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	• NEWS >> ATW April 7, 2005 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of April 7, 2005. I’m Elissa Orlando. In our top story this week…world leaders gather to honor Pope John Paul the second. 1—POPE’S DEATH The leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics around the world will be buried Friday in a crypt below St. Peter’s basilica in the Vatican. Pope John Paul the Second died last Saturday after lengthy and mounting health problems. He was 84. He was born Karol Wojtyla in Poland in 1920. As a young man, he was an excellent athlete as well as a writer and activist. His election as pope in October of 1978 was a surprise in many ways: he was the first ever Slavic pope and the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. John Paul the second was the most widely traveled pope. He visited 120 countries and made more than 2-thousand public addresses during his 26 year as pope, the third longest reign in the church’s history. But he will also be remembered for his role in many social and political issues, particularly the fall of Communism. His visit to his native country soon after becoming pope led to the rise of Solidarity, the non communist party that inspired others in the Soviet bloc to push for democratic change. John Paul later spoke out against both Gulf wars. He also made strides in healing rifts between the Catholic Church and Judaism. Reign (n) the term during which a sovereign rules ATW Fact Of the 264 men who have served as pope, only two other men served longer than John Paul II. The longest belongs to the first. St. Peter served, by most accounts, from the year 32 to 67. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… --What lies ahead for the Catholic Church --Iraq’s assembly finally has a leader… --and Syria picks a date to leave Lebanon. #2—WHAT’S NEXT FOR CHURCH The Catholic Church has now set in motion the procedures for picking a new pope. Those procedures, which have been unchanged for at least 5-hundred years, involve those who are second only to the pope, the Sacred College of Cardinals. That body and its members must meet within the next two weeks and vote in secret until a choice is made. Some experts think that choice must meet three important criteria: the new pope must be between 65 and 72 years old, must speak several languages, and must have a good public presence. Among the possible candidates are several Latin American cardinals, several more from Europe and at least two from Africa. They would not be the first. Two popes have come from Africa, the last, Gelasius (jilay-shees) the First who reigned from 492 to 496. Few observers think that any North American cardinal will be selected to succeed John Paul the second. Criteria (n) standards, rules, or tests on which a decision can be based. #3—IRAQ ASSEMBLY LEADER After weeks of failed talks, the Iraqi Assembly took what many observers say was an important step forward Sunday. Its members elected Hajim al-Hassani as speaker of the National Assembly. The vote is seen as a necessary compromise between the Kurdish coalition and the Shiite Muslims, the two parties that won most of the votes in the January 30th elections. Al-Hassani is a moderate Sunni Muslim, a party that chose to boycott the elections. However, both the Kurds and Shiites recognize that including Sunnis is vital if Iraq continues to work to become a democracy. The new assembly speaker has helped ease several tense situations between American forces and insurgents. He was educated in the U-S and has a doctorate in agricultural economics. When he accepted the vote of the Assembly, he said it was time for the people of Iraq to be treated with dignity. He also warned his fellow Assembly members that those same Iraqi people were expecting positive action and would hold the Assembly accountable. Doctorate (n) the degree or status of a doctor as conferred by a university #4— —SYRIA PULLOUT April 30th is the date Syria has set for removing all of its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon. Syria has had a military presence in Lebanon for 29 years but public pressure for its removal peaked only in the last several months. Syria has been accused of plotting the murder of a former Lebanese prime minister. That assassination led to huge protests against the Syrian occupation. An estimated 4-thousand troops have already left. The U-S had pushed for a complete withdrawal before Lebanon’s upcoming legislative elections. The timetable given by Syria’s President Assad to the United Nations falls well within that goal. Occupation (n) the act or process of holding or possessing a place POP QUIZ #1 In our story about the Iraqi assembly, we told you its new speaker is a 1. Sunni Muslim 2. Kurd 3. Shiite Muslim And the answer is number 1. New Assembly Speaker Hajim al-Hassani is a Sunni Muslim. OLD CLUE #1—ZIMBABWE ELECTIONS It's time now for the answers to our Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Harare, the capitol of Zimbabwe. Observers from South Africa say the parliamentary elections held in Zimbabwe late last week were fair. However, the U-S is leading an international call for a new vote. Critics say the elections were held in a climate of fear and that there was widespread fraud. The results of the vote gave the party of President Robert Mugabe a two-thirds majority in parliament. That would allow him to change Zimbabwe’s constitution. President Mugabe has reportedly shrugged off the criticism from the U-S and other countries and is listening only to African observers of the election. OLD CLUE #2—YUSCHENKO Our second clue was newsmaker Viktor Yuschenko The President of Ukraine visited President Bush at the White House Monday. It was his first visit to America since winning a disputed election and surviving the effects of dioxin poisoning. Yuschenko’s three day trip included meetings with prospective investors, Ukrainian Americans and with Congress. He also hoped to win U-S support for Ukraine membership in NATO. President Bush said that may be possible but only if Ukraine addresses serious problems including corruption. OLD CLUE #3—FINAL FOUR And finally, unscramble our third clue and you got Basketball finals. North Carolina and Illinois met in the finals of the N-C-A-A men’s basketball tournament. The Tar Heels finally won a see-saw game, beating Illinois 75-70 to give coach Roy Williams his first national championship. Overall, North Carolina has won 4 national titles, behind Indiana with 5, Kentucky with 7 and U-C-L-A, with a record 11 championships. In this latest game, North Carolina’s Sean May scored 26 points, the same number as his father scored to help Indiana win the national title in 1976. In the women’s tournament, for the first time in years, neither Connecticut nor Tennessee made the finals. This year, it was Michigan State against Baylor. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… April 10th, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the modern age of Major League Baseball. In addition to helping to break the so called color barrier, Robinson led the Brooklyn Dodgers to 6 pennants in 10 seasons. He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame. ATW FEATURE FEATURE We visited the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York to learn about an endangered species, the Golden Tamarind. Check it out! (Tammy Singer) They are found in southeast Brazil in a very small rainforest there. They are an endangered species. They estimate that there are probably somewhere around 1200 of these animals left in the wild. Mostly due to habitat destruction, another factor is illegal capture for the pet trade. They are very small and people think they are cute and cuddly looking. They don't realize that they don't make good pets. Like any wild animal, they will bite, they have very sharp teeth. They are social so they belong in groups of other tamarinds, living with their families. And if you have one as a pet, it could cause a lot of psychological problems for it just by having it by itself. The life expectancy in a zoo is probably somewhere around twenty years. It keeps getting longer as we learn more about them. In the wild it would be substantially less just because they have predators to worry about and they have to search for food. They have small territories; they have to compete with other tamarinds that live next door to them. I just like the way that they are very social, they stick together in their family groups. One of the really neat things is that in order to learn how to raise their young, they need to be there for the birth of their siblings. And they learn from their parents how to raise their own young. So when we have births here, we have the older siblings there as well so they can witness the birth. They help to carry the babies, they help to raise them and learn how to do it. And once they become parents themselves, hopefully, they will be very good at it already. Any library has more information on Tamarinds and the internet as well. If you go to any zoo site that has tamarins, they can always point you in the right direction and give you web sites to check out and will also tell you how to help to save these animals. ISN’T IT COOL EBAY NAME When Terri Illigan found out how much a golf school for one of her children was going to cost she decided to sell something only she could sell…her name. The mother of five from Knoxville, Tennessee sold her name to the Internet site Golden Palace Casino for 15,199 dollars. Her husband and kids say they are supportive as long as they can still call her Mom. ISSUE A group of British researchers claims that perhaps half of all known planetary systems could have worlds where life is possible. That research, released this week, is controversial. Many scientists continue to believe that the conditions that led to life on Earth are unique and unlikely to be repeated elsewhere. They say Earth is that rare combination of a planet that is neither too hot nor too cold, with the right mix of gasses beneath an atmosphere and with water. And despite huge steps forward in technology, there is still no conclusive evidence that life exists anywhere else. But the British researchers say their work indicates that there is plenty of room and time for other Earths to have evolved. And others point to recent discoveries of life in some of the most extreme found in the extreme heat of, for example, thermal vents, it is possible under a number of other extremes. Ongoing probes of Mars and a moon of Jupiter seem to indicate the presence of water, one of the necessary building blocks for life. Well, we would like to know what you think. “Is life possible on other planets?” Discuss this issue with your classmates, friends and family and write to let us know your opinions. MAILBAG We received over three hundred responses to our issue question, “Are athletes role models?”] The majority of you, sixty two percent, say yes athletes are role models. Twenty four percent say no, they are not. 14 percent are undecided. Many of you feel that today’s athletes do not deserve to be role models. Cayla T. of Luxemborg, Wisconsin writes, “There are plenty of other people that do better things and they should be appreciated and considered role models too.” Adriana C. of Putnam Station, New York agrees and adds, “Kids should look up to people like police and teachers. They should look up to someone who has a regular job.” The majority of you, however, think athletes still make good role models. Kyler C. of Mt. Sidney, Virginia writes, “Most of my friends have an athlete as a role model. There are better (ones) than others but they are still role models.” Alina C. of Manchester, Vermont adds, “They encourage kids to go and play these sports. I think it is a good thing to have an athletic role model.” Ryan B. of Fairport, New York agrees and writes, “Kids want somebody to look up to who makes great achievements. There are a lot of athletes who don’t do bad things such as Michael Jordan.” And finally, while some of you think athletes may be good role models, many feel you can make better choices. Mark B. of Grafton, Wisconsin writes, “They can be (role models) but there are other role models out there who work a lot harder and make the world a lot better. Kids should have better role models than pro athletes.” We look forward to receiving your responses to our issue questions: “Should the use of Native American mascots come to an end?” and “Is life possible on other planets?” 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 Syria, we told you it will withdraw its military from Lebanon by what date? Is it 1. June 30th 2. May 30th 3. April 30th And the correct answer is number three. Syria has told the U-N that its troops will leave Lebanon completely by April 30th. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 33 Degrees, 44 minutes north latitude 81 Degrees, 58 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a fill in the blanks, two words: S__AR__N V__S__T And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter, two words: LAYOR DEWDING 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.