. Africa is home to many of the fastest-growing economies in the world. There is no limit to what we can accomplish together by working together, and cooperating, and setting out a strategy, and agreeing to have a vision, and join it in common purpose. And though we never forget -- we never forget -- how our first ties were forged in some of the darkest chapters of human history, we still start from a strong foundation.

Now, I’m sure that some of you have seen that in your travels, hopefully across the United States. Whether it is Little Senegal in Los Angeles, or the Somali community in Minneapolis, or the Ethiopian community in Washington, DC, Africans are making American culture richer, and our economy stronger, and contributing to the future chapters of American history. It’s time to make sure that we build on this deep connection; it’s time that we take these connections to the next level by investing in the future of this continent.

And when we know, as we do, that Africa will have a larger workforce than India or China by 2040, then it is time for us to get ahead of the curve, to invest in education for the vast numbers of young people, and the increasing numbers of people demanding their part of that future. It is time to build a more open exchange of ideas and information that leads to partnership and innovation. President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative -- I had a chance to meet a number of them, they will be coming to Washington in August -- YALI, is designed to harness this energy, and it’s one example of how some of these efforts are already well underway. YALI is bringing leadership and networking to thousands of young people across the continent. And I am very, very pleased that many of you who are here today are participating in YALI, and that four of you will come and join us this summer as part of the first class of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.

I was particularly impressed, frankly, by one of the stories of these young women, Haleta Giday. Perhaps it’s because Haleta is a prosecutor, and I used to be a prosecutor in my early career. But she graduated from Jimma University, which you all know is one of the best schools in Ethiopia. And the fact is that she had her pick of any lucrative job that she wanted to do, right here in the capital. Instead, she chose to represent women and children who were victims of violence. And when Haleta saw how many widows went bankrupt after they lost their husbands, she began a campaign to educate women about their legal and financial rights.

Just consider what Haleta has witnessed over the course of her young life: she spent her first years in a nation traumatized by famine. Today, Ethiopia is one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Since Haleta arrived on her first day of school, the number of democratic governments in Africa has tripled. Since she left high school, banking assets have more than doubled. And since Haleta graduated from university, Africa’s telecommunications market has doubled in size. She has already lived a remarkable life, and she’s doing amazing work here in Ethiopia. What’s more remarkable is she is one of many young leaders across this continent who are proving their mettle by taking on some of the toughest challenges.

So this is clearly a moment of opportunity for all Africans. It is also a moment of decision, because it’s the decisions that are made or the decisions that are deferred that will ultimately determine whether Africa mines the continent’s greatest natural resource of all, which is not platinum, it's not gold, it's not oil, it is the talent of its people. Africa’s potential comes from the ability of its citizens to make a full contribution, no matter their ethnicity, no matter who they love, or what faith they practice. This continent is strong because of the diversity and the dynamism of the people. The nations in Africa, like nations all over the world, are strongest when citizens have a say, when citizens' voices can be a part of the political process, when they have a stake in their nation's success.

Over the next three years, 37 of the 54 African nations will hold national elections, including 15 presidential elections. Millions of Africans will be going the polls, selecting their leaders in free and fair elections, and that will have a dramatic impact and show the world the power of this moment for Africa. These elections, I promise you, are vitally important. But elections cannot be the only moment, the only opportunity, for citizens to be able to help shape the future. Whether a citizen can engage with their government, not just on Election Day, but every day, whether or not they can engage with their fellow citizens in political discussion and debate and dialogue every week, every month, these are the questions that matter profoundly to Africa’s future.
The African Union is working to answer “yes” to all of these questions. “Good governance, democracy, and the right to development,” these are enshrined in universal rights, and the African Union’s charter represents that and reflects that. The AU has also gone to great lengths in order to highlight the corrosive effect of corruption, both in the public square, as well as corruption in the marketplace. To the AU’s great credit, they have reported that corruption costs Africans tens of billions of dollars, if not more. And that money -- every one of you knows that money could build new schools, new hospitals, new bridges, new roads, pipes, power lines. That’s why it is a responsibility for citizens in Africa and in all nations to demand that public money is providing services for all, not lining the pockets of a few.

