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CNN STUDENT NEWS

Aired January 30, 2002 - 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: You're watching CNN STUDENT NEWS seen in schools around the world because learning never stops and neither does the news.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: It's time for your daily dose of CNN STUDENT NEWS. The leader of the free world leads the way with an address to the U.S.

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: Changing focus, we assess what's left of Enron's assets.

WALCOTT: Time to get your list out, we're going shopping in our "Business Report." Wait until you check out this store.

MCMANUS: Finally, we'll meet a very enterprising young man from Brazil.

WALCOTT: And welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS for Wednesday. I'm Shelley Walcott.

MCMANUS: And I'm Michael McManus.

U.S. President Bush gives one of the biggest speeches of his life, his first State of the Union.

WALCOTT: That's right. It underwent more than two dozen rewrites, but in the end, Mr. Bush's speech to Congress and the American people won numerous rounds of applause. The war against terror, the struggle against recession and his plans for homeland security were major focuses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American flag flies again over our embassy in Kabul. Terrorists who once occupied Afghanistan now occupy cells at Guantanamo Bay.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: And terrorist leaders who urged followers to sacrifice their lives are running for their own.

(APPLAUSE) BUSH: America and Afghanistan are now allies against terror. We'll be partners in rebuilding that country. And this evening, we welcomed the distinguished interim leader of a liberated Afghanistan, Chairman Hamid Karzai.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: And our nation will continue to be steadfast and patient and persistent in the pursuit of two great objectives. First, we will shut down terrorist camps, disrupt terrorist plans and bring terrorists to justice. And second, we must prevent the terrorists and regimes who seek chemical, biological or nuclear weapons from threatening the United States and the world.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Our military has put the terror training camps of Afghanistan out of business, yet camps still exist in at least a dozen countries. A terrorist underworld, including groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Jaish-I-Mohammed, operates in remote jungles and deserts and hides in the centers of large cities.

Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction.

Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since September the 11th, but we know their true nature. North Korea has a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.

Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an un-elected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.

Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.

We will work closely with our coalition to deny terrorists and their state sponsors the materials, technology and expertise to make and deliver weapons of mass destruction.

We will develop and deploy effective missile defenses to protect America and our allies from sudden attack.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Our first priority must always be the security of our nation, and that will be reflected in the budget I send to Congress. My budget supports three great goals for America: We will win this war, we will protect our homeland, and we will revive our economy.

September the 11th brought out the best in America and the best in this Congress, and I join the American people in applauding your unity and resolve.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Now Americans deserve to have this same spirit directed toward addressing problems here at home.

I'm a proud member of my party. Yet as we act to win the war, protect our people and create jobs in America, we must act first and foremost not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: My budget nearly doubles funding for a sustained strategy of homeland security, focused on four key areas: bioterrorism, emergency response, airport and border security and improved intelligence.

We will develop vaccines to fight anthrax and other deadly diseases. We'll increase funding to help states and communities train and equip our heroic police and firefighters.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: We will improve intelligence collection and sharing, expand patrols at our borders, strengthen the security of air travel, and use technology to track the arrivals and departures of visitors to the United States.

Once we have funded our national security and our homeland security, the final great priority of my budget is economic security for the American people.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Americans who have lost their jobs need our help, and I support extending unemployment benefits and direct assistance for health care coverage.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Yet American workers want more than unemployment checks. They want a steady paycheck.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: When America works, America prospers, so my economic security plan can be summed up in one word: jobs.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Good jobs begin with good schools, and here we've made a fine start.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Republicans and Democrats worked together to achieve historic education reform so that no child is left behind.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALCOTT: Since September 11, Mr. Bush has seen his approval rating soar. He's now riding a tidal wave of popularity.

CNN's Candy Crowley examines the change in public perception about George W. Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: The news came that morning inside a Florida classroom: American is under attack. It was the whisper that changed a presidency.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In our grief and anger, we have found our mission and our moment.

CROWLEY: But friends and political rivals say this is not a different president, but different circumstances that played to his strengths.

WILLIAM BENNETT, EMPOWER AMERICA: Same man, stronger, more focused, clearer. Now, obviously, with a sense of a mission. He now knows what he's there for.

CROWLEY: Even if he has not changed, it is clear in polls and conversations that people see him differently. Heck, they even see the past differently.

BOB KERREY, FORMER SENATOR: He rose to the occasion, no question. His decision to select Cheney as vice president now looks like one of the most brilliant moves that any politician ever made. It was very risky at the time.

