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CNN Newsroom

NEWSROOM for July 20, 2001

Aired July 20, 2001 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: Seen in classrooms the world over, this is CNN NEWSROOM.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: Your Friday NEWSROOM is underway. Welcome, I'm Shelley Walcott.

We'll get rolling with a look at the rundown.

Leading today's show, countries confer on the climate. We'll give you the latest in our "Top Story." Up next in "Editor's Desk," we feature the life and work of choreographer Paul Taylor. Then, we get things rolling in "Worldview" as we look at teens on the road. Picture this, it may not taste like chicken but it sure looks like one. We've fowls on film in "Chronicle."

Leaders from 178 countries gather in Bonn, Germany, for a climate conference. It's the first international global warming conference since President Bush abandoned the Kyoto Treaty. The 1997 pact requires industrial countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gasses by about 5 percent of what levels had been in 1990. Thirty countries have ratified the pact so far, but it must be backed by 55 countries representing 55 percent of the industrialized world's emissions. The protocol has triggered enormous debate among the leaders gathered in Bonn. Some industrialized nations, including the U.S., say the treaty will hurt the economy. With or without U.S. support, the Kyoto Treaty could survive.

As Bettina Luscher reports, all eyes are looking toward Japanese delegates to see if that will happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETTINA LUSCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the help of a prayer and a song outside the hotel, delegates inside the climate conference could be forgiven for hoping for some heavenly intervention.

MARGOT WALLSTROM, EU ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSIONER: I hope it's true to say that anything could happen or the wonders could happen.

LUSCHER: It might not take a wonder to rescue the Kyoto Protocol, it might just take Japanese approval. Without Japan, the accord is doomed, so pressure is growing now that the ministers have taken over from the experts. The Europeans, at least, seem ready to talk and maybe horse trade.

WALLSTROM: It is so important that the Japanese stay on and defend this Kyoto Protocol. And, of course, we will do everything we can to keep this process alive.

LUSCHER: But the Europeans are worried that the environmental aims of the Kyoto accord, the work of nine years of negotiations, could be undermined by demands by Japan and other countries for change. The process suffered a serious blow when the Americans pulled out in March. Their representative spends her time defending her country's stance that the accord is so rigid it could hurt Americans.

PAULA DOBRIANSKY, U.S. UNDERSECRETARY FOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS: Our administration has stated very clearly that we are concerned about the impact that it has on our productivity, on our jobs in the United States and I think there are other countries that are concerned about it as well.

LUSCHER: It's a stance deplored here in Europe.

WALLSTROM: I think it's a shame, also, because they are the - sort of the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

LUSCHER: But the Americans are promising alternatives to Kyoto.

DOBRIANSKY: But the president gave an interim report last month and has indicated that now we'd like to hear, take stock, hear views, perspectives. We go back to the drawing boards and plan to come out with alternatives.

LUSCHER: For these environmental activists, that is not good enough. Dozens of them were arrested. They say the Kyoto accord is much too weak.

(on camera): But for now, the only blue print is Kyoto, and here in Bonn, there's a real sense of urgency to find a solution in the battle against global warming, even if a solution might not be the accord they thought they had.

Bettina Luscher, CNN, Bonn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: As political leaders moved the United Nation's climate talks into high gear Thursday, U.S. President Bush was in the British capital defending some of his controversial policies. Mr. Bush met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Among other things, the two discussed global warming and Mr. Bush's decision to abandon the Kyoto agreement.

John King has more on their meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The royal welcome at Buckingham Palace captured the days overriding theme: the best of friendships thrive, even at times of major disagreement.

As he soaked up a bit of history, including this tour of the bunker where Winston Churchill plotted strategy in World War II, President Bush made clear again he won't heed calls to reverse course and back the Kyoto Treaty on global warning.

Yet British Prime Minister Tony Blair found a silver lining.

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I think it is helpful that the United States is saying, look, this is not what we can agree to, but, nonetheless, we agree with the aim.

KING: The U.S. president also held firm in his promise to push ahead with a controversial missile defense plan, even if the United States cannot convince Russia to set aside the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ABM Treaty codified a relationship between enemies. Russia is not our enemy.

KING: The White House took heart in Mr. Blair's call for other European leaders to withhold judgment for now.