And that is why it is so important for all of us everywhere, in our country, your country, and elsewhere, to fight against public corruption and corruption in the marketplace. Our cooperation is essential in order to protect economic growth that is shared by everybody in order to provide opportunity for all individuals in Africa. And, as you well know, fighting corruption is difficult. It takes courage. It sometimes has its risks. But fighting corruption lifts more than a country's balance sheet. Transparency and accountability attract greater investment. Transparency and accountability create a more competitive marketplace, one where ideas and products are judged by the market and by their merits, and not by backroom deals or bribes. That is an environment where innovators and entrepreneurs flourish, I promise you.

The United States has learned through its own experience that entrepreneurship is an essential driver of prosperity and of freedom. That’s why President Obama launched the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which this fall will bring some of the world’s brightest minds to Morocco. Last year I had the pleasure of being in Kuala Lumpur for that meeting, for the same meeting. And I was stunned by the 15,000 young people screaming like they were in a rock concert or something, all challenged by the prospect of themselves becoming or being the next Steve Jobs or the next Bill Gates. It was unbelievable to feel their energy and enthusiasm.
And they are all connected, all these kids are connected. Everybody shares everything with everybody else in the world, all of the time. And that changes politics, and it changes business, and it changes perceptions. It changes hopes and dreams and aspirations. And every political leader needs to be tuned in to that reality, because that's what we saw in Tunisia, that's what we saw in Egypt. That's what we're still seeing in Syria, where young people came out, asking for a future.

We want to make certain that every country can provide young people the ability to be able to take an idea and turn it into a business. And we know beyond any doubt that the places where people are free not just to develop an idea, but to debate different ideas, to transform the best ideas into a reality, those are the societies that are most successful. Now, this success is not a mystery, and it's not something that is hard to achieve, if you make the right choices. This success is possible for all of Africa. This new Africa is within everybody's reach. But a new Africa will not emerge without becoming a more secure Africa.

In too many parts of the continent, a lack of security, the threat of violence, or all-out war prevent the shoots of prosperity from emerging. The burdens of past divisions might not disappear entirely, my friends. But they must never be allowed to bury the future. The African Union’s commitment to silence the guns of Africa by 2020 is an ambitious goal. It is the right goal. It is a vision worth fighting for, and one that we will do everything in our power to help you achieve, and that’s why we will continue to provide financial and logistical support to African Union-led efforts in Somalia, where al-Shahaab is under significant pressure. That’s why we will continue to support the African Union Regional Task Force against the Lord’s Resistance Army, where LRA-related deaths have dropped by 75 percent, and hundreds of thousands have returned to their homes. And that’s why we are working to strengthen Nigeria’s institutions and its military to combat Boko Haram, and their campaign of terror and violence.

Let me be clear. The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime, and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice. I will tell you, my friends, I have seen this scourge of terror across the planet, and so have you. They don't offer anything except violence. They don't offer a health care plan, they don't offer schools. They don't tell you how to build a nation, they don't talk about how they will provide jobs. They just tell people, "You have to behave the way we tell you to," and they will punish you if you don't.
Our responsibility and the world’s responsibility is to stand up against that kind if nihilism. That is the reason that we have committed up to $100 million to support AU and French forces in Central African Republic to push back, as well as $67 million in humanitarian assistance. It’s why we support wholeheartedly the Framework Peace Process and the leadership of Angola and the 10 other African nations to resolve the root causes of conflict in the Great Lakes. Through our Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, a former Senator, a friend of mine that I appointed, Russ Feingold, the United States has been supporting the burgeoning dialogue that is now taking place, and we have already helped to broker the demobilization of M23. We stand ready to support all efforts that help the parties stay on a peaceful path.
Yesterday I was in South Sudan. I was there at the birth of the nation, at the referendum. I know President Kiir, I know the hopes and aspirations of the people there. And I saw yesterday how a nation that once had a hopeful vision for the future can be challenged by old grudges degenerating into violence by personal ambition, by greed that gets in the way of the hopes of all of the people.

