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	• NEWS >> ATW December 11, 2003 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of December 11th 2003. I’m Elissa Marra. In our top story this week…new tactics and a model government could lead to better days in Iraq. #1— IRAQ UPDATE Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in Iraq over the weekend to make a personal inspection of US forces there. US commanders told Rumsfeld that new tactics and better information have made noticeable improvements. Attacks on US or allied forces have dropped from 40 each day to fewer than 20. Rumsfeld also toured camps where native Iraq security forces are being trained. More than 15-thousand former Iraqi army troops have joined the new defense corps that will provide police and border guards. Also in Iraq on Monday were international businessmen and two ministers from the Iraqi Governing Council. They went to a conference in the northern Iraq city of Irbil on Monday. Irbil is in the Kurdish part of the country, an area that has been largely on its own since the first Gulf War. Delegates were there to see what lessons learned since 1991 might be applied to the rest of Iraq now.. Native (adj) originally living in a certain place, indigenous ATW FACT The record for most snowfall in one day stands at more than 75 inches that fell on Silver Lake, Colorado in 1921. Most snow in one storm: that hit Mt. Shasta, California… 189 inches in one week in 1959. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… -Winter roars into the east coast -Despite deadly terrorism, a decisive vote in Russia -and Zimbabwe wont back down. #2—WINTER STORM The cleanup continues from Virginia to Maine as the first major snowstorm of the season fell over the weekend. Snowfall amounts varied with nearly two feet reported in Connecticut, 15 inches in Pennsylvania and three to four feet in Maine and New Hampshire. At least 13 deaths were attributed to the storm. It caused power outages to 8-thousand homes along the Massachusetts coast. Many schools in that state stayed closed Monday as did a number of airports across the eastern seaboard. Outage (n) a temporary suspension of operation, especially of electrical power #3— — RUSSIAN VOTE Russian President Vladimir Putin is in an even stronger position to begin his campaign for re-election. Voting over the weekend ended with a resounding victory for the United Russia Party. United Russia, which backs President Putin, got the largest share of seats in the Duma or the lower house of Russia’s parliament. Depending on the exact count of the votes, Putin could be able to push through sweeping changes in Russia’s constitution. Though Putin remains publicly committed to democratic reform, some critics say he may be on the verge of becoming too powerful. The election went on as planned despite a deadly train bombing last Friday. At least 36 people died and more than 100 were wounded when a bomb went off in a crowded train. It happened near the war torn region of Chechnya.Sweeping (adj) influencing or extending over a great area #4— ZIMBABWE LEAVES Britain and its former colonies remain at odds with the government of Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe. The 52 nation Commonwealth met in Nigeria early this week. The Commonwealth had suspended Mugabe for allegedly using fraud and force to win re-election at home. Several African and other developing country members had urged the re-instatement of Zimbabwe, arguing that dialogue was the best way to seek change. That plea was rejected. Mugabe responded by pulling out of the organization. Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon said that decision was “not a happy thing for us at all. The Commonwealth countries represent nearly one third of the world’s six billion people. Urge (v) to persuade, force or otherwise move some course of action. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Iraq, from what country did we tell you that new defense forces would come? Was it 1. the US 2. Iraq 3. Great Britain And the answer is…number 2. Thousands of native Iraqis are being trained in police and other security forces. OLD CLUE #1— ISRAELI PACT? And now it’s time for the answers to our clues in the news… Our first clue was a location. Go there and you would have been in Geneva, Switzerland. That’s the city that has given its name to the Geneva Accord, a controversial plan to finally bring peace to the Mideast. While a number of world leaders have publicly backed the Accord, official sources for both Israelis and Palestinians have rejected the plan. Prospects for peace seem to have further dimmed after talks broke down in Cairo. Leaders of a number of violent Palestinian groups failed to reach any kind of agreement that would lead to a cease fire with Israel. OLD CLUE #2—POWELL TRIP Fill in the blanks on our second clue and you get Powell Trip. Secretary of State Colin Powell failed to convince members of NATO to play a larger role in Iraq. Powell traveled to a meeting of NATO ministers in Brussels, Belgium late last week. France and Germany led a group of countries that want to see a faster timetable for restoring Iraq to self government. France and Germany also want the U-N to play a larger role in the rebuilding of Iraq’s political and financial rebirth. OLD CLUE #3—CLIMATE CONFERENCE And finally, unscramble our third clue and you have Climate Conference. 4000 delegates are meeting in Milan, Italy to attempt to formalize the world’s first treaty to reduce greenhouse gases or other environmental pollutants. Though more than 100 countries have signed the treaty, neither Russia nor the US appears likely to join them. This conference grew out of the agreement signed 7 years ago in Kyoto, Japan. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… on December 11th 1946, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund was established. UNICEF continues to advocate for the rights of children. It was key to the passing of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, called by some the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. FEATURE This week we return to the Buffalo Museum of Science to examine 'Our Place In Space', check it out! FEATURE SPACE IN BUFFALO (Wyatt Doremus) “When you look up into the night sky and see a bright star you might assume it’s very close to the Earth. Truth is, after the Sun the next closest start is 24 trillion miles away! The reason we can see these stars is because the light being given off is traveling through space very fast—186,000 miles a second to be exact.” (Torrie Black: Museum Educator) “When we look at stars we see them in different colors and that gives us information about they’re temperatures and if we know a temperature we know how big it is. We can use a diagram that's called an ‘HR diagram’ and that allows us to know something about that star and then in turn we can know things about what goes around that star. If there’s a star similar to ours out there might be a pretty good chance that there’s a planet just like ours going around it.” (Wyatt) “Meteorites from space might look a lot like rocks you would find at a local pond. However, when scientists look inside these space rocks they find clues that describe the history of our Solar System.” (Torrie) “Meteorites are from the very beginning of our Solar System. Most of them range between 4 and 4.6 billion years old. They could be part of an old star, but they could have been a planet that didn’t form completely. They could have been left over debris from a planet where maybe a chunk broke off. So if we can get a piece of that, we can find out what the beginning of the Solar System was like. On the Earth rocks are changing constantly by tectonics and volcanoes and erosion, so we don’t have a complete record, so those meteorites are the record of the past and that’s one major thing Astronomers want to figure out is a lot about our past and how our Solar System was formed. Astronomy is a hard topic for kids but if we give them a glimpse of what they can do in the future with a career in Astronomy this can be a stepping stone for that.” (Wyatt) “For ‘Assignment: The World’ I’m Wyatt Doremus.” ISN’T IT COOL BAD LUCK Superstitions seem to be getting the better of some residents in an Israeli apartment building. It seems a cat is frightening some dwellers…enough so that it has been banned from roaming freely because its jet black color is scary. Its owners were told in a letter they had to carry the cat when using the building’s staircases or risk having it impounded. The cat’s owner, who has four cats, has objected and, naturally, hired a lawyer with Israel’s Cat Welfare Society. There is no truth to the rumor that she plans to break some mirrors in the halls in retribution. ISSUE The US was once motivated by the Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union to win the race to the moon. Now, with an ambitious Chinese space program, The US may be going back. President Bush is reportedly considering new goals in space including a permanent base on the Moon. Over 15 years, the plan might result in new technologies as well as a better platform from which to launch a mission to Mars. It might also limit potentially threatening activities in space by the Chinese. While specific plans probably wont be revealed for another month, critics are already pointing to the many problems that ought to be addressed here on Earth. They say the space program would be far safer and much less expensive if we focused on missions that did not have humans on board. So, what you think… “Should the US go back to the Moon?” Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received over three hundred responses to our issue question … “Should all Americans have I.D. cards?” The majority of you, forty nine percent say yes, I.D. cards are a good idea. Forty percent say no, it is not a good idea. Eleven percent are undecided. Many of you feel a national ID card would be an invasion of privacy. Bradley P. of Mequon (Mek-kwan), Wisconsin writes, “…People may know things about you, that for your own safety, you do not want them to know.” Laura O. of Staunton (Stauhn-ton), Virginia adds, “The USA is supposed to be ‘the land of the free.’ Wouldn’t making us have ID cards be against that?” Micah K. of New Berlin, Wisconsin writes, “People in this country have enough things to worry about… it will just put another hassle into (our) lives.” The majority of you, however, feel ID cards might help to make our country more secure. Erica Q. of Mequon, Wisconsin writes, “We could be a safer country, community, society…we could be one of the safest countries!” Amanda M. of Weyers Cave, Vriginia agrees and writes, “An ID card could protect against…check or credit card fraud. If you’re a law abiding citizen then you should have nothing to hide.” Connor W. of Waunakee, Wisconsin adds, “It would be easier to identify and track a (person) down.” Finally, Ryan B. of Latham, New York thinks a national ID program would make everything easier. Ryan writes, “One card could take the place of all identification cards. If everyone is given (one) at birth… the information could be updated every year.” MAILBAG CLOSE We look forward to receiving your responses to our two latest issue questions… “Who do you think was Newsmaker of the Year?” and “Should the US go back to the Moon?” 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 a proposed plan for peace in the Middle East, what city did we tell you the plan is named after? Was it Milan Cairo Geneva And the correct answer is number three. A controversial plan to achieve peace in the Middle East is named the Geneva Accord. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 15 Degrees, 35 minutes north latitude 32 Degrees, 32 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a fill-in the blanks, two words: BE__L__SC__N__ V__SI__ And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter…two words: DIGSPENN SLIBL 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.