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CNN Student News
Aired February 07, 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: Your Thursday "CNN STUDENT NEWS" is underway. Today's "Top Story," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visits the U.S. And we'll also "Chronicle" the travels of CNN journalist Jason Bellini. Then, a post-9-11 "Perspective" on terrorists and nukes, and later, Student Bureau takes a backpacking trip that may end up in a city near you.
And welcome to "CNN STUDENT NEWS" for Thursday. I'm Shelley Walcott.
The Bush administration continues its push for peace in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left yesterday for the United States to meet with President Bush. This is his fourth visit to the White House in a year. He and the president plan to talk about how to end the violence in the Middle East and eventually return to peace negotiations.
Israelis and Palestinians have tried time and again to resolve their differences but peacemaking is at a stalemate.
Our Joel Hochmuth reports on the ongoing conflict and the power of persistence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The cycle of violence seems unending. Over the last 16 months, nearly 1,200 people on both sides have been killed in the uprising known as the intifada, the Palestinian fight against Israeli rule.
Are Arab-Israeli relations at an all-time low? Well not necessarily, says one expert. Ken Stein is a historian at Atlanta's Emory University.
KENNETH STEIN, MIDDLE EAST RESEARCH PROGRAM, EMORY UNIVERSITY: On a day-to-day basis with violence and reprisal, it looks like it's the hell in a handbasket. If you put it in a perspective of the last 25 or 30 years, Israelis and Arabs have come a long distance.
HOCHMUTH: In particular, Stein points to the peace treaty signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979 that ended the state of war that existed between the two nations for 30 years. More recently, there was the landmark Oslo Accord signed at the White House in 1993. The agreement established a five-year plan in which Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would gradually become self-governing, but that never happened.
STEIN: I think the expectations were high and inflated. I think everyone believed that logic would prevail. Since 1993, both Israelis and Palestinians have not given up their dreams that they could control some or all of historic Palestine. Until each side is willing to define what it is it's willing to give to the other explicitly, then you don't have an agreement.
HOCHMUTH: Major sticking points stand in the way of any lasting peace. For one thing, there's the issue of land. Under the 1993 agreement, Palestinians accepted the idea that their future state would emerge only from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but the two sides can't agree just exactly where the line should be drawn.
Then there's the dispute over how to divide Jerusalem, the city both Israelis and Palestinians consider holy and their capital.
Another complication is the growing number of Jewish settlements in Israeli-occupied territories. Palestinians say they must go, Israelis say they have a right to stay.
Perhaps the most difficult issue is what to do about the millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants who fled to other Arab countries when Israel was created more than 50 years ago. Palestinians say they have a right to return. Israel says if they do, they would destroy its Jewish identity.
Despite these difficulties, President Clinton brought the two sides together in the summer of 2000 to try to hammer out a final peace agreement, that meeting ended in failure.
STEIN: Comprehensive efforts to resolve this conflict don't work. Clinton tried to reach a comprehensive peace in 2000, tried to have Arafat sign an agreement that said this is the end of the conflict. Arafat wasn't willing to say this is the end of the conflict. He wasn't even sure he could make a compromise about refugees. What does he tell three or four million Palestinians who live in camps or two million Palestinians or three million Palestinians who live in camps that he is willing to give up their right to return.
HOCHMUTH: It was in the wake of those failed talks that the current wave of violence began. In the months since, there have been mixed signals about each side's willingness to end the violence. In an editorial in last weekend's "New York Times," Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat condemned terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, yet Israel charges Palestinians were trying to smuggle in arms it seized from a ship last month.
STEIN: You either have to have the olive branch in your hand or you have to have the kalashnikov, you can't have both, all right. And Sharon can either want to negotiate or continue with the settlements, you can't do both, you just can't.
HOCHMUTH: Despite the contradictions, Stein says peace is still possible.
STEIN: Yes, there's a measure of hope that they can still move forward because they have no choice, Joel, they really have no choice. The Israelis are not going to eliminate the Palestinians and the Palestinians can't eliminate Israel.
