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	• NEWS >> ATW 03/13/08 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of March 13th, 2008… I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week Spain goes to the polls. TOP STORY - SPAIN 40 degrees, 24 minutes north 03 degrees, 41 minutes west With nearly all of the votes counted Spain’s Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, won re-election. With nearly 100 percent of the vote counted the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party won 169 seats. The conservative opposition Popular Party won 153 seats. The narrow victory mean the Socialist party will need the support of smaller parties following an election that leaves Spain divided politically. Turnout for the elections was high with just over 75 percent of all eligible voters going to the polls. The results appear to be an endorsement of Zapatero’s sweeping social changes and the withdrawal of Spain’s troops from Iraq. Zapatero’s next challenge is to boost Spain’s once booming but now slowing economy. Socialist (n) a member of a party or political group advocating socialism. HYPERLINK "http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism" ATW FACT The amount of land being farmed in the United States is dropping. Farmland acreage dropped by 13 million acres from 2000 to 2006. USA Today/U.S. Department of Agriculture INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… Iraq’s President visits Turkey Serbia dissolves its government and Latin America leaders meet in the Dominican Republic. #2 – DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 18 degrees, 28 minutes north latitude 69 degrees, 54 minutes west longitude Latin American leaders were in Santo Domingo last week for intense diplomatic meetings to deal with the border dispute between Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador. After intense debate, leaders approved a declaration to work for a peaceful end to the crisis. It all started when Colombia sent troops across Ecuador’s border to attack rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC. Colombia accuses its neighbors of supporting the leftist rebels who are seeking to bring down Colombia’s government. A statement approved by all the presidents includes an apology by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and a promise not to violate another country’s sovereignty again. It also commits all countries to combat threats to national stability. The agreement, however, does not address the cause of the crisis… the Columbian insurgency that has crossed its borders and a stalemate in hostage negotiations. leftist (n) the principles and views of the left. #3 – SERBIA 42 degrees, 53 minutes north 20 degrees, 52 minutes east Serbia’s Prime Minister Kostunica announced the fall of his Cabinet, saying that the government does not have united policies and therefore cannot function. The collapse came because Kostunica and Serbia’s President Tadic could not agree on how Kosovo’s independence will affect Serbia’s efforts to join the European Union. Tadic called for early elections to solve the political crisis. New elections will determine if Serbia will continue its move toward better relations with the EU and other western nations. Kostunica is a strong nationalist and supports returning to policies of more international isolation. He is insisting that those EU countries that have recognized Kosovo’s independence rescind their decisions. In Kosovo, leaders expressed hopes that Serbia will look to the future in the coming elections. crisis (n) an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending. #4 - TURKEY 39 degrees, 56 minutes north latitude 32 degrees, 52 minutes east longitude Iraqi President Jalal Talabani traveled to Turkey in an effort to ease tensions following Turkey’s military missions inside Iraq. Talabani said Kurdish rebels would not be tolerated in Northern Iraq. Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul joined Talabani calling for continued pressure on Kurdish rebels to lay down their arms. Turkey and Iraq are discussing security measures to combat the threat. Along with the military discussions, talks on energy cooperation and other economic issues were also on the agenda. The visit was the first for Talabani since his election in 2005. Turkey’s former president refused to invite him because of the Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq. pressure (n) the constraint of circumstance :~the weight of social or economic imposition. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about the Latin American summit, we told you that Colombia sent troops into what neighboring country. Was it? 1. Venezuela 2. Ecuador 3. Brazil And the correct answer is number two, Colombia sent troops into Ecuador to confront rebel guerrillas. OLD CLUE # 1—LOCATION – VIENNA, AUSTRIA Now its time for the answers to last week’s clues in the news. Find the location of our first clue and find yourself in Vienna, Austria, where the Chief UN nuclear inspector presented new evidence to the International Atomic Energy Agency regarding Iran’s possible nuclear weapons program. Iranian representatives were present and called the evidence baseless fabrications and warned that the agency was going down, “a very dangerous road”. A French official stated that these developments have opened a new chapter in the West’s efforts to keep Iran from acquiring nuclear arms. OLD CLUE # 2— MALTA ELECTION Fill in the blanks of our next clue and you get Malta Election. The election commission of Malta, a small island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, has confirmed that the long-ruling Nationalist Party has won their parliamentary election. They defeated the opposing Labor Party in one of the tightest elections since Malta gained its independence from Britain in 1964. This was the country’s first election since it joined the European Union. OC #3 – POLISH TALKS Unscramble last week’s clue and you get Polish Talks. Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, met with President Bush at the White House to discuss the goal of installing U.S. missile defense systems on Polish soil. In exchange, Poland wants assistance from the US to bulk up its own military and this request may be warranted. Russia has threatened to target Poland with nuclear weapons if it allows the U-S missile defense systems to be installed. