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CNN Student News

Aired February 11, 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.

SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: Welcome to the Monday edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. We lead things off with a look at the conflict in the Middle East. Moving on to our "News Focus," we'll explain why Belgium is apologizing.

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: I'm Michael McManus in Salt Lake. What does Brigham Young, Great Salt Lake and Jell-O have in common? Find out coming up.

FREIDMAN: Then, we'll travel to Togo for this week's culture report.

Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Susan Freidman.

Israel strikes at the heart of the Palestinian Authority bombing Yasser Arafat's security headquarters in Gaza City. At least 15 people were hurt. It's the second time in less than three months that the complex has come under fire. Israel says it was retaliating for a Palestinian attack earlier in the day that left two female soldiers dead and several others injured. That attack happened outside an Israeli army base in the southern town of Beersheba. Israeli police say they fatally shot the two gunmen. All this after a top-level meeting between Israel and the U.S. last week left mixed signals about the prospects for peace.

Our Joel Hochmuth reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Experts are still mulling over the meeting between President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The two leaders met at the White House Thursday to discuss the Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule that has killed more than a thousand on both sides over the last 16 months.

Sharon, on the surface at least, sounded conciliatory by saying he expects there will one day be a Palestinian state.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTERS: I believe that one day we'll be reaching a peace. Israel is committed to peace. And an end to - the end of the process, I believe that Palestinian state, of course, will be - will see a Palestinian state.

HOCHMUTH: Experts, though, say Sharon's comments aren't necessarily a breakthrough.

RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER UNITED NATIONS CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: I don't mean to rain on the parade, Paula, but I'm a little bit underwhelmed by the idea that he says, yes, we'll accept a Palestinian state. That's news partly because he's gone so far out in the other direction we all get very grateful when he comes back towards the middle. Paula, a Palestinian state is in all of the peace agreements.

HOCHMUTH: Sharon kept up his hard line against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who he blames for much of the violence in the region. He called Arafat an obstacle to peace but didn't convince Mr. Bush to cut diplomatic ties with him, as he had hoped. Instead, Mr. Bush put more public pressure on Arafat to stem the tide of violence.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well Mr. Arafat's heard from us. I can't be any more clear in my position and that is that he must do everything in his power to fight terror.

HOCHMUTH: Arafat remains isolated at his government headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank under the watchful eye of Israeli tanks. Israel is demanding he end the violence before any peace negotiations begin.

DORE GOLD, SPECIAL ADVISER TO THE PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: We want this violence to come to an end. If the violence comes to an end, if the intifada that has been launched against Israel since last October of 2000 comes to an end, we can negotiate and we can reach peace.

HOCHMUTH: Palestinians want concessions from Israel, including lifting some of the oppression they feel they are living under, including things like travel and economic restrictions.

HASSAN ABDEL RAHMAN, PALESTINIAN REPRESENTATIVE TO THE U.S.: With due respect to the president of the United States, if he wants to have balance, he also should have pointed to what Mr. Sharon needs to do, because only to look at what the Palestinians need to do is not going to solve the problem. There is two parties there.

HOCHMUTH: While no high level talks are scheduled between the two sides, the United States is promising to stay engaged in the process. Experts say it will take compromise on both sides before any serious negotiations can get underway.

KENNETH STEIN, MIDDLE EAST RESEARCH PROGRAM, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Both have to go simultaneously. You cannot expect one side just to stop the violence and then not get anything in return. So maybe what you do is you ease the pressure on the territories and then the violence subsides. That can be worked out.

HOCHMUTH: Until then, the cycle of violence seems destined to continue.

Joel Hochmuth, CNN STUDENT NEWS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Another planeload of detainees is settling in at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Thirty-four more detainees from Afghanistan arrived this weekend, pushing the population at Camp X-Ray to 220. Right now space is limited at the camp, and that leaves U.S. military forces with a bit of a dilemma.

CNN's Bob Franken explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you know, we have 220 detainees at Camp X- Ray right now. We have a capacity to go to 320. So the inn is almost full.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just 100 rooms away from putting up the "no vacancy" sign. And officials say they have become very choosy as they select the ones in Kandahar who will check in here. The priority: Intelligence.

