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		• NEWS >> ATW Script October 10, 2002 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi and welcome back to Assignment: The World for the week of October tenth, 2002. I’m Elissa Marra. In our top story this week… while international support for a strike on Iraq is weak, Bush tries to rally Americans. #1-IRAQ In a televised address to the American people Monday President Bush made his strongest case for a military response against Iraq. The speech included the most detailed inventory of Iraq’s progress in developing chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Speaking in Cincinnati, Ohio the President said the only way of defusing the Iraqi threat is to overthrow Saddam Hussein. In an effort to ease American and allied concerns Bush said he was open to non-military responses and that if he must act militarily, he pledged it would be with other nations. Also on Monday, Saddam Hussein launched a verbal attack against the United States during a cabinet meeting in Baghdad. He accused the U-S of committing crimes "not only against the Palestinian people, but also against all believers, be it Arabs, Muslims and Christians." In several parts of the U-S and Europe, protests were held against President Bush’s plan to invade Iraq. Demonstrators protesting the possible U-S strike on Iraq clashed with police near a European Union defense ministers’ meeting on the Greek Island of Crete. Hundreds of demonstrators in Australia protested against U-S military action and Israel’s foreign minister urged the Bush administration to tone down statements on Iraq. Muslim (n) a person who follows the religion and laws of Islam. ATW FACT Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and the world’s ninth-largest economy. Its currency plunged to record lows this week with uncertainty over election results. Source: World Television News 10/7 REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… Israel raided a Palestinian town to crush a Hamas stronghold. a work shutdown at several West Coast ports enters a second week.this week. and finally, Queen Elizabeth visits Canada during her Jubilee Tour. #2- ISRAEL Israeli troops, backed by tanks and helicopters, raided a Palestinian town early Monday, killing fourteen Palestinians and wounding over one-hundred more in the deadliest Israeli military attack in three months. Palestinian doctors and witnesses said all the victims were civilians, while an Israeli army official said many were armed gunmen. Israel said the Palestinian neighborhood is a known stronghold of the Islamic militant group Hamas and that Israeli troops exchanged fire with armed Palestinian soldiers. Palestinian Cabinet members denounced Israel’s raid as a massacre and called on the international community to protect the Palestinians. Civilian (n) a person who is not on active duty with a military, naval, police or firefighting organization. #3-WEST COAST PORT STRIKE A massive work shutdown entered a second week at twenty-nine different West Coast ports in California. Experts estimate that the shutdown could cost the U-S economy as much as 2-billion dollars a day. The continued strike will likely cause plant closings, job losses and financial market turmoil. Storage facilities at beef, pork and poultry processing plants across the country are full, crammed with produce that can’t be exported. Both sides in the labor dispute agreed to resume shipping essential items to Alaska and Hawaii, which has some workers returning to the docks, but only a handful of the total number on strike. The union and the Maritime Association met for their fifth day of talks on Monday. The union is holding out for a new, three-year pact. Turmoil (n) a state of great commotion, confusion or disturbance. #4-QE-II IN CANADA Britain’s Queen Elizabeth the second received a warm welcome Sunday by large crowds in Victoria, the provincial capital of British Columbia on Canada’s Pacific coast. The queen is on a twelve-day Golden Jubilee tour of Canada. The trip is the twentieth time Queen Elizabeth visited Canada since she became queen fifty years ago. Elizabeth holds the title of Queen of Canada because of the country’s historic links with the British Empire, and the city of Victoria bears the name of her grandmother, Queen Victoria. The highlight of her visit came at a Vancouver hockey game, where Elizabeth dropped the ceremonial first puck on the ice. Jubilee (n) the celebration of certain anniversaries, especially the 25th, 50th or 75th. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about the Middle East, why did Israel attack the Palestinian neighborhood? Was it because they said… It was a Hamas stronghold They wanted to build settlements Arafat’s cabinet was hiding there And the correct answer is number one… Israel said the neighborhood was a known stronghold for the Hamas militant group. OLD CLUE #1— RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL 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’d get Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian voters formed long lines when polls opened early Sunday morning for presidential elections. Soldiers were stationed in ten states to guarantee order, but the voting was peaceful. At the end of voting Sunday, a former factory worker and union leader held the unofficial lead, but it was not enough to win outright. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva-- of the left-wing Workers Party—surged ahead in national opinion polls but now faces a runoff election scheduled for later this month. OLD CLUE #2—ATLANTIS MISSION Fill in the blanks of our second clue and you’d get “Atlantis Mission.” Atlantis blasted off on the first shuttle flight in four months Monday, carrying six astronauts and a 14-ton girder that will be installed on the international space station later this week. A lengthy delay caused by cracked fuel lines grounded the entire shuttle fleet, and the effects of Hurricane Lili delayed the launch further. Takeoff saw the debut of the shuttlecam, a color video camera mounted near the top of Atlantis' external fuel tank. The camera beamed down live images as the shuttle soared out over the Atlantic. OLD CLUE #3—ECONOMIC FORUM And finally, unscramble the letters of our third clue and you’d get “Economic Forum.” The World Economic Forum held its eleventh East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Traditionally held in Singapore or Hong Kong, the change of venue signals its members’ determination to include and cooperate with Asian countries. Top world leaders from business, government, civil society and the media gather to address key economic, political and social issues relative to Asia. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… on October ninth, 1776… a group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco, California. ATW FEATURE - CATAPULTS Wyatt: Jim Meyer is a volunteer at the Rochester Museum and Science Center in Rochester, New York. Jim helps create fun exhibits that show kids how science is applied in everyday life Jim: Well the exhibit you are seeing today is on catapults—and we wanted to put an exhibit together on simple machines and so medieval catapults were a great example of simple machines that did incredible feats. The catapult that we built is a called a trebuchet. The trebuchet came into being sometime around the 13th or 14th century and was used in Medieval Europe and it was a particular design of a catapult that uses a falling weight and a sling on the end of a lever arm to fling a projectile. ...and the idea of the trebuchet is it’s a dramatic example of centrifugal force and there’s truly a lot of physics behind that—but it’s simple enough and dramatic enough that it will capture the kids attention. We can show the operation of a simple class 1 lever and how that works, we can show the relationship of adding more weight to the box, of lengthening the lever and how that affects the distance that the projectile is throwing and so it gives the kids a real life and somewhat dramatic concept of how you store energy and release it and how you use leverage to amplify your force. Wyatt: For Assignment the World, I’m Wyatt Doremus ISN'T IT COOL? Elephant Band These elephants in Thailand are grooving to some jungle tunes! The pachyderms are putting their musical talents to good use by producing their very own C-D. Workers at the conservation center hope the recording will publicize its work to protect elephants. The elephants, ranging in age from four to eighteen, recorded eighteen songs, from techno to country and western, as well as a symphony by Beethoven and traditional Thai music. The C-D will be available in America and Thailand the end of October. ISSUE Many public schools across the country got caught up in a school uniform craze during the 1990s. Uniforms took hold as a way to deal with gang clothing and improving school security. Educators and politicians thought that if students looked more orderly, schools would be more orderly. It was also a way to decrease any class issues based on clothing. Instead, many schools discovered that uniforms became a huge distraction. Once a few families chose not to participate, more followed and the uniforms became a stigma. For all the trouble of trying to keep up with who was supposed to wear the uniform and who had opted out, the uniforms added friction and increased discipline problems for some school systems. Well, we’d like to know what you think… “Are school uniforms a good idea?” Discuss this issue 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 the U-S attack Iraq?” The majority of you, forty eight percent, say no the United States should not attack Iraq. Thirty seven percent say yes, the U-S should attack. Fifteen percent are undecided. Many of you saw both sides of this issue. Amber E. of Fairfield, Virginia thinks the U-S should take some action that will result in a good outcome. However, “If we attacked every country that we thought could do the U-S some harm we would always be attacking someone.” Kyle S. of Liverpool, New York thinks there must be some peaceful way to stop Saddam Hussein but “…sometimes we go to war because it is the only way to give the … message that violence against innocent people will not be acceptable.” Many of you feel the U-S must act first. Clay G. of Weyers (wears) Cave, Virginia writes, “We should take a stand and let Iraq know we are going to put the United States first!” Katrina S. of Mequon, Wisconsin adds, “We really don’t have any choice but to fight and defend America.” The majority of you however do not want to attack Iraq until we are sure they are a real danger. Melody K. of Hoven, South Dakota writes, “We don’t know if he has the weapons… so they don’t have to kill innocent people.” Leah H. of Webster, New York wants to make sure if we attack, it’s for the right reasons. Leah writes, “President Bush might be trying to seek revenge because of what happened to his father when he was President.” And finally, Jason E. of Mt. Sidney, Virginia writes, “If we do, what will it prove? It will just cause more hatred and war.” We look forward to receiving your responses to our two latest issue questions… “Should pilots carry guns in the cockpit?” and “Are school uniforms a good idea?” 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 www.wxxi.org/ATW . We also read e-mail at atw@wxxi.org. POP QUIZ #2 In our story about Queen Elizabeth, why did she visit Canada on her Jubilee Tour? Is it because she is… Visiting every country Queen of Canada Running for re-election And the correct answer is number two… Elizabeth’s title includes Queen of Canada. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue is a location… 51 Degrees, 30 minutes north latitude 00 Degrees, 07 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a fill-in-the-blank, it’s two words… I _ _ P E _ T O _ S _ E _ U _ N ? And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter, it is two words… E P C E A E P Z R I 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. 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