I expressed my grave concerns to President Kiir about the deliberate killings of civilians on both sides of the conflict and he agreed to embark on negotiations to form a transitional government that can lead the nation back from the abyss. I congratulate him for his willingness to do that, and I look forward, as the world will, to watching him lead the nation back from this abyss. I also called the former Vice President, Riek Machar, and I urged him to do the same, to come to Addis Ababa in the near term, and to engage in these direct talks in order to move South Sudan to its rightful future.

If both sides do not take bold steps to end the violence, they risk plunging South Sudan into greater desperation and even famine. And that famine could be right around the corner if we don't turn the corner ourselves in the next days. They will completely destroy what they claim they are fighting for if we do not make a difference now. Both sides must do more to facilitate the work of those providing humanitarian assistance. The UN, UNMIS, and all organizations that are urgently providing aid must be supported and protected and not demonized, the way they have been.

Once again, African nations are all working hard to try to forge a regional solution through the AU's Commission of Inquiry and IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanisms. And in the days to come I will continue my personal engagement with both sides, and it is imperative that both sides abide by the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, and implement it as fully as possible. The international community must stay committed to the people of South Sudan and see them through this time of incredible difficulty.

Preventing new conflicts also requires coordination to confront the causes of conflict, including food insecurity and famine and, obviously, poverty. Africa has 60 percent of the world’s arable land. Just think about that. That is a tremendous opportunity for the future, not just to feed Africa’s people, but to feed the world. The United States wants to help Africa seize this opportunity by making investments in agribusiness and in crops with greater yields and greater resistance to extreme weather.

With Feed the Future, which was built on the foundation that was laid by the African Union with your own Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program, the United States is investing several billion dollars to improve seed quality, to enhance farming methods, to protect against soil erosion, and link small farmers to the marketplace. To underscore the importance of these commitments, the AU has made 2014 the year of agriculture and food security.
But it is no exaggeration to say that the greatest risk to African agriculture, and even to our way of life, not just in Africa but on this planet, comes from the potential ravages of climate change.
According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, portions of Mombasa, Dakar, Monrovia, and dozens of other coastal cities could be under water by the middle of this century. Yields from rain-fed agriculture in parts of Africa could decline by 50 percent. An additional 100 million people or more will be living without water or under greater water duress as a result of the changes from climate.

When 97 percent of scientists agree that the climate is changing, and that humans are responsible for much of the change, and that it is happening faster than predicted, let me tell you something: We need to listen to that 97 percent, and we need to act. And when this continent produces less carbon than almost any other nation, when the continent produces less carbon than almost any other nation, but has the most to lose climate change, it is true there is an inherent unfairness to that equation. And there can be no doubt about it: greater prosperity in Africa is going to demand greater energy supply. So, citizens in Africa will have to make certain that the mistakes that we make, the mistakes that other developed nations have made, that those are not repeated, that the mistakes that created this moment of urgency for the world are not repeated on this continent.

The United States wants to support Africa’s efforts to develop more sustainably, even as we move to do so ourselves, and move to curb our emissions. And that’s why, as part of the President’s bold Power Africa Initiative, a partnership that will pump billions of dollars into the continent’s energy sector, we are working with programs such as the U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative. We’re leveraging public resources and private resources to support $1 billion in clean energy investment from the private sector. Climate change is a global challenge, and it's going to threaten this continent and all continents in profound ways if it is not matched by global cooperative action.

We will -- we face this challenge remembering that we’ve come together before to confront a borderless, generational crisis, one in which I am proud to say we are now winning. So when someone suggests that we are impotent to combat climate change here on Africa’s soil, remind them that we already turned back armies of indifference and denial in the fight against AIDS.

