WXXI-TV | Assignment: The World |


		• NEWS >> ATW Script May, 2003 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of May eighth, 2003. I’m Elissa Marra. In our top story this week… Iraq’s new government is taking form… #1— IRAQ The basis of Iraq's interim government could be in place in a matter of days. The northern city of Mosul already took a small step in forming a municipal government, selecting a cross-section of residents to run the city alongside the American military until elections can be held. Iraq's U-S administrator, Jay Garner, said he expected a ”nucleus'' of Iraqis to assume leadership. The idea was discussed last week at a meeting in Baghdad. Garner said he did not know whether the nucleus would evolve into a bigger executive for Iraq or how many would eventually run the government. During a trip to southern Iraq, Garner confirmed that by the middle of the month, there should be a beginning of a nucleus Iraqi government with an Iraqi face on it dealing with the coalition. Iraqi faction leaders and a U-S envoy said they would meet again in coming weeks and hoped to form an interim government early next month. Nucleus (n) a central part about which other parts are gathered. ATW FACT Three out of every four of all the world’s tornadoes hit the United States.Source: Mr. Kish’s Weather Facts Page INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… -- Powell travels to Syria and Lebanon… --the I-S-S crew returns home… -- and finally, tornadoes rip through the Midwest... #2— POWELL TRIP U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Syrian President Bashar Assad to discuss “all outstanding issues,” including Syria’s support for militant Islamic organizations, turning over “wanted” Iraqis, sealing the border with Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. On each point, the Syrian leader declined to address the issue but said he wanted to consider details and follow-up diplomatically. Powell rejected a Syrian proposal for immediate U-S support of an Arab-backed U-N resolution on ridding the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction. Powell said the proposal was aimed Israel, as it is widely believed that Israel has nuclear weapons, but refuses to confirm or deny it. Israel is not part of the global treaties aimed at controlling the spread of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. Following the meeting with Assad, Powell flew to Beirut for a brief meeting with Lebanese officials. Decline (v) to refuse with courtesy. #3— SOYUZ MISSION A plane carrying the sixth crew of the International Space Station landed at the Chkalovsky (chal-of-skee) airfield in Moscow Saturday. NASA and Russian space program chiefs, friends and relatives of the crew welcomed the Russian cosmonaut and the two American astronauts back home. The trip home for the crew was not without problems, however. The spacecraft landed hundreds of miles short of its target and way out of the initial reach of search-and-rescue helicopters. The capsule was located north of the Aral Sea after a nerve-racking, two-hour air search. It was the first time ever that U-S astronauts landed on foreign soil and in a foreign spacecraft. The crew spent five-and-a-half months aboard the space station, which was two months longer than planned because of the Columbia accident. Initial (adj) occurring at the beginning; first. #4—MIDWEST STORMS A series of eighty deadly tornadoes swept across the United States Midwest Sunday, killing at least twenty-eight people in three states and injuring dozens more. The tornadoes left a swath of destruction a quarter mile wide in some areas and seven counties in Kansas were declared disaster areas. One of the hardest-hit towns was Pierce City, Missouri, where a National Guard Armory was destroyed after residents took shelter there. There was not a home or business in Pierce that was untouched by the tornado. Trees were twisted, power lines downed, and brick, glass and other debris made it impossible to walk in the city streets. The tornadoes were part of a storm system that hit the Midwest, spawning twisters in South Dakota and Nebraska as well. Swath (adj) a long and relatively narrow path cut by something. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Secretary of State Powell, whom did he meet with? Was it the leader of… Syria Afghanistan North Korea And the correct answer is number one… Powell met with the president of Syria. OLD CLUE #1— BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND And now it’s time for the answers to last week’s clues in the news… Find the location of our first clue and you get Belfast, Northern Ireland. Frustration over Northern Ireland's stalled peace process boiled over last Friday as Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams ridiculed a key Irish government negotiator. Adams' attack on Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell came a day after Britain announced it was canceling Northern Ireland legislative elections scheduled for May 29. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was still waiting for the Irish Republican Army to make a clear commitment to give up violence. Adams' party is linked to the IRA. He attacked McDowell's view that the Irish government was an "honest broker" in efforts to make a success of the 1998 peace accord. OLD CLUE #2—AUSTRALIAN VISITORFill in the blanks of our second clue and you’d get “Australian Visitor.” President Bush met with Australia's prime minister who was visiting the president's Texas ranch last week. President Bush hosted Australian Prime Minister John Howard at the Western White House; a high profile "thank you" to the Australian government who were a key U-S ally in the Iraq war. The two leaders held talks on the Middle East peace process and North Korea, but the primary focus was Iraq. OLD CLUE #3—CINCO DE MAYO And finally, our final clue was a Spanish clue, “Cinco de Mayo.” In Spanish, that means Fifth of May. Mexicans enjoy a national holiday from school and work to celebrate their independence from France in 1862. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated to commemorate Mexico’s victory over the French Army at the Battle of Puebla, May 5, 1862. Cinco de Mayo is primarily celebrated in the Mexican state capital of Puebla and throughout that state, but other parts of the country and even the larger Mexican populations within the United States recognize the significance of the victory and the holiday. It has been misunderstood by some that Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican Independence Day, which is actually celebrated on Sept. 16, similar to the United States' Fourth of July. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… on May ninth, 1961…A Federal Communications Commission Chair condemned television programming as a “vast wasteland” in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters. FEATURE Ever wonder how cartoons are made? These creative kids will show you….Check it out! (Wyatt) “Here at Animatus studios in Rochester, New York Fred Armstrong, a long time filmmaker and cartoonist is teaching kids the necessary techniques and fundamentals of Animation.” (Fred) “An animator is usually someone who draws and creates their own character and brings it to life through a series of sequential drawings. I like to spread the joy of animation a little and teach younger people about animation. We’ve been offering animation workshops here at Animatus for 11 years. We start with young folks and go all the way up to teenagers in High School, sometimes college students, sometimes a Grandparent will go with their grandchild and take the classes, and it’s a good way to get the creative juices flowing. Well the way we approach it here at the Animation workshop is somebody can come and take our four Saturday classes and they learn the rudimentary fundamentals of 2D animation. We have other folks that really enjoy it and come back to go to the next level and actually work on their own short films.” (Wyatt) “So what are kids going to learn when they come to the animation workshop?” (Fred) “You learn about movement, you lean how humans move and react or how animals react, something about animation people don’t realize it’s a lot of problem solving, it can be technical, it can involve math, it can involve reasoning, thinking things out, so there’s a lot of different things you learn when you get into animation. To draw something and actually watch it on a screen and have it come to life, you’re a little bit like a mini God, your creating life and that’s the first reaction, it’s very exciting and then the next reaction is the reality of the fact of how much work it is…you have to love to draw, it can be a very tedious process because there is so much art work involved. But, if you can plug through that and get a finished product then everybody leaves thrilled. A lot of kids can just watch cartoons; these kids can make them!” (Wyatt) “For Assignment: The World, I’m Wyatt Doremus.”ISN’T IT COOL! It’s feeding time at the Baghdad Zoo as life there continues to return to normal. During the war and its aftermath the zoo was ransacked. More than six hundred animals were taken by looters, the only ones left behind….four lions, two bears and a tiger. Now the zoo is contemplating buying back some of the animals from the black market where it is believed many of them ended up. MAILBAG We received nearly four hundred responses to our issue question, “Should military action be taken against North Korea?” The majority of you, fifty five percent, say no, military action should not be taken against North Korea. Thirty percent say yes, it should. Fifteen percent are undecided. Some of you feel we should treat North Korea just like Iraq. Laurie E. of Rockford, Michigan writes, “What’s the difference between North Korea and Iraq if they are both threatening our country? If they are working against us, then we can’t sit back and get destroyed.” Kevin H. of Mequon (Mek-won), Wisconsin agrees and adds, “Like…Iraq, the dangers of not doing anything are greater than that of taking action. It seems like North Korea… will not cooperate, so the only line of action left is war.” The majority of you, however, want to give negotiations a chance. Emily M. of Marshfield, Wisconsin writes, “North Korea isn’t an immediate threat. We should still try to talk … and work out some agreement. War should be that last option.” Carson S. of Glens Falls, New York adds, “If we fight everyone, no one will be on our side.” Hannah S. of Winchester, Virginia thinks we are too strong for North Korea to attack. Hannah writes, “Their threat to our country is not strong enough. They are not strong enough to start a war with us and win. They know that and probably do not really want to attack us.” Finally Kendra P. of Waunakee, Wisconsin writes, “We should try to stop wars instead of starting new ones.” MAILBAG CLOSE We look forward to receiving your responses to our last issue question this year… “Is it right to download music from the Internet?” 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 at[Marker]wonline.org./ We also read e-mail at atw@wxxi.org. POP QUIZ #2 In our story about Iraq, Garner said the new government is… Complete and in place 2) close to forming 3) not led by Iraqis And the correct answer is number two... the new government is close to forming. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue is a location… 26 Degrees, 08 minutes south latitude 27 Degrees, 54 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a fill-in-the-blank, it’s two words… _ I _ E A _ T U _ _ A _ E And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter, it’s two words… A A I I U N N L H T M F E E E U R D N R 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! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.