HOCHMUTH: Of course no one predicts it will be easy.
Joel Hochmuth, "CNN STUDENT NEWS".
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Greg Chase from Jerome Idaho asks: What do U.S. diplomats do in foreign countries?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: If you're a diplomat, it sounds like you spend a lot of time negotiating treaties. Well that's part of the job, but it's a lot more than that.
A diplomat's job is to protect in advance U.S. interests in other countries. Now what does that mean? It means promoting trade and investment. It means communicating the views of the U.S. government to other countries and their government's views back to Washington. It means developing programs that support common interests like fighting international crime, drug trafficking, terrorism and disease. It means assisting U.S. travelers who have problems and U.S. citizens who live abroad. It means issuing visitor's permits and work permits to people who want to come to the U.S. and making sure they won't cause trouble. It means making sure U.S. economic aid gets to the right people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALCOTT: The Californian accused of fighting with the Taliban against American forces in Afghanistan tried but fails to be set free. A federal magistrate ruled yesterday that John Walker Lindh will remain in jail until his trial. Lawyers for the American-born Taliban warrior had claimed Walker Lindh is loyal to the United States and never had anything to do with terrorism. They said prosecutors basically have bigger fish to fry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES BROSNAHAN, WALKER LINDH'S ATTORNEY: I think the American people probably want the attorney general -- and we know our people are doing the best that we can to find Osama bin Laden, to find Omar and to find someone who sent the anthrax. We understand they're doing the best they can. And we're with them on that. We hope all of that is successful.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I was very pleased with the judge's ruling in Alexandria this morning. We outlined the indictment against Walker Lindh yesterday, and the American people can be confident that Walker Lindh will receive every protection under the Constitution in our courtrooms and that justice will be served.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALCOTT: Walker Lindh is due back in court Monday for arraignment on a 10-count federal indictment.
In today's "News Focus," the escalating Enron scandal. Hearings were held on Capitol Hill Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans tried to come up with ways to protect investors should this type of corporate meltdown ever happen again. U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao told Congress that President Bush's plan to revamp pension laws could provide protection for millions of workers in the event of future financial disasters such as Enron.
Enron filed for bankruptcy in December. The former energy giant was once considered a sure thing among investors. The company's financial collapse sent shock waves through Wall Street, and Enron employees who invested heavily in the company's stock lost almost all the money they had been counting on for retirement.
Brooks Jackson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKS JACKSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a sad story. By now, a familiar tragedy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not alone in my pain.
JACKSON: But there's more to the story of how Enron employees lost their savings. CNN has learned that in the days before they were locked out of their 401(k) retirement accounts and prevented from selling their Enron shares, they were actually buying more stock. Even as many of Enron's problems were becoming painfully public. Daily records of the Enron corporation savings plan show that between October 16, when Enron shocked Wall Street by announcing an unexpected $1 billion quarterly loss, and October 26, the last trading day before that controversial lockdown, employees were moving a total of $3.8 million into Enron stock and out of safer, diversified mutual funds.
During those days Enron's stock was plunging as the bad news poured out: a "Wall Street Journal" expose, a shareholder suit, an inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, out, replaced. Wall Street investors dumped Enron, the stock lost half its value, but the records show Enron employees treated that as a buying opportunity.
The full story is still emerging, and management has much to answer for. An Enron human resources executive responsible for 401(k) plans told Senate hearings Tuesday that she sold $6 million of her own Enron stock, but did not advise employees to diversify their accounts.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: But you knew that the 401(k)s were not diversified.
OLSON: True.
JACKSON: And Olson was warned something was wrong. She said her colleague, Sharon Watkins, told her of a possible accounting scandal. Even before Watkins warned Chief Executive Ken Lay. So why didn't she advise employees to sell then back in August?
OLSON: It was in the hand of Mr. Lay and Vincent and Elkins, and I felt like it was in good hands and all of us would know if it really was an issue.
JACKSON: Employees complain now they were prevented from selling during the lockdown period, and it's true, the stock price did sink further as more bad news came out. But a far bigger drop came while employees were still free to sell, and the real tragedy is they were buying instead.