I’ve worked with some of you in this battle since the 1990s. It was 15 years ago when I co-authored the first Africa AIDS legislation which later became the foundation for PEPFAR. Back then, what I saw this week at Gandhi Memorial Hospital that I visited a couple days ago, that would have been unthinkable back then. Because of the commitment of local doctors and healthcare professionals, and with PEPFAR’s sustained support, we have dramatically reduced the number of young children infected with HIV. And the fact is that we have -- we are -- I think we were about, what, 15,000 children were receiving antiretroviral drugs back in 2004. Today, there are more than 330,000 receiving them. The number of people living with HIV has been reduced by one-third. And, remarkably, we are on the cusp of witnessing the first generation of children who will be born AIDS-free because of what we have learned to do.
There was a sign I saw yesterday at the hospital -- or the day before yesterday. It was -- it read, “Ethiopia and the United States of America investing in a healthy future together.” My friends, that sign tells it all. It tells us what's possible, it tells us what we're doing together. It tells us what’s possible in all of our endeavors together.

Achieving President Obama’s goal for an AIDS-free generation would have been the most distant dream. I tell you it was back when we first started talking about doing something about AIDS. Back then it was a death sentence, and back then it was almost a death sentence for politicians talking about it. They didn't want to hear about it. But despite the difficulties that lie ahead -- and there are still difficulties -- this goal is now within our reach. So don't let anybody tell you we can't do something about climate change or these other things.

In fact, in so many ways, Africa is on the move. And that is why investment is moving here from all over the world. IBM has invested $100 million in Big Data on the continent. IBM’s initiatives are helping Africans to find ways to streamline the work of their businesses and governments, to provide more effective and efficient services. Microsoft is investing in what it calls “Mawingu,” the Swahili word for cloud, to develop cloud computing and storage in Kenya that could be expanded to additional African nations. Google is exploring ways to develop underused spectrum in order to deliver broadband Internet access to remote communities.

And it was here in Addis Ababa that we launched a formal review of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, in order to determine where to take AGOA for the future. President Obama is committed to a seamless renewal of AGOA, as it continues to serve as a vital link in order to facilitate trade between our countries.

I say this unabashedly, too: we want more American companies to be here, to invest, both to unleash the power of the private sector in Africa, and, yes, to create jobs in America at the same time. Now, we’ve seen time and again: when we help nations stand on their own two feet, we share in their success. Out of our 15 largest trading partners today, 11 are former recipients of American aid. They are now donor countries. That is the transformation that can be made.
The transformation from aid to trade has been a powerful driver of American prosperity, as well as global growth. And that’s what we saw take root from our partnerships in Europe after World War II, when America came in and we helped to rebuild Germany (inaudible) before the war, helped to rebuild Japan (inaudible) before the war, helped to rebuild Europe that was crushed by the war. We have seen this same kind of resurgence in Asia, where American investment and partnership helped underwrite their incredible rise. And today, that’s what we’re beginning to see here Africa.

When people say that the kind of development that happened in Europe and Asia can’t happen here, we just plain disagree: it’s already happening. Africans are shaping their future for themselves. You are shaping it for yourselves. And we want to share in your effort and help to provide and drive for a shared prosperity that reaches these millions of young people who need education and jobs. That’s one of the reasons I’ve come to Addis today, and why I’m traveling across the continent from the Horn of Africa to the Atlantic coast in the next couple of days.
So this is a very important time for us both. This summer we will further advance the vital work that we are undertaking together with the Africa Leaders’ Summit. This summit will be the first of its kind. Never before will so many leaders from such a diverse cross-section of the African Continent come together with the President of the United States and leaders from all across American society in the United States. It’s an historic gathering that matches the remarkable importance of this particular moment.

The theme of this Summit will be “Investing in the Next Generation.” And I am pleased to see that generation is so well represented here today, with the younger participants from YALI that I mentioned earlier. These young African leaders are the future. And I have to tell you, when we introduced YALI, we were stunned by the response. We put out this notion of young African leaders and invited people to come to Washington. And guess what, 50,000 young people responded and applied to be a part of this program. We could only take 500. So, what we need to do is make sure those other 49,500, and for millions beyond them, are able to be reached.
That is the kind of commitment that actually inspired a young Bobby Kennedy. Some of you may remember when he came to South Africa during some of that country’s darkest days. And he challenged the young audience at Cape Town University to muster the courage and the determination to confront their generation’s most daunting challenges. He said: “The world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life, but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.”