CROWLEY: The president's perceived success in conducting the war seems to have given him a confidence that permeates his body language and his photo-ops. Can this man, answering questions last February...

BUSH: When the -- our people with whom we have -- with whom we conduct our affairs...

CROWLEY: ... be the same president that answered questions yesterday?

BUSH: We're going to help Afghanistan develop her own military.

CROWLEY: Before September 11th, said one Bush watcher, he seemed scattered. There wasn't a host of issues he had much passion for. But now he's thoroughly engaged. Not that he still doesn't have adventures in linguistics.

BUSH: I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander-in-chief. CROWLEY: In some of America's living rooms, that now seems less worrisome, than endearing. Or perhaps it just matters less, because so much more is at stake.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tend, for one, when I'm watching him speak, to be less aware and care less about words that he stumbles upon, or about him using words that I think are a little bit yokey (ph). I don't really care. I'm listening more now for the substance of what he is saying.

CROWLEY: Even as the war on terrorism emphasizes the president's strengths, it minimizes his weaknesses. There is, after all, little need for nuance in a mission the president absolutely sees as a titanic struggle between good and evil.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: President Bush, of course, talked about the economy in his State of the Union Address, an important issue for many people who have been hit hard, including Enron employees. When Houston-based Enron filed for bankruptcy last month, many employees who had invested their retirement money in the company stock lost their life savings. Many are hoping to recoup their money, but as Fred Katayama reports, that may not be possible.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REV. JESSE JACKSON: We're going to have a prayer vigil and rally.

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Reverend Jesse Jackson came to Enron to pray for its laid off employees, but the company could use a prayer if it's to survive. Gone is Enron's profit gushing crown jewel, its trading operation, sold to UBS. Gone, too, is its prized northern natural gas pipeline, sold to Dynegy. And its utility, Portland General, will be sold to Northwest Natural Gas.

What's essentially left of what was once the seventh largest U.S. industrial company is very little, a few smaller pipelines worth about $1 billion, $1 billion in natural gas and power contracts, and utilities in Brazil, Argentina, and India and other international assets worth roughly $6.5 billion. Those estimates by the investment bank Simmons add up to less than $9 billion, one fifth of what Enron claimed they were worth in early December.

RAY NIMMER, UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW SCHOOL: The key issue is whether they can find enough left in the assets so that they can, by stripping away some assets, changing some others, come out with a sort of basic core of a company that is profitable, at least in terms of a positive cash flow, and whether that kind of core would be sustainable as a separate company.

KATAYAMA: If the core business doesn't produce enough cash flow, liquidation could be the most likely outcome. JEFF DIETERT, ENERGY ANALYST, SIMMONS & COMPANY: There is a case where the creditors would look at pure liquidation. Cutting their losses and getting this issue behind them would benefit the creditors and there are liquid markets for most of the asset that's in -- Enron's got, and they could be divested fairly quickly and easily.

KATAYAMA: But with some Latin American economies facing a crisis, some analysts feel Enron may be better off restructuring the company first and waiting for higher priced offers for its assets.

(on camera): But a few creditors are calling on the bankruptcy judge to appoint a trustee. If that were to happen, experts say, it's most likely the assets would be sold off and the lights would go out on Enron.

Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, Houston, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The devil, as the saying goes, is in the details. But if you read the fine print of a new proclamation in Inglis, Florida, you'll find Satan isn't wanted there. The town's mayor says Beelzebub is banned from her town, but this isn't sitting so well with the American Civil Liberties Union. They say the proclamation is a violation of the constitution, specifically the amendment separating church and state.

Amendment I of the Constitution reads as follows: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

With more on this, here's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In tiny Inglis, Florida, the devil made her do it. Or, to put it more directly, Mayor Carolyn Risher's hatred of the devil.

MAYOR CAROLYN RISHER, INGLIS, FLORIDA: Be it known from this day forward that Satan, ruler of darkness, giver of evil, destroyer of what is good and just, is not now nor ever will again be a part of this town of Inglis...

TUCHMAN: It's a proclamation written by the mayor on official town stationery banning Satan from Inglis. At a town meeting Monday night, the mayor, who cites September 11th as a major reason for the ban on Satan, had overwhelming support.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because we refused to stand up for God, we have let Satan take over. And each time we unite as Christians and say, "Devil, go back to hell where you came from. We don't want you anymore."...

