WXXI-TV | Assignment: The World |


	• NEWS >> ATW December 2, 2004 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of December 2nd, 2004. I’m Elissa Orlando. In our top story this week…a week of protests sends an election to the Supreme Court of Ukraine. 1—UKRAINE Ukraine’s top court began deliberations Monday over the validity of election results from the November 21st presidential runoff. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was the apparent winner in the official results over opposition candidate Victor Yushchenko. Tens of thousands of Yushchenko’s supporters spent more than a week protesting the results, blockading government buildings and calling for a recount. Yushchenko claims to have evidence including an amateur video that documents widespread voter fraud. The video appears to show opposition supporters being beaten and completed ballot papers being duplicated. While outgoing President Leonid Kuchma supports Yanukovych, he said the claims of fraud must be investigated and that new elections may be necessary to preserve the peace. Yanukovych has been openly supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The U-S is among a number of western nations to say they do not recognize or approve of the official results in Ukraine’s voting. Amateur (adj) not professional or skillful ATW FACT The U-S uses 700 million gallons of oil every day while the world uses about 3 billion gallons each day. The largest oil spill in the U-S remains that of the Exxon Valdez in March of 1989. That spill resulted in 11 million gallons dumped into the waters off of Alaska. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… --Should Iraq’s upcoming elections be postponed? --an oil spill threatens the Delaware River… -and Romanians narrow the field for a new leader. #2—IRAQ Feelings remain mixed within Iraq about the wisdom of holding elections in that country as scheduled next January. Students at a Baghdad university showed their support for the elections at a weekend rally. Some students feel that holding the elections would help to improve the security situation in their country. Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi says the government has been given assurances by the Iraqi Electoral Commission that an election could take place even in areas where militants remain active. But some Muslim clerics and other political parties say elections are unwise and impossible when cities are still being bombed and Iraqi people being killed. Meanwhile, U-S forces are finally able to safeguard supplies coming into the war torn city of Fallujah. U-S and Iraqi soldiers fought a bloody battle there to wrest control away from armed insurgents. While Fallujah is still without running water or electricity, trucks carrying food, water, medicine and blankets are arriving on a regular basis. Wrest (v) to extract by force, guile or persistent effort. #3—DELAWARE Acting New Jersey Governor Richard Codey says it may take 3 months to clean up 30-thousand gallons of crude oil in the Delaware River. The oil leaked from a six foot gash found in the hull of the tanker, Athos I. The spill created a 20-mile-long slick that has killed dozens of birds and threatens a wide variety of other wildlife. Private contractors have placed a boom to try to contain the floating slick. All traffic on that section of the busy river was halted over the weekend after the leak was discovered Saturday morning. While the spill was contained within an hour of being discovered, the tanker still lost about 10 per cent of its cargo of oil from Venezuela. That cargo is part of the million barrels of oil that go through the port of Philadelphia every day. Boom (n) a floating barrier, the area enclosed by such a barrier. #4— —ROMANIA December 12th is the date set for a runoff election between the two leading candidates for president in Romania. Ruling party choice and current Prime Minister Adrian Nastase had the most votes among 12 candidates running. He will face runner up Traian Basescu, currently the mayor of Romania’s capital , Bucharest. Basescu rose to national fame by accusing the ruling party in Romania of corruption and ties to the country’s communist past. Those charges are two of the key issues that might prevent Romania from joining the European Union by 2007. Capital (n) town or city that is the official seat of government in a state or nation. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Iraq, when did we tell you elections are scheduled there? Is it 1. January 2. February 3. March And the answer is number 1. Elections in Iraq are scheduled for January 30th, 2005. OLD CLUE #1—THANKSGIVING Its time now for the answers to our Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Plymouth, Massachusetts. That’s where America’s Thanksgiving traditions can be traced to though those traditions vary some from the real first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrim settlers held that first event in 1621 as a three day feast. While turkey was probably served, its just as likely that the Pilgrims and their Native American guests also ate duck, goose, even eagles. They would not have eaten cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, or pumpkin pie. The US didn’t formally celebrate Thanksgiving until Abraham Lincoln set a date in 1863. Franklin Roosevelt was the one who finally settled on the 4th Thursday in November as it would allow an extra week of Christmas shopping. OLD CLUE #2—UKRAINE RUNOFF Unscramble our second clue and you got Ukraine Runoff. As we told you earlier, protests continue over the runoff election to choose a new president of Ukraine. The two sides in the disputed election reflect historic differences in that country. The western or so called Left Bank section of Ukraine is traditionally pro-Russian. It differs from the eastern or Right Bank of the country in language, religion, culture and politics. Those differences go back hundreds of years and through times when the region lay under control of Poland, Austria, Germany and the Soviet Union. Politicians on the Right Bank have called for a vote that would give their section of Ukraine more political freedom from those on the Left. OLD CLUE #3—CABINET SHUFFLE And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you got Cabinet Shuffle. President Bush continues to find replacements for members of his cabinet who will not join him in his second term. This week, he named Kellogg Company C-E-O Carlos Gutierrez to take over from Commerce Secretary Don Evans. The President has also nominated Margaret Spellings to be the next Secretary of Education and Alberto Gonzalez to be the next Attorney General. All of the President’s choices must be confirmed by the Senate. While being nominated is an honor, it can be expensive. Commerce nominee Gutierrez had a total compensation package of more than 7-million dollars. His government job would pay 175-thousand dollars. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history…December 3rd, 1586, Sir Thomas Herriott introduced the potato to England. Though that date and person responsible are in dispute, the potato was first cultivated in Peru 4500 years ago. That New World food went on to be an important staple for the rest of the planet. FEATURE ATW FEATURE FEATURE (Wyatt) Your dinner guests include ostriches, elephants, giraffes and about 4996 other animals. Each and everyone have their own special diet. Who keeps track of what they eat? Well in addition to the veterinarians, keepers and other employees of the zoo, there is an animal nutritionist who runs a critter cafeteria. (Shannon) What we do is make all the diets up for all the animals in the zoo on a daily basis. We prepare around 400 different diets. (Wyatt) Food stuff ranges from mixes like the dog and cat food you may have at home to meat products, fruit and vegetables, even crickets. (Shannon) Certain days we do meat, certain days we make gelatins, certain days we make up a bird mixture and then there is something we do everyday like the diets. Here we have fresh fruit and vegetables. The diets are prepared daily , 7days a week, 52 weeks a year. What each animal eats is closely monitored. Each of the animals that we have here in the zoo has his own diet sheet. So at all times we have a record of how much they're getting, what they're getting and when they're getting it. A lot of the times we’ll have the vitamins and minerals here, so when we make up our meat diet we add the vitamins and minerals as we're doing it. (Wyatt) The nearly 500 animals go through tons of food, all of the highest quality. (Shannon) We have produce delivered twice a week and go through maybe 10 50 lb. bags of carrots in a week. We spend about six or seven thousand dollars on fresh fruit and vegetables alone each month. It's the same with the meat and that sort of thing. (Wyatt) The highest quality food, prepared daily for specific diets. Its almost a four star restaurant for animals. (Shannon) They don't get to choose from the menu. And they re not the best tippers either. (Wyatt) For Assignment: The World, Im Wyatt Doremus. ISN’T IT COOL PRESIDENTIAL PARDON In what has become a White House custom President Bush granted Biscuit and Gravy presidential pardons last week making them the safest turkeys in the world this past Thanksgiving Day! After the pardon the two turkeys were retired to a petting zoo in Herndon, Virginia. The tradition of pardoning a turkey dates back 57 years to the presidency of Harry Truman. ISSUE Its that time of the year when we ask you to look back at all of 2004 and decide who or what had the most impact on the world. Israel, Iraq, and the Internet continue to affect our lives. Candidates George Bush and John Kerry dominated the headlines for much of the year. International leaders Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan are constantly in the news. You might choose outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell or his successor, Condoleeza Rice. News from Iraq frequently contains the names of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Muslim cleric Moktada al Sadr and terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi. In the media, author J.K. Rowling, talk show host Rush Limbaugh, actor and director Mel Gibson and F-C-C Chairman Michael Powell were frequently mentioned. Among sports figures, its hard to forget Lance Armstrong, Annika Sorenstam, Barry Bonds or the Boston Red Sox. So, what do you think? “Who should be Newsmaker of the Year? 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 there be a national Susan B. Anthony Day?” The majority of you, sixty eight percent, say yes there should be a national holiday. Twenty four percent say no, there should not. Eight percent are undecided. Many of you feel there are enough national holidays and having more would just cost more money. Erica H. of Byron, New York wonders where to stop when it comes to declaring a national holiday. Erica writes, “Why not give everyone who did something amazing a holiday? If we do (that), it would cause total chaos.” Ross H. of Big Bend, Wisconsin adds, “I could name 100 people that deserve a holiday. Why should only Anthony get one?” The majority of you, however, think having a national Susan B. Anthony Day is the right thing to do. Roger of Oneonta, New York writes, “She is an important person in American history. She fought for the right to vote, helped to free slaves and made contributions to education.” Michael R. of Loudonville, New York has an interesting perspective. Michael writes, “Not one single woman has the honor of a holiday in her name. The majority of the country should have at least one holiday.” Zeba of Des Plaines, Illinois says, “We need to honor people who deserve it and Susan B. Anthony surely deserves it for all her courage.” And finally, Brittany K., Mia P., Jacque C. and David A. of Trempealeau, Wisconsin propose a bill that they think should be made into a law. They write, “We propose a Women’s Day of Observance to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. This is Election Day and it represents the first day that women had the right to vote.” We look forward to receiving your responses to our issue questions: “Should schools require students to wear ID badges?” and “Who should be Newsmaker of the Year?” 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 Thanksgiving, which US President did we tell you set its current date? Was it Abraham Lincoln Theodore Roosevelt Franklin Roosevelt And the correct answer is number three. Franklin Roosevelt set the current date for Thanksgiving as the 4th Thursday in November. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 46 Degrees, 12 minutes north latitude 6 Degrees, 9 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a Scrambled Letter, three words: DROWL COCOMINE OFRUM And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, two words: A__R__C__N E__E__T__O__S 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 again next week. © 2004 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.