Brooks Jackson, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALCOTT: Now since the war on terror began, we've brought you stories about the military action, the war and also the people of Afghanistan. We were able to bring you these stories because of our reporters. And one of our own, Jason Bellini, just returned from Afghanistan, and Michael McManus sat down with him to talk about his experiences.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: Jason, welcome back. It's good to have you back, buddy.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be back.
MCMANUS: And you did some great reporting out there.
BELLINI: Thank you.
MCMANUS: What would you consider to be your favorite story?
BELLINI: I think my favorite one was the story I did about a young girl. She's only about 17 years old, and she started this academy for teaching English in her house. She created her own little classroom in her house.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI (voice-over): Sadika (ph) Almadi (ph) sees her school, and it is her school, as a way out. Out of the fate she refuses to accept, a life knitting carpets.
(on camera): Is it boring?
SADIKA ALMADI, TEACHER: Yes, it's really boring. But what you can do?
BELLINI (voice-over): The Taliban only let boys attend school,and only then to study the Koran, so two years ago, Sadika became a self-taught teacher. She opened her own school for English in her home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI: It was a moving story for me because I realized that this wasn't just a story about a young girl doing something nice, this was a story about a young girl struggling to overcome the fate that was nearly guaranteed her if she didn't find a way out. And that fate that was guaranteed her was making carpets to support her family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI (voice-over): Sadikah's dreams have no borders.
ALMADI: Also, I like a lot to be a flight attendant.
BELLINI (on camera): A flight attendant?
ALMADI: Yes, because of, I want to travel a lot and meet interesting people.
BELLINI (voice-over): Teaching makes it all seem possible, perhaps helping her to forget what's next door to her classroom, the carpet loom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCMANUS: You did some fascinating reporting out there. What I want to know is how did you come up with all those original stories?
BELLINI: I found it pretty easy to find stories when I was there. Sometimes it was as simple as just going for a drive and seeing what was going on and meeting people. I found a story lurking just around every corner.
For example, someone told me about the zoo in Kabul. I thought I'm just going to go check out this zoo, I don't know if there's a story there. Well it turns out that there was a blind lion at the zoo and all these other animals that had survived war that had been going on in the country for more than a decade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI (voice-over): The animals live like many Afghan children: unaware of what's going on while a determined parent struggles to provide for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BELLINI: And even better than those animals was the zookeeper who had been struggling without pay, without any resources to keep these animals alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI (on camera): Why aren't you afraid of the lion?
"If you touch the lion's body, it understands that something is being brought to him," Shar Aqa says. "This lion is used to us. He won't hurt us."
The lion trusts because he has to. His master trusts others will help him to keep these animals alive. But like the lion, Shar Aqa can't see what lies ahead for his zoo or his country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI: A fascinating guy. And I love stories like that where you can get to know someone who's been through extraordinary circumstances and who's -- and who's done something good. And he was a really interesting character to me.
It really hit me when I was out there that, wow, you know these kids are in battle out there in the field and that everything that, or I don't want to say everything, but so many aspects of life there center on war and battle and this survival of the fittest.
I did a story about kite flying in Afghanistan. And I went to this field where I was told that everyone flew kites on Fridays. And so I thought, oh, this will be nice, you know. The Taliban didn't allow people to fly kites and now kids can fly kites. This will be a happy, great story.
Well, as it turned out, I learned about sort of the brutality and the harshness of the society while doing this story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI (on camera): So when you come to this field to play with your kite, you're not here just to play, you're here for battle.
RISHAD, AGE 18: Everyone want to get a kite. So it is -- they are fighting.
BELLINI: Why don't you go home and make a kite?
RISHAD: No! I can't make a kite.
BELLINI: Why not?
RISHAD: Because I'm not a maker of the kites.