BLAIR: We welcome very much the approach that the U.S. administration has taken, which is to say look, the world has moved on, let us look at what is the right framework for the day and let us do that in close consultation and dialogue with Russia, since it's a treaty between these two countries.

KING: The skepticism is hardly limited to Europe. Back home, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle says the president's views on missile defense and global warming were isolating the United States.

The Bush team complained such talk undermined the president just as he began a critical trip, and Senator Daschle offered a partial apology.

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: Had I given some thought to the fact that the president was departing, I probably would have chosen a different time to make those comments. But having said them, I certainly will not back away from my comments.

KING: The president and prime minister travel Friday to the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy. Thousands of anti-globalization protesters are waiting.

(on camera): And on this point, the U.S. and British leaders see eye to eye, both making the case they believe the protesters are wrong and that more global trade and economic cooperation is the quickest path to easing poverty in less prosperous countries.

John King, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: President Bush plans to meet this weekend in Genoa, Italy, with leaders from six other wealthy nations and Russia. There, he is likely to face more tough questions on key issues like his missile defense plans, global warming, AIDS and world poverty. Protests against the group of eight nations or G8 summit already have begun and for the most part, they have been peaceful. But the demonstrations are expected to become larger and more violent.

Alessio Vinci reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thousands took to the streets of Genoa in the first of a series of rallies against the G8 summit, and thousands of policemen kept a watchful eye on them -- not just on the demonstrations, but throughout city.

The downtown area, off-limits to protesters, resembles a ghost town. Police erected huge iron fences to seal off the summit site. Security checks are stringent. Almost every bag is searched. Suspicious material is confiscated.

DEBORAH LUCHETTI, G8 CRITIC: It's a war, because if you go in the center of the town, you can't find -- (INAUDIBLE) like Belfast, you cannot circulate in freedom.

VINCI: Alex is a young carpenter from Austria. Like many others, he prepares for a series of marches, raising issues like social justice, a free world without borders and what he calls the greed of large corporations.

ALEX, G8 CRITIC: We are against the globalization made by the big companies, by the economy and the big countries. We are not against the globalization by people, because all of us using Internet, we are -- we try to connect all over the world. So we are not against a real globalization.

VINCI: But protesters organizers fear that despite their attempts to avoid clashes with the police, anarchists and small groups of militants may provoke confrontations with the security forces.

VITTORIO AGNOLETTO, GENOA SOCIAL REFORM: This is a risk. We are organizing ourself. For example, we've a lot of papers to give a different person and to explain, if you see a person who make a violence, you must go far.

VINCI: Among those who will try to break through the security zone is a group of left-leaning activists from social centers across Italy. They want to stop world leaders who they say are hiding behind iron fences to decide the future of the whole world.

"We will try to breach that wall of shame," he says. "The wall that was built by the great eight abusive leaders so that they could close themselves inside, fearing the multitude of this crowd."

Attempts to establish a dialogue between demonstrators and the summit organizers failed. (on camera): Authorities here say they do respect the will of the people to demonstrate peacefully, and this is what the majority of the people here say that they want to do. By Italian government officials also say there will be no tolerance for those who try to break the law.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Genoa, Italy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Well, few people may recognize his name but thousands have seen his work. Paul Taylor, a world renowned choreography, has produced more than 100 dances and has won numerous awards.

So what does it take to make your own success? Well, CNN NEWSROOM's Phil Hirschkorn helps us figure that out with a look at a man who's done just that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PHIL HIRSCHKORN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Music is often the inspiration for Paul Taylor, choreographer, now in his 46th year running one of the best known modern dance companies. His latest project, a slice of Americana -- dances set to songs from the Great Depression, upbeat music composed during hard times, people turning economic suffering on its head. He calls it "Black Tuesday."

PAUL TAYLOR, CHOREOGRAPHER: I try not to fall back on the tried and true too often. And each new dance, I try to find at least one area that I haven't tried before.

HIRSCHKORN: "Black Tuesday" premiered this spring and could be seen as his dancers toured around the country. Since Taylor started creating dances in the 1950s, his works have been performed by dozens of dance troupes worldwide.

TAYLOR: You never know if something's going to turn out good or bad until you see it on stage and often it's too late to do anything about it.

HIRSCHKORN: Taylor says he doesn't fear failure, he fears not taking artistic risks. He's prolific -- the creator of more than a hundred dances. While he's the boss, his creative process is a collaborative one.

