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	• NEWS >> ATW October 5, 2006 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of October 5th, I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week…a compromise on the treatment of terror suspects. 1—DETAINEE COMPROMISE UNITED STATES 38 DEGREES, 54 MINUTES NORTH 77 DEGREES, 02 MINUTES WEST President Bush got most of what he wanted in terms of new regulations interrogating and prosecuting suspected terrorists. He had asked for changes in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that Bush’s existing plan violates the law. The President and several key Republican senators reached a compromise late last week. The legislation would include a military court system to prosecute terror suspects and defines the rules of evidence that can be heard by that body. The measure also provides definitions of war crimes including torture but gives the President broad authority to decide which techniques American interrogators can use legally. That and other measures are intended to protect CIA interrogators from being prosecuted for war crimes. Democrats and other critics say the legislation still gives the President far too much power and eliminates rights that have been considered basic for hundreds of years. Evidence (n) data on which a judgment or conclusion may be based ATW Fact Georgia is a nation slightly smaller than South Carolina and is home to 4.6 million people. It is an ancient place that has been ruled by Romans, Persians, Arabs, Mongols, the Ottomans and Russia. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… --Vietnam picks up the pieces in the wake of a typhoon… --a visitor from space comes back to Earth… --and tensions grow between Russia and Georgia. #2—RUSSIA-GEORGIA TENSIONS GEORGIA 41 DEGREES, 43 MINUTES NORTH 44 DEGREES, 49 MINUTES EAST Georgia released four Russian military officers to a neutral agency early this week. The four are accused of spying on Georgia. Their arrest last week began an angry round of exchanges between Russia and Georgia. The commander of Russian military forces in Georgia said his troops have been put on high alert and have been ordered to shoot to kill to defend their bases. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the arrests, “state terrorism” and ordered all air, road, rail and sea links to Georgia cut. Georgia’s president tried to downplay the Russian response but relations between the two countries have worsened since Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in 2003. Alert(v) watchful , prepared for emergency or danger. #3—TYPHOON HITS VIETNAM VIETNAM 10 DEGREES, 45 MINUTES NORTH 106 DEGREES, 40 MINUTES EAST At least seven people were killed and hundreds were injured when Typhoon Xangsane made landfall near Danang, Vietnam Sunday. Danang is Vietnam’s fourth largest city. Initial estimates of damage done there and to the coastal province of Quang Nam are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Included in that is damage to more than 200-thousand homes and at least 56-hundred that were completely destroyed. The typhoon’s name comes from the word for elephant in the Lao language. It had earlier blown through parts of the Philippines where at least 76 people were killed and nearly a hundred more were wounded. More than 100-thousand people were forced into emergency shelters. Typhoon (n) severe tropical hurricane in western Pacific or South China Sea #4— —SPACE TOURIST RETURNS KAZAKHSTAN 51 DEGREES 10 MINUTES NORTH 71 DEGREES, 26 MINUTES EAST Earth’s first female space tourist is back on firm ground. Anousheh Ansari returned Friday from an 11 day stay at the International Space Station. Ansari was the fourth person and the first woman to pay for a trip into space. The price-tag was a reported 20-million dollars. She earned the money as a telecommunications entrepreneur. Her story has made her an inspiration to women in her native Iran though she now makes her home in the United States. Russia’s media have also been fascinated by her trip, broadcasting footage of her floating in space. She returned to earth with snails, worms and barley, all of which were involved in experiments aboard the station. Inspiration (n) person or work of art that prompts action or invention POP QUIZ #1 In our story about the treatment of terror suspects, who did we tell you the new legislation is meant to protect? Is it 1. the President 2. the Senate 3. CIA interrogators And the answer is number 3. The President says CIA interrogators need the legislation’s protection. OLD CLUE # 1—BRAZIL ELECTIONS Time now for answers to last week’s Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Brasilia, the capitol of Brazil. That’s where South America’s next president will live. Incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is the favorite to keep that job but he will have to face a runoff election. In voting over the weekend, he had almost 49 per cent of the vote, well ahead of challenger Geraldo Ackmin but not enough to claim an outright majority. Ackmin received slightly more than 41 per cent of the vote, a surprise in a race that had been billed even recently as a runaway for da Silva. OLD CLUE # 2— NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV Our second clue was newsmaker Nursultan Nazarbayev. The president of Kazakhstan met with President Bush late last week. Kazakhstan is a central Asian country that’s important to the U-S as an ally in the war on terror and as a supplier of oil. President Bush also praised his counterpart for leading a former Soviet republic into becoming a free nation. Some critics question how free Kazakhstan truly is. They say Nazarbayev’s regime has done much to stifle political dissent. OLD CLUE # 3—UN STRAW POLL And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you U-N Straw Poll. After several informal, secret ballots, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea appears to be the favorite to succeed U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan. The General Assembly will eventually make a formal vote but the choice must have the approval of the 5 permanent members of the Security Council. The next secretary general is likely to be from an Asian country as tradition dictates that the position should rotate by region. The last Asian to lead the U-N left office in 1971. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… October 5th, 1864, a tropical cyclone rips through the Indian city of Calcutta, killing as many as 60-thousand people. Cyclones are cousins of hurricanes though in the Southern Hemisphere, the rotation of a volume of air around a low atmospheric pressure is clockwise. ATW FEATURE You hear people talk all the time about recycling and saving the Earth, well…there is a hiking trail in Naples, NY called the Conservation Trail and it’s purpose it to show you how to take Mother Nature’s advice and preserve our planet. Beki Gibney checks it out! ATW FEATURE (Bob Cooper) The conservation trail was designed to help people understand why we try to conserve nature, why we try to conserve our forests the different types of trees for people’s uses, as well as, for natures uses. (Beki) This is Bob Cooper and his career is based on nature, so he taught us a lot about how the earth does it’s own recycling and how we can help too. (Bob) We try to teach a little bit about how we conserve nature. One of the things is how a forest re-enervates itself. Fire is a very good way to do that, we do it in a different way since we don’t allow forest fires to take over in the area, we will do what we call resource management, woodlot management. We come in and we determine which trees need to be taken out and we have a logger come in and remove those trees, leaving seed trees, dead trees for wood peckers to go after the insects in, so if we can make an uneven aged stand of trees it’s much better for the environment and a much better habitat for all the different animals and we can literally tweak the environment, that way we hope to have some new reproduction of our forest. (Beki) I guess no matter how powerful Mother Nature is sometimes, she still needs our help sometimes. But Bob also show us how to let her do her own work. (Bob) When we have a log fall across one of our walking trails, our basic premise is to just remove the portion of the log that stops the people from tipping on it. Other than that, the log on one side verses the other side are left for insects to bore into and fungi to start deteriorating and returning all of that dead wood to the soil to grow more trees. It's a good way to show the recycling of nature by itself. (Beki) Be good to your planet! For Assignment: the World, I’m Beki Gibney ISN’T IT COOL STAR TREK AUCTION Interested in owning a piece of television and film history? Christie’s Auction House in NYC is selling off pieces of Star Trek to mark the cult show’s 40th anniversary. Items from every generation of television show and movie will go up for auction, everything from models of the Starship Enterprise to costumes worn by Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. The “crown jewel” of the collection? An 8-foot model of the Enterprise from the original motion picture. ISSUE Earlier, we told you about the presidential election in Brazil. That is one of 33 countries where you must register to vote and where you must vote. By contrast, the United States ranks near the bottom of 172 countries in terms of voter turnout. Supporters of mandatory voting say such laws get everyone involved in their country’s political and decision making process. They argue that American citizens are already required to pay taxes, serve on juries, go to school and fight in times of war. Requiring all Americans to vote would be a logical next step in a nation where fewer than 70 per cent of all eligible voters actually turn out. But others say that fining or even imprisoning citizens who do not vote is the sign of a repressive government. They say the Constitution gives Americans the right but not the responsibility to vote. They say voters in nation’s where that is required are not necessarily better informed. They say that if everyone were required to vote, few would be excited to vote. They say the real answer lies with political parties finding better candidates and informing the electorate. So, what do you think? Should Americans be required to vote? Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly x hundred responses to our issue question, “Should parents be banned from youth sports?” The majority of you x percent say no, parents should not be banned. X percent say yes, they should. X percent are undecided. Many of you feel that parents who act badly should be banned from youth sports. Lee M. of Georgetown, New York writes, “Parents should be banned if they do physical harm to someone or if they say inappropriate things.” Wyatt S. of Verona, Virginia agrees and adds, “Some parents take (sports) too seriously, start saying bad words and yelling at refs. These problems embarrass the kids.” And, Karney M. of Silver Lake, New York writes, “It is sad to hear parents booing other teams or making fun of players. They don’t realize how hurtful (that is.)” The majority of you, however, feel having parents there to cheer you on is important. Tristan D. of Brighton, New York writes, “When I play sports I like having someone cheer me on, help me when I’m doing something wrong or congratulate me when I’m doing something right.” Many of you feel it is only the individual parent causing problems, not all of them. Catherine R. of Weyers Cave, Virginia writes, “It wouldn’t be fair for all parents to be punished, because of what one or two of them have done.” Sam N. of Barenveld, Wisconsin adds, “Why punish parents who help their kids… and stay calm during the game?” Anna J. of Waverly, Iowa agrees and writes, “If some parent does something wrong, that parent should be banned. All parents should not suffer form the mistakes of (one.)” And finally Brittney B. of Denmark, Wisconsin writes, “If any adult, except coaches, refs or medical staff, go on the field without permission, they should be suspended from their child’s sporting events. It should not be just the kids that learn good sportsmanship.” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions:: “Should Americans be required to vote?” and “Should the U.S. build a fence to keep out illegal immigrants?” 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 the space tourist, how much did it cost for that trip to the space station? Was it 1. $200,000 2. $2,000,000 3. $20,000,000 And the correct answer is number three. Anousheh Ansari spent a reported 20-million dollars for an 11 day trip to the International Space Station. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 56 Degrees, 55 minutes north latitude 24 Degrees, 06 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a scrambled letter, two words First word H I T C H R O P E S Second word L O B M U C U S And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, two words First word N blank B blank L Second word P blank I blank E 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 Teej Jenkins. We’ll see you again next week. © 2006 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.