BELLINI (voice-over): Rishad, who's 18 years old, is a destroyer of kites, like the other boys. He runs with them in "Lord of the Flies"-like clans, brandishing his homemade weapon. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI: On several occasions I did include myself and include observations or realizations that I came to. One story that you told me you saw was one where I was climbing up a ladder in a house to explain that I wasn't allowed to go up on the roof because it's against their customs for a man to go up on the roof. And I thought that was really bizarre. Why can't I go up on the roof? I wanted to go shoot the beautiful Afghan sunset.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI (on camera): I wanted to go up on the roof to take a picture of the beautiful Afghan sunset, but just as I was climbing the ladder I was told no, don't do that. That's not allowed in this culture. You're not supposed to go up on the roof because men in the neighborhood might see you and think that you're looking down at their women. It's another cultural taboo that hasn't gone away yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BELLINI: Most of the people that I met in doing (ph) Afghanistan and in Kabul, the capital, were thrilled the Taliban was gone.
MCMANUS: Well thank you for spending some time with us, Jason. We appreciate it and glad you're back.
BELLINI: Good to be back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCMANUS: "CNN STUDENT NEWS" is going to Salt Lake. Join me, Michael McManus, Monday, February 11, through Friday, February 15, as we experience the sights, sounds and magic of an Olympic Games. In school during the games, STUDENT NEWS will take you there with reports on the science of snowboarding, history behind Salt Lake City and the effect of altitude on the body. We'll also break down all the numbers behind the games and get the overall mood of those attending. STUDENT NEWS will bring the world to you.
ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is "CNN STUDENT NEWS" "Perspectives."
WALCOTT: The director of the CIA warns Americans there could be more terrorist attacks planned for the United States. George Tenet said at a Senate hearing yesterday that terrorists still have -- quote -- "multiple attack plans in the works."
Many people worry that America's nuclear weapons plants could be the next targets and some workers at those plants have said the facilities would be vulnerable to terrorists willing to die.
Steve Young reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STEVE YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lawrence Livermore Lab in California, Rocky Flats in the Denver suburbs and the Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico -- because of security problems they're all potential targets for terrorists willing to die in order to cause nuclear carnage. This, according to whistle blowers who currently work at the weapons facilities, or used to. The threats serious, according to a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
REP. EDWARD MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We have been able to identify the technical materials that are presently in the hands of al Qaeda and the clear intent of al Qaeda, if they could gain access to the plutonium and uranium necessary to construct nuclear weapons, that they would use them.
YOUNG: The Rocky Flats plant no longer makes weapons, but more than enough plutonium to fashion hundreds of nuclear weapons is still on hand. A program manager says a suicidal band of al Qaeda terrorists could kill the guards, obtain plutonium and set off the equivalent of a small nuclear weapons explosion.
He says, at one point, plutonium was stored in a room with gypsum walls and a single padlock. He says that Rocky Flats' vulnerability has been fixed, but there are others equally alarming he can't discuss.
A former member of Lawrence Livermore's SWAT team, who was fired, says guards wouldn't be able to cope with terrorists using biochemical weapons.
MATTHEW ZIPOLT, FORMER LAWRENCE LIVERMORE EMPLOYEE: Officers are not being afforded the proper equipment, training and safeguards to ensure success.
YOUNG: The Department of Energy says the charges are based on old data and are false and misleading. It adds that, "Some try to create a climate of fear grossly disproportionate to the risks to the public.''
(on camera): Congressman Markey says an unclassified version of a report being prepared on security at DOE weapons facilities should be made available to the public.
Steve Young, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALCOTT: In today's "Science Report," clean food. It's a basic requirement and scientists are coming up with new and interesting ways to disinfect the produce we put in our mouths.
Sonia Sequeira reports on the cleaning power of ozone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SONIA SEQUEIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To most of the past century, weapons of war have been used to clean our food. After the First World War, scientists found a new use for stockpiled chemicals like chlorine as a water purifier and a powerful agent to kill bacteria on food.
Before then, ozone, a naturally occurring chemical compound, had been used to clean water. Now a small biotech company in the south of England is pitching the idea of ozone once again to the food industry.
CEO Nick Adams says it's what the public wants.