MAJOR STEVE COX, TASK FORCE SPOKESMAN: There's intelligence gathering taking place in a number of ways at a number of places. Certainly it's taking place in Kandahar and certainly it's taking place here.

FRANKEN: And the ones who show intelligence promise are plucked from Kandahar and suddenly find themselves here, to spend a lot of time with the same people. This is a team of the interrogators who have tried to maintain a low profile as they work day and night in these sheds, called the joint interrogation facility, or, of course, the "JIF" in military-speak. The teams include FBI investigators and others from an alphabet of intelligence agencies.

So at all hours the detainees are moved to and from the sheds.

TERRY CARRICO, CAMP X-RAY: We are pretty well moving detainees throughout the day to the JIF. So there is a steady flow over there . Total number in a day I can't really seek to, but we keep them busy.

FRANKEN (on camera): Security forces say it's been frustrating. The commanding general complained that many of the detainees have been interrogated four times and have given four different stories. But officials promise a fifth time, a sixth time, many more times, as these interrogation sheds become the focal point of the relentless search for intelligence.

Bob Franken, CNN, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: In today's "News Focus," a European government admits it could have done more to protect the life of an African leader. Patrice Lumumba was the first Democratically elected Prime Minister of the Congo. He was assassinated in 1961. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, once known as Zaire, is a former Belgium colony. And for years, some people have been wondering about what, if any, role Belgium played in the death of Lumumba.

We have this report from "INSIDE AFRICA."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID COMPTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal parliament in Brussels, the elegant setting for an official apology from the Belgian government for its role in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo.

Belgium is Congo's former colonial power and it has long been suspected of being responsible for Lumumba's death. After a two-year inquiry, a parliamentary commission concluded that Belgium bears what it called "moral responsibility" for the assassination.

GEERT VERSNICK, PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE HEAD: Why morally responsible? Because the Belgian government was careless about what happened to Mr. Lumumba. They were preoccupied that he would come again into power. He was in (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and they wanted to get him away from there. That was the objective. It was not the objective to kill him, but they sent him away somewhere. And they should have known -- they could have known that his life was at risk in Catena.

COMPTON: Appearing before parliament on Tuesday, Belgian foreign minister Louis Michel apologized to the Congolese people.Lumumba's eldest son, Francois, welcomed the apology. Earlier, he told INSIDE AFRICA that the Congolese people will not forget what happened.

FRANCOIS LUMUMBA, SON OF PATRICE LUMUMBA (through translator): Certain elements demonstrate that the government planned and premeditated Patrice Lumumba's assassination and they even allocated funds to do it.I believe that Belgium's specialists, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), are of the higher caliber. And it added an additive moral; it is because they wanted to hide (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of certain people of the period.

COMPTON: The Parliamentary Commission was set up in 1999 after the publication of a book by Belgian historian, Ludo De Witte. De Witte tells INSIDE AFRICA the commission's report does not surprise him.

LUDO DE WITTE, HISTORIAN: The assassination plots were actually several plots coordinated by the Belgian minister of African Affairs. And we have additional information that there was a lot of activities of the Belgian ministers to get Lumumba transferred to Catena where they knew he would be killed.

COMPTON: According to the report, Lumumba was killed on January 17, 1961 along with two of his associates. Their bodies were then doused acid to destroy the evidence.The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was also suspected of involvement in the killings. Declassified intelligence documents confirmed Washington was concerned about Lumumba's pro-Soviet views. But in 1975, a U.S. Senate inquiry found no proof of CIA involvement.

Lumumba was overthrown by Joseph Mobuto, who as Mobuto says (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was widely blamed for many of the country's present ills, including the civil war.In his appearance before parliament on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Louis Michel says Belgium will donate more than $3 million to a pro-democracy fund established in Lumumba's honor.

David Compton for INSIDE AFRICA.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELORES SALA, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO: Hello, my name is Delores Sala. I'm from Albuquerque, New Mexico. And my question is is what goes into planning for the Olympics?

SCOTT GIVENS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CREATIVE GROUPS: The Olympics starts seven years before the Games when the city is awarded the bid. And my group focuses on ceremonies on the creative side so we produce the opening and closing ceremonies and all the different medal awards in sports.

