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	• NEWS >> ATW Script December 19, 2003 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We look forward to receiving your responses to our two latest issue questions, “Who or what would you choose as Newsmaker of the Year?” Responses to this question should be in by Monday, January 6th and “Would you want to get the smallpox vaccine?” Responses due Monday, January 13th. OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of December nineteenth, 2002. I’m Elissa Marra. In our top story this week… U-N inspectors continue their hunt for weapons clues in Iraq. #1— IRAQ A group of Iraqi dissidents gathered for a conference in London Monday to discuss who will govern Iraq should Saddam Hussein be overthrown. The non-elected delegates represent the largest opposition parties in Iraq and are made up of people whose families were mistreated by Saddam during his years as president. Meanwhile in Iraq, United Nations’ weapons inspectors hunting for banned weapons of mass destruction visited an ammunition factory north of Baghdad and a weapons manufacturing plant to the south of the capital on Sunday. The ammunition factory is one of several arms manufacturing facilities and houses equipment that could be used to make gas centrifuges, used to refine uranium for nuclear weapons. Ammunition (n) fired or detonated material used in combat. ATW FACT Expansion plans for the European Union in 2004 will add 75-million citizens to the E-U’s population of nearly 380-million and enlarge it geographically by one-quarter. Source: Knight –Ridder News, 12/16/02 INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… -Al Gore announces he’s out for 2004… - Republican leader Trent Lott may be forced to resign… -and the European Union agrees to expand #2— GORE DECLINES 2004 RUN Former Vice President Al Gore surprised Americans when he announced Sunday that he would not run for president in 2004. Gore said he is intent on seeing Bush unseated and believes that he will be defeated. But said he might not be the strongest challenger because of the circumstances of how he lost to Bush in 2000. Gore said that a rematch between himself and Bush would focus on the past and that would distract from the focus on the future, which he feels presidential campaigns should be about. Gore’s announcement threw open the race to determine the Democratic challenger to President Bush in 2004. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, Missouri Representative Dick Gephardt and Senator Joseph Lieberman are just a few Democrats expected to make a run for the White House. Unseat (v) to remove from political office by an elective process. #3—TRENT LOTT FUROR Republicans close to the Bush Administration say Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has “no chance” of remaining in that leadership position and that the White House wants him out, although they would not force him out. Senate Republicans set a January 6th meeting in hopes to end the political uproar set off by their longtime leader when he made racially insensitive remarks at a party celebrating the 100th birthday of fellow Senator Strom Thurmond two weeks ago. The call for a meeting came as Lott made another in a string of apologies on Black Entertainment Television. Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the second-ranking Senate Republican, on Sunday said his party should consider ousting “weakened” Senator Trent Lott as its leader or risk a backlash from voters. Several Republican senators voiced similar concerns about Lott privately, but Nickles is the first to speak publicly. Backlash (n) a strong negative reaction. #4— EUROPEAN UNION PLANS At a historic summit last week in Copenhagen, Denmark, the European Union welcomed plans to include ten new countries to create a potential political and economic powerhouse. The fifteen-member group agreed to unite with three former Soviet Baltic republics, five other countries once part of the communist bloc and two Mediterranean island nations. The record expansion would create an economy worth more than nine-trillion dollars, rivaling the United States. At the close of the two-day summit, E-U leaders expect the first new members by 2004 and told Romania and Bulgaria that they will officially join in 2007. Expand (v) to increase in extent, size and scope. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Senator Lott, why is the Republican Party considering ousting him? Was it because he… Lied under oath in the Senate Was involved in a bribery scandal Made racial comments at a party And the correct answer is number three… Lott made some racially divisive comments at a recent party. OLD CLUE #1— CARACAS, VENEZUELA 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 Caracas, Venezuela where President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that he would consider resigning if violence and economic turmoil continue to make this oil-rich country ungovernable. Chavez did assure Venezuelans and the international community that the worst of the national strikes seeking to remove him from office have passed. The indefinite strike has crippled Venezuela’s vital oil industry—the world’s fifth largest. OLD CLUE #2—TALKS RESUME Fill in the blanks of our second clue and you’d get “Talks Resume.” The United States and China resumed talks Monday on THE China Human Rights Dialogue. The last round took place in Washington, D-C back in October. Both sides agreed that this round of talks would take place in Beijing. The Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Lorne Craner, led the talks for the U-S. OLD CLUE #3—PARLIAMENT VOTE And finally, find the role of our newsmaker and you’d get, And finally, unscramble our third clue and you’d get, “Parliament Vote.” The ruling Hindu Nationalist party, also called the B-J-P, won a sweeping victory on Sunday in Gujarat State. The election was charged with Hindu-Muslim tensions after India’s worst communal violence in a decade. The opposition Congress party accepted defeat. Unofficial early results had the B-J-P leading the one-hundred and eighty-one contested seats in the state legislature. B-J-P has governed Gujarat since 1998 and heads India’s national coalition government. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… on December twenty-first, 1620…Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first day at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. FEATURE MASTADON What weighs 6 tons and has long brown hair? A Mastodon of course...Check it out! (George McIntosh) “A mastodon is actually related to modern Elephants, if you were to look at a Mastodon 10,000 years ago when they were alive in this region you would swear it was nothing more than an Elephant with long hair and it’s only upon more careful investigation that you realize that the teeth would be different and there’s little subtle differences.” “Mastodon’s lived in this region, we know at least 30,000 years ago, they can get up to be about 9 ? feet at the shoulder and they probably weighed at an excess of about 5 or 6 tons, so they’re very large, heavy animals…” “And here we are down in the Geology storage vault of the Rochester Museum and Science Center and what we have here is a Mastodon skull. This is a big male Mastodon skull that we found in East Bloomfield, New York back in 1994 and it’s a pretty interesting specimen for a lot of reasons.” “First of which is that actually he is one of the larger Mastodons ever found in New York State and just to give you a feel for how large he really is, this right here is the opening for his tusks; so the tusk that came out of there probably would have been any where from 8 to 9 feet long…and of course were looking at the under side of his skull, this is his palette…and the interesting thing about Mastodon’s is over time they were spread all over the United States, they apparently came from the New World and they gradually became restricted so that the last of the Mastodons that were alive in North America actually lived South of the Great Lakes and so we have some of the last remains of Mastodons that lived anywhere in the world.” ISN’T IT COOL! Taiwan Buddha With hopes of improving relations between their two countries a Taiwanese Buddhist group returned to China a 1,300-year-old sculpture of Buddha’s head that looters had stolen five years ago. Representatives of the Dharma Drum Mountain, a Buddhist group involved in research and education, handed over the sculpture to Chinese representatives last week. China has promised to make a duplicate and send it as a gift to the Taiwanese temple. ISSUE Citing a possible threat of bioterrorism, President Bush announced a plan last week to inoculate certain groups of Americans with the smallpox vaccine. Bush ordered the vaccines first for all U-S armed forces and himself. He also recommended vaccinations for about 450-thousand public health and safety workers who would be among the first to come in contact with victims of a biological attack. Smallpox was eradicated in this country fifty years ago, so the vaccine policy is labeled precautionary. It’s a proven vaccine against an awful threat, but it does have its side effects and carries a risk to some individuals. Unfortunately, a person doesn’t know if they react to the vaccine until they have already received it. Because of the risks involved, the vaccine is not recommended for the general public, unless there is a national emergency. In the case of an outbreak, there is enough vaccine to inoculate all 280-million Americans. Well, we’d like to know what you think…”Would you want to get the smallpox vaccine?” Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly five hundred responses to our issue question, “Should states restrict cell phones while driving?” The majority of you, fifty six percent say yes they should restrict cell phone use. Thirty seven percent say no, they should not. Seven percent are undecided. Many of you feel restricting cell phone use is just another government intrusion. Helen B. of Loudonville, New York writes, “Cell phones are a personal freedom. If we can’t talk on the phone, we shouldn’t be able to eat, talk to other people in the car, or listen to the radio.” Cameron B. of Marathon, Wisconsin adds, “(People) are not willing to stop and sit on the side of the road … when they have to get somewhere.” The majority of you, however, think cell phone use while driving can be distracting. Casey T. of Greece, New York feels using a cell phone and driving doesn’t mix. Casey writes, “When people are driving they wouldn’t be concentrating on the wheel. If cell phones were restricted there would probably be fewer accidents.” Amanda M. of Walpole, Massachusetts agrees and adds, “It is too hard to concentrate on more than one thing while you are driving.” Issac M. of Waupaca, Wisconsin adds, “They should only use their cell phones in case of an emergency (and) even then they should find a place to park and then talk.” Finally, Tyler B. of Ticonderoga, New York suggests, “While drivers are busy talking … they are not paying attention. Cell phones with headsets are appropriate. With headsets they have both hands on the wheel.” MAILBAG CLOSE We look forward to receiving your responses to our two latest issue questions… “Who or what would you choose as Newsmaker of the Year?” and “Would you want to get the smallpox vaccine?” 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 European Union, what came out of the two-day summit? Did they agree to… Scale back its membership Add ten new members Drop the euro as currency And the correct answer is number two…the E-U agreed to add ten new members. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue is a location… 37 Degrees, 35 minutes north latitude 127 Degrees, 03 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a fill-in-the-blank, it’s two words… E _ _ O _ E A _ _ N I O _ And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter, it is two words… S C S O E N R G S R N E R T U 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.