It’s that spirit, it’s those qualities, it’s that appetite that I guarantee you will propel the next generation of Africans to tackle today’s greatest challenges. And as they do so, the United States of America will stand beside them, bound together by a shared future, a common purpose, and a shared destiny.

So, I say to you, thank you. (Speaks in foreign language.) Thank you very much. (Applause.)

U.S. MILITARY IN AFGHANISTAN ADAPTS TO TRAINING ROLE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Right:  Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is greeted by Army Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commander of the International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command East and of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, upon his arrival on Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, May 1, 2014. Dempsey is in Afghanistan to visit troops and commanders. DOD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Hinton.  

American Units Adapting to New Missions in Afghanistan
By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, May 2, 2014 – As you walk into the headquarters for Regional Command East here, you see a photo of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Underneath the photo is an inscription: “Never again.”

“Our soldiers understand why they are here,” said Army Maj. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commander of Regional Command East and of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division. “International terrorists will never use this country to launch attacks on the United States or our allies again.”

Townsend spoke during a break in meetings with Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is visiting here to confer with senior leaders.

But the mission American and coalition service members perform has changed from one in which Americans did the combat operations to one in which U.S. and coalition forces train, advise and assist Afghan forces.

When he does battlefield circulations, Townsend said, he tells the U.S. and coalition service members that the mission is to “get the Afghan national security forces stood up, so we can stand down.”

This, the general said, is the biggest change he has seen since his last deployment to Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011. In 2011, American and coalition forces conducted about 95 percent of the operations. A few Afghan soldiers accompanied them, he said.

“Now, it’s exactly the opposite, with 95 percent of the operations led by the Afghans,” he said. “In fact, between 80 and 85 percent of those operations are Afghan unilaterals. There’s nobody from the coalition with them at all.”
This does not mean that American and coalition forces are out of danger. Last week, two 10th Mountain Division soldiers were killed conducting force-protection patrols.

Veterans of multiple deployments understand what is happening, Townsend said. “They are very happy to advise the Afghans and help train them and encourage them as they leave the gate on a mission,” he said. “They stand by as part of a quick-reaction force if needed.”

But they understand that “victory has an Afghan face,” the general said.
The mantra now is to train the trainer. U.S. forces train Afghan officers and sergeants, who in turn train Afghan privates. “That’s the only way we can build an institution that can sustain itself,” Townsend said.

The effort also is transitioning from unit-based security force assistance to functionally based assistance. In the past, American soldiers have been covering down on Afghan kandaks, or brigades, to train all aspects of what that unit needed to function effectively. “Now we are shifting our lens to functions -- critical functions,” he said.

Logistics and intelligence are two of these critical functions. Training now strives to connect kandaks through the chain of command to the Afghan Defense Ministry. “A lot of the Afghan units are functioning just fine,” Townsend said. But they do need things from outside the unit to perform best, he added.

Spare parts, replacements and intelligence sharing are examples of functions outside a unit that are critical to the unit’s success, he explained. “We’re trying to get the Afghans to push their intelligence down through channels to the unit that needs it,” he said. “We’re trying to make that pipe work.”

With logistics, the Afghans have no historical data to forecast what spares will be needed. As a result, they are still buying bulk parts. This is inefficient, the general said, because “you end up buying too many of one widget and too few of another.”
“They don’t have enough money to be inefficient and wasteful,” he added. “They have to be very efficient. We’re trying to help them maximize their bang for the buck.”

When Townsend speaks with U.S. and coalition troops, he said, they ask him about the status of the bilateral security agreement that would allow a continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan beyond this year. They also ask if the United States will leave a residual force in Afghanistan, and what it will do. “They may operate at the foxhole-and-rifle squad level, but they think at a national level,” he said.
The general said he believes Americans should know about the work his troopers are doing here.

