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SECTION C
A new data shows that the global AIDS pandemic will cause a sharp drop in life expectancy in dozens of countries, in some cases, declines of three decades. Several nations are losing a century's progress in extending the length of life. Nations in every part of the world, 51 in all, are suffering declining life expectancies because of an increasing prevalence of HIV infection. The increase is occurring in Asia, Latin America, and the Carribbean, but is greatest in subSaharan Africa, a region with only 10% of the world's population but 70% of the world's HIV infections. Seven African countries have life expectancies of less than 40 years. For example, in Botswana, where 39% of the adult population is infected with HIV, life expectancy is 39 years. But by 2010, it will be less than 27 years. Without AIDS, it would have been 44 years. Life expectancy throughout the Carribbean and some Central American nations will drop into the 60's by 2010, when they would otherwise have been in the 70's without AIDS. In Cambodia and Burma, they are predicted to decline to around 60 years old, to what otherwise would have been in the mid 60's. Even in countries where the number of new infections is dropping, such as Thailand, Uganda, and Senegal, small life expectancy drop is forecast. Back in the early 1990's, we never would have suspected that population growth would have turned negative because of AIDS mortality. In less than 10 years, we expect that 5 countries will be experiencing negative population growth because of AIDS mortality, including South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland.
Questions 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news.
The European Union has drafted a list of US products to be hit with import taxes in retaliation for tariffs the United States has imposed on European steel. EU member governments will review the list before the EU submits it to the World Trade Organization, which arbitrates international trade disputes. EU officials will not say which American products will be hit by the EU sanctions. But diplomats monitoring the most recent transAtlantic trade dispute say they include textiles and steel products. Earlier this month, the Bush administration imposed tariffs of up to 30 percent on some steel imports, including European products.
The EU has appealed to the World Trade Organization to get those duties overturned. But a WTO decision on the matter could take up to a year or more. EU officials say that, under WTO rules, the EU has the right to impose retaliatory measures in June. But they say the United States can avoid the EU's possible countermeasures if it pays more than two billion dollars in compensation to the EU for imposing the steel tariffs in the first place. The officials say Washington could also escape retaliation by lowering U.S. import duties on other EU products.
The Bush administration says it will not pay compensation.
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