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	• NEWS >> ATW Week of December 13, 2007 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of December 13th… I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week opposition parties to take part in Pakistan elections. TOP STORY - PAKISTAN 33 degrees, 42 minutes north latitude 73 degrees, 10 minutes east longitude Despite efforts by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to organize a boycott of up-coming Pakistan elections his opposition party, as well as others, announced they will take part in next month’s vote. Sharif failed in his attempts to convince Benizir Bhutto and her party to join in protest of the continued rule of President Pervez Musharraf. Bhutto says her party will work to ensure open elections and to prevent a pro-Musharraf majority. She says past efforts to boycott elections allowed the military to handpick the parliament, leaving opposition parties outside the political process. Sharif’s participation may encourage other opposition coalitions to take part in the election. Their participation does grant some credibility to Musharraf’s pledge to hold fair elections… something opponents say will not be possible with the country still under emergency rule. boycott (v) to combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with, as a means of intimidation or coercion. ATW Fact In 1989 the Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound in Alaska spilling an estimated 10.8 million gallons of crude oil creating one of the largest environmental disasters in the nation's history. INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… n South Korea suffers a massive oil spill n Foreign ministers meet in Brussels n And African and European leaders fail to make a deal. #2 - SPAIN 38 degrees, 43 minutes north latitude 09 degrees, 08 minutes west longitude Leaders from 70 European and African nations met in Portugal last week to discuss possible trade proposals but left without an agreement. African ministers dismissed European Union suggestions saying they were not in Africa’s interests. Both sides did say, however, that the participation of 70 nations showed a willingness to work together. The EU is trying to meet a December deadline to replace existing trading systems with former colonies, including Africa. The World Trade Organization or WTO, says a preferential trade agreement with Africa violates international law and set the deadline to come to a different agreement. The two sides will continue to work on interim trade agreements to ensure African access to European markets. interests (n) a business, cause, or the like in which a country has a share, concern, responsibility. #3 - BELGIUM 50 degrees, 50 minutes north latitude 04 degrees, 20 minutes west longitude The situation in Kosovo was a main item of discussion at NATO meetings in Belgium. Russia says anyone supporting Kosovo’s intentions to declare independence without an agreement with Serbia would be setting a dangerous precedent. U-S Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says that failing to move ahead on Kosovo’s status is ignoring the reality of the province. Talks to determine Kosovo’s status ended without an agreement and its Albanian majority has pledged to split from Serbia. Serbia vows never to agree to Kosovo independence. Kosovo has been under U-N administration since 1999. intentions (n) purpose or attitude toward the effect of one's actions or conduct #4 SOUTH KOREA 37 degrees, 33 minutes north latitude 126 degrees, 58 minutes east longitude It’s being called South Korea’s largest oil spill ever. Nearly three million gallons of oil spilled into the ocean when stormy weather and high seas caused a barge to break loose from its moorings. The barge struck a supertanker punching holes into its side causing millions of gallons of oil to spill. Thousands of volunteers and police used buckets to remove the dense crude oil as waves crashed ashore. High winds hindered clean-up efforts. Ocean currents spread the oil slick about a mile wide and ten miles long. Coast Guard officials planned to question the barge captain to find out why he was sailing through the area in spite of stormy weather conditions. Crude oil ~(n) petroleum as it comes from the ground, before refining. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Pakistan’s up-coming elections we told you that opposition parties attempted to organize a… 1. recount 2. boycott 3. cancellation And the correct answer is number two, opposition parties tried to organize a boycott of Pakistan’s elections but failed. OLD CLUE # 1—LOCATION – ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA Now its time for the answers to last week’s clues in the news. Find the location of our first clue and you find Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on only her second trip to sub-Saharan Africa in the last two years, urged Ethiopia not to raise tensions with neighboring Eritrea and received new promises to end fighting in eastern Congo. Rice met with the presidents of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda as well as a minister from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. OLD CLUE # 2— ATLANTIS LAUNCH Fill in the blanks of our next clue and you get Atlantis Launch. The space shuttle Atlantis had been scheduled to liftoff last week for the next mission to the International Space Station. NASA postponed the launch until January when fuel gauges failed for the second time in four days. With a launch window rapidly closing NASA chose to put off the mission until next month... giving technicians time to determine why fuel gauges were malfunctioning. OC #3 – NORTH IRELAND DIPLOMACY Unscramble our next clue and you get North Ireland Diplomacy. Former enemies, now partners, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness came to Washington on their first joint trip as representatives of their joint government. The two are visiting to encourage U-S investment in Northern Ireland. While in Washington they met with congressional leaders to thank them for their support of the peace process and then moved on to a meeting with President Bush at the White House. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY This week in world history… December 12, 1901. Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi successfully sends the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean. The message, the Morse code signal for the letter "s" travels more than 2,000 miles from Cornwall, England to Newfoundland, Canada. CHECK IT OUT INTRO With the holidays upon us we thought it would be a good time to learn a little more about reindeer …Check it out. CHECK IT OUT Anne: The reindeer is from actually, two different places. Um, Europe, that’s actually where they call them reindeer. They are also found in North America in Northern Canada, and we refer to them as caribou but they are the same thing. Teej: Reindeer are known to travel distances greater than any other mammal, in one year they could travel up to 3000 miles. In the wild, most Reindeer migrate in large herds, which can number in the tens of thousands. Reindeer are primarily grazing herbivores. Their diet is most variable during the summer, when they consume cotton grass, mushrooms, and the leaves of willows and birches. Anne: Males get a lot bigger than females. This here is Tundra she’s a female. She's a good size female, she’s only two years old, she weighs in at about 195 pounds, and an average female is probably 160 to 200 pounds. Males can up to like 300 pounds. Teej: Reindeer communicate among themselves through vocal, visual, chemical, and tactile cues. Reindeer make an audible clicking noise while walking, which is produced from tendons rubbing across a bone in the foot. Babies can tell the clicking noise of their mother and can stay close to her during the harsh winter months. Anne: This is her summer coat; they turn a nice dark brown. And in the winter, they're actually covered in what you see here, all this clumpy stuff, which is falling out right now. And they are a lot lighter; they kind of blend in with the snow and their surroundings in the winter Teej: It may look like summer but these reindeer are resting up for their biggest day of the year. Anne: Pulling Santa’s sleigh is probably one of the jobs that reindeer are most famous for. Actually, both reindeer males and females are one of the only deer that both have antlers. So, pulling Santa's sleigh, it may not be just boys, it may be girls too. Anne Donnelly Zoo Keeper ISN’T IT COOL The citizens of Dresden, Germany kicked off the holiday season by baking a cake… a really large cake. Bakers in Dresden paraded a giant stollen… a traditional bread-like cake usually eaten during the holidays. The stollen weighed in at just over 7700 pounds, was 15 ? feet long and nearly 6 feet wide. . ISSUE It’s time for us to ask you to choose your Newsmaker of the Year for 2007. We want you to look back and decide who or what was the biggest news story of the year. It might be a person, place or thing… but it must be a news story. In the past twelve months we have seen new missions to the International Space Station, on-going peace efforts in the Middle East, and the War in Iraq. President Bush is always in the news. Others you might consider could be Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, Russian President Vladimir Putin or perhaps German Chancellor Angela Merkle. Or perhaps you might choose a group like the troops or firefighters or something closer to home. You may have other ideas and we would like to know what you think? “Who is your Newsmaker of the Year?” Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions MAILBAG We received nearly four hundred responses to our issue question, “Should tourism in Antarctica be restricted?” The majority of you, 49 percent say no, tourism should not be restricted. 46 percent say yes, it should. 5 percent are undecided. Many of you say Antarctica is one of the few places on earth not adversely affected by man and therefore should not be open to tourism. Elyse P. of Georgetown, New York writes, “Antarctica is one of the only places (not) touched by humans. I think it should stay that way. Leslie W. of Fairfield, Virginia agrees and adds, “There are few places on earth still considered ‘pristine.’ Antarctica is one of those places. The occasional scientific expedition is one thing… cruise ships create an atmosphere for disaster.” The majority of you, however, do not think restricting tourism is the right thing to do. Samuel of Jamestown, North Dakota writes, “Not many people go there plus it’s the only continent left that is wild… we should be able to see it.” Elizabeth R. of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin adds, “It’s good for people to see how life could be without people destroying it.” Armando C. of Pentwater, Michigan agrees and writes, “People want to see the real thing… not some pictures on the Internet.” Tessa T. of Latham, New York adds, “People need to explore Antarctica… there may be artifacts there that you couldn’t find anywhere else.” And finally Lindsey A. of Pittsford, New York reminds us of the economic impact. Lindsey writes, “People who have jobs at touring sites could lose their jobs. Antarctica has many sights… they shouldn’t be wasted.” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions: “Should cell phones be banned in schools?” and “Who is your Newsmaker of the Year?” 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 South Korea oil spill, we told you the supertanker was spilling what kind of oil? Was it… 1. vegetable 2. whale 3. crude And the correct answer is number three, the supertanker has spilled nearly three million gallons of crude oil into the ocean. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 34 degrees, 36 minutes south latitude 58 degrees, 27 minutes west longitude Our second clue is a fill in the blank…it is two words. First word C blank I blank A blank E Second word C blank A blank blank E And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter clue… it is two words. First word A R W Second Word P N I G N D 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. For 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.