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		• NEWS >> ATW Script October , 2002 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of April twenty-fourth, 2003. I’m Elissa Marra. In our top story this week… U-S Marines leave Baghdad and the Army moves in. #1— IRAQ U-S marines pulled out of Baghdad Monday, heading south toward new positions while army units took over their former sector. Under the redeployment of U-S troops in Iraq, all marines who were in east Baghdad pulled out to consolidate in the southern half of the country, while army units moved in to control the capital and northern half of the country. The shift will dramatically reduce the number of American troops in Baghdad. Soldiers met Monday with community leaders in the capital and discussed security concerns. A U-S-run radio station — Information Radio — read a statement announcing an eleven o’clock P-M to six o’clock A-M curfew for Iraqi civilians to help soldiers maintain order. The Iraqi foreign minister was arrested Monday, which makes eight of the fifty-five most wanted now in American custody. Humanitarian aid is flowing into the region at a brisk pace and Monday also brought the reopening of the Iraqi College of Medicine—formerly the Saddam Hussein College of Medicine. A job fair was held in Iraq and over one-thousand Iraqis attended. Consolidate (v) to bring together parts into a whole. ATW FACT The number of people filing their taxes electronically increased this year by thirty-nine percent over last year’s numbers. Eleven point one-million people e-filed this April fifteenth. Source: USAToday… April 21, 2003 INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… -- retired general arrives to help rebuild Iraq… --U-S in Beijing for North Korean talks... -- and finally, a SARS update from China. #2— REBUILDING IRAQ Retired general Jay Garner-- the American choice to rule Iraq until a new administration takes over-- arrived in Baghdad Sunday and declared his priority will be the restoration of water and electricity there. Baghdad is still largely without power, clean water or a clear direction toward a new political future. With anti-American demonstrators taking to the streets in growing numbers to vent their frustration at the "occupation" of their country, Garner faces a complex job. He made his first public comments at Baghdad airport while the leaders of the two main currents of the majority Shi'ite community appeared to ease his path somewhat by declaring their opposition to an Islamic republic. The two men indicated that they would be willing to accept an interim U-S administration until a new government representing "all communities" had been set up. Garner arrived with about 20 aides. His staff will grow to about 450 over the next week as others arrive from Kuwait to complement the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Aid. Restoration (n) to return something to its original condition. #3— NORTH KOREA A senior U-S delegation went to Beijing for talks Wednesday with Chinese and North Korean officials about Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The three-day-long talks will be the highest-level U-S-North Korean meeting since October. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher (boo-SHAY) said Washington sees the talks as the start of a dialogue that must eventually include such countries as South Korea and Japan in order to yield positive results. Boucher also said Monday North Korea should expect no diplomatic or financial benefits from the process unless it is willing to eliminate its nuclear program. Concerns were raised last week that the Beijing talks might be canceled, because of a report from Pyongyang that said North Korea was assembling the material necessary to make an atomic warhead. U-S analysts say they believe North Korea meant only to say that it is on the verge of reprocessing the material, not that the process had already begun. Dialogue (n) an exchange of ideas or opinions on a topic. #4— SARS UPDATE President George Bush on Monday introduced John Snow, chair of the transportation and railroad conglomerate C-S-X Corporation, as his choice for the vacant U-S Treasury post. If approved by the U-S Senate in coming weeks, Snow will replace ousted Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, who was asked to step down last Friday. Snow served as a deputy undersecretary for transportation during the Ford administration and brings a background in law and economics. Speaking at the White House, Snow pledged to help build and maintain a prosperous economic policy for the country. Disclose (v) to make known or reveal. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Iraq, why did the U-S marines leave Baghdad? Was it because… 1- Protesters chased them out 2- the U-S navy moved in 3- They moved to southern sectors And the correct answer is number three… the marines left the capital to assist in southern sectors of Iraq. The army moved in to Baghdad to keep peace. OLD CLUE #1— ABUJA, NIGERIA And now it’s time for the answers to our last clues in the news… Find the location of our first clue and you get Abuja, Nigeria. Africa’s most populous country went to the polls Saturday to elect a president and governors for their thirty-six states. Nigerians chose between sitting President Olusegun Obasanjo (o-LOO-see-jun ah-bah-SAHN-yo) and his nineteen challengers. Obasanjo held an easy lead over the other candidates. He needed fifty percent plus one vote in order to win the election. There was some violence and opposition parties accused the president’s party of vote rigging. OLD CLUE #2—EARTH DAY Fill in the blanks of our second clue and you’d get, “Earth Day.” Earth Day is a yearly call for people to work together to save the planet. The first Earth Day took place in the U-S thirty-three years ago. A former senator started Earth Day because he believed few public officials were concerned about the environment. 