TAYLOR: It's what I see in my head and then try to get visualized through the dancer.

Make that contraction a little bit harsher and bigger, yes.

HIRSCHKORN: Taylor knows what it's like on stage. In his younger years, he was one of the leading dancers of his time. Seen here in the documentary "Dancemaker" performing his best known piece, "Aureole." TAYLOR: I was all right once the curtain went up, but the idea of going out in front of a lot of people and being watched has never been my thing. I envy dancers and performers who really love the audience. I hated the audience.

HIRSCHKORN: Now Taylor has to mind the creative and business side, depending on donors and corporate sponsors to stay afloat, including CNN parent AOL Time Warner.

TAYLOR: Oh, yes, you never know, you know, whether you're going to make the payroll that week.

HIRSCHKORN: Taylor has won many honors, including the National Medal of Arts. Despite his productivity, the accolades, Taylor says, are hard to believe.

TAYLOR: I can't help thinking they've got me mixed up with somebody else.

Phil Hirschkorn, CNN NEWSROOM, New York City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Teachers, make the most of CNN NEWSROOM with our free daily classroom guide to the program. There you'll find a rundown of each day's show so you choose just the program segment that fits your lesson plan. Plus, there are discussion questions and activities and the guide highlights key people, places and news terms. Each day find hot links to other online resources and previews of upcoming "Desk" segments.

It's all at this Web address where you can also sign up to have the guide automatically e-mailed directly to you each day. It's easy. It's free. It's your curriculum connection to the news. After all, the news never stops and neither does learning.

WALCOTT: In "Worldview" today, we look at transportation trends from nifty new vehicles to safety measures for teen drivers. At the wheel our very own Tom Haynes. Why don't you come along for the ride?

TOM HAYNES, CO-HOST: If you have your driver's license or even your learner's permit, for that matter, you know driving can be a challenge. It takes both skill and concentration. In the U.S., traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 20.

But as Rusty Dornin reports, some 400 teenagers in California are hitting the road in an unusual driver's education class.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to accelerate. Now, accelerate.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When 17-year-old Lindsay Murrillo (ph) got behind the wheel of this car, she was destined to lose control. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now this acceleration is going to catch up with you. OK? That's why you don't accelerate in the turn.

DORNIN: Skidding, braking at high speeds and driving obstacle courses, things teens could rarely do safely, taught by professional drivers at California's Sears Point raceway, all sponsored by AAA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's your last warm-up run. Watch out for those cones.

DORNIN: Jason Wollman tried to avoid those cones, as his instructor pushed him to push the envelope, with traffic accidents the leading cause of death for teens.

JASON WOLLMAN, TEEN DRIVER: If you're getting yourself in a situation, it teaches you how to get out of it.

DORNIN: More practice handling a car through unusual situations means better choices.

(on camera): What teen drivers lack is experience. When things happen out on the highway, often there's no time to think. The only thing they can do is react.

OFFICER MARK BUNGER, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: You get experience making poor choices. When I was in high school, I rolled my car drag racing off a cliff, and so, you know, that's how I learned. So we're hoping they learn from this type of experience, versus getting out there and getting hurt or killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can use a lot more steering than you think and the car won't tip over.

DORNIN (voice-over): Only about 50 percent of U.S. public schools still offer driver education programs, not that most of these moves would be on any class curriculum.

SARAH UDALOFF, STUDENT: At first, when I lost control for a little bit, but then you get it back, it's kind of -- it's scary, you don't know what is going to happen, but you learn how to react and stuff.

WOLLMAN: It kind of puts it in reality on how much you can really get hurt.

DORNIN: Undermining the sense of invincibility that police say results in so many teenage driving deaths.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Sonoma, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYNES: Control is what it's all about here at the Mini Grand Prix. To ride these curves, you've got to follow the rules. See you.

And that's true just about anywhere you drive. In the United Kingdom, you have to be at least 17 to get your license. In the U.S., it's usually 16. But rules vary from state to state and country to country.

A study by the American Automobile Association says more than one-and-a-half-million crashes could be prevented if all states had graduated licensing laws for teens. One of the newest and most effective measures, according to AAA, limiting the number of passengers in a novice driver's car.

Man, that is great.

Kathleen Koch reports from Virginia where such a restriction actually went into place July 1.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Music, conversation, a car full of friends: It can be a lethal combination for easily distracted teens already at high risk for fatal crashes.