TUCHMAN: A fence post entering Inglis reads, "Resist, request, repent." A copy of the proclamation is stuffed inside the post, which further reads, "The body of Jesus Christ, those citizens cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, hereby join together to bind the forces of evil in the holy name of Jesus." "The proclamation," says the American Civil Liberties Union, "clearly violates the separation of church and state."

HOWARD SIMON, ACLU: This is the most extreme intrusion into religion by a public official that I have ever seen in my 27 years as being a director of the ACLU.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the ACLU makes me sick. All they try to do -- all they try to do is put fear in the heart of people.

TUCHMAN: The town's attorney says despite the fact the proclamation is on official letterhead, it's not an official municipal statement. But it has the support of the town council and of virtually all of the people in this room, who believe their mayor's words are inspired.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next time she comes up, don't vote for her if you didn't agree with it. But, otherwise, shut up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

TUCHMAN: Not everyone in this room was willing to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I agree with her 100 percent what she said, but the way she did it was wrong.

TUCHMAN: The proclamation will remain a prominent part of life in this town...

(on camera): ... with the attitude among some here that if people don't like it, they can go to that place where Satan lives.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Inglis, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."

MCMANUS: Established in 1945, the United Nations has become central to global humanitarian efforts. The U.N. does most of its work in what's called the General Assembly. Each member country belongs to the General Assembly and each gets one vote, but members can also meet outside this regular session in what's called a special session.

Our Kathy Nellis explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY NELLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What's special about a U.N. special session? Basically it's devoted to a particular topic or theme. There have been special sessions on HIV and AIDS, the environment and population and development, for example. (on camera): On average, the United Nations General Assembly calls for a special session once every two years.

(voice-over): But for young people around the world, one special session is extra special. This will be the first special session focusing on children.

CAROL BELLAMY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF: The fact is, when you look at the world as a whole, the majority of people living in poverty are women and children. This is unconscionable as we go into the 21st century. The status of children is not acceptable in the time we live in today, and we have got to be reminded of this every moment of every day.

NELLIS: The U.N. hopes to do more than just focus on the problems, however, it plans to actively involve children in the process.

PATRICIA DURRANT, JAMAICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: That is what is so exciting about this special session, the children can participate as in government delegations or in non-government delegations. And before the special session actually takes place, there will be a children's forum in which children will prepare their own views and present their own views subsequently to the General Assembly.

NELLIS: The United Nations is a global force with its pulse on the challenging issues facing children. Health and education are at the forefront.

BELLAMY: The fact is, there's nothing that will better establish a positive future for kids than the fact they get a good education. And yet in a world that has Internet and speed of light and modern technology, we still find over a hundred million children around the world who should be in primary school who are not in school.

If there could be one change that could make a difference, it would be that every boy and every girl gets a good education. That would strengthen countries, that would strengthen society, that would strengthen families and that would give these young people great opportunities.

NELLIS: Those opportunities could begin at the United Nations with those youngsters who are taking part, but leaders hope the benefits will spread to span the globe.

DURRANT: I think the special session should be an exciting time for children whether they're here in New York or whether they are in their own countries or in schools. We believe that this special session should focus the world's attention on the plight of children.

BELLAMY: I think it's always important for people to understand that they can influence their own lives and kids can do that as well, but they shouldn't think that they can only do it in a single way. It might be in their own neighborhood, it might be in their own community, it might be through a youth parliament, it may be through a youth vote, it may be through polling, it might be through their church or their religious organization, it might be out there helping people who are less fortunate than they are.

I think what it is it's so -- it's encouraging a young person to figure out what he or she themselves think that they are capable of doing because they should understand that every single solitary person can make a difference somehow in somebody else's life.

NELLIS: A difference that can begin today and build tomorrow.

Kathy Nellis, CNN, the United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: If you love shopping and are sick of run-of-the-mill retail outlets, look no further. Prada has opened what may very well be the most avant-garde store in the world. Could it be the business trend of the future?

Our Jeanne Moos reports from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you think this is what a store looks like, look what's in store for Prada customers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called The Wave.

MOOS (on camera): So we're in The Wave?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in the wave.

MOOS (voice-over): Folks enter the new Prada store by architect Rem Cuhas (ph) as if it's a retail temple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Great to shop in here. It's like being in a museum.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it's a whole new dimension to shopping.

MOOS: From the round glass elevators to the dressing rooms that turn opaque, to Prada, this is no mere store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're calling this one -- to Prada, this is the first epicenter store.

MOOS: And the epicenter of the epicenter store is The Wave, tempting for a skateboard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did run up a quick second, go like this.