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history…March 9, 1916 Mexican raiders under the command of Pancho Villa attached Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans. The attack led to an expedition to capture Villa, one that failed after a year’s pursuit. CHECK IT OUT INTRO You may know that recycling is important in keeping our planet clean, but do you know what happens to all of your recyclables once they leave the curbside? Check It Out! CHECK IT OUT John Beszczynski-Division Manager of Allied Waste (John) Material is collected from the Western New York area here and brought to this facility. Typically, its divided in the truck into two material streams, the fiber products and the co-mingle products. (Narration) The fiber products are all your papers; newspaper, notebook paper, magazines and a whole lot of boxes. (John) We typically do 15,000 to 17,000 ton a year, just of commercial cardboard. (Narration) The fiber is dropped off by truck and the workers sort through all of the fiber material, removing what doesn't belong, like Styrofoam and plastics. Once all the fiber is sorted, its pressed into bails to be sent off and made into new products. (John) Once the truck is dumped and cleared of all its fiber material, he proceeds to another section of the plant here and they dump off the co-mingle material. The co-mingle material would consist of different grades of plastic, all your tin cans from the household food products, the aluminum cans and your glass containers. (Narration) Again, its just a lot of sorting. Workers sort the glass by color, the plastics are put in their own pile, the aluminum is picked out and the tin is separated with some help from a big machine with a magnet. Once its sorted, the plastics, tin, and aluminum are bailed up as well. (John) Our bailing machine has a million pounds of force on the bailing ram. A feed conveyor feeds the material over top of the charge chamber and there's a bailing ram that goes back and forth to bail the material up and once the bail is achieved there's a side ram that pushes the bail out and there's an automatic wire strapper that throws the steel ties around the bail. Then its ready to get shipped out to market. ISN’T IT COOL Researchers have found a photograph of a young Helen Keller… nearly 120 years after it was taken. The picture, taken in 1888, shows the deaf and blind author at age 8 with her teacher, Ann Sullivan. Experts believe it could be the earliest photo of the two women together. ISSUE The weather is in the news across the country. Snow in Ohio, Kentucky and Iowa has caused numerous cancellations. Schools are trying to figure out how to make up days they have lost. Some are considering extending their day another 30 minutes rather than canceling future vacation days or extending the school year into the summer. For every 5 ? hours one day is subtracted from the number needed to make up. Many think this is a great idea. Others, however, think adding on additional time to a day makes it a very long day. They say kids get tired and start to lose their concentration. They say it would be better to cancel vacations or add days to the end of the year. Well, we would like to know what you think… “Should schools extend days to make up for those lost due to weather?” Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. Thanks to Terry Rex’s class in Oelwein, Iowa for suggesting this issue question. MAILBAG We received almost three hundred responses to our issue question: “Are athletes role models?” The majority of you, 56 percent say yes, athletes are role models. 32 percent say no they are not. 12 percent are undecided. Some of you feel that too many athletes get into trouble and should not be role models. Dakota of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin writes, “Look at Michael Vick, he was cruel to dogs. I think that behavior should not be tolerated.” Jessica Z. of Pittsford, New York agrees and writes, “They do always show good qualities and some (do) things that are not legal. The problem is that most athletes do not admit their actions.” Sarah K. of Denmark, Wisconsin adds, “ I don’t think you want to be taking steroids just to be better than someone else.” The majority of you, however, think athletes make great role models. Meghan L. of Barenveld, Wisconsin writes, “Athletes show people that it takes dedication, hard work and teamwork to be successful.” Brianna M. of Weyers Cave, Virginia adds, “Athletes are role models whether they want to be or not. Kids look up to them. They are setting an example for the kids on how they need to behave.” Haley E. of Waverly, Iowa agrees and writes, “There are many, caring athletes that kids could look up to and learn from.” Kyle of Jamestown, North Dakota thinks athletes make good role models because, “They encourage you to shoot for your dream.” And Laura B. of Crimora, Virginia writes, “Most people want to be a pro athlete when they grow up. They look up to people like Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan and Beckham.” Finally Katelyn T. of Ticonderoga, New York feels athletes make good role models but there are better ones. Katelyn writes, “Most athletes are role models but police, teachers, parents and firefighters are the big role models.” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions “Is physical education important?” and “Should schools extend days to make up for those lost due to weather?” 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 collapse of the Serbian government, we told you part of the dispute is over Serbia’s desire to join the… 1. European Party 2. European Conglomerate 3. European Union And the correct answer is number three, Serbia is trying to join the European Union. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 23 degrees, 32 minutes south latitude 46 degrees, 38 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a fill in the blank…it is two words. First word S blank U blank T blank E Second word M blank S blank I blank N And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter. It is three words First word F R T S I Second word A Y L D Third word T A E S L V R These are clues to stories we think will happen in the coming weeks. 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. For all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Teej Jenkins. We’ll see you again next week. © 2008 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.