美国总统奥巴马称其主要工作均集中于繁荣经济和创造更多的就业机会，同时

他也承认美国经济恢复的进展缓慢。

U.S. President Barack Obama says his "entire agenda" is focused on

boosting the economy and creating jobs, but he acknowledges that
the United States has been making "painfully slow" progress in
recovering from the recession.

Speaking at a White House news conference Friday, Mr. Obama said

his policies are aimed at helping the middle class. And he accused
opposition Republicans of favoring the rich and seeking a return to
policies that he said caused the recession.

Polls show majority Democrats in Congress could face devastating

losses in the November election. In his remarks, Mr. Obama
portrayed Democrats as warriors for the hard-pressed middle class
and Republicans as protectors of millionaires and special interests.

The president also criticized Republicans for holding up a bill in the

Senate intended to help small businesses get tax breaks and loans
so they can expand and hire new workers.

Earlier this week, Mr. Obama called for expanded tax breaks for
businesses doing research and development or investing in new
equipment. He also advocates continuing tax cuts for the middle
class, but ending tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

Republicans say the president's economic policies have added

hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit but have failed to cut the
9.6 percent unemployment rate.
Monkeypox Strikes in Congo

猴痘侵袭刚果

刚果民主共和国的人感染猴痘病例的增加可能被归结于终止了常规的

天花疫苗接 种。该研究论文 8 月 30 日在线发表于《美国国家科学院院

刊》（PNAS）。天花疫苗提供了针对猴痘病毒的交叉保护免疫力，猴痘

病毒是天花病毒的一种亲缘病 毒，它导致了类似于天花的人类疾病。

研究者警告说，全世界的人口如今大部分未接种天花疫苗，而且 2003

年美国暴发的人类猴痘——从进口自加纳的啮齿动物 传播给了美洲草

原土拨鼠——证明了这种病毒能够离开非洲中部并通过动物宿主在全

球传播。

The eradication of smallpox is linked to an emerging related

disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Scientists say

the appearance of monkeypox could be a cause for concern.

Monkeypox causes symptoms a lot like smallpox, but it's not

nearly as fatal. The two viruses are so closely related that

the only way to tell them apart is under a microscope.

They're so similar that researchers didn't even know they

were separate diseases until vaccination eliminated

smallpox from African populations.

"Monkeypox probably existed out there for a really long time

and it was just counted as a case of smallpox," says UCLA

epidemiologist Anne Rimoin.

Rimoin has spent years studying infectious disease in African

countries. She explains that monkeypox is a misnomer. The

virus is actually carried by rodents which pass the disease

along to humans.
"We believe exposure to these animals - whether it be

playing with them, hunting them, butchering them, cooking

them, any kind of very close interaction with these animals -

could result in an infection," Rimoin says.

Rimoin says one of the biggest causes of exposure to

monkeypox-carrying animals was when people ate bush

meat, wild animals they had hunted.

When smallpox was being eliminated in the 1960s through

the 1980s, scientists working in what was then called Zaire

(now the Democratic Republic of Congo) first noticed

monkeypox. They noticed that people vaccinated against

smallpox also got protection against monkeypox and realized

that ending smallpox vaccination would allow this related

disease to emerge more strongly.

Scientists from Zaire and other countries studied

monkeypox, to get an idea of how serious it was, and

whether monkeypox transmission could be sustained,

passing from human to human, rather than from animal to

human.
At the time, the DRC was a very different place. It was more

prosperous, with a functioning health care system. And

researchers believed the market for bush meat would

diminish as people moved into cities.

"With improved social and economic development, the

opportunity for monkeypox to cross over into humans would

become less and less because humans were going to be less

and less dependent upon these animals for protein," Rimoin

says.

But the political situation in Congo deteriorated into a

decade-long civil war. The economy collapsed, and with it,

the health care infrastructure. More people turned to bush

meat for food, increasing their contact with animals

harboring the monkeypox virus.

It's in this context that Rimoin and an international team

recently studied the incidence of the disease.

"Our study indicated a major increase that was never

anticipated from the projections of the 1980s," Rimoin says.

