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	• NEWS >> ATW Script May 15, 2003 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to this year’s final edition of Assignment: The World for the week of May fifteenth, 2003. I’m Elissa Marra. In our top story this week… postwar problems lead to early change in U-S leadership in Iraq… #1— IRAQ In a shake-up of the United State’s leadership in Iraq, the new U-S civil administrator arrived in Baghdad Monday to take over the task of piecing the country back together. Paul Bremer replaced retired Army Lieutenant General Jay Garner in an unexpected handover of the rebuilding of Iraq. The change in leadership was scheduled, but not for some time. Analysts suggested that the Bush Administration was unhappy with the current rate of progress in Baghdad, and Saudi Arabia complained Monday about security issues in Iraq’s capital. Bremer praised Garner’s work, however, and said he will continue to work with Garner on the country’s rebuilding. Also in Baghdad, the leader of Iraq’s largest Shia Muslim group made a triumphant return after more than two decades in exile in neighboring Iran. Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim denounced the U-S-led occupation forces and demanded they pull out and allow the Iraqi people to establish their own government. Triumphant (adj) having achieved victory or success; rejoicing. ATW FACT President Bush renewed his call for hefty tax cuts and wants a measure passed in Congress that would cut taxes by 550-billion dollars through 2013. Source: World Television News, 5/12/03 INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… -- Powell travels to three Arab capitals on a diplomatic visit… --a series of deadly car bombs in Saudi Arabia... -- and finally, the Midwest sees worst tornadoes on record... #2— POWELL TRIP U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Jordan from Egypt on Monday for talks with King Abdullah on the “road-map” to peace in the Middle East. Powell met with Abdullah at his residence, along with the Jordanian prime minister and foreign minister. Powell also met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo Monday. Egypt offered to help the U-S on peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians, but declined to go along with Washington’s attempt to sidestep Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Before arriving in Egypt and Jordan, Powell held talks in Jericho and Jerusalem with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers. On Tuesday, Powell traveled to Saudi Arabia. Powell’s tour of three Arab capitals sets the stage for productive talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Momoud Abbas, and for Sharon’s upcoming meeting with President Bush. Sidestep (v) to evade or avoid. #3— SAUDI ARABIA BOMBING Just hours before Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Saudi Arabia Monday, attackers shot their way into three compounds housing Westerners and Saudis and set off car bombs. At least one person was killed and more than sixty others were injured. The string of attacks came in quick succession, followed by a fourth explosion early Tuesday outside of a joint U-S—Saudi owned company in Riyadh. U-S and Saudi officials suspect the al-Qaeda terror network was behind the bombings. Succession (n) the rapid coming of one thing after another. #4—MIDWEST U-S TORNADOESMore deadly tornadoes swept through Midwestern parts of the United States over the weekend in what weather forecasters called the worst week of tornado activity on record. Six states reported at least two dozen tornadoes Saturday and President Bush declared Oklahoma City a disaster area after it was hit for the second time in as many days. The barrage of twisters left forty-four dead from Kansas to Georgia. The deadly tornadoes started early last week in Missouri, Kansas and Tennessee, followed by two rounds of twisters in the Oklahoma City area. Barrage (n) an overwhelming number of something. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Iraq, why was the change in U-S leadership in Iraq a surprise? Was it because… It caused an airport riot The new leader is not an Iraqi It was sooner than expected And the correct answer is number three…the change over took place sooner than anticipated. OLD CLUE #1— JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA 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 Johannesburg, South Africa. Presidents of three African nations traveled to Zimbabwe last week to push for talks between the government of President Mugabe and opposition leaders. The meeting came at a time when Zimbabwean society struggles with economic crises, political conflicts, severe food shortages and national strikes. The three leaders urged Mugabe to step aside and allow the creation of a transition government. OLD CLUE #2—MIDEAST UPDATEFill in the blanks of our second clue and you’d get “Mideast Update.” Israel imposed one of the most sweeping closures seen in the Gaza Strip, just 24 hours after declaring the territory open in a gesture meant to bolster the latest Middle East peace plan. Palestinians and nearly all foreigners were barred from entering or leaving the territory based on security reasons. The Gaza closure was imposed even before Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, had left Israel for Egypt to promote the “road map” for peace. WTN 5/12 OLD CLUE #3—LITHUANIAN REFERENDUM And finally, unscramble our third clue and you’d get, “Lithuanian Referendum.” The Baltic state of Lithuania voted a resounding Yes to joining the European Union in a weekend referendum, just 13 years after breaking away from the Soviet Union. Results issued Monday after votes at more than half the polling stations were counted showed that 90 per cent of voters said "Yes” to E-U membership. As the overwhelming endorsement for E-U membership emerged, President Rolandas Paksas thanked his countrymen and said the state had entered "a new stage