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	• NEWS >> ATW February 1, 2007 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of February 1st, I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week…a terrorist attack is foiled as Congress opposes more troops for Iraq. 1—IRAQ: BATTLE/SENATE VOTE IRAQ 31 DEGREES, 59 MINUTES NORTH 44 DEGREES, 20 MINUTES EAST At least two hundred militants were killed Sunday in clashes with U-S backed Iraqi troops. The violence apparently prevented an attack on Shia clerics and pilgrims who will soon be marking the festival of Ashura. The fiercest fighting in Iraq in months also claimed the lives of at least 6 Iraqi soldiers as well as two U-S servicemen who died when their helicopter went down. The militants they attacked belonged to a little known group that was well equipped and intent on assassinating important Shiite religious leaders. Meanwhile in Washington, senators voted along party lines against the President’s plan to send more than 21-thousand U-S troops to Iraq. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the troop buildup is “not in the national interest.” The committee vote will got to the full Senate but is not binding on the President. The Bush administration says it will go ahead with the troop buildup no matter what the Senate decides. Intent (n) firmly fixed, concentrated ATW Fact Northern Ireland lies on the top 1/6th of the island of Ireland. Its 1.7 million residents are ideologically split between the largely Catholic Nationalists who want to reunite with the Republic of Ireland and the Protestant Unionists who want to remain tied to the United Kingdom. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… ----calls for help in Afghanistan… --Palestinians edge closer to civil war… ---and an historic step in Northern Ireland. #2—SINN FEIN IRELAND 54 DEGREES, 35 MINUTES NORTH 05 DEGREES, 55 MINUTES WEST “There’s no going back…only forward to a new beginning and a just society.” That’s how Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams described a weekend vote taken that ends an 86-year boycott of policing in the British province of Northern Ireland. Delegates at a special conference held in the Irish capital, Dublin, gave overwhelming support to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The vote improves the chances of meeting Britain’s March 26th deadline for power sharing between Irish Catholics and Protestants. Protestant leader Ian Paisley has said that he will agree to share power if Sinn Fein will support the police, the courts and the rule of law. Hundreds of people died over nearly 30 years of fighting between religious factions in the late 20th century. The U-S helped to broker a peace accord on Good Friday of 1998. Deadline (n) time limit as for payment of debt or completion of assignment #3—AFGHANISTAN 34 DEGREES, 31 MINUTES NORTH 69 DEGREES, 12 MINUTES EAST More money, more training, and more troops: that’s the short list of what Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he needs to stem terrorism. Karzai met on Sunday with a congressional delegation led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She had met the day before with Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, to urge Pakistan to do more to prevent militants from using remote areas of that country as staging areas for attacks into Afghanistan. Also, in Brussels late last week, NATO and EU foreign ministers met to discuss boosting aid and the number of troops in Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice kicked off the meeting by announcing that the US will increase its aid by 10-point-6 billion dollars. The US and its allies are hoping to prevent a major offensive expected from the Taliban in the coming weeks. Staging areas (n) places where armed forces gather before departing for other locales #4— —GAZA VIOLENCE RENEWS ISRAEL 31 DEGREES, 43 MINUTES NORTH 35 DEGREES, 12 MINUTES EAST Egypt and Saudi Arabia are offering to mediate in what they call imminent civil war between Palestinians. Fighting escalated early this week as gunmen from rival Hamas and Fatah battled each other in the Gaza Strip. The violence erupted after the collapse of coalition talks between Hamas which controls parliament and the government and Fatah and its moderate president, Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has threatened to call early elections, a move Hamas has likened to a coup attempt. At least 60 people have died since December, a fact Saudi Arabia’s king calls shameful. King Abdullah has offered to host talks between the two factions in the holy city of Mecca. While no formal response has been made, there’s evidence that both sides are arming themselves with rifles, missiles and explosives. Collapse (v) to cease to function, abrupt failure POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Iraq, how many more troops did we tell you the President wants to send there? Is it more than 1. 20,000 2. 30,000 3. 40,000 And the answer is number 1. President Bush is calling for 21,500 more US soldiers to be sent to Iraq. OLD CLUE # 1—PUTIN IN INDIA Time now for answers to last week’s Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of New Delhi. India’s capital city hosted a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin late last week. Putin signed agreements with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding cooperative ventures in defense, science and technology. Security was tight for the visit which came amidst India’s celebration of Republic Day. That marks the anniversary of India’s constitution, signed 3 years after Britain ended its two centuries of colonial rule. It is observed with parades, floats and performances. OLD CLUE # 2— WAR PROTEST Unscramble our second clue and you got Washington protest. Tens of thousands of anti-war protestors met in Washington Saturday to urge the U-S to get out of Iraq. The demonstration drew military families, celebrities, some lawmakers and a small contingent of active duty service members who are prohibited from protesting in uniform. The protest was echoed in other parts of the nation. Several thousand people marched to the federal building in Los Angeles and hundreds more marched in Iowa and Oklahoma. OLD CLUE # 3—WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you got World Economic Forum. There was reportedly little progress made as nearly 30 countries met in Davos, Switzerland late last week. Leaders had hoped the forum might lead to a break in the six month long deadlock between the US and the European Union. The two sides clashed last July over barriers to trade in farm goods and manufactured products. A gathering of business executives warned that without a new trade deal, the world’s economic growth could face serious danger and lead to a new era of protectionism. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… February 1st, 1887, real estate developer Harvey Wilcox moves from Kansas to southern California. His wife names their ranch after a Dutch settlement she had heard about. The name she liked was Hollywood. ATW FEATURE You might think these men and woman only study the lives of dinosaurs millions of years ago, but there is a whole lot more to these scientific historians! Beki Gibney meets with a Paleontologist, check it out! ATW FEATURE Beki: History doesn’t just come from what we learn in our history books at school, it also comes from our Earth, maybe even from what you are reading in your Science books at school! George McIntosh is here to explain more about what he does, is done in paleontology. George: I went to school for Paleontology and I received my masters and PhD at the University of Michigan in paleontology, as a sub-division actually of geology, because that's what paleontology, is, of course. Everybody thinks that paleontologists are just the guys who pick up hammers and goes in the field and dig up dinosaurs but basically paleontology is just sort of studying the life of the past, so it can be the recent past, something when the glaciers were here or it can be lives that existed here on earth maybe three point five million years ago, but when you get right down to it, it's all aspects of the origins and evolution of life on earth and the studying of the record of life. Beki: Studying the history of our entire Earth? I bet that means you go a lots of different places! George: I've done work in Australia and England Canada, New Mexico and all over the US and it’s gotten to be every time I find a new fossil I think oh this great, but how does it relate to something else I've seen and what's the general pattern of life through the period of time that I've become interested in so it's become a very exciting and never ending sort of quest to find out as much as I can. The bottom line of paleontology is it's the only way we'll ever understand what's happened on life on earth through time, and we focus on dinosaurs of course but there is all this vast amount of time evolution was taking place before dinosaurs. Beki: For Assignment: the World, I’m Beki Gibney. ISN’T IT COOL JELLO CITY A Scottsdale, Arizona woman spent the last three months building an edible replica of her city complete with trees, traffic and construction sites. Liz Hickock built her mini-Scottsdale out of Jello. The gelatin-based food model is on display until January 30…when it may be duly eaten! ISSUE Late last week, a number of people saw two mysterious lights on the horizon above Honolulu, Hawaii. Last November 7th, at least a dozen people saw a saucer-like object hovering low over Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. These were just the latest in a continuing series of reports of unidentified flying objects from around the world. A growing number of researchers say that the sheer number of reports of UFOs is evidence that we are being visited by advanced cultures from a different planet and that we ignore or make fun of the facts at our peril. They say there is ample photographic and eyewitness evidence that cannot be explained away and that these resemble our own space probes sent to other planets and galaxies. But many experts remain at best skeptical. They say natural phenomena, strange or rare weather or simple optical tricks can explain almost all of the reported UFO sightings. Others argue that the distances between Earth and the nearest solar system would make space travel impossible for other intelligent species. In fact, they say there’s little evidence that other intelligent species may exist anywhere. They also point to the number of fellow humans who, for fun or profit, make elaborate hoaxes. What do you think? Are UFOs visiting Earth? Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly XXX hundred responses to our issue question, “Is there too much reality TV?” The majority of you, x percent, no there isn’t too much reality TV. X percent say yes there is too much. X percent are undecided. Many of you feel reality TV takes advantage of people. Karli W. of Mequon, Wisconsin writes, “The shows exploit people and their inner fears and personal lives simply to entertain others.” Nikki Z. of Jamestown, North Dakota agrees and adds, “Some of it is jut made to humiliate people.” Ben J. of Woodbury, Minnesota writes, “I think there is way too much humiliation. They aren’t any fun to watch.” John S. of Weston, Massachusetts says it depends on the type of reality program. John writes, “Shows like Dancing With The Stars and American Idol are just shows to see who is more popular. You don’t learn anything.” The majority of you, however, think reality TV is just fine. Carmine S. of Georgetown, New York doesn’t think there is too much reality TV. Carmine writes, “If there is something that there’s too much of it’s commercials.” Cassie S. of Lancaster, New York loves reality TV. Cassie writes, “I love the shows American Idol and Dancing With The Stars! I don’t think I could live without them!” Michelle D. of Walpole, Massachusetts adds, “I think reality TV gives kids gives kids more choices on what they want to be when they grow up.” And finally, Wyatt O. of Waverly, Iowa agrees there is a lot of reality TV but writes, “There is the same amount of cartoons and stuff. If you don’t like reality TV, just watch a different channel.” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions: “Are UFOs visiting Earth?” and “Will there be a minority president in your lifetime” 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 S 3-11 In our story about the World Economic Forum, where did we tell you the forum was held? Was it 1. Austria 2. Washington 3. Switzerland And the correct answer is number 3. The world’s economic leaders met in Davos, Switzerland. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 25 Degrees, 46 minutes north latitude 80 Degrees, 12 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a scrambled letter, two words: First word S A D T I M E Second word G E T M I N E And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, three words First word C blank I blank A T blank Second word C blank A N blank E Third word R blank P O blank 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 Teej Jenkins. We’ll see you again next week. © 2007 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.