Actually, the creative development process for the Olympics is incredibly long. We've been designing the caldron for almost a year so we'll actually introduce it right around February of '02 when our Games hit. We also have the medals and the various look and feel of the city as we decorate Salt Lake for the Games. It's truly a world gathering, and we bring the city to just an incredible level for the Games.

On a creative level, you'll remember that we really stood for this one thing, the inspiration of the athletes. Salt Lake and its people are just wonderful, and I think they're going to bring a great Games to be hosted here by America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Some athletes in Afghanistan are setting their sights on Olympic gold with a new sense of determination. Not long ago they were banned from their workouts and barred from the Olympic Games but much has changed during the past few months with the Taliban no longer in control. Afghan athletes are looking toward the Summer Games of 2004.

CNN's Michael Holmes has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the dimly lit Kabul weight room, Zabayola (ph) begins what he dreams is a journey to Olympic gold. Under the youthful gaze of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and enduring yet another power failure, Afghanistan's national weightlifting team trains in this dingy gym, many of the weights salvaged from old cars. MOHAMMED AZAMI KOHI, WEIGHTLIFTING COACH (through translator): It is very important to take part in the Olympics, because for so many years we could not participate in anything.

HOLMES: Yonus Hayran is possibly his country's best hope for a medal in Athens, in Greco-Roman wrestling. He's coach of the national juniors, and star of the senior team.

YONUS HAYRAN, WRESTLER (through translator): Under the Taliban, we were like smugglers working in secret. But now, they are no restrictions. We do what we need to do.

HOLMES: We took a tour around Kabul training centers, which by Western standards barely qualify. What these people do have in common with Western athletes, however, is desire and pride in representing their country.

MAHMOOD ZIA DASHTI, HEAD OF AFGHAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (through translator): We want Afghan athletes who have left to come back home and compete.

HOLMES: We met with Mahmood Zia Dashti at the headquarters of the Afghan Olympic Committee. You might remember this stadium: Under the Taliban, adulterers were shot or beheaded in this place, thieves had their hands cut off, others were hanged.

Now the stadium is again a field of dreams, not nightmares, a home for sportsmen and women. Yes, women. Under the Taliban, women like Maliha Baraky, former national basketball captain, had to give up sports altogether, give up public life, work, everything.

MALIHA BARAKY, FORMER NATIONAL BASKETBALL CAPTAIN (through translator): It's so hard to play for a long time and then stop for years.

HOLMES: But now, she is back on the court, without a burkah, playing one-on-one with a man.

BARAKY (through translator): We want a strong team, a woman's team to take part in the Olympics. This is our hope.

HOLMES (on camera): Afghanistan was banned from Olympics competition in 1999 because the Taliban did not allow women to compete. Well, that might be about to change now. The International Olympic Committee is sending an envoy here to Afghanistan, and that might open the door for a return to the Olympics fold.

(voice-over): And in true Olympic spirit, medals don't matter all that much to these athletes. Just being in Athens would be the victory they have been dreaming of.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Coming up, our Michael McManus is at the heart of the Olympic action. We'll hear from him in Salt Lake City, Utah and learn a little about the host of the Winter Games.

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

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: We're here in Salt Lake City for our Olympic coverage. But before venturing out into this Winter Olympic wonderland, we wanted to learn a little bit about the city by Great Salt Lake. Who better to chat with than the man who represents this town for all matters political, Senator Orrin Hatch.

I caught up with him the other day. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: And Senator, thank you for joining us today. Appreciate having you.

SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: Glad to be with you.

MCMANUS: And why don't you start out with some of the history behind Salt Lake City?

HATCH: Well, of course, as you know, the Mormon pioneers traveled from Iowa City 1,300 miles, 3,000 of them walked by foot to get to the Great Sale Lake Valley and of course, over 70,000 automoly (ph) came during those pioneers days. And you know they established a great city in the midst of the - of a tremendous wilderness. And of course from there, of course, went on to develop copper, gold, silver, lead mines throughout all the canyons.

