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	• NEWS >> ATW December 7, 2006 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of December 7th, I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week…One of America’s most vocal critics scores a political victory 1—CHAVEZ WINS REELECTION VENEZUELA 10 degrees, 30 minutes north 66 degrees, 56 minutes west Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez has another six years to make good on his promises to re-distribute his country’s vast oil wealth and to counter U-S influence in the world. More than 60 per cent of voters went to the polls Sunday. They left having given Chavez a landslide victory over opposition candidate Manuel Rosales. Chavez spoke to his supporters minutes after the results were announced. He called the vote another defeat for George Bush who Chavez says is the “devil who tries to dominate the world.” His opponent charged Chavez with trying to edge Venezuela away from democracy and toward one-man rule. Chavez has announced his intention to change his country’s constitution that currently would prevent him from running for a third term in 2012. He is the fourth leftist candidate to win election in the past five weeks. The others include the new leaders of Ecuador, Brazil, and Nicaragua. Landslide (n) an overwhelming majority of votes for a political party or candidate ATW Fact Typhoon is the name given to tropical cyclones that form in the northwest Pacific Ocean west of the International Dateline. Like hurricanes, typhoons can produce strong winds, heavy rain, tornadoes, high waves and destructive storm surges. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… --another deadly wind blows through the Philippines… --a controversial diplomat steps down… --and the government vows to stay on in Lebanon. #2—LEBANON ANTI-GOVERNMENT RALLY LEBANON 33 degrees, 53 minutes north 35 degrees, 30 minutes east Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora says on-going protests of his government will not succeed. Internal political tensions began late last month when six pro-Hezbollah ministers resigned from the cabinet. Hezbollah has many ties with Syria which had essentially controlled Lebanon in the years following the Lebanese civil war. Syria was forced to remove its troops after huge protests that followed the assassination of a former Lebanese leader. Hezbollah is trying to use that same tactic to force the current anti-Syrian government to step down. Mass protests late last week were followed by brief but violent clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Beirut. One man was killed. The prime minister says counter demonstrations may soon be organized. Tactic (n) an expedient for achieving a goal, a maneuver #3—PHILLIPINE TYPHOON Philippines 14 degrees, 35 minutes north 121 degrees, 00 minute east Rescuers say time is running out on finding any of the hundreds of people still missing after mudslides swept down a mountain in the Philippines. The mudslides were trigged by Typhoon Durian which came ashore late last week with winds gusting up to 165 miles per hour. With it also came heavy rains which, in turn, triggered volcanic ash and boulders to come crashing down from the Mayon volcano. Government spokesmen say the death toll is already at 300 and could rise to near 1-thousand. Hundreds more may be trapped beneath as much as five feet of mud. That mud has also hampered relief efforts with most roads blocked and landing areas under water. More than 40-thousand residents of the region have been taken in at area schools and churches. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has declared a national calamity. Volcano (n) vent in the earth’s crust through which molten lava and gases are ejected #4— —BOLTON RESIGNS United States 40 degrees, 43 minutes north 74 degrees, 00 minutes west President Bush has reluctantly accepted the resignation of U-S Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. Bolton remained a controversial choice for the job. President Bush appointed Bolton using a technical maneuver but Bolton would still have faced confirmation hearings before the Senate to win permanent confirmation. The incoming Democratic majority was unlikely to give that confirmation and Bolton formally stepped down. Supporters call him a hard working, intelligent realist who thought the U-N was in need of serious reform. His critics said he was too confrontational to be an effective diplomat. When he was nominated, more than 100 former U-S ambassadors signed a letter urging the Senate top reject Bolton. Confirmation (n) verification, formal approval POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Hugo Chavez, how many leftist leaders did we tell you have been elected in recent weeks? Is it 1. 4 2. 5 3. 6 And the answer is number 1. Chavez was the fourth leftist leader in the past five weeks to win election. OLD CLUE # 1—ASIA GAMES Time now for answers to last week’s Clues in the News. Our first clue was the location of Doha, the capital of Qatar. That’s where more than 45-hundred journalists have gathered to cover the 15th Asian Games. The Olympic style competition is held every four years. Athletes from 45 countries are competing in 39 sports that range from chess and bowling to boxing and basketball. There are also a few sports including one that combines wrestling and rugby and another that is a form of kick volleyball. The Asian Games run through December 15th. OLD CLUE # 2— JORDAN MEETING Unscramble our second clue and you got Jordan meeting. President Bush traveled Amman, Jordan late last week for a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Both leaders later told reporters that they are working toward a handover of security to Iraqi forces. Al-Maliki said he thought that could happen as early as next June. Critics say that is unlikely unless answers can be found to the growing violence between sectarian militias and their infiltration of the military and the police. OLD CLUE # 3—MEXICAN PRESIDENT And finally, fill in the blanks on our third clue and you got Mexican president. Despite sometimes violent protests, Felipe Calderon was finally sworn in as the new president of Mexico late last week. Calderon’s razor thin victory has still not been recognized by second place finisher Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Obrador has set up a parallel government and has vowed to make Calderon’s term as difficult as possible. Calderon says he’s willing to talk with the opposition but is moving ahead with an ambitious agenda to reform Mexico’s government and economy. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… December 7th, 1968, Richard Dodd returns a library book borrowed by his great grandfather from the University of Cincinnati in 1823. Though Mr. Dodd did not have to pay the late fee, the library calculated the 145 year overdue fine at $22, 646. ATW FEATURE The sea is full of many interesting creatures, a lot of which live with in the coral reef. But this fish is one that definitely sticks out from all the rest. Beki Gibney takes a look at the Sea Horse, check it out! ATW FEATURE (Beki) Ralph Charlton of the Strong Children’s Museum in Rochester, New York introduced me to one of the oddest sea animals I have encounter yet. The sea horse looks weird, eats weird, swims weird, and it even carries babies weird! (Ralph) Seahorse’s, they are found in many corals systems, usually a little more in areas that have seaweed, that type of thing in it or a little more dense, densely vegetated or structured in there. Because again, they are relatively slow moving, they often rely on camouflage, they are not a very strong swimmer so they are kind of confined to those areas. You’ll notice too, they use their tail a lot unlike other fish, they have a tail that bends around they are able to hold onto objects, again probably related to the fact that they are not very good swimmers, it's a good way for them to sit in the current or keep their position. In terms of what they eat, they are carnivores, we feed them shrimp, all small organisms, you'll see when they go up to a food item, this thing kind of floats in the water and they open there mouth and it creates a little vacuum and the thing just goes shooting in. Probably the most that looks most like a horse, the head is very horse like, it has kind of a knobby part then a long snout and then it transitions into kind of a rounded belly into the tail, which is very unhorse like. (Beki) The fact that there bodies are different, isn’t the only reason they’re unhorse like, aside from being a fish, they are unlike almost any other organism on the planet for a very interesting reason. (Ralph) One hallmark of sea horses of course is that the males actually incubate the babies, they have a little pouch, that the females insert their eggs into that pouch, they have something almost like a placental type of tissue they nourish those eggs until they hatch, takes about three weeks on average. (Beki) For Assignment: the World, I'm Beki Gibney. ISN’T IT COOL NAME THAT PANDA The Atlanta Zoo has a brand new panda and they need your help in naming it. The panda cub, born September 6, is now 85 days old. In China, when a panda reaches 100 days in age it is at that time when it is traditionally named. The zoo, along with the Atlanta-Journal Constitution newspaper, is conducting an on-line poll with ten pre-selected names. Voting continues through December 10. ISSUE A Wisconsin state appeals court recently rejected a lawsuit by a boy who wanted to compete on his high school’s girls gymnastics team. Keith Michael Bukowski argued district rules preventing him from trying out or competing violate the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in sports. Bukowski and others say his case is no different from girls who were allowed to compete on boys teams in wrestling and football. The federal law in question was meant to make sports opportunities equal for both boys and girls. But there are many critics who feel that there are good reasons for not having boys play on girls teams. Among those: boys older than 11 will almost always develop to be stronger and faster than girls of their age. While a few girls can compete on the high school or college level with boys, the presence of boys on girls teams would cause a competitive imbalance. Some courts have ruled that having boys compete with girls limits girls opportunities as well as making girls less likely to want to play sports. So, what do you think? Should boys be allowed to play on girls sports teams? Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received nearly seven hundred responses to our issue question, “Is the presidential campaign season too long?” The majority of you, x percent, say yes it is too long. X percent say no it is not. X percent is undecided. Many of you feel the campaign season is just the right length. Megan C. of Winchester, Virginia writes, “It gives the candidates a long time to get used to their campaign and it gives people time to get to know the candidates name.” Keagan K. of Janesville, Wisconsin agrees and adds, “The people running for President should have as long as they want to campaign. Although they do spend WAY too much money on it.” Scott C. of Liverpool, New York thinks it is important to give the candidates plenty of time. Scott writes, “Our President is the person who is going to run our country. I think we should be able to find out everything we can about the person.” The majority of you, however, feel the campaign season runs too long and that sometimes people just stop caring who is running for President. John P. of Buffalo, New York thinks a shorter campaign season would force the candidates to focus. John writes, “If it (was) shorter, the candidates would talk about issues instead of personal things that don’t matter.” Emily M. of Mequon, Wisconsin adds, “It is a waste of time for the people to spend all this money and then they end up not winning.” Sam E. of Vesper, Wisconsin agrees and writes, “Couldn’t we be using that money on education, medical care or other important things that would help Americans.” Finally, Robin E. of Jamestown, North Dakota thinks the campaign season is just right. Robin writes, “I think it is perfect. It gives (candidates) time to say what they want to say (and) convince the public.” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions: “Should boys be allowed to play on girls’ sports teams?” and “Should classrooms be single sex?” 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 Lebanon, with what other country did we tell you Hezbollah has ties? Is it 1. Sudan 2. Syria 3. Somalia And the correct answer is number 2. Hezbollah has ties with the neighboring state of Syria. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 47 Degrees, 00 minutes north latitude 28 Degrees, 50 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a scrambled letter, two words: First word L E T S H U T Second word O F F F L I T And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blanks, two words: First word H blank I blank M blank N Second word T blank O blank H 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. © 2006 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.