"We found a twenty-fold rise in the incidence of monkeypox

since the cessation of the smallpox vaccination program. We

know that the vaccination provided protection against

monkeypox and other similar viruses, so the irony is that our

victory over smallpox allowed this new disease to flourish."

Rimoin says health officials need to watch monkeypox in

Congo, to see if it's becoming more virulent, and to see if it's

passing from human to human, not just from animal to

human. And she says there's an urgent need to develop

strategies to contain the spread of the disease.

Surveys Suggest Political Trouble for Obama

As U.S. voters prepare to go to the polls in eight weeks to elect a

new Congress, two new public opinion surveys contain encouraging
news for opposition Republicans and warning signs for Democrats
and President Barack Obama.

The new opinion surveys paint a challenging picture for Democrats

trying to hold their majorities in the Senate and the House of
Representatives.

In the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, only 39 percent of

respondents approved of President Obama's handling of the
economy. Sixty-one percent said they believe the country is on the
wrong track and 49 percent of likely voters preferred Republican
control of Congress compared with 40 percent who favored the
Democrats.

President Barack Obama jogs down the steps as he disembarks Air

Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., 6 Sep
2010

Similar results came in a Washington Post/ABC News poll where Mr.

Obama's public approval rating dropped to 46 percent - a new low
for that survey.

Republicans have almost pulled even with Democrats in the

Post/ABC poll on the question of which party Americans trust to
handle the country's biggest problems. Republicans have not done
that well on that question in more than four years.

The uncertain state of the national economy is driving the dismal

poll results for the president and Democrats in Congress, despite Mr.
Obama's efforts to convince voters that there are signs of recovery.
Presidential Spokesman Robert Gibbs talked about the issue with
reporters at the White House. "There is and continues to be great
frustration with where we are in this economy. Among those
frustrated is the President of the United States. I will be honest with
you, I think the American people are not concerned with the
president's poll numbers. I think the American people are concerned
about whether or not they have a job."

Political experts said the Republicans are on track to make

significant gains in Congress in November, especially in the House,
where Democrats hold a 39-seat advantage. A growing number of
analysts expect the Republicans to win enough seats to retake
control of the House, and that they might have a chance of winning
the 10 additional seats they need to reclaim a majority in the
Senate.

Some top Republicans, though, are being cautious, aware of surveys

that show voters disapproving of Democrats, but not necessarily
embracing Republicans.

Arizona Senator John McCain, who is running for re-election this

year, spoke on the Fox News Sunday television program. "When you
look at the approval ratings of Republicans, they are just as bad as
Democrats. We have got to give them a reason to vote for us."

The latest survey results give Republicans a huge advantage among

likely voters - the latest indication that conservatives are
enthusiastic about the November elections.

Gerard Alexander is a political scientist at the University of Virginia.

"And many things can happen between now and November," said
Alexander. "But it is true that there is a sense of broad energy
among Republicans generally, and conservatives in particular, and a
broad mood of apathy and reduced engagement among many
progressives and liberals."

President Obama and Democrats are focused on generating

enthusiasm among their core voters during the next several weeks
in the hope of blunting the Republican wave that appears to be
building.

President Obama recorded his message earlier this week on the

factory floor of the Orion Energy System company in the northern
state of Wisconsin. He said he was proposing bigger tax credits for
the research that companies do to promote clean energy, such as
wind power and solar panels.

"This is going to spur new products and technologies," said Obama.

"It is going to lead to good new jobs and that is how we win the
future by unleashing the talent and ingenuity of American
businesses and American workers in every corner of this country."

While Republicans now have a majority in the House of

Representatives after elections last year, they still are in the
minority in the Senate. Senator Johnson said he hoped Mr. Obama
and the president's Democratic Party will change their government-
dependent policies when it comes to rebuilding the U.S. economy.

"I hope the president and his allies in Congress accept this single
truth: big government is blocking job creation, not helping," said
Johnson. "The sooner Washington ends this dependence on more
spending, the sooner our economy will see real growth."

President Obama says he plans to be in Pennsylvania next week to

push his message of innovation. Senator Johnson says the president
should spend time to come up with a serious plan for controlling
spending and the colossal U.S. deficit, expected to reach $1.5 trillion
this year.