And gradually when the railroad finally -- the Transcontinental Railroad finally was connected in Utah in 1869. Of course Utah from that -- from the time the pioneers got there to the time that railroad came through was called the crossroads of the West and ever since has been the crossroads of the West. Old people going -- old pioneers going through Utah on their way to California or other destinations would stop in Salt Lake City to get supplies, food, have their wagons repaired and so forth. But it all began way back in the 1700s with Spaniards who were trying to find -- well, to explore the area and find various ways into California and elsewhere.

MCMANUS: Well it started then, but there's been this incredible explosion...

HATCH: Yeah.

MCMANUS: ... population in your city as well as in your state the past, what would you say, 30, 40 years?

HATCH: Well the state has been growing and growing and growing. When I was elected, there were 1.4 million people. Today there are 2.3 million people. It's one of the fastest growing states. You know we're the leading state with regard to households having a household computer. That's why a lot of software companies and the top technology experts are coming to Utah because they're finding these highly educated people who want to live within their -- within the Utah area because of the beautiful mountains, the skiing and everything else. They're finding a tremendous climate in place to get really top (INAUDIBLE) people to do the technology that's necessary for their businesses.

MCMANUS: Doing some research on your state and on your city, turn out there was, what, over a 30-year history behind the Games coming to Salt Lake?

HATCH: That's right.

MCMANUS: It didn't start a few -- it didn't start in 1995 or 1996, this has gone on a long time.

HATCH: It really has. It took us a long time to convince the International Olympic Committee that this is the place, the real place to host the Winter Games. But they did come there and they started to recognize what a terrific place it was. And we wanted to let the world know this great hidden secret of just how beautiful our mountains are, how beautiful our four seasons really are, how really beautiful Utah is and what a tremendously commercial and good place it is.

And of course the original pioneers and my great grandfather and a lot of others, relatives were part of the original pioneers. They wanted to establish a model community in the midst of the Rocky Mountains where they could worship freely, where they could get rid of the persecutions that had beset them being driven from New York to Ohio, from Ohio to Missouri, from Missouri to Illinois. And finally in the dread middle of winter, out of Nauvoo, Illinois, the city beautiful, which was the second largest city in Illinois at the time, cross into Iowa and then braved the tremendous difficulties of walking and pushing all the way into Salt Lake City where Brigham Young said this is the right place.

MCMANUS: Was the place.

HATCH: That's right.

MCMANUS: So that pioneering spirit really carries over. You have thousands of fans coming, thousands of reporters coming. You have I mean thousands of people from all over the world coming.

HATCH: That's right.

MCMANUS: That's a big responsibility for a city.

HATCH: Well it is, and of course we're ready for it. You know we have -- we're known for volunteers. When they asked for volunteers to help with the Olympics, 64,000 people showed up. They didn't need that many, but that's how many showed up. And so we have tremendous volunteers.

And of course we're taking great pride in having the Games there. And even though we've had to be very careful about all the expenditures, there's a lot of money being expended for these Games, and they -- I think they're going to be the best Olympic -- Winter Olympic Games in history. And I doubt if they'll ever be duplicated. The venues that we've created are the best venues for winter sports ever.

MCMANUS: Really beautiful.

HATCH: Oh they're really beautiful. And of course people have found long before we got the Olympics, they found the great powder snow, you know, it's...

MCMANUS: And you would consider it definitely, obviously, without question the mountains being one of the hidden gems of Salt Lake?

HATCH: Everybody who has ever lived in Utah loves the mountains. They're beautiful. And we have -- we have everything there. We have everything from sand dunes to the national monuments, national parks in the south to beautiful lakes and streams to pure desert. And I have to tell you, the mountains themselves are just absolutely gorgeous.

MCMANUS: Well on a lighter note, what's this fascination with Jell-O Salt Lake City has and highest per capita in the country of Jell-O consumers?

HATCH: Well Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, in particular, are very health conscious, and -- but they like their sweets, especially ice cream and Jell-O. And Jell-O is a perfect dessert you know. I guess you could say that they just can't break that mold anymore, you know.

MCMANUS: And it's a good place to maybe open a dentistry practice?

HATCH: Well, actually, there are a lot of dentists out there and there's a lot of candy and ice cream and Jell-O eaten by almost everybody in Utah now, but we welcome everybody. It's -- we've got a tremendous community, our people are very religious, very decent, good family people. I think people are going to find a great welcome in our Great Salt Lake Valley and all the surrounding venues. They're going to be terrific. It's going to be a great set of games and I'm looking forward to it.

