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CNN Newsroom
NEWSROOM for July 25, 2001
Aired July 25, 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: Hello and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Shelley Walcott.
RUDI BAKHTIAR, CO-HOST: And I'm Rudi Bakhtiar.
We'll get things rolling with a look at what's ahead.
WALCOTT: Starting things off, U.S. President Bush travels to Kosovo.
BAKHTIAR: Moving on to "Business Desk," learn how movie marketers are getting the word out over the Web.
WALCOTT: Then in "Worldview," meet one very famous and unemployed pooch.
BAKHTIAR: And finally, did you see them? Do you know what they were? Stay tuned to "Chronicle" for some answers.
WALCOTT: Today's "Top Story" takes us to the Balkans where nationalist mobs in the Macedonian capital of Skopje attacked the U.S. Embassy and other international offices Tuesday. The fighting came just hours after U.S. President Bush visited troops at a base in Kosovo about 50 miles from any heavy fighting. Bush praised the troops for their efforts to keep the peace in Kosovo. He told them he wants to bring a self-sustaining peace to the region as quickly as possible so they can go home. The president also told troops their presence has been vital to maintaining peace in neighboring Macedonia where a U.N.-brokered cease-fire continues to be threatened by fighting between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.
John King has more on the president's visit to a region in turmoil.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A hardy welcome at Camp Bondsteel. But the president's visit to Kosovo came at yet another delicate juncture in a region strained by ethnic hatred. And at an uncertain time for the U.S. peacekeeping troops Mr. Bush had hoped to have on their way home soon. BUSH: Our goal is to hasten the day, when peace is self- sustaining. When local democratically elected authorities can assume full responsibility, and when NATO forces can go home.
KING: From above, some signs Kosovo is rebuilding, two years after the conflict. But in neighboring Macedonia, a NATO-brokered cease-fire is in danger of collapsing. Some U.S. troops already are involved in efforts to diffuse tensions there. And Mr. Bush was told, more could be needed, if the Macedonian government and the ethnic Albanian minority cannot come to terms on a political solution.
BUSH: We must not allow difference to be a license to kill and vulnerability an excuse to dominate.
KING: Camp Bondsteel was the final stop on a week-long visit to Europe, the troops gave their VIP guest a warm welcome. But many here worry about the prospect of a new deployment in Macedonia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are kind of stressed, of course, here in Kosovo with things going on in Macedonia. Of course, there's high stress, we are worried about if we are going to be extended, if we are going to go into Macedonia. But we are still keeping positive.
KING: Mr. Bush tried to lighten the mood by signing legislation that includes money for a military pay raise, but his trip was also a firsthand lesson in the grim realities of the Balkans.
The Kosovo peacekeeping mission involves 42,000 soldiers from more than 30 countries: 6,000 or about 15 percent of the force are Americans. 60,000 peacekeepers were deployed to Bosnia six years ago, one-third of them Americans. The Bosnia force is now down to 20,000 troops, roughly 3,300 or 18 percent from the United States.
BUSH: How's everybody doing back there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great.
BUSH: Good.
KING: Candidate Bush talked of making Europe carry the burden, and of bringing U.S. troops home as soon as possible. But he now says the allies came in together and will leave together.
(on camera): Just when that might be is for now a question that has no answer, and the president who had hoped to end the U.S. role here is now faced with the prospect of a peacekeeping deployment in a third Balkan nation.
John King, CNN, Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALCOTT: The U.S. peacekeeping mission in Kosovo is generating plenty of debate, but American troops make up about 15 percent of the multinational force in Kosovo. And although the security situation is slowly stabilizing, the mission is far from over. And NATO says a U.S. pullout could have a destabilizing effect.
Christiane Amanpour has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An American Army medical unit travels around eastern Kosovo, dispensing drugs and comfort.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Controlled, sometimes, you know, when I...
AMANPOUR: Serb civilians especially rely entirely on KFOR, the multinational peacekeeping force, to keep them safe. Everyone's blood pressure is high, say these medics, whose most valuable prescription may simply be moral support.
LT. DARRYL METCALF, U.S. BATTALION MEDICAL OFFICER: A lot of the towns, we see like 200 people and we'll probably have 30 or 40 who are legitimately ill, and the rest of them, they like to come, see the Americans, talk to us.