Protesters Call for Ban of Tunisian RCD Party

突尼斯示威者走上街头，抗议前执政党宪政民主联盟成员留任新政府
为了平息众怒，突尼斯临时政府领袖表示已释放了所有的政治犯，并且誓言将
同旧政权“一刀两断”。
同时，所有来自前执政党“宪政民主联盟”（Constitutional Democratic
Rally，简称 RCD）的部长已向该党提交辞呈。突尼斯临时总统梅巴查和总理加
努希已在周二宣布退党。
The protests in Tunisia are smaller these days than the mass
demonstrations that ousted former strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben
Ali from power, but protesters say they will continue their rallies
until every vestige of his once all-powerful Constitutional
Democratic Rally party is gone.

In Tunis, hundreds rallied in front of the RCD party headquarters and

on the main Avenue Habib Bourguiba. News agencies reported
several thousand gathered in the southern town of Gafsa and
elsewhere in the country.

Several ministers in the new interim government have quit RCD,

including the country's interim president Fouad Mebazaa and
interim prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi. Tunisia's official
news agency reports a junior minister resigned on Thursday after
being criticized over his ties to the old Ben Ali regime.

Prime Minister Ghannouchi has enacted key reforms, including lifting

the press ban, legalizing a main human rights groups and freeing
political prisoners. And on Wednesday, Mebazaa vowed a complete
break from the past, saying the country is turning the page.

But that isn't enough for protesters like 30-year-old Mona Turki.
"Let's say the speech from yesterday, from the new president was a
little bit better. Because he has changed the tone and he's trying to
make things better. But he's like the old ones. Nothing has
changed."

Police shots, warning shots to deter demonstrators, and helicopters

flew overhead as in previous days of protests. But the situation
overall has calmed with fewer reports of violence and looting.

Tunisian authorities also announced the arrest of 33 members of

Ben Ali's family, with new reports of the state seizing their assets.
Allegations of corruption surrounding the former president and his
extended and wealthy clan helped fuel the national fury that drove
Ben Ali from power.

Palestinian Leaders Dispute Leaked Documents

巴勒斯坦领导矢口否认秘密文件
以色列与巴勒斯坦和谈时断时续，巴方在东耶路撒冷犹太人殖民区等问题上寸
步不让，双方死 结数十年未解。据香港《文汇报》报道，半岛电视台前晚声称取
得逾 1600 份以巴和谈机密文件，是中东史上最大泄密事件，并披露巴方为换
取和平，曾作出前所未见的让步──同意割让东耶路撒冷大部分地区给以方。事
件令巴人 和阿拉伯世界震惊。

The documents released by the al-Jazeera network say the

Palestinians were ready to make concessions on the key issues of
Jerusalem and refugees.

On one of the most sensitive of the issues, the network quoted the
papers as saying Palestinian negotiators proposed allowing the
compound the contains the al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest,
come under international control temporarily while a permanent
agreement is reached.

The Palestinian Fatah movement in Jerusalem was among the

factions responding angrily to the report. Its leader, Hatem Abdel
Khader, spoke on Palestinian radio.

He said this area is the most important place for Arab Muslims in
Jerusalem. He said no one has a right to give up the land because it
is ground that is holy to Islam.
Palestinian officials have denied the reports and are calling for
independent verification of the papers, which one senior official
described as being full of lies and half-truths.

The chief Palestinian negotiator at the time alleged that at least part
of the documents had been made up.

The United States, a broker of the negotiations, said Washington

could not vouch for the veracity of the documents.

The papers allegedly contain details of confidential discussions

among Israeli, Palestinian, and U.S. officials, including some in which
the Palestinians suggested they were ready to give up large sections
of territory in Jerusalem, and two percent of the West Bank.

Reports on the documents have fueled the frustration that many

Palestinians feel about the failure of President Mahmoud Abbas'
leadership to reach an agreement to end the Israeli occupation.

Hamas, the rival militant Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, on
Monday said the documents quoted by al-Jazeera show the
Palestinian leadership under Mr. Abbas has surrendered to Israel.