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	• NEWS >> ATW January 27 , 2004 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of January 27th, 2005. I’m Elissa Orlando. In our top story this week… Iraqis make an arrest that could help ease the violence expected in their upcoming elections. 1—IRAQ/VOTE PREP/ARREST Iraqi security forces say they arrested the man responsible for 75 per cent of the bombs used in attacks in Baghdad the past two years. The man they say is named Abu Umar al_Kirdi also claimed responsibility for an attack on a mosque that killed an important Shia religious leader. The arrest was announced Monday, the same day that a suicide car bomber injured at least ten people with an attack near the Iraqi prime minister’s party headquarters. The attack was also near the so-called Green Zone where the U-S Embassy and Iraq’s interim government lie behind heavily fortified walls. This latest attack comes amid plans to forge ahead with elections planned for January 30th in Iraq. Iraqi voters will choose a new 275 member National Assembly and 18 provincial councils. Prior to the voting, Baghdad’s airport will be closed and all borders sealed. Mosque (n) Moslem house of worship ATW FACT The modern state of Israel came into being on May 14th, 1948. It is a country of slightly more than 6 million people living in an area slightly smaller than New Jersey. (Source: Rueters) INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… --what could be a large step toward peace in the Middle East.. --Winter weather shuts down large part of the U-S… -and a record number of Muslim pilgrims visit their holiest city. #2—ISRAEL/ABBAS/SHARON Four years of bloody conflict may be nearer to an end. Militant groups agreed to suspend attacks on Israel as they came close to a formal truce deal with newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas spent nearly a week in the Gaza strip talking with representatives of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions. Abbas said any deal would have to include an end to all Israeli operations against the militants. He also urged Israel to free thousands of prisoners, pull its forces out of Palestinian towns and to allow exiled or expelled Palestinians to return home. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded positively to Abbas’ apparently successful talks. While he praised Abbas, Sharon also warned that Israel was ready with what he called a tough response if any further attacks on Israeli citizens or military occur. Factions (n) group of persons forming cohesive, sometimes contentious minority within larger group #3—NASTY WEATHER It will be at least this weekend before the cleanup of last weekend can make any real headway. A major snowstorm buried parts of the east coast after having dumped similar amounts on parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Airports in Boston, New York and Philadelphia were shut down. Classes in Massachusetts where some two feet of snow fell, were cancelled Monday. Winds that gusted over 80 miles per hour took out the power to homes on the island of Nantucket and to another 18-thousand customers on the mainland. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked residents there to stay home and off the 63-hundred miles of road that needed to be cleared. In New York alone, the cost of plowing and cleaning up could rise above 20 million dollars. Gusted (v) issued or emitted violently or abruptly #4— —MUSLIMS HAJJ More than two and a half million pilgrims gathered late last week in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. That’s half a million more than the previous record for visitors to the holiest city in Islam. Muslims gather there at this time every year to fulfill their religion’s call to visit Mecca at least once in their lifetime. The annual Hajj ends each time with the symbolic “stoning the devil” ritual. In years past, the crush of people trying to perform the ritual before Sundown has led to dozens of deaths and injuries. Saudi Arabia took extra precautions to avoid those stampedes this year, among them widening the walkways leading to the site. The final day of this year’s Hajj came with lightning and rain washing down on the pilgrims. They had earlier visited Mount Arafat where Islam’s prophet, Muhammed, gave his last sermon in the year 632. Symbolic (adj) expressed by means of a symbol or symbolds POP QUIZ #1 In our story about the Iraq, what did we tell you the area that includes the US Embassy is called? Is it 1. The Blue Zone 2. The Red Zone 3. The Green Zone And the answer is number 3. The US Embassy and other government offices in Baghdad are located in the Green Zone. OLD CLUE #1—DISASTER MEETING Its time now for the answers to our Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Kobe, Japan, the site of the World Conference on Disaster Reduction. Representatives from 168 nations met for five days to find better ways to work against natural disasters. The conference ended with a 10 year action plan that some officials say could cut in half the number of casualties caused by typhoons, tornadoes and earthquakes. The conference was set up in response to the tsunami that killed more than 200-thousand people in 11 nations that border the Indian Ocean. Organizers say that over the last decade, disasters of every sort have killed 700-thousand people and caused an estimated 690-billion dollars in losses. OLD CLUE #2—CONFIRMATION HEARINGS Unscramble our second clue and you got Confirmation Hearings. President Bush heads into his second term having to replace a number of the members of his cabinet. All of those must go before the Senate for its approval. Some of those hearings have been controversial including the total of 11 hours that Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice spent answering questions. All of the President’s choices are expected to be confirmed including Michael Chertoff who has been nominated to replace Tom Ridge as Secretary of Homeland security. OLD CLUE #3—INAUGURAL And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you got inaugural. The swearing-in of a President of the United States is no longer a simple affair. There are balls and receptions throughout the week of the inauguration. The biggest and grandest of them all come on the night of the ceremony. President Bush celebrated by going with his wife, Laura, to the Constitution Ball. The Bush’s later danced again with each other and with two members of the military at the Commander in Chief ball. The President told those attending that the United States has a duty to end the world from tyranny and thanked them all for joining him in what he called an historic mission. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history…January 27th, 1944, Russian forces finally pushed the German army away from the city of Leningrad. The battle for Leningrad stretched over almost 3 years and cost an estimated 2 million lives. FEATURE Have you ever wondered what a book might be like if it were able to come to life? Some students in Webster, New York got to find out just how that might happen! Julie Philipp Checks it Out! ATW FEATURE FEATURE (Darren Stevenson) Have you ever read a pop-up book where when you open the pages something comes out at you. We're going to make a human pop-up book. (Julie) Founder Darren Stevenson and members of PUSH Physical Theater are working with third graders to bring several multi-cultural classics such as The Mitten to life. (Darren) When you open the pages in a pop-up book, very often something comes out and there is something very exciting in the processof revealing a picture. Specially things like mouths that open or things that shoot out at you. And so, what we are doing with the children is asking them to use their imaginations to translate that written medium into a movement art. (Child) This is The Mitten and I think this would be a better book, better than that one because the mitten doesn't explode like that one does. (Carolyn Tinsley) The children are figuring out what on each page of textthey might be able to translate into non-verbal movement. (Child 2) I think its better for the mitten to explode, then if we ever run out of people to be, people could be the mitten and do something by sort of exploding. (Julie) Instead of being taught in isolation, dance and theater are being taught at the same time as language and social studies. When the lessons end, other students and parents will be invited to watch the third gradersperform their pop-up books on stage. (Darren) When they are done, they have changed, its amazing. They will never be quite the same people again. They've conquered something huge. (music) ISN’T IT COOL Acting can be a tough profession and these four-legged thespians will do anything to get their paws on a good part. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang invited dogs from animal shelters across New York City to an open casting call. One by one they scampered up to show their stuff. Twenty dogs tried out for three spots. In the end two, Fred and Argyle, earned their place in the spotlight. ISSUE The head teacher at a school in England says homework is a dinosaur of 20th century education. Dr. Patrick Hazlewood is trying a new system that he thinks will make learning more enjoyable, one that does away with traditional homework and one that lets children manage their own learning at home. Hazlewood says homework is repetitious, wastes the time of both teacher and student and causes conflicts at home. One study indicates that homework only benefits older students. But many parents and educators are concerned with Hazlewood’s approach and feel that homework is an essential part of education. They say homework reinforces the lessons taught each day and can add more information there wasn’t time for in the classroom. They argue that homework helps to develop better study skills and prepares students for later, higher learning. So, what do you think? “Is homework outdated? Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly three hundred responses to our issue question…”Should elections in Iraq be postponed?” The majority of you, fifty percent, say no, the elections should be postponed. Forty four percent say yes, they should. Six percent are undecided. Many of you think postponing the elections might be the smart thing to do. Joshua D. of Oelwein, (Ole-wine) Iowa writes, “I think we should postpone the election until the danger is over. A lot of people could get killed if they try (now.)”Alyssa G. of La Crosse, Wisconsin agrees and adds, “We are already in a war! What if someone doesn’t like the (outcome)?” Jenna B. of Elba, New York thinks they should wait until the insurgents are defeated. Jenna writes, “Iraqis should not have to go to a voting booth and get killed because the insurgents do not want (a) democracy.” The majority of you, however, feel that the sooner elections are held, the better. Jacob H. of Denison, Iowa writes, “If they get a new president, it would be a huge step toward making (Iraq) a stabilized country.” Andrea K. of Menasha, Wisconsin adds, “The sooner Iraq gets a new leader, the faster the U.S. troops can get out of there.” Nicole M. of Maywood, New Jersey agrees and adds, “If we did (postpone) it would show that we are weak and afraid. Iraq has to learn to be strongand think for them selves.” And finally, Matt of Appleton, Wisconsin thinks postponing would be sending the wrong message. Matt writes, “It would only be a victory for the people who are doing the violence. It would promote violence to continue.” We look forward to receiving your responses to our issue questions: “Is physical education important at school?” and “Is homework outdated?” 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 winter storms, where did we tell you that high winds dropped power lines? Was it Los Angeles Nantucket Atlanta And the correct answer is number two. Winds registering at more than 80 miles an hour cut power to homes on Nantucket. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 46 Degrees, 48 minutes north latitude 09 Degrees, 50 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a scrambled letter, two words: COPE GETMINE And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, two words: I__A__ V__T__ 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 Orlando. We’ll see you next week. © 2005 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.