“We lost a soldier, … and I read a post on the Internet from an American that said, ‘I thought we were out of there,’” Townsend said. “The American people need to know we are still here and doing the nation’s mission.”

ADAM SCHEINMAN'S REMARKS, NPT CLUSTER 2

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

NPT Cluster 2: Nonproliferation and Safeguards - U.S. Statement

Remarks

Adam Scheinman, Senior Advisor, International Security and Nonproliferation

Third Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference

New York City

May 1, 2014

(As Prepared)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The United States emphasizes the importance of a balanced approach to implementation of the NPT. The three NPT pillars are mutually reinforcing. The nonproliferation pillar plays a central role by strengthening the other two. Together, nonproliferation, disarmament and peaceful uses are complementary not competing goals. We pursue each with equal vigor and in all aspects.

A strong nonproliferation regime contributes to the security conditions that make disarmament easier to achieve, and progress on disarmament helps create political conditions to strengthen the nonproliferation regime. All parties share in the mutual security that derives from a strong nonproliferation regime.

Safeguards, export controls, and other important nonproliferation measures build the mutual confidence that enables the fullest possible cooperation among parties. This in turn helps to realize the benefits of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy for all parties. The robust nuclear cooperation that results demonstrates the value of a strong nonproliferation regime.

The United States remains fully committed to the Action Plan that was adopted by consensus in 2010, including those actions related to nonproliferation. A complete listing of U.S. implementation of this pillar can be found in our national report to the PrepCom.

U.S. Support for IAEA Safeguards and the Additional Protocol

Mr. Chairman, the Action Plan emphasizes the importance of compliance with IAEA safeguards, which are the established international verification mechanism under the NPT. These safeguards are essential to help ensure that nuclear activities remain in peaceful uses and that material and technology is not diverted to produce nuclear weapons. These safeguards are essential to help ensure that states are not diverting nuclear energy from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons. Only twelve NPT parties have yet to bring the required safeguards agreement into force. We should aim to reduce that number to zero by next year’s Review Conference, and we encourage states that have not yet done so to update any small quantities protocols.

A comprehensive safeguards agreement together with an Additional Protocol is now recognized as the strengthened safeguards standard. We have learned time and again that the IAEA needs the essential tools provided by the Additional Protocol in order to respond to possible undeclared nuclear activities and provide assurances of their absence. We should redouble efforts to make the Additional Protocol universal. Between now and the Review Conference, states that have signed the Additional Protocol should bring it into force. Those states yet to sign should start the work now to take this forward.

Some states may need assistance in implementing – or preparing to implement – those safeguards measures. The United States devotes considerable resources to this effort, and we encourage those who are in a position to help to offer their support to other states and to the IAEA. We should make sure that all interested states are aware and take advantage of such assistance.

The IAEA should seek to continuously improve the way it implements safeguards by using new technology and taking advantage of all safeguards-relevant information. In doing so the Agency must maintain its objectivity, impartiality, and the technical foundation of its work. This deserves our full financial, technical, and political support. In this regard, we note the IAEA’s development of the state-level concept (SLC), which is the next logical phase in the evolution of IAEA safeguards. We support the Agency’s efforts to transition to the SLC in order that IAEA safeguards remain both effective and efficient.

Thirty-seven years ago, the United States was the first state to establish a Member State Support Program to provide technical and financial assistance to the IAEA for safeguards. Last year alone, we provided $40 million to the IAEA to support its safeguards mission. This figure does not include significant efforts to revitalize our own technology base and work with other international partners to support IAEA safeguards. We also take great encouragement from the contributions of 20 other active Support Programs for IAEA safeguards, a concrete affirmation of the importance those states place in IAEA safeguards.

The United States remains ready to accept the same safeguards on our civil nuclear facilities and activities that non-nuclear-weapon states Parties are required to accept, both under comprehensive safeguards agreements and Additional Protocols to those agreements, subject only to a national security exclusion. We have made roughly 300 civil nuclear facilities eligible for IAEA safeguards under our “voluntary offer” safeguards agreement. We have welcomed IAEA verification of the downblending of excess U.S. highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium for use in power reactors. Each of our annual reports under the U.S. Additional Protocol since 2010 has included over 300 entries.

