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	• NEWS >> ATW May 17, 2007 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of May 17th, I’m Teej Jenkins... Our top story this week…another violent chapter in the ongoing story of Iraq. 1—IRAQ 33 DEGREES, 21 MINUTES NORTH 44 DEGREES, 25 MINUTES EAST Thousands of US and Iraqi troops backed up by air support and dog teams searched early this week for three American soldiers who were reported missing over the weekend. A group calling itself the Islamic State of Iraq claimed to have organized an ambush on Saturday in which several soldiers were killed and the other three taken captive. The same group later warned the US to call off its search. That news came amidst another bloody week in Iraq. At least 50 people were killed and more than one hundred wounded when a truck bomb ran into the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq. Separate attacks a day later killed a dozen more Iraqis dead and two dozen wounded in Baghdad and Baquba. Two US soldiers died in another attack, bringing the total US death toll near 34-hundred since the war began more than 4 years ago. Amidst (prep) surrounded by, in the middle of ATW Fact S 3-11 The United Arab Emirates is a coalition of 7 states that became independent of Great Britain in 1971. Strategically located between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, the UAE is home to 4.4 million people. While less than 1 per cent of its land is able to be farmed, its does have great reserves of oil. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS C1 NEWSROOM In the rest of the news this week… --Iran's president looks for new allies in the Persian Gulf... ---a fragile coalition splits apart for Palestinians... ---and smoke signals danger in Florida and Georgia. #2—FLORIDA FIRES 30 DEGREES, 26 MINUTES NORTH 84 DEGREES, 17 MINUTES WEST Lightning is being blamed for igniting more than 200 fires that raged for more than a week in Florida and Georgia. In Georgia, the Bugaboo Scrub fire charred more than 130-thousand acres while wildfires were also being fought on another 260-thousand fires. Some of those moved through the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge into Florida where gusting winds and dry, drought conditions spread fire into all but ten of that state's counties. Two major highways had to be closed in North Florida and smoke from the fires could be seen in Miami which is more than 300 miles to the south. Florida emergency officials were warning residents to be ready to evacuate on short notice and to stay tuned to television and radio stations for the latest information. The week's weather forecast offered little hope of rain. In fact, a high pressure system was expected to make conditions hotter and drier. Drought (n) a long period without rain #3—IRAN LEADER IN UAE 24 DEGREES, 27 MINUTES NORTH 54 DEGREES, 23 MINUTES EAST The red carpet in the United Arab Emirates was out Sunday for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It was the first time any Iranian leader has visited the Sunni-led Arab country since its independence in 1971. Ahmadinejad met with government leaders and then later led a raucous anti-American rally where he said America was to blame for creating instability in the region. Iran's president wants a number of Persian Gulf countries to drop their military alliances with the US and join with Iran. His visit came just a day after a much lower key trip by US Vice President Dick Cheney. Iran and the US remain at odds over Iran's nuclear program. Raucous (adj) boisterous, unruly, disorderly #4— —PALESTINIAN FIGHTING 31 DEGREES, 46 MINUTES NORTH 35 DEGREES, 14 MINUTES EAST Fighting between rival factions early this week signaled a major setback to the recently formed Palestinian coalition government. Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh stepped down on Monday after six people were killed. The Fatah party had agreed in March to form a government with its rival, Hamas but deep rifts remained, particularly over security matters. The interior minister had been threatening to resign for two weeks over violence and lawlessness plaguing Gaza. Monday's gunfire followed the deployment last week of 3-thousand police in Gaza, a move protested by Hamas. Rift (n) a break in friendly relations POP QUIZ #1 In our story about wildfires, in which state did we tell you the fires began? Was it Florida Georgia Louisiana And the answer is number 2. A lightning strike on May 5 started fires in Georgia. OLD CLUE # 1—ARMENIA ELECTION Time now for answers to last week’s Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Voters there gave a large majority to the ruling Republican party. That choice is seen as a good indication of how next year's presidential voting will go. Current Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan is favored to succeed Robert Kocharyan when he steps down at the end of his second term. The Republican party and two other pro-presidential parties won a combined 75 per cent of the parliamentary seats. Unlike the last parliamentary elections in 2003, there were few reports of voting irregularities and little violence. OLD CLUE # 2— BLAIR TO STEP DOWN Unscramble our second clue and you got Blair announcement. British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced late last week that he will step down in late June. Blair said that after ten years in office, it was time to end his political journey. While he apologized for any mistakes he may have made, he pointed with pride to creating jobs, lowering the crime rate and improving the economy, education and health care. Blair's popularity began to sag with his backing of the US and its invasion of Iraq. His successor will almost certainly be longtime treasury chief, Gordon Brown. OLD CLUE # 3—THE POPE IN BRAZIL And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you got Brazil visit. Pope Benedict the 16th wrapped up a six day visit to South America's biggest country over the weekend. On Friday, the Pope canonized Friar Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvao, making him the first native-born saint. In a series of speeches, the Pope also took on a wide variety of issues including violence, corruption and drug use. He warned drug traffickers that they face divine justice. The crowd listening to him in Sao Paulo alone was estimated to be near one million people. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… May 18th, 1980, a volcano 100 miles south of Seattle, Washington, erupted. The massive explosion reduced Mt. St. Helens from 9600 feet high to 8300 feet. It also killed 57 people and destroyed 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railroad, and 185 miles of highway. It remains the deadliest volcanic eruption in US history. ATW FEATURE This is our last show of the this season… we’ve enjoyed bringing you the top stories from around the world each week and hope you continue to pay attention to the news over the summer. Before we sign off and say see you in the fall, we thought we would take this opportunity to introduce you to the production team of Assignment: The World. Check it Out. ATW FEATURE (Wyatt) When you watch Assignment: the World, you can see Teej. What you can’t see are the people behind the cameras: the studio technicians, engineers, volunteers, writers, and directors, who work together to bring you ATW every week. Preparations for the show begin on Monday morning when the writer...that's me...and Director/Producer John Overlan begin looking for the top four stories for the show. John and I look on the Internet as well as national newscasts to find the top stories of the day. I come up with a list of 10 of the top stories of the week and then John selects the top 4. Once the top 4 stories are chosen I can begin the writing process. After I’m finished, I then pass the script on to Teej who voices the story. All of that then goes to our editor, Joanne Gordon. Joanne puts it all the audio, video and graphics together. In turn, she is responsible for most of the video you see every week. (Wyatt) We receive an average of 300 letters a week to our issue question. Every one of your letters is read by a volunteer. They send the best letters to our producing team. We then choose several letters that represent your opinions. Tuesday afternoon is show time. The number of people involved with Assignment: the World increases twofold. Before Teej comes into the studio the floor manager and camera operators are responsible for getting the lights and camera ready for the show. There are 2 camera operators. Each is accountable for getting different shots of Teej. The floor manager's main job is to maintain communication between the talent and the director. Teej then goes over the script one final time before we start the show. (Wyatt) Down in sub control, Young updates the teleprompter for the final time before we start taping the show. The assistant director is inputting all of the graphic information in to a computer, which displays all of the clues in the news, pop quizzes and letters in each week's show. The audio engineer is responsible for all of the things you hear during the program: all of the carts, video, microphones and music. All of the video segments are loaded into a server for playback later. The record engineer is also responsible for making sure ATW is recorded for later air. The video engineer sets up the cameras. Each camera must be adjusted to look exactly the same in terms of color and intensity. (Wyatt) When everything is ready, John sits down to direct the show. It’s time to put all of the parts together: the audio, the video, and the script. All told, almost 20 people are involved with the production of Assignment: the World. Without their hard work it wouldn’t be possible….. for Assignment: the World… I’m Wyatt Doremus ISN’T IT COOL This Magellanic penguin is a long way from home. The penguin, native to the Magellan islands in southern Chile traveled over three thousand miles to reach Peru’s Paracas national reserve. Scientists believe the penguin made the journey alone. They fear Humboldt penguins native to the reserve will reject the solitary traveler and are in contact with colleagues in Chile to return the bird to its natural habitat. MAILBAG We received nearly six hundred responses to our issue question, “Should school be year round?” 88 percent say no, it should not be year round. Just nine percent say yes, it should. Three percent are undecided. Some of you think having school year-round has its benefits. Abbie W. of Lake View, Iowa writes, “You get to see your friends more often… plus we would only going about two weeks more than we already do.” Rachel L. of Staunton, Virginia agrees and writes, “Kids wouldn’t be so bored like they are in the summer. We would still only have the same amount of school for the year.” Jonathan G. of Latham, New York adds, “It prepares children for the working world. They will have gotten used to the pace of working with not many days off.” The majority of you, however, think having school year round is a bad idea. Leah R. of Burlington, North Dakota writes, “Some kids go to visit parents (who) live in different states. If there was no summer vacation they would not be able to visit them.” Leah G. of Vermillion, South Dakota adds, “Students may (get) overwhelmed when they look at the calendar and see only school.” Sarah M. of Woodbury, Minnesota is afraid “… that kids would drop out and wouldn’t go to college. They would be sick and tired (of school.)” Finally, Liz H. of York, New York suggests this compromise. “I think we should have one extra month of school and just get a smaller summer vacation.” We received over 10,000 responses to our weekly issues this year. Thanks for watching and writing! 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 fighting in Gaza, when did we tell you rival Palestinian factions agreed to form a government? Was it January February March And the correct answer is number 3. Hamas and Fatah agreed in March to form a coalition government. NEW CLUES And now it’s time to look ahead to the people, places, and events that we think will be in the news over the months ahead. There are a number of important elections ahead including parliamentary and presidential voting in Ireland, Belgium, Turkey and India. Congress will be closely monitoring the surge of US troops into Iraq over the summer as the military tries to bring peace and order into areas held by insurgents. The Middle East will also be in focus with the increasingly violent confrontations between rival Palestinian groups as well as the ongoing standoff with Israel. Two space shuttle missions are scheduled: June 8th for Atlantis and August 9th for Endeavor. And here at home, though the first primaries are still months away, the race for president will heat up over the course of the summer. These are stories we think will happen in the coming weeks You can watch for them on radio and television newscasts and in newspapers and news magazines. GOOD-BYE And that’s it for this week’s show. From all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Teej Jenkins. Have a great summer everyone! We’ll see you again in September. © 2007 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.