ALLAN WILLIAMS, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: When you start adding passengers to the mix, you increase that risk to four or five times what it is when driving alone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, that guy says, "Go ahead." So go for it."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.

KOCH: So some novice drivers are learning the rules of the road now include limits on passengers. Virginia this summer joins 15 states and the District of Columbia in having such laws. The restrictions vary. Some states say no passengers under 21; others say no more than three for the first 90 days to a year of driving.

CLYDE PELZER, PARENT: If they say, "Well, Dad, can you drop us off at such and such?" I don't have a problem with that because I know they're going to get there.

BOB BECK, PARENT: If you put three or four of his friends in the car, who knows what's going to happen? So, from our standpoint, it's a -- it's a pretty good idea.

KOCH: Virginia teens say they'll adapt, though they doubt it will change behavior.

BRAD BECK, NOVICE DRIVER: If you're going to do something wrong, you're going to do it with people in a car and without people in a car.

BECKY WALTERS, ACCIDENT VICTIM: Here's the tire tracks. And they go up there across the road.

KOCH: Fifteen-year-old Becky Walters is one of six Columbia, Maryland teens injured in early March when police say the novice driver of the car lost control while speeding down this residential road. Maryland has no limits on teen passengers. And Walters herself is skeptical they would work.

WALTERS: It's like, if you make a law, they're not going to listen to it anyways.

KOCH: Nancy Wisthoff, whose 16-year-old son was seriously injured in the same accident, is more hopeful.

NANCY WISTHOFF, PARENT OF ACCIDENT VICTIM: Had that law been in effect, they might still have done it. But they might not have. Maybe they would have thought twice.

KOCH: That's what Virginia officials would like to see happen when their law takes effect July 1.

(on camera): Experts, though, admit that it's generally up to parents or teens themselves to enforce such passenger limits, so police have few statistics on violations, making it hard to measure the law's actual impact.

Kathleen Koch, for CNN, Arlington, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYNES: We are still at the Grand Prix. You'd never know it by where I am, but we're going to switch gears a little bit now and check out a car that actually drives in water. I'm not talking about something like this.

Julia Radlick reports on a car that's actually amphibious. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA RADLICK, WZTV REPORTER (voice-over): Doug Parsons and his wife drive in odd places.

DOUG PARSONS, CAR OWNER: We have issues. We have a lot of issues.

RADLICK: So, he took us for a ride.

PARSONS: If that comes on, start worrying.

RADLICK: This convertible doesn't have a theft alarm.

PARSONS: That's my water alarm.

RADLICK: Just a bilge pump and propellers.

PARSONS: It's a car and a boat. Believe it or not, it floats.

RADLICK: Let's just say it gives new meaning to the word cruising.

PARSONS: It's like a normal car you get into, and you've got your clutch and your break and your gas pedal. Regular standard transmission four speed, and you just drive right in the lake.

RADLICK: Doug's 1966 Amphicar only has about 43 horsepower. so it's not the fastest thing in the world, but stopping out here can be a bit confusing.

(on camera): So, how do you stop it?

PARSONS: You press the breaks. It doesn't do you any good, but you press them.

RADLICK (voice-over): The windshield wipers come in very handy.

(on camera): The only problem with owning one of these vehicles people might think you're a little crazy.

PARSONS: Yes, there's been people that like when you drive by bridges at night with the headlights on, they'll call the police and fire trucks start showing up and the light squads and all that because they think you're trying to commit suicide.

RADLICK: And that's the fun part, all the on-lookers snapping pictures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to have one.

RADLICK: They can't help it. When it's time to come ashore, life's a beach.

At Nashville Tours, Julia Radlick, Nashville.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYNES: Get me out of this thing.

From one weird vehicle to the next, our next story is on the commuter scooter. Now you'll find there's two reasons behind its strange design: One is safety and the other is practicality. Could it mark the beginning in a new version of two wheelers?

Rick Lockridge tells us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK LOCKRIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Europe's crowded streets and high petrol prices have spawned a large and growing scooter and cycle culture, with sales up more than 20 percent last year in much of the EU.

But the problem with two-wheel travel is it leaves riders exposed to the elements and, frankly, to injury -- not anymore.

UHLAND BURKART, BMW: It's amazing how dry and safe you are riding, even in storms or in heavy rain.