Nuclear Security

Mr. Chairman, in addition to the risk of nuclear proliferation by states, we need to address the risks from non-state actors, including the risks of unauthorized removal or sabotage of dangerous nuclear and radiological materials. We welcome the outcome of the Nuclear Security Summit last month in The Hague and take note of the accomplishments made through commitments made at earlier summits by a diverse group of world leaders representing 53 states and four international organizations. This concerted international action, some of which predates the Summits, has enabled 26 states plus Taiwan to rid themselves entirely of an aggregate of over five metric tons of highly enriched uranium.

But more remains to be done not only to secure and eliminate the most dangerous materials, but to promote best practices in securing nuclear and radiological material. We are pleased that two thirds of the countries participating in this year’s Summit, on the initiative of the hosts of all three Summits, pledged to implement robust measures to strengthen their nuclear security practices. As we approach the 2016 Summit, we look forward to further progress as states work to meet the additional commitments undertaken at The Hague, as well as to further progress on nuclear security actions in the three communiqués and the 2010 Action Plan.

Proliferation Challenges

Mr. Chairman, since the early 1990s, we have seen several instances of NPT Parties that failed to comply with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations. Some of these cases have been resolved successfully. But other cases remain unresolved and those states stand in violation of their obligations today because they have not taken sufficient action to resolve the underlying compliance concerns. Unresolved cases of noncompliance erode confidence in the NPT as a foundation for international security and for efforts to reduce global nuclear dangers. NPT parties should continue to give utmost attention to these challenges in order to maintain and reinforce the integrity and effectiveness of the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

Non-compliant states or non-state actors will not hesitate to take advantage of weaknesses in the nonproliferation system. They will import critical nuclear-related equipment on the black market or traffic in dangerous materials. None of us is immune to these risks. Illicit commerce has taken advantage even of states with the strongest nonproliferation commitments, and its results affect all of us.

This underscores the need for concerted action to shore up our existing controls. We therefore encourage states in position to do so to join us in offering assistance, in export control, border security, safeguards, nuclear and radiological security; we encourage those who need assistance to avail themselves of these offers.

Strengthening the Treaty

Mr. Chairman, universality of the NPT remains our long-term objective, even as we recognize the challenges we face in pursuing that goal. This goal will not be achieved quickly, but it remains an essential element in achieving the broader vision of a world without nuclear weapons.

We welcome the heightened attention to the issue of withdrawal from the NPT. While we do not challenge the right of NPT parties to withdraw in accordance with Article X of the Treaty, nor do we seek to amend that provision in any way, we share the concerns many countries have regarding the potential for states to abuse this right.

Mr. Chairman, the United States encourages all NPT parties to do all they can to strengthen the nonproliferation pillar of the Treaty. This is urgent if we are to preserve the security benefits that derive from our shared commitment to nonproliferation and to all pillars of the NPT regime.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY COMMEMORATES WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Commemorating World Press Freedom Day

Press Statement

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Washington, DC

May 2, 2014

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May 3 we commemorate World Press Freedom Day at a time when for too many, a free press is under assault, and the journalists, bloggers, photographers, essayists, satirists, and essayists who give life to the words “free press” are in danger.

People everywhere count on a free press to keep us informed, hold leaders accountable, filter fact from fiction, and unmask false narratives masquerading as truth.

The danger of the work journalists do in pursuing the truth was driven home for me during my trip to Kyiv in March. I’ll never forget when our Ambassador pointed out a makeshift memorial on the side of the road where a journalist who dared to criticize the regime was pulled from her car and beaten within an inch of her life by thugs allied with then-President Yanukovych. These abuses are happening in too many places: journalists are intimidated into self-censorship or arrested without cause. They’re imprisoned without judicial recourse or killed with outright impunity.

