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	• NEWS >> ATW Script -January, 30 2003 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of January thirtieth, 2003. I’m Elissa Marra. In our top story this week… U-N inspectors present their assessment of Iraq’s weapons program. #1— IRAQ Top weapons inspector Hans Blix presented the inspectors’ report to a public session of the U-N Security Council Monday. Blix said Baghdad had not made a genuine effort to disarm, while his counterpart said there was no evidence so far that Iraq was reviving its nuclear program and he asked for more time. The Bush administration dismissed Iraqi cooperation as inadequate and holds no hope for Iraqi disarmament, even with more time allowed for inspections. Other Security Council members with the same veto power as the United States disagreed. France said there was a strong backing in the 15-member council for additional time. U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan said he remains hopeful that Iraq could be disarmed peacefully. Annan supports continued inspections and more time. In a critical assessment of Iraq’s cooperation during the sixty days of inspections, Blix chided the Iraqis for failing to cooperate on matters that really count. Outside U-N headquarters, more than one-hundred protestors demonstrated against a possible war with Iraq. Inadequate (adj.) not sufficient; having shortcomings. ATW FACT Israel held parliamentary elections Tuesday and re-elected Ariel Sharon as prime minister. Tuesday’s vote marked the fourth national election in only seven years in Israel. Source: Newshour, 1/27/03 INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… --Iraq’s reaction to the inspector’s report to the U-N… --Israelis vote in parliamentary elections… --and finally, riots break out in the Ivory Coast. #2— IRAQ REACTS TO U-N REPORT Iraqi’s reacted with resignation and some defiance to the U-N report presented before the U-N Security Council Monday. Protestors in several areas around Baghdad burned American and British flags, condemning the U-S and Britain for threatening a war against Iraq. Most Iraqis had no access to television news coverage of the inspectors’ report, but had strong opinions about events in their country. Many said Iraq was being treated unfairly by the international community. A member of Iraq’s parliament said the report couldn’t give any evidence showing that Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction and that the American and British allegations are “baseless.” Condemn (v) to express an unfavorable or adverse judgement on. #3— ISRAELI ELECTIONS Israeli security forces barred Palestinians from entering Israel Monday as they readied for Tuesday’s election. Security was stepped up in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for Israel’s growing concerns over possible Palestinian attacks during the election period. Nearly 27-thousand Israeli police and soldiers were deployed to guard against attacks during the voting. Meanwhile, early results showed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Likud Party held a comfortable lead. Likud is expected to win 32 seats in the 120-member parliament and Sharon is expected to enjoy an easy win for another term as prime minister. Deploy (v) to spread out troops to create a front line. #4— IVORY COAST Monday marked a third day of violence in the Ivory Coast. Loyalist mobs waving machetes and metal clubs rioted in Abidjan in protest over a French-brokered peace deal with rebels. Mobs of people set up fiery roadblocks in the capital city, besieged the French embassy and army base and attacked foreigners. The Ivory Coast president urged compromise and hinted that the peace deal reached in France was not final. The peace deal calls for a power-sharing government between the rebels, government and political opposition. Government supporters fear the peace deal gives the rebels too much control. Besiege (v) to crowd around; surround. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Iraq, the U-S feels Baghdad is not cooperating. What do other council members want to provide inspectors with? Is it… 1- More time 2- More advanced technology 3- Better maps of sites And the correct answer is number one… other Security Council members want the inspectors to have more time. OLD CLUE #1— SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA And now it’s time for the answers to our last clues in the news… Find the location of our first clue and you’d get San Diego, California, site of Super Bowl Thirty-Seven. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their first world championship defeating the Oakland Raiders by the score of 48 – 21. Millions of people around the world watched America’s number one sporting event, including U-S soldiers in Kuwait and Afghanistan. As the Bucs took control of the game fans of both sides cheered their favorite team on. For these soldiers the game offered a brief distraction from the ever-increasing threat of war. OLD CLUE #2—ECONOMIC FORUM Fill in the blanks of our second clue and you’d get “Economic Forum.” Delegates debated trade, economics and war at the annual meeting of corporate and political leaders of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland over the weekend. A recurring theme at the meeting was the importance of the United States to the global economy and its handling of Iraq. Leaders agreed that the U-S is considered the “economic engine” that pulls the rest of the world’s economies along. But several leaders spoke out against the way the U-S is handling the possibility of war with Iraq. OLD CLUE #3—RUSSIAN MEETING And finally, unscramble our third clue and you’d get “Russian Meeting.” U-S and Russian officials were scheduled to hold a meeting on counter terrorism last week. In a phone conversation, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Mr. Bush that this week's scheduled report from United Nations arms inspectors should provide the "main criteria" in deciding what to do next. Russia's foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, told reporters in Athens: "There is no serious reason for the start of a military attack on Iraq. We hope that no country will take single action outside United Nations decisions." THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… on January thirty-first, 1958… the