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CNN Student News

Aired March 20, 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: "CNN STUDENT NEWS" gets your Wednesday started with a rundown of today's program. In today's "Lead Story," we have the latest on diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. After that we go exploring with a woman on a mission to save the planet. Later, we ask how safe are safe deposit boxes? Get the answer in our "Business Report." Plus find out how one charity is faring in the wake of September 11.

And welcome to "CNN STUDENT NEWS". I'm Shelley Walcott.

Our show was preempted yesterday to bring you live coverage of a news conference held by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Shortly after his joint news conference with Sharon, Cheney left Israel for Turkey, the last stop on his Middle East tour. Cheney did not meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat but says he's willing to do so in the future but only if Arafat implements the cease-fire offered by the U.S. U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, meanwhile, has held talks with Arafat.

CNN's John King has more on the diplomatic efforts and hopes for peace.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ankara, Turkey, the final stop, the vice president's focus back on Iraq after a dramatic morning of maneuvering in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. A confrontation with Saddam Hussein is a cause for worry here. Prime Minister Ecevit and other Turkish leaders worry a war might split Iraq in two with the Kurdish north causing neighboring Turkey domestic political problems. Turkey's economy also suffers because of a decade of sanctions on Iraq, but U.S. officials are confident they will have permission to use the Incirlik Air Base here if it comes to military action.

Mr. Cheney began this 12-nation trip insisting he would treat the war on terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian dispute as separate issues, but by the end, a significant shift. Sources tell CNN that in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Mr. Cheney called Israel's military offensive in Palestinian territories an obstacle to swaying Arab nations on Iraq.

In a period of just 12 hours, Israel pulled back troops and said it would allow Mr. Arafat to travel to Beirut for next week's Arab Summit if he accepts a truce. The Prime Minister insists there was no pressure.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINSTER (through translator): We want to accomplish a cease-fire. We want peace.

KING: And Mr. Cheney said he would return to the region within days for a meeting with Mr. Arafat, again, if the Palestinians agree to a truce and talks aimed at reaching a formal cease-fire.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is our hope that the current violence and terrorism will be replaced by reconciliation and the rebuilding of mutual trust.

KING: The day cemented a major turn in administration strategy. It began last week when the president sent special envoy Anthony Zinni back in the middle of deadly violence after long insisting the parties first needed to demonstrate a commitment to peace.

Then Mr. Arafat got his long sought chance at a high level meeting, even though senior U.S. officials say he is still far from meeting the White House threshold of a 100 percent effort to stop terror attacks. U.S. officials say something had to be done to end the bloodshed.

(on camera): These senior U.S. officials say an Israeli- Palestinian truce would by no means guarantee more Arab support for confronting Iraq, but they do believe it would significantly quiet the public criticism and perhaps make the second round of consultations more productive than the vice president's experience this first time around.

John King, CNN, Ankara, Turkey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: There have been questions about just how much control Arafat has over militants.

Christian Amanpour met with some would-be martyrs to get the Palestinian perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a rare encounter with journalists, here in an orange orchard in Gaza, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a military wing of Yasser Arafat's fatah movement told CNN they would abide by a cease-fire if Yasser Arafat orders one.

"Until we have a decision by cease-fire by our president," he says, "our operations continue." Displaying some of their homemade mortars and other weapons, this group has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks that killed more than a dozen Israeli soldiers. They have also taken part in an operation to destroy an Israeli tank, as well as suicide bombings like the one in Jerusalem's orthodox Jewish neighborhood a few weeks ago.

We asked how they continue to justify attacking civilians.

"We prefer attacking military infrastructure, or army checkpoints," he says, "but the Israelis are stronger militarily than us, so we have to attack within the civilian population."

When told that attacking ordinary people erodes support for their cause, they point to places like the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza, population 100,000, teeming with despair and resistance. A recent Israeli military incursion destroyed metal shops suspected of being bomb-making factories and left 19 people dead.

(on camera): The Israelis raided the Jabaliya camp a week ago, and like in previous operations, they said this operation was to root out terror bases. And indeed some militants were killed, but the majority of those who were killed were civilians, leaving an even more embittered and hateful population here.

(voice-over): We came across the Izzeddine family, still mourning two senior family members.

"First, my grandfather was hit. And then, when my father went to help him, he was killed," says 8-year-old Hanna. Her uncle, Farid (ph), tells us the two men were killed as they came up here to their roof to see what was happening, when they heard Israeli tanks outside. Today, Farid is very bitter.

It's impossible to have peace with the Jews, he says. I think they are bloodthirsty and don't want peace at all. And downstairs where the women mourn, his mother wails for God's help in avenging the death of her husband and son, while yet another generation of Palestinian children absorb yet another lesson in hatred, sorrow and defiance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ON-SCREEN: Today is the Persian New Year, or NowRitz (ph) (UNINTELLIGIBLE) day of Spring.

WALCOTT: Opening volleys have been fired in the latest legal battle involving Microsoft. It's been more than eight years since the U.S. Justice Department began investing whether the company was an unfair monopoly. And nearly four years have passed since the department, 20 U.S. states and the District of Columbia hit the company with a major antitrust suit. Now the federal government and 11 states have either settled or withdrawn, but the fight is hardly over.

Our Joel Hochmuth looks at where the case stands now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nine states, led by California and Iowa, are carrying on the antitrust battle against Microsoft. Monday, a U.S. district court judge began hearing their arguments that the company still uses its monopoly power to crowd its rivals out of the market.

PETER WILLIS, TAYLOR JOHNSON GARRETT: The federal government and about half of the states that were fighting Microsoft have more or less finalized a settlement which deals with the concerns identified by the court. But almost half of the states have not accepted that, and they're taking their fight forward, and it's that stage of the process that's going on.

HOCHMUTH: Lawyers for the states say Microsoft is still unfair to competitors like RealNetworks because it withholds technical information so the Real Media Player doesn't work as well as Microsoft's.

In another example, lawyers say Dell Computer, under pressure from Microsoft, backed off from plans to put Linux, a free operating system that competes with Windows, on some of its computers in 2000. Microsoft hasn't responded publicly to that charge.

HARVEY SAFERSTEIN, ANTITRUST ATTORNEY: They've got to convince the judge who hasn't heard this case before that there was something wrong with what Microsoft was doing and to give her a feel of what that's like and that it's continuing.

HOCHMUTH: The nine states are seeking a tougher deal than Microsoft got from its settlement with the Justice Department last November. Among other things, the states want Microsoft to create a version of its flagship Windows Operating System that is stripped down enough so it could incorporate competitor's features. Microsoft says that would mean it would have to test more than 4,000 different versions. Microsoft supporters say that's impossible and that the company would have to take it off the