AMANPOUR: What Serbs like best is the drop in revenge attacks by Albanians, the sandbags and 24-hour guards at their churches.
(on camera): There are about 80 to 100,000 Serbs left in Kosovo, roughly half the pre-war population, and mostly they live in three enclaves heavily guarded by NATO troops.
(voice-over): Most Serbs tell us they feel safer these days, though some can still summon up that old nationalistic passion.
"If the Americans hadn't come to Kosovo," says a Serb farmer, "this would still be our land."
Indeed, most disputes these days are about who owns what field. Down the road, U.S. foot patrols keep the peace between Serbs on one side of town and Albanians on the other. KFOR commanders say they are slowly stabilizing Kosovo, but they say the mission has a long way to go.
A measure of how long they think they'll be here, Camp Bondsteel. When U.S. troops first deployed two years ago, this was all mud and makeshift tents. Now, the sprawling headquarters, equipped with all the comforts of home base, is the envy of the multinational force. There is Burger King and a cappuccino bar, flower pots and free movies, a gym, a hospital under correction, an artificial lake and paved roads.
KFOR is meant to help Kosovo eventually set up its own security and political institutions, but commanders say that day is at least four years off.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN, with U.S. forces in Kosovo.
BAKHTIAR: In our "Headlines" today, the most active volcano in Europe has been causing major concerns for some Italians. For over a week, Mount Etna has been spewing molten magma in the direction of Nicolosi in Sicily. Nicolosi is the town closest to the lava front, only 2.5 miles or 4 kilometers away. And officials say it's not over yet.
Bill Neely has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL NEELY, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): Mount Etna is cracking open, spectacular from afar, breathtaking from close in. Europe's most active volcano is spewing lava and ash and deadly gases, tearing the earth apart.
(on camera): We're now right in the middle of the biggest eruption for a decade -- maybe more. And there are explosions every few seconds from the two craters behind me. It sounds a bit like a war. The air is filled with ash and with a smell of burning matches.
In fact, it's this, a river of red-hot lava, that is now flowing really quite quickly down the volcano towards the town. It's 1,000 degrees Centigrade. And underneath it and underneath me is a huge lake of molten rock.
(voice-over): They call it liquid fire, but some of it spewed up by the earth is the size of a car. Nothing can survive in its path. The volcano experts are watching it closely, some far too closely. But for the past three days, it's been irresistible, a new crack that has grown and grown, the rim of the crater collapsing into the volcano, a chain reaction, with more and more energy released.
This lava flow is being tracked by satellite. But down in the valley town of Nicolosi, they are worried. The lava may be two miles away. But in two weeks, things may be much worse. No one knows when this will stop.
SANDRO PRIVITERA, VULCANOLOGIST: Maybe it will stop in one week, will stop in two days, will stop tonight. Maybe it will last for one year or for six months.
NEELY (on camera): Nobody knows.
PRIVITERA: Nobody knows.
NEELY (voice-over): For now, they are trying to douse the lava with water, but most of these efforts look puny in the face of the most vicious and dramatic time bomb in nature. The pyrotechnic fury goes on.
Bill Neely, ITN, on Mount Etna, Sicily.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR: Hey, are you in the market for a certain CD, a backpack, maybe a pair of shoes? Well, in the business world, a market is defined as people or organizations that desire a particular product and are willing and able to buy it. Companies who make things like CDs, backpacks and shoes know who their market is and how to get the word out about their products.
Well, the same goes with moviemakers. They know which market their movie is going to appeal to and more often than not, that market is Internet savvy. So filmmakers have learned that a great inexpensive way to promote summertime movies is on the Internet.
Sherri Sylvester reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two summers after "The Blair Witch" cast a spell on Web surfers, the studios have seized the spirit of Internet movie marketing.
Nearly ever major summer movie is generating online buzz with sites that go far beyond the old-fashioned trailer-watching.
AARON SCHATZ, LYCOS.COM: You have to turn it into a must-see movie. If you've been playing the "A.I." game for three months, when "A.I." comes out, you're going.
SYLVESTER: The "A.I." game began when the film's posters and trailer revealed this credit. Watch closely. Jeanine Salla, sentient machine therapist, sent surfers searching under her name for clues to the Spielberg film.
BRANDON GRAY, ZAP2IT.COM: And actually what sprung up was all these sites for Dr. Jeanine Salla, and she is -- apparently she's part of this fictional university called Bangalore University, and there are all these links, it's like -- it's is a labyrinth of sites.
