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	• NEWS >> ATW January 11, 2007 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of January 11th, I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week… the US strikes back against al-Qaeda, this time in Somalia. 1 AIRSTRIKE SOMALIA 02 DEGREES, 04 MINUTES NORTH 45 DEGREES, 22 MINUTES EAST Sources claim many people have been killed in at least two air strikes in southern Somalia. The Somali transitional government says the U-S targeted Islamist fighters who are believed to be members of an al-Qaeda cell. Within that cell were reportedly some of those involved in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that killed more than 250-people. Somalia’s interim president supported the US actions and called the raid a success. This is the first overt military action in Somalia since 1994. The latest action may have come with assistance from Ethiopian forces which have an air base near where the raid occurred. The Islamist fighters who were targeted have repeatedly denied any connection with al-Qaeda. Interim (adj) temporary ATW Fact Gerald Ford was House Minority Leader when he was chosen to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of disgraced Vice President Spiro Agnew. A year later, in 1974, he became the only President never to have received a vote. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… ----Remembering a common man with a healing touch. --Saddam Hussein inspires controversy even in death… ---and a new Congress with a new balance of power meets in Washington. 2—NEW CONGRESS UNITED STATES 38 DEGREES, 54 MINUTES NORTH 77 DEGREES, 02 MINUTES WEST Democrats now control both houses of Congress. For the first time in US history, a woman is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Nancy Pelosi comes into the office with an ambitious set of goals that includes reducing wasteful spending, collecting an estimated 300-billion dollars in back taxes, and raising the minimum wage. She and other Democrats have not ruled out tax increases for the wealthiest Americans to help pay for tax cuts for middle-income families. President Bush challenged Democrats last week to join him in trying to balance the budget within 5 years and urged them to cut back or eliminate costly pet projects. Experts say Democrats are more likely to agree to that than they are for funding for an increase in troops in Iraq. While Speaker Pelosi said Congress would not cut funding to those troops already in Iraq, she said the President must make a case for sending more troops there. Balance(v) equal totals in the credit and debit sides of an account #3—FORD EULOGIZED UNITED STATES 42 DEGREES, 17 MINUTES NORTH 83 DEGREES, 45 MINUTES WEST A period of mourning continues for former President Gerald Ford. Before his internment near his adopted hometown in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Ford was honored during several events in the nation’s capitol. Thousands filed past his casket in the Capitol Rotunda and more than 3-thousand invited guests went to the National Cathedral for a funeral service there. Gerald Ford became President after the resignation of Richard Nixon. Many experts think Ford could have won a second term if he had not pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed in the Watergate scandal. The current President praised Ford for his actions, saying that Ford had brought calm and healing to one of the most divisive moments in our nation’s history. Ford was also praised for his often overlooked achievements in foreign policy. Resignation (n) gave up one’s job or position, quit #4—SADDAM EXECUTION IRAQ 33 DEGREES, 21 MINUTES NORTH 44 DEGREES, 25 MINUTES EAST Investigators continue to look into circumstances surrounding the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death for his part in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from the same town in 1982. While few foreign leaders disagreed with the verdict, many criticized mobile phone video that showed Hussein being taunted as he was led to the gallows. A number of Islamic critics are also worried that the execution will do nothing to heal differences between Shiites and Sunnis. Hussein was one of half a dozen people who also face trial in the deaths of as many as 100-thousand Kurds in the 1980s. That trial resumed earlier this week after having been in recess since mid December. Verdict(n) decision reached by a jury at the conclusion of a trial POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Congress, what did we tell you was different about the Speaker of the House. Is it that for the first time, it is a 1. Republican 2. Democrat 3. a woman And the answer is number 3. Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to serve as the most powerful member of the House of Represenatives. OLD CLUE # 1—SOMALIA Time now for answers to last week’s Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Mogadishu, the capitol of Somalia. Islamic militia leaders are vowing to fight on despite being pushed out of Mogadishu. Ethiopian troops ousted the militia late last year and have remained to keep an uneasy peace in the Somali capitol. Somalia has been effectively without a formal government for 15 years. A new transitional administration is attempting to unite Somalia’s warring clans but has little military strength to enforce its rulings. OLD CLUE # 2— PUTIN VISITS UKRAINE Unscramble our second clue and you got Putin visits Ukraine. Russia’s president visited Ukraine in late December. Its was Putin’s first visit in nearly two years and was seen as a sign of improving ties between the two nations. Relations had been strained by the election of the pro-western Victor Yushchenko and then by price disputes over Russia’s natural gas supplies. President Putin said there had been breakthroughs on several issues including Russia’s access to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. OLD CLUE # 3—FOOTBALL CHAMPION And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you got football champion. College football’s bowl season finally came to an end early this week with heavily favored Ohio State losing to Florida, 41-14. The Gators made history with the win. Florida is the first school to have national champions in two sports at the same time. The Gators’ basketball team won its title last April. The football team had been expected to lose to Ohio State and its Heisman Trophy quarterback, Troy Smith. But Florida held the Buckeyes to under 100 yards of total offense and allowed Smith to complete just 4 passes. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… January 11th, 1861, Alabama seceded from the Union. 11 states would eventually vote to break away from the United States of America, an action that led to four years of civil war. Alabama was readmitted to the Union in 1868. ATW FEATURE Playing percussion does not just mean playing a drum set, it’s any instrument that works by being hit, shaken or scraped; we’ve got another musician from Toubab Krewe here to show you some different West African percussion instruments. Beki Gibney checks it out! ATW FEATURE (Luke) I’ve been playing percussion for about 10 years, and my experience with percussion has mostly been from the West African side of things, I’ve studied in three times in Guinea and Ivory Coast. So I started with this, this is called Dun-un, the Dun-uns are the bass drums of the ensemble. They call it Ballet style putting all three together like this, and played by one person so you can play faster and play as an individual, for example this is called Kenkeni (plays middle) and this is Sangba, it’s the middle toned drum (plays) and this is Dun-un it’s basically the deepest drum (plays). So now, everything I just did I kind of have to do alone (plays all three at once). This is Djembe, Djembe is played as an accompaniment instrument as well as a solo instrument so, the accompaniment drums are tuned lower, and they kind of ride underneath and they accentuate what the Dun-uns are doing and then you have the drums that are tuned higher, that are the soloist. Djembe has three sounds, bass (hits it), tone (hits it) and slap (hits it) then from these three sounds you pretty much get all the instrumentation, so a solo phrase on a higher drum, (does a solo). (Beki) Its amazing how these drums can look so simple, but give out many different sounds. I bet this next percussion instrument will really surprise you. (Luke) Calabash is more specific to Mali. Its a big gourd, as you can see, grown, cut in half and just placed on a pillow with a mic underneath it, so how can you put a date on this? A lot of times it’ll take the place of like a drum set in Malian music. (Plays it). (Beki) For Assignment: the World, I’m Beki Gibney. ISN’T IT COOL SWIMMING W/SHARKS It’s becoming one of the most popular tourist attractions in South Africa! Thrill seekers are paying up to almost 200 dollars for the opportunity to get up close and personal with a Great White Shark! Daily tours are booked months in advance as nearly 100,000 people have jumped into the deep blue seas in the last year! One adrenaline junkie says, “To get that close to them is amazing. Scary but good.” ISSUE Earlier, we told you that President Bush is calling for more US troops to be sent to Iraq. According to spokesmen for the administration, the presence of thousands of more soldiers, particularly in Baghdad, will help with the clearing of armed militias. Unlike a failed effort last year, they say areas teeming with insurgents could be cleared out and kept that way. Together with an improving and ever larger Iraqi military presence, advocates say more troops will eventually lead to a more peaceful Iraq. When order is restored and the government there can function more normally, they say Americans will finally be free to come home and the US will have fulfilled its mission. But many others on both sides of the political aisle disagree. Many generals, both still in service and retired, are saying that more troops will only increase problems and lead to more American casualties. They say it will put a strain on an already over-stretched army, one that might encourage enemies in other parts of the world. Some critics say adding more troops send the wrong message to the Iraqi government, which should be encouraged instead to become more self-reliant. What do you think? Should more troops be sent to Iraq? Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly four hundred responses to our issue question, “Who should be the Newsmaker of the Year?” When all the votes were tallied you selected “Parents” as your Newsmaker of the Year. Other people receiving votes were President Bush, Steve Irwin and members of the military. Gabby F. of Fargo, North Dakota thinks teachers and school staff should be the newsmaker of the year writing, “They help children of many ages. They also help adults.” Maria S. of Alfred Station, New York agrees and adds, “I think my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Young should be newsmaker of the year. She makes Social Studies the funnest class ever!” But the majority of you selected your parents. Alyssa B. of Mequon, Wisconsin writes, “My dad helps a lot of people… keeping them warm in winter and cool in the summer. Without him we would not live in a great house.” Olivia S. of Wittenberg, Wisconsin chose her mother writing, “She cares about our world.” Sarah P. of Lancaster, New York also chose her mother. Sarah adds, “She is the hardest worker I’ve ever known. She’s also the best Mom I’ve ever known.” Brett D. of Orchard Park, New York agrees and writes, “All Moms and Dads should be the Newsmaker of the Year! They do so much for us… getting us food and a place to live.” Finally Maddie S. of Marshfield, Wisconsin adds, “Parents do so much for kids. They take us everywhere! (They) give us food and keep us healthy. (Without) parents we would be a mess!” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions: “Should more troops be sent to Iraq?” and “Would you live on another planet?” We’ll put some of the more thought provoking letters and e-mails on the air. 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 former President Ford, which President did we tell you he succeeded? Was it 1. Carter 2. Nixon 3. Reagan And the correct answer is number 2. Gerald Ford became President after Richard Nixon resigned. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 20 Degrees, 00 minutes north latitude 75 Degrees, 08 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a newsmaker: Who is? CONDOLEEZZA RICE And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, four words First word M blank R blank I blank Second word L blank T blank E blank Third word K blank N blank Fourth word D blank Y 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 Teej Jenkins. We’ll see you again next week. © 2007 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.