MCMANUS: Looking forward to checking them out myself. Thank you so much.

HATCH: You bet, nice to be with you.

MCMANUS: OK. You too.

HATCH: OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Senator Hatch on the history of Salt Lake.

Well as Brigham Young said, this is the place. Stay tuned, we're going to be here all week. I'll see you tomorrow.

FREIDMAN: We turn now to Togo, a Republic of West Africa. For many girls who live there, receiving a formal education is just as great as an Olympic win. And for many young ladies who have to walk miles just to get to class, it's just as tiring, but nevertheless, worth it as CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHILDREN SINGING)

ALPHONSO VAN MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What you're hearing is a rarity in rural Togo, a classroom full of girls singing because they're happy to be learning to read.

"If I wasn't here, I'd be doing housework with my mother," says 12-year-old Akwayseeway Moheetwo. "I'd be out herding goats and sheep."

Akwayseeway is enrolled in a girl's only education program aimed at raising Togo's 61 percent women's illiteracy rate. At home, these girls speak Watchi (ph), here classes are in French, the official language of the former French administered colony. Comic Relief and Care International work with Togolese organization La Colombe putting some 140 girls in 7 makeshift schools nationwide.

"Traditional communities have not yet accepted that education is a right for girls," says Teresa Okocu (ph), the program's director. "We work on sensitizing traditional communities that education, as well as other rights, are the same for girls and boys."

In Togo's male dominated culture, boys carry on the family name and inherit the family farm or business. When boys play, girls are minding the shop, the kitchen or working the fields where their families say they aren't at risk of being distracted by schoolboys or defiled by male teachers. So the few parents who can afford to send a child to school enroll their sons first.

But some girls are breaking those barriers. With parental permission, these girls walk eight kilometers, more than five miles, to attend class each day. The three-year program isn't affiliated with Togo's public school system but its curriculum covers the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic.

(on camera): Organizers say local traditions make it difficult to keep girls enrolled in school, traditions that would have one family marrying off their daughter into another family. Their mentality, why bother to invest in a girl's education when that girl will eventually leave the family and take what she's learned with her?

(voice-over): To earn a family's trust, teachers tailor classes within the context of village life, reinforcing the message that girls can balance lessons and housework and that an educated girl is, as one poster puts it, a more valuable girl, wife and community member.

"I want to be a teacher and use my education to bring a school to my village," she says.

A break from classes, another song for a visiting journalist. "We want to fly, fly away," they're singing. "We want to learn to read like the boys." School organizers say they'll show them how, one girl, one class at a time.

Alphonso Van Marsh, CNN, Legdanou-Dzokope (ph), Togo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Ice hockey, it's a sport with lots of fans in countries like the United States, Canada and Russia, but enthusiasm for hockey is growing and players are hitting the ice in some places you might not expect.

Our CNN Student Bureau has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN PEROLT, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Ice hockey in Asia has been growing at a fast rate over the last couple of years. Leagues have been formed in Hong Kong, China, Bangkok, Singapore, Jakarta and many other places. Asia sports have been working hard on developing the game.

The facilities to play the game aren't that great. Most rinks are scattered in shopping malls. Because the rinks are smaller, the game is played four on four. In Hong Kong only, there are over 500 players ranging from all ages. There are many different leagues, which gives a chance for everyone to play.

(on camera): Is there a lot of good competition?

JOE ASSI, HOCKEY PLAYER: A lot of tournaments (INAUDIBLE) travel a lot. I enjoy playing. I've been playing for a while. And I'm looking forward to this year's big tournament, the Ice Hockey Fives in Malaysia.

PEROLT (voice-over): The big tournament every year is the world's Ice Hockey Fives. This year, it will be played in (INAUDIBLE), Malaysia. Teams from all over Asia will be gathering there to play in the tournament.

This is Dan Perolt reporting from Hong Kong International School for CNN Student Bureau, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" has two official languages, ice hockey is the favorite sport, beef is the most popular meat? Can you name this country? Canada.

FREIDMAN: That's it for today's show. Be sure to check us out online at CNNstudentnews.com. Have a great day.

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