SYLVESTER: We went searching for signs of intelligent life with Brandon Gray from Zap2it.com.
GRAY: If you go to Google.com, which is a search engine, and if you type in "Jeanine Salla," you'll be taken to a number of sites. I believe this is the group that's trying to liberate the robots or the artificial intelligence, so that they have the same rights as human beings.
This is the Coalition for Robotic Freedom, is the name. You'll find links to the actual fan sites that are trying to figure this whole thing out. Like, here's this Yahoo! club about the Jeanine Salla conspiracy.
SYLVESTER: "Planet of the Apes" has gone into cyberspace with a real-life scavenger hunt. Click on "Project Ape" to find coordinates to use with a global positioning satellite. Props from the film and other prizes can be found around the world.
GRAY: Mission number four: Southern Bowl. It's hidden somewhere in South America.
SYLVESTER: No one knows who is playing this game, or another, operation "Swordfish." Here, cracking the code requires watching the film's final credits. For the studios, it's cheap cross-promotion. SCHATZ: They've managed to create this whole online world, and people go to these Web sites and have started all of this buzz and interest around the movie without having to purchase extra commercials, extra TV time, extra trailer time.
SYLVESTER: But is it all just an elaborate tease? The "A.I." searchers called cloudmakers say watch for the eyes to spot a web of deceit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will pop up right here. See that? You get two little blue eyes, the "A.I." eyes of Haley Joel Osment.
SYLVESTER: So we asked Osment about Jeanine Salla.
HALEY JOEL OSMENT, ACTOR: I actually didn't have that much work with her because she's postproduction.
SYLVESTER: Maybe a case of artificial intelligence.
(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: What do food and fashion have in common? Well, they're both the focus of "Worldview" reports today. In Kenya, check out some unusual ways to recycle. From plastic to fantastic as the environment takes center stage. More on the environment as we turn the spotlight on a culinary luxury called caviar. And from fish to tacos and dogs, we'll visit a famous Chihuahua.
TOM HAYNES, CO-HOST: We pause now for this commercial timeout. All right, so there are no commercials on NEWSROOM, but it was a good way to get your attention for our next story. Now it's not uncommon to hear about unemployment in America. Well, it turns out unemployed actors are somewhat common as well. But what if you're an actor and a dog and you're still looking for work? Now that's what I call an added challenge.
Jeanne Moos has the story of a now jobless Chihuahua you may be familiar with.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Attractive leading canine seeks new role. Speaks dog... GIDGEY, FAMOUS DOG: Woof.
MOOS: English...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIDGEY: You rang?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: And Spanish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIDGEY: Yo quiero Taco Bell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Can portray either sex...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is a female and she played a male part.
MOOS: The dog formerly known as Taco Bell is looking for work. Instead of just wearing a license, she shopped herself at the licensing show.
(on camera): She's looking for work. Do you have a job for her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I unfortunately am not hiring at the moment. We just -- we downsized on our chihuahuas.
MOOS: She's just joking, but Taco Bell wasn't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIDGEY: Mucho, mucho baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (voice-over): Faced with less than mucho sales, the company changed ad agencies and dropped Gidgey last year. So she ended up here, suspiciously eying cartoon characters while her handlers passed out head shots autographed with Gidgey's paw print.
(on camera): She's kind of looking for work now, seems a little sad.
BRIAN HAKAN, LICENSING AGENT: She took a break. I mean, you know, after a big movie, after a big career, they go down to the islands and hang out, chill out for a while. Then they come back for another gig, you know.
MOOS (voice-over): No wonder her licensing agent is comparing her to a movie star. She used to get the royal treatment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GIDGEY: Viva Gorditas!
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Viva Gidgey, inspired on the set by chunks of chicken on a skewer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
MOOS: Gidgey won the top advertising award. She got to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
(BELL RINGING)
MOOS: But now she's unemployed and has time to kill.
DEBORAH DELLOSSO, TRAINER: She'll fold socks. If you leave your socks on the floor, she'll pick them up and fold them. But she won't ever do it in front of anybody else, so nobody believes us.
MOOS: Who owns her, really, though? Did she belong to a regular person at some point?
KAREN MCELHATTON (PH), STUDIO ANIMAL SERVICE: I'm a regular person. She belongs to me.
MOOS: Karen McElhatton (ph) owns a business that trains showbiz animals called Studio Animal Service.
(BARKING)
MOOS: Since Taco Bell dumped Gidgey. sales have continued to decline. Gidgey still has fan Web sites, though there's also a site that allows you to feed the dog tacos till it blows up. Finding new gigs for Gidgey could be tricky because when you look at her, you think Taco Bell.
MCELHATTON (PH): You know who this chihuahua is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yo quiero Taco Bell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GIDGEY: Yo quiero Taco Bell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAKHTIAR: If you've ever been to a fancy event, perhaps the caterers served caviar, considered an appetizing delicacy. Caviar is made from the unfertilized eggs of fish. The ovaries of the fish are beaten to loosen the egg which are then freed from fat and membrane by being passed through a sieve. The liquid is pressed off and the eggs are salted and sealed in small tins or kegs. Eighty percent of the caviar sold in Western Europe and the U.S. comes from the sturgeon in the Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water. But the sturgeon are endanger of extinction from overfishing and poaching.
The United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species recently met in Paris to discuss the problem. At the meeting, member governments voted to reject a ban on caviar exports from countries bordering the Caspian Sea. Instead, they gave the countries until year's end to reach an agreement on the improved management of sturgeon resources and to conduct a survey of caviar stocks.
Gary Strieker reports on the situation in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their net stretches for six kilometers in the Caspian Sea. Hauling it in twice a day is backbreaking work, and these days there's little to show for it. This sturgeon is too small to keep -- less than 10 kilos, so they throw it back.
Hosaini Ali (ph) says three years ago he brought in 1,200 kilograms of caviar, but this year up to now it's not even 100. And he doesn't know why. In all five countries bordering the Caspian Sea, fishermen tell the same story. Catches of all native species of sturgeon have fallen drastically. Caspian sturgeon is the source of more than 90 percent of the world's caviar, the sturgeon's unfertilized eggs.
Legal production of caviar in the Caspian basin is now less than 1,000 tons. It was more than 20 times that figure less than two decades ago. And the source of the most prized caviar, the giant beluga sturgeon, is now so rare it's on the verge of extinction. A dire situation, scientists say, is caused by overfishing and reckless environmental destruction.
(on camera): Here in the south, Iran has a good record of enforcing fishing limits, but outside Iranian waters to the north, overfishing and widespread poaching are causing an ecological disaster affecting all the living resources of the Caspian Sea.
(voice-over): Outside Iran, illegal fishing and caviar sales are estimated at $1 billion a year, more than 10 times the total for official legal sales. In Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, authorities acknowledge that they're unable -- while environmentalists accuse them of being unwilling -- to stop the uncontrolled plundering of sturgeon by poachers and criminal gangs.
Meanwhile, industrial and pesticide pollution in the northern Caspian has destroyed spawning grounds for sturgeon and contaminated vast areas of the sea. New offshore oil and gas discoveries will bring more drilling and more risk of pollution, a grim future for fishermen here. A whole day's work for two small sturgeon, maybe two kilograms of caviar.
The skipper says he remembers filling his boat with sturgeon every day, and now this is a good day. On many days, they catch nothing. Gary Strieker, CNN, Babol Sar, Iran. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR: You've likely heard the slogan "reduce, reuse, recycle" made popular by environmental groups in recent years. Recycling is the process of recovering and reusing waste products. It dates back to the world wars when shortages of essential materials like silk and rubber led to collection drives.
Today, the environmental benefits of recycling are a major component of waste management programs in many countries. Recycling conserves resources for future generations, prevents emissions of many greenhouse gases and water pollutants, saves energy and reduces the need for new landfills and combusters. From paper, to aluminum, to glass, it seems everything is recycled nowadays. The question is: recycled into what?
Femi Oke has an unlikely answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEMI OKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much, Jim. Reduce, reuse, recycle -- they were just a few of the themes for World Environment Day. And some fashion designers in Nairobi put those ideas to work by putting rubbish on the runway.
(voice-over): The perfect look for a news junkie, this skirt made from old newsprint was a favorite at Nairobi's plastic fantastic fashion show.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A most unusual wrap from banana fiber.
OKE: Plastic Fantastic features some of Kenya's top fashion models and some leading designers. And, as the name suggests, the clothes on the runway are made from recycled waste materials, especially plastic.
ANN REWA, DESIGNER: Parts of bags. You don't necessarily have to buy leather. It's long-lasting.
OKE: Can you believe this elegant gown was once discarded as junk? The designers couldn't bear the thought.
EDITH GATHU: I was inspired by mainly a lot of waste. And there's nothing been done about it.
OKE: Getting a new set of wheel perhaps? Well old tire rubbers could make a new tube top. Used kitchen foil can be transformed into a shiny new dress with matching headwear. Despite all the lighthearted fun, this show has a serious message.
GATHU: If I did that, a few more people would wake up and think what to do with the waste or not to dump it.
OKE: From this skimpy plastic wrap number to this sophisticated bubble wrap two piece, everything is made from material that was once destined to be thrown away. REWA: We have to get more creative and take it a step further to -- instead of being fun and creative, to actual use.
OKE: The message? Recycling is environmentally sound, economically smart and tres chic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA BUSSARD, NATRONA HEIGHTS, PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, I'm Lisa Bussard from Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania. And I'd like to know what more I can do as an individual to help the environment?
FRANCES FISHER, ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST/ACTRESS: Pick up a piece of trash when you see it on the ground and don't wait for someone else to pick it up even if you weren't the one who threw it there. Ride your bike, if you can. Turn your water off when you're brushing your teeth. Turn it back on when you have to rinse. Little things like that. Act as if the earth is yours -- as if it's your own backyard.
ED BEGLEY, JR., ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST/ACTOR: All of the actions that we take have a reflection in our oceans, our streams, our bays, our estuaries and in our air quality.
MICHAEL BURK, TELEVISION EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Everything that goes into the storm drains goes into the ocean. And people who flush oil down the storm drains after they do their own lube job or use their hoses to wash garbage down the storm drains are really polluting the planet.
IZZY KNOPPER, JR. REPORTER, PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY JOURNAL: Kids can make a big difference in the environment by conserving electricity, giving up your hall light. You can plant trees on Arbor Day. Those little kid books that you don't want anymore, you can donate to a library.
BURK: I would get children now involved in understanding the planet on a very, very personal level. And then as they get older, hopefully they'll -- their knowledge will expand, they'll understand that they have to do something and step in. And one of those kids could be the one who comes along who makes the difference.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BAKHTIAR: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's none of the above. Monday's mass sighting of something streaking across the night sky generated numerous explanations as to its source. But the truth is out there and here's David George to tell us what it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID GEORGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Folks tramp through a Pennsylvania cornfield wondering what was it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was like a big fiery object going through the sky.
GEORGE: People spotted it from Canada to North Carolina right around dinnertime on Monday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was something we never saw before.
GEORGE: Everyone agreed it looked plenty hot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a ball of fire and it had a head and a lot of flame behind it.
GEORGE: Astronomers say the East Coast light show was probably the work of a meteor, one large enough to create a sonic boom, too small to do much damage.
DAVID DUNDEE, ASTRONOMER: This is an educated guess, it's probably one of these - probably a stony meteorite.
GEORGE: The morning after, all a television reporter could find was a few scorched leaves. Professional investigators found even less.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No burn marks, no dust, no evidence.
GEORGE: Astronomers say fireballs occur about a half a dozen times a year, often going unnoticed, disappearing without a trace.
DUNDEE: They're very rare to find them because after a few rainstorms, they're eroded away. They're very fragile.
GEORGE: So was Monday's event much ado about nothing? Meteor craters, like this one in Arizona, show how much damage celestial objects hitting the earth can do. Astronomers say most meteor events are like the latest one, exciting but harmless.
David George, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALCOTT: OK, so now that we know people saw a meteor, can you tell me exactly what a meteor is?
BAKHTIAR: Well, in order to tell you what a meteor is, first we have to say what a meteoroid is. Now a meteoroid is a pebble or stone in space and a meteor is the bright flash of light produced by a meteoroid as it whizzes across the sky, and it also refers to the stone, itself, in the atmosphere.
WALCOTT: OK, so the meteoroid is the rock in space and the meteor is the light it creates.
BAKHTIAR: You got it. So for more on this exciting story, you can log on to CNN.com.
WALCOTT: And that wraps it up for us. We'll see you tomorrow.
BAKHTIAR: Bye.
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