NICK ADAMS, CEO, BIOQUELL: People don't actually want to eat food that has been decontaminated using chlorine. Ozone, which is -- breaks down to oxygen once it's actually done its job, is environmentally friendly, doesn't taint the food, you can't smell the ozone once it's done its job.
SEQUEIRA: Ozone can be used in gas form. All the bugs in a room this size will be killed by ozone vapor in just 20 minutes. But its more common application is a liquid. In just two minutes, all the bugs on this lettuce will be dead, dissolved into the ozone, which can then be recycled. But ozone cannot be stored, it must be generated on site and that's expensive. An ozone generator can cost between $30,000 and $140,000. But in the long run, it could work out cheaper.
ADAMS: The upfront cost of installing ozone equipment will after three years give you an economic payback as compared to chlorine. Chlorine you have on costs and it's quite significant environmental and health and safety costs associated with chlorine which don't exist with ozone.
SEQUEIRA: In Europe and the U.K., chlorine has been banned as a disinfectant for organic food, a rapidly growing sector of the food industry. And last July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved ozone in the disinfection of food.
(on camera): So will ozone disinfection be the next big thing in the food industry? Bioquell seems to think all the right ingredients are in place for this technology to be a success in 2002.
Sonia Sequeira, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Taking the stairs can help get you in shape and lose weight, according to researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just 10 minutes a day in a stairwell can help you lose up to 10 pounds in a year and over time, significantly impact your health, and in some cases, get you where you're going faster, too.
WALCOTT: An adventure gaining momentum among young people also happens to be a pretty good workout. Urban backpacking is giving travelers a more economical way to globetrot. And for people who like spontaneity, there may be no better way to get around.
Our CNN Student Bureau explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARMAINE MURZA, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Instead of conquering the outdoors, man confronts his own creation. Tarmac replaces trail in the concrete jungle where urban backpackers explore the city on a shoestring budget.
One way for the city backpacker is utilizing hostels. They're the equivalent of campsites on the highways and serve as home sweet home to many backpackers along the way. A seasoned travel and a backpacking pioneer, Joseph Jones has seen it all.
JOSEPH JONES, MANAGER, ATLANTA YOUTH HOSTEL: If people are open minded, like to meet people, like to share experiences with traveling, save money, it's a great, great way to travel.
JUSTIN RIZZOTTI, BACKPACKER: I've been traveling the United States and parts of Canada for six years now, traveling and working in different cities. I always travel by hostel. It's the best way to travel and to meet new people and to pretty much get a feel of what the city has.
MURZA: Alicia Cook is from New York. She's staying here for the second time.
ALICIA COOK, BACKPACKER: The first time I came here, my hotel was $99 per night, and here, well I'm paying $17 per night. You meet people that you never met before from different cultures from all over the world.
INGO HENTSCHEL, (ph): Most cities have nonprofit organizations that lead tours and they can be very inexpensive as opposed to a private tour company so that's one way to save money. Another way is to buy a book and do a walking tour on your own using the book as a guide.
MURZA: Renting bikes or rollerblades is another fun way to eat up concrete and meet people. Being mobile is a primary concern. While you're not carrying much, what you carry it in makes a difference.
HENTSCHEL: The trick is to try to make it as light as possible. It has the shoulder straps and the hip pads have to be able to cover up these straps so that when you check it on an airline, they won't get caught in conveyor belt systems.
MURZA: A backpack may cost upwards of $120, but it's a long-term investment.
HENTSCHEL: You can use a bag like this for many, many years.
MURZA: And don't forget your feet. Wear a low-cut walking shoe. You'll be tired if your toes are. But that doesn't confine their wandering. Even if your wallet is pinned, backpacking can put the world in your pocket.
Charmaine Murza, CNN Student Bureau, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ONSCREEN: "Where in the World?"
This area, acquired as part of Louisiana Purchase, extends from New Mexico to British Columbia, mined for coal, copper and gold.
Can you name this area?
Rocky Mountains, United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALCOTT: That's another edition of "CNN STUDENT NEWS". We'll catch you back here tomorrow. Bye-bye.
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