I get into the C1. LOCKRIDGE: The BMW C1 certainly doesn't look like any other scooter or cycle, and it isn't. For one thing, it's the first to have seat belts. You have to buckle in to start the engine.

BURKART: Here we go. You see, you even can take off your hands.

LOCKRIDGE: The driver sits in an aluminum safety cage with crumple zones all around to absorb the energy of an impact. Now, you wouldn't want to crumple a $6,000 scooter, but if you had to make the choice...

BURKART: If you are hit from the side, or if you are falling down to one of the sides, this will take the impact. The safety cell has been built to stand the crashes like cars. So actually, you experience the safety that is comparable to a small car.

LOCKRIDGE: The base model's 125 cc engine will strain to reach 60 mph. On the other hand, the ultra-low emission power plant gets 80 mpg.

And BMW thinks business executives and women will appreciate being able to ride without getting rumpled.

(on camera): Many motorcyclists, myself included, wouldn't dream of getting on any two-wheeled vehicle without a helmet. But in every European country, except the United Kingdom, you can ride the C1 without a helmet, and BMW says it's perfectly safe.

BURKART: And now it's becoming a notion in itself and defining a new class of vehicles.

LOCKRIDGE (voice-over): The commuter scooter certainly turns a lot of heads, but will it turn a profit? Even BMW isn't sure. Its sales goals for the first year are modest -- a few thousand units -- and it doesn't even plan to try to sell the scooter in the United States, Canada or Australia.

Rick Lockridge, CNN, Munich, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HAYNES: Well that's about it for our report on transportation trends. I've got time for one more lap, but it's time for you to head back into the studio.

See you.

WALCOTT: The chicken: To some it's a favorite white meat, to others it's best in color on a canvas. And now, you can even enjoy your chicken in a book.

Our very own Jeanne Moos has more on some chickens that are ready for their close-up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Why just grill chicken? Why just fry it? Why just feast on it, when you can feast your eyes.

(on camera): Chicken portraiture?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chicken portraiture.

MOOS: Portraits of chickens, but not mere barnyard birds. These are show chickens, though maybe you think chickens have nothing to show.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He lost his curl in the humidity.

MOOS: Breeders like Frank Holder take their prize birds to be judged at competitions.

FRANK HOLDER, CHICKEN BREEDER: Polish are kind of high strung, I think because vision impaired.

MOOS: By their hair?

HOLDER: Yeah.

MOOS: We nicknamed her Tina Turner. And this is a Silkie.

(on camera): Doesn't feel like feathers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's furry.

MOOS: Maybe he's jealous he's not in photographer Tamara Staple's book, "The Fairest Fowl."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This one is really special. It just looks angelic.

MOOS: Tamara's uncle breeds show chickens, which is how she came to admire them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that look like a gorgeous suit?

MOOS: She ended up attending chicken shows, photographing her favorites.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to work with it, he's going to be a gorgeous bird.

MOOS: The concept:

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Light them and show them like they were maybe a model. Beautiful.

MOOS: Though there were problems you don't have with models.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First of all, he pooped on the background. You can see the stain. MOOS: Chickens are hot. First there was a coffee table book called "Extraordinary Chickens," now it's "The Fairest Fowl."

Among the fairest, the who-dan who looks like a poodle. Who knew chickens have features like feathered feet and blue earlobes? Not to mention catchy names like the red naked neck. And when you cross a naked neck with a Silkie, you get naked neck silkies. Being on the Holder farm...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold his legs so he can't go anywhere.

MOOS: With such chic chickens, felt like stepping into "Chicken Run."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "CHICKEN RUN")

MEL GIBSON, ACTOR: My name's Rocky.

JULIA SAWALHA, ACTRESS: And what brings you to England?

GIBSON: Why, all the beautiful English chicks, of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: There's even a chicken called a hamburg, but don't try feeding chicken McNuggets to poultry.

Despite a peck or two, they chickened out when it came to cannibalism. Apparently most owners don't eat their show chickens. And though Tamara says she's cut back...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When it arrives on your plate do you say that looks like a dark cornish hen large fowl cock?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not if it has a good sauce.

MOOS: A smart chicken would rather be in this book than a cook book.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, Pleasant Valley, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: I still prefer my chicken fried.

Well that wraps up today's show. Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll see you on Monday.

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