I am in awe of the courage of those who risk their lives to tell the stories the world needs to hear. In Syria, the world’s most dangerous place to be a journalist, reporters risk torture, detention, abduction, and death to expose the truth and depict the horrors unfolding across the country.

I still remember the reporters who sometimes rode with us on our boat in Vietnam. They didn’t carry a gun. They carried a pen. Sometimes, that’s more powerful.

So today we pay tribute to all our truth tellers in a noble cause: The people who put their lives and liberties on the line to tell the stories the world would otherwise never know. We reaffirm our commitment not only to stand by them, but to stand up for them this day and every day the world over.

REMARKS BY SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY AT GANDHI MEMORIAL HOSPITAL ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks During Visit to Gandhi Memorial Hospital

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Gandhi Memorial Hospital

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

May 1, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning,
everybody. How are you?

AUDIENCE: Good morning.

SECRETARY KERRY: What an incredible, incredible energy I can feel here. You all are amazing in the work that you are doing. And in the small little spaces that I just walked through, I saw how much is going on every single day. So you are maximizing each moment and you’re maximizing every bit of space, and I congratulate you on that.

As I was walking in here, I asked about some of the other activities, and I learned that 25 babies are born here every day – 7,000 or so babies a year, right? And 30 – about 35 percent of those babies are born by cesarean section, so you can imagine how much work is going on here every single day. It’s really quite extraordinary.

And this part of the hospital, the Gandhi Memorial Hospital, is really special. The sign that is back here – you’re just sort of hiding it – but it talks about Ethiopia and the United States of America investing in a healthy future together. And there’s a lot of power in those words, “investing in a healthy future together.” We are doing it together. You’re doing the day-to-day hard work every single day. We’re trying to provide as much medical expertise and as much insight, knowledge as we can to help. But this is your – this is really your program and it’s about your future.

And I am so impressed by the way in which people in Ethiopia have grabbed onto this, and you are making a difference everywhere. Back in 2004, there were about 2.7 million Ethiopians who were HIV-positive, living with the disease. That has been cut by at least a third, but most importantly, for young children, for the children coming into the world, because of the progress that we’ve been able to make, those children now have the chance of being able to live HIV-free. And we are learning how to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS from mother to child, from generation to generation, or from wife to unaffected husband or vice versa. This is a huge advance.

There were about, I think, 15,000 children being able to receive antiretroviral drugs back in 2004. Today, it’s about 335,000 who are receiving antiretroviral drugs, and today, there’s an incredible new program in place, the sort of – I guess it’s Plan B+. And through Plan B+, we are now able to guarantee that a mother or a pregnant girl, woman, will be able to receive lifetime antiretroviral drugs if they take part in the program and we are able to be able to make sure that child is born, as a result, HIV-free. That program is taking hold and that’s the promise that is coming through because of PEPFAR, so that we can actually defeat this disease. It’s a huge impact.

Now, I know a story about this hospital. I know that there was a young woman named Ababa who was diagnosed HIV-positive. And she was, after her diagnosis, trying to get to a health center, and she was out in the rain and she was exhausted and tired and she didn’t know – she didn’t have the strength to be able to get where she was going. But some health workers saw her. They didn’t just drive past her. They didn’t ignore her. They helped her. They brought her to the health center. And they were able to find housing for her, they were able to give her treatment, and today, she is one of the people who’s out on the cutting edge of helping other people to know that there is a better alternative, there’s help, there are people there who are ready to be able to make a difference.

So on behalf of every American, I can tell you that Americans are very, very proud to be able to help in this. We’re really – this is the best of countries working together and the best of people working across big oceans and big continents, but coming together because we believe in something for each other. And I think all of you are really amazing leaders in your own right because you’re doing the hardest work every single day. You are working here to make a difference in the lives of other people. And the example of what you’re achieving here in Ethiopia is an example that we can take all over the world.

So I hope you feel very proud of it. I want you to know how pleased I am to be able to come here today and learn something about the Gandhi Memorial Hospital and to meet all of you who are working so hard. So thank you very, very much for everything you are doing, and congratulations to all of you. Thank you. (Applause.)