of its history". THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… on May seventeenth, 1946… U-S President Harry Truman seized control of the nation’s railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and train employees. FEATURE Assignment: The Worlds Ginny Bachelor has been in Mexico for the past year working a special documentary film about Talavera Pottery. Here's a quick preview of what she's learned...Check it out! FEATURE (Ginny) “By the 16th century Pueblo, Mexico is known for the quality of its local clay. Local priests were interested in adorning their churches with tiles similar to those on Spanish churches. They imported Spanish potters to teach Mexicans the art of Talavera pottery. Mexican artisans quickly adopted those techniques and then applied their own ideas. The result was a distinctive Talavera de Pueblo still produced today. At Talavera Santa Cantarino, Fernanda Gamboa is dedicated to preserving that 400 year old tradition.” (Fernanda) “I wanted to do a small place where Talavera is done just like in 16th century.” (Ginny) “Much of the work is dependent on the weather. The amount of sun and degree of humidity affect every aspect of production. Using a kick wheel this potter sits in the same manner, as did craftsmen of the 16th century with both feet to the side of the center shaft. This pot will take perhaps 20 minutes to throw from 150 pounds of clay. The distinctive mark of Talavera pottery is a base cream matte glaze decoration with color. The base glaze contains tin and lead. Lead giving the creamy color, tin adding flux preventing the added colors from running together. It can take several months from clay stage to finished work. The opening of the kiln door might yield a successful firing or not. The result is a highly detailed design with sharp definition of color. These Talavera workshops in Pueblo must adhere to strict guidelines in terms of glaze & clay composition. In over 400 years those guidelines have remained virtually unchanged.” ISN’T IT COOL! A team of South African doctors and scientists claim they have cloned a cow, creating Africa’s first successfully cloned animal. The two-and-a-half week-old calf is called Futi…Zulu for “repeat.” Futi was cloned from DNA taken from the ear of a South African milk cow. Although cloning has sparked controversy world-wide, researchers in Africa say the breakthrough could have positive implications in wildlife preservation….a critical issue in Africa. MAILBAG We received nearly five hundred responses to our issue question, “Is it right to download music from the Internet?” The majority of you, sixty four percent, say yes, it is all right to download music. Twenty seven percent say no, it is not. Nine percent are undecided. Those of you who feel isn’t right say the musicians deserve to earn money for their work. Rachel J. of Brandon, Wisconsin writes, “If you had something to sell, would you like it if consumers stole it from you? Of course not!” Jeffrey E. of Pittsford, New York writes,”Someone else wrote the song, performed the song and paid for the recording. Why shouldn’t we have to pay to listen to it?” The majority of you, however, feel downloading music on the Internet is okay. Shealene D. of Commack, New York writes, “They charge so much for concerts…it wouldn’t hurt (to) lose some sales on their albums. It is a free country and people should be able to download music.” Kary of Boyden, Iowa agrees, Kary writes, “We spend too much on CD’s…singers say we shouldn’t do it because they aren’t getting paid, they should sing because they love to…not for the money.” Rica M. of Fargo, North Dakota adds, “sometimes you want only one song and not the whole CD.” Kelsey P. of Crimora, Virginia adds, “if you are able to record songs off the radio…you should be able to record songs off the Internet.” John S. of Winchester, Virginia agrees and writes, “If you can look at paintings or read books over the Internet for free… what makes music any different?” Finally, Austin W. of Mequon, Wisconsin writes, “If record companies would price CDs more reasonable, more people would purchase the music. I would much prefer an original CD (over) a burned CD.” MAILBAG CLOSE We need to correct something from last week’s show. We inadvertently credited a letter from Rockford, Michigan to the wrong person. Leesha S. was the author of “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.” We apologize for the error, Leesha. Thank you for all of your letters and e-mail responses to our issue questions this year. POP QUIZ #2 In our story about Powell’s trip, Egypt offered to help with Middle East peace but declined what part of the U-S plan? Was it… sidestepping Arafat 2) building settlements 3) denying a Palestinian state And the correct answer is number one... Egypt does not agree with a plan that excludes Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. NEW CLUES And now it’s time to take a look at some of the news stories we think will happen in the summer months… The Iraqi government will continue to take shape… The World Health Organization will try to stop the spread of any new cases of SARS, especially in China and Taiwan… Peaceful resolutions may be found in the Middle East, Northern Ireland, and the U-S will continue to work on relations with Syria, Iran and Afghanistan… Talks could resume to end the crisis over the North Korean nuclear program… NASA will carry through with its probe into the shuttle accident… There will be Parliamentary and Legislative elections in countries such as Cambodia, Mexico and Jordan and more European Union Referendums will take place… And finally, the G-8, APEC and NATO will all hold annual meetings at different times and places around the globe… These are stories we think will be in the news this summer. Continue reading newspapers and newsmagazines and listening to radio and television broadcasts to stay up to date on world current events. 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.