FreedomWorks fights for lower taxes, less government and more economic freedom for all Americans.

FreedomWorks combines the stature and experience of America’s greatest policy entrepreneurs with the grassroots power of hundreds of thousands of volunteer activists all over the Nation.

FreedomWorks, led by former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, has an unrivalled ability to reach opinion leaders and elected officials with innovative policy ideas and

(inan.info)-By Barry Wood
Washington


Traditionally, entrepreneurs bring innovation and change to the world in their quest to find new ways to turn a profit. Today, modern technology, looser government controls and better access to capital make it even easier for entrepreneurs to succeed. VOA's economics correspondent Barry Wood looks at entrepreneurship worldwide, profiling business risk-takers in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia and Russia.

The original French word entrepreneur refers to someone who undertakes, who does something. Entrepreneurs assume business risk or bring a new product, service or idea to market.

Their innovations sometimes change the world. Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but his assembly line revolutionized manufacturing and made cars affordable for the average worker.


Bill Gates is perhaps the world's best known entrepreneur. He did not invent personal computers, but his operating system made them easy to use and brought the new technology to millions.

Journalism professor Wendell Cochran of American University says the Internet, with its capacity to instantaneously convey information around the world, is an extraordinary platform for entrepreneurs.

"Google became a verb almost 24 hours after it became a thing," said Cochran. "So, [the Internet] is incredibly entrepreneurial."

Thirteen years ago, San Francisco entrepreneur Craig Newmark created an online bulletin board for the brokerage firm where he worked. Today his Craig's List is a free alternative to the classified ads that have been a major source of earnings for newspapers.

"Right now we're in about 55 countries, 567 cities across the world," explained Newmark. Some analysts say Craig's List is having the same effect on newspapers that Ford's car had on the horse and wagon.

Since the collapse of communism, entrepreneurs have taken off in places where they were once forbidden, including Russia.
Yana Yakovleva is the financial director of a Moscow company that manufactures silicone.

Despite new freedoms, she says, government bureaucracy still makes it hard to be an entrepreneur. "A bureaucrat scores a point for each court case he initiates or for every company he closes, and this improves his job performance evaluation," she noted.

In Venezuela, currency exchange controls and a leadership hostile to free markets make it

(inan.info)-Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was a 13-year project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. During the early years of the HGP, the Wellcome Trust (U.K.) became a major partner; additional contributions came from Japan, France, Germany, China, and others. See our history page for more information.

Project goals were to

* identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA,
* determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
* store this information in databases,
* improve tools for data analysis,
* transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
* address the ethical, legal, and

(inan.info)-AmeriCorps members work alongside hundreds of Des Moines residents to fill and place sandbags to protect the city from raging floodwaters. National service participants are working across the Midwest to manage volunteers, pile sandbags, run shelters and hotlines, and assist evacuees.As the most severe flooding in 15 years hits the Midwest, hundreds of AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America participants are working alongside tens

(inan.info)-By VOA News

Tornadoes that ripped through the central United States have killed six people, including four teenagers at a Boy Scout camp.

Officials in the central state of Iowa say the four teenagers were killed and more than 40 other people injured when a tornado smashed into their campsite Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the western part of the state Wednesday.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured the site Thursday, calling the deadly storm system a "tragic act of God."

In Rome today, a White House spokeswoman said President George Bush was saddened to

(inan.info)-President Bush visited the American Red Cross National Headquarters to meet with representatives from non-governmental organizations, faith-based groups, and businesses that have been involved in relief work in China, donating money, supplies, and other resources to aid the victims in the wake of the recent earthquake.

Later, President Bush delivered remarks at the ceremonial swearing-in of Steven C. Preston as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. President Bush discussed Secretary Preston's experience and

(inan.info)-BGEA- CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Just days after responding to areas in Virginia devastated by tornadoes, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team of crisis-trained chaplains deployed again over the weekend, this time to Arkansas following tornadoes that left eight dead on Friday.

For the first time in the history of the Rapid Response Team chaplaincy ministry, the team is currently deployed responding to three separate tragedies at the same time, all of

(inan.info)-CUFI-The Bible commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), to speak out for Zion’s sake (Isaiah 62:1), to be watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:6) and to bless the Jewish people (Genesis 12:3). These and so many other verses of the Bible that have one overriding message-- as Christians we have a Biblical obligation to defend Israel and the Jewish people in their time of need.

Israel’s time of need is now. There is a new Hitler in the Middle East --President Ahmadinejad of Iran -- who has threatened to

(inan.info)-ABOARD USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (NNS) -- At approximately 7:50 a.m. local time on May 22, a fire was detected in the vicinity of the aft air conditioning and refrigeration space and auxiliary boiler room aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73).

The fire spread to several spaces via a cableway and caused extreme heat in some of the ship spaces, but it was contained and extinguished by the crew without any serious injuries to personnel. It took several hours to completely contain and extinguish the fire.

The ship had been conducting a

(inan.info)
By Robert Raffaele
Washington

First lady Laura Bush is appealing to the military government of Burma to allow U.S. relief planes and ships to bring aid to that nation, ravaged by a cyclone May 2. Burmese officials say at least 78,000 people are dead, and another 56,000 are missing.

In an interview Wednesday [May 21] with the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, Mrs. Bush also refuted claims by the Burmese government that the U.S. has attached conditions to its offer of aid. VOA's Robert Raffaele has more.

First lady Laura Bush said she is alarmed by United Nations estimates that as many as eight in 10 of the Burmese people affected by the cyclone have not received help.

"The U.S. could be doing a lot if they