20-million Americans took part and the first Earth Day led to the passage of important U-S laws, including the clean air and clean water acts and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. This year’s Earth Day message was “Water for Life.” OLD CLUE #3—MONEY MEETINGS And finally, unscramble our third clue and you’d get, “Money Meetings.” The spring meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund were held in Washington D-C last week. The annual two-day event is the biggest gathering of the two organizations outside the annual meetings held every September. The delegation discussed arrangements for the fall meetings to be held in the United Arab Emeritus. Members said urgent progress was needed in a number of areas, including agriculture, where better market access and lower trade distorting subsidies were particularly important for developing countries. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… on April twenty-fourth, 1898…Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America’s ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba. FEATURE Strong Museum FEATURE What would you do if there weren’t any toy stores? Check out the ingenuity of children around the world when it comes to making their own toys…. (Wyatt) “Here at the Strong Museum in Rochester, New York more than 100 toys created by children who live in some of the poorest nations on Earth are on exhibit to showcase the power of ingenuity and creativity.” (Scott) “ ‘Not Sold In Stores’ is a remarkable exhibit about magic, making things from nothing. Kids around the third world scrounged stray materials from recycle bins and the trash and made these remarkable toys. You can see they’re remarkable creativity and ingenuity, it’s very charming and uplifting I think.” (Wyatt) “So what kind of toys might we find at the ‘Not Sold in Stores’ exhibit?” (Scott) “You can see bicycles from Kenya, you can see a guitar from the Philippines, how about a giraffe from Kenya…check out the Tractor Trailer made out of a pesticide can, one of my favorite things at this exhibit is a snake made from bottle caps, it came to us from Guatemala and that’s a long way to slither! Kids from the third world, from Latin America, Africa, The Philippines, gave these toys that they made themselves or had they’re older brothers or sisters or they’re parents help them with…they gave them over so we could enjoy them. What does the exhibit mean? I think it means something very profound and that is it’s hard to keep a kid down, that creativity and ingenuity and the need to play are universal features of human nature and we see some really delightful products of that now.” (Wyatt) “For Assignment: The World, I’m Wyatt Doremus.” ISN’T IT COOL! Baghdad Zoo More than people are getting supplies as the rebuilding of Iraq begins. These trucks are loading up food and supplies for animals in the Baghdad Zoo. Volunteers are stepping up and leading the charge to help injured and hungry animals in Iraq. Food and medicine are on their way from Kuwait to restock the shelves of the Baghdad Zoo and to help the animals that live there. ISSUE The U-S and North Korea are restarting talks on North Korea’s nuclear program after a six-month hiatus. North Korea disclosed that they already have two nuclear bombs and are gearing up the technology to create more bombs with reprocessed fuel rods. Relations between Washington and Pyongyang faltered over the nuclear issue, especially after the U-S urged North Korea to reconsider their actions against the worldwide nuclear treaty that bans the production of nuclear weapons. Some people say that because we went after Saddam Hussein for his weapons of mass destruction, we should consider holding North Korea to the same standards. Others feel that we have enough war and that we can talk to the North Korean leadership, whereas Saddam just needed to be removed. Well, we’d like to know what you think… “Should military action be taken against North Korea?” Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinion. MAILBAG We received nearly four hundred responses to our issue question, “Should the media have complete acces to the troops in Iraq?” The majority of you, fifty three percent say no, they should not have complete access. Thirty eight percent say yes, they should. Nine percent are undecided. Many of think the more information we have about the war in Iraq, the better. AJ L. of Mequon (Mek-won) Wisconsin writes, “I think it is important that the people of the world see that we are not bullies, but we are a caring nation, that wants freedom for all people.” Billy P. of Glens Falls, New York agrees and adds, “We have a right to know what is going on in Iraq so we should be prepared for any attacks in the U.S.A.” The majority of you, however, feel having too much information can be dangerous. Schuyler M. of Loudonville, New York writes, “People’s curiosity of the war is not more important than the lives of our troops.” Brady U. of Henderson, Nebraska adds, “I don’t think we should put reporters in the war because then the soldiers have to take care of someone else other than themselves.” Many of you are afraid the enemy is watching and listening. Renee C. of Liverpool, New York writes, “Iraqi troops might be listening to reporters telling exactly where our troops are and what they are about to do.” And finally, Montana M. of Marathon, Wisconsin writes, “People already say there is so much violence … why are they broadcasting people dying? The media doesn’t have to know everything.” 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… … “Should women serve as ground combat troops?” and “If talks fail, should North Korea be attacked?” 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 North Korea, how long has it been since the U-S and North Korea held high-level talks? 1) Since October 2) one year 3) just recently And the correct answer is number one... the Beijing talks are the first since October. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue is a location… 34 Degrees, 20 minutes south latitude 58 Degrees, 30 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a fill-in-the-blank, it’s two words… _ M E _ I _ A _ _ O U _ C I _ And finally, our third clue is a newsmaker… Why is Mahmoud Abbas in the news again? 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.