United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of the satellite Explorer-one into orbit. FEATURE MEMORIAL ART GALLERY FEATURE (John Kaiser)Here at the Rochester Museum and Science Center in Rochester, New York, people came together on Martin Luther King Day to participate in a full day of events and presentations focussed on celebrating the life and dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Myrtho Scott) Program and Education Department: We have a lot of fabulous programs going on—we have Almeta Whitis doing Continue the Dream. We have the ‘Mango Bush Dancers and Drummers’--that’s going to be here all day. We also have a collaboration with the ‘Charter School’ who’s going to be doing African American Inventors. So there’s a lot of exciting activities all day. (Almeta Whitis) Storyteller and Cultural Historian (Singing the song ‘Imagine’) “Imagine there’s no heaven—It’s easy if you try” We’re using imagination as the theme, keeping the dream alive—now that’s in the area of what I work with in storytelling and the arts and creativity, so what I am trying to leave young people with is a sense of everybody connects, because like Martin Luther King say’s “We’re all caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality.” (African Drum music) (Blair Hornbuckle) Musical Director for Bush Mango Drum and Dance Group We’re Bush Mango drum and dance; we do traditional West African drumming and dance with the kids here in Rochester, New York. (Shawn Dunwoody) Artist I put together a montage of images of Dr. Martin Luther King, where each individual has the capability to walk up and fill out one of the circles stating how they’re going to continue the dream—whether it be picking up can in the community or reading books to children. (John Kaiser) For Assignment the World, I’m John Kaiser Wyatt: For ‘Assignment the World’ I’m Wyatt Doremus ISN’T IT COOL! China Ice Sculpture These are not your ordinary snowmen! The eighth annual Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition was recently held in Harbin, China. This year’s competition was the largest ever. Artists from fourteen countries competed for the Gold Medal After some fierce judging, “Russian Fairy Tales,” a piece by a Russian team won for what judges called its unique conception, skill and techniques. Teams from Canada, Russia, Japan, France, Korea and the United States were represented in this year’s competition. ISSUE Now that we are halfway through the school year in most school districts, many teachers have increased the homework load. They are preparing students for the year ahead and improving their study, research and work skills. When teachers assign homework, they are giving students an opportunity to extend what they know on a topic and giving them more time and practice, even though additional homework means more work for teachers as well. Many students and parents complain, however, that the extra work at home can sometimes cut into the family life and the activities children have outside of school. So many families juggle homework, swim lessons, team activities, music lessons and religion classes for more than one child many nights per week. Sometimes the extra hour or more of homework can be added stress for everyone! Well, we’d like to know what you think…”Are you overwhelmed by homework?” Discuss this with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly four hundred responses to our issue question, “Should American carmakers build hybrid cars?” The majority of you, sixty two percent say yes, they should build hybrid cars. Twenty nine percent say no, they shouldn’t. Nine percent are undecided. Many of you think the cars we have are good enough. Ben S. of Latham, New York writes that “drivers need dependable cars…and hybrid car parts would be hard to find right now.” Erin B. from Mequon Wisconsin also believes Americans shouldn’t make hybrid cars. Erin writes, “the cars we have now drive well and are usable.” The majority of you, however, think hybrid cars are an idea whose time has come. Chad B. of Pentwater, Michigan writes that people “will get to travel farther and will not have to stop a lot.” Becca Z. of Winchester, Virginia agrees that using less gas would be a great idea. Becca adds, “We will not (have to) depend on other countries so much for oil.” Taylor J. of Wittenberg, Wisconsin writes, “People won’t have to spend so much money on fuel (and) it doesn’t pollute as much.” LeAnne P. from Keene, New Hampshire adds that building hybrid cars “would be much better for the environment and it would slow down global warming.” And finally, Nina I. from Pittsford, New York writes, “the air outside will be less polluted and it will make it easier to breathe.” MAILBAG CLOSE We look forward to receiving your responses to our two latest issue questions… ard to receiving your responses to our two latest issue questions… “Do you support human gene engineering?” and “Are you overwhelmed by homework?” If you would like to receive an Assignment: The World Press card, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. You may write to us here at Assignment: The World, Post Office Box three-zero-zero-twenty-one, Rochester, New York… one-4-6-zero-3… or you may contact us at the A-T-W website at http://atwonline.org./ We also read e-mail at atw@wxxi.org. POP QUIZ #2 In our story about the the Ivory Coast, what angered government supporters? Was it… 1) Police barricades 2) a French-sponsored peace deal 3) a government scandal And the correct answer is number two… the French-sponsored peace deal angered government supporters. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue is a location… 01 Degrees, 25 minutes north latitude 173 Degrees, 00 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a fill-in-the-blank, it’s two words… _ A _ P _ A _ I D And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter, it is two words… G L A L O B N L I K These are clues to stories we think will happen in the coming week. You can find the answers on radio and television newscasts and in newspapers and newsmagazines. We’ll reveal the answers on next week’s show. Good luck! GOOD-BYE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And that’s it for this week’s show. From all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Elissa Marra. We’ll see you again next week. © 2003 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.