MOOS: One side of the Wave is a shoe display area. Sears it ain't. By night, the shoe display can be turned into stadium seating, and The Wave that itself opens into a stage.

What's that thing hanging there, you ask?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a sneaker sock. There's actually a lot of audio behind that knitted sock.

MOOS: Who needs to window shop when you're stage struck? Even if the speaker sock gets stuck. Other stores have become architectural attractions.

Camde Garson's (ph) tunnel entrance was startling when it first opened. The new Isa Miaki (ph) store features sculpture by Frank Gary (ph).

And now, Prada, with wallpaper as changeable as clothes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will change with the seasons.

MOOS: You can even change the lighting in your dressing room with a push of a button, though it's not easy figuring out which buttons to push.

(on camera): What's wrong?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you get out?

MOOS: How do you get out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought were security.

MOOS (voice-over): And then there is the most talked about innovation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The magic mirror.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's got the loveliest derriere of them all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Certainly gives you the whole picture!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see what you don't want to see.

MOOS: A tiny camera affords you the rear-view image.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like the lag.

MOOS: There's a slight delay in the video.

(on camera): Did you look at your rear view.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did. It was a distressing moment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Totally enjoying it. I love it. It's really fierce (ph).

MOOS (voice-over): Travel case, $3,000, peasant blouse, $460, rear view -- priceless.

(on camera): Did you see your rear end?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you see my rear end?

MOOS: Even Prada's doggy customers now have eyes in the back of their head. Now, that's an epicenter.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: More business news as we turn to our "Student Bureau Report." When you think of vacation, most of think of the sights, sounds and tourist attractions of a far distant land. Well we're about to introduce you to a young man taking visitors on a reality tour. His home city is a big vacation spot, but he wants tourists to know what's behind the beaches and the palm trees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRIZA HURLER (ph) CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Every year, about one million tourists come to visit beautiful landscapes in Rio de Janeiro. Some of the attractions are Copa Cabana Beach, the Sugar Loaf Mountain and the famous Redeemer, but that's not all you can see in Rio. Visitors are finding out an unusual way to get closer to another side of this city.

Douglas Lemos is a 13-years-old student who (UNINTELLIGIBLE) his routine changes. He shows the foreigners the favela where he lives. Rocinha is South America's biggest slum. Douglas walks tourists through the narrow streets, introducing them to the way that poor people live.

Johnny Veselka came here from Texas for an accounting meeting and brought his wife and friends. Today they are going to enjoy a gyp (ph) tour and see one of the 500 slums around Rio de Janeiro.

JOHNNY VESELKA, TOURIST: I like to see the various culture different from the U.S., see how other people live, how they work and very interesting to see other people in other cultures.

HURLER: The favela's architecture catch their attention. Most of the 200,000 residents built their houses without safety considerations, plumbing and use of the official power grid. Even with all those problems, Rocinha became the most developed slum in the country. There are 200,500 shoppers (ph) in the area.

(on camera): Here in Rocinha, everything becomes (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But one place this tourist enjoyed visiting is the handicraft center.

(voice-over): There artists are people from the community and they are proud of showing their work. For those who have little, everything that can be recycled becomes a personal item (ph) product.

MIKE PRAGER, TOURIST: What they're making from recycled stuff that they're (UNINTELLIGIBLE) by the trash and making stuff like that. Matter of fact, we even bought a quilt from here made from different particles of cloth they just threw away.

LINDA VESELKA, TOURIST: Oh I think it's very pretty and unique. They use all their resources that they have to make neat things, and it's very different and very impressed.

HURLER: At the end of the tour, the tourists learned a little more about the poor Brazilian and Douglas learned more about his new American friends.

DOUGLAS LEMOS, BRAZILIAN STUDENT (through translator): We showed Rocinha to the tourists. We went to some tourist points and we took them to buy things. I really liked it.

HURLER: Larriza Hurler, CNN Student Bureau, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World?" The most populous country in South America, Independence Day September 7, divided into 28 states and 1 federal district. Can you name this country? Brazil.

WALCOTT: And the news continues on CNNstudentnews.com. Be sure to check out our Web site for a complete wrap up of the president's speech.

MCMANUS: And also remember to stay with CNN throughout the day as reaction continues to come in on that State of the Union speech.

And in the meantime, that wraps up another day for us, Shelley.

WALCOTT: And until tomorrow, I'm Shelley Walcott.

MCMANUS: And I'm Michael McManus. Have a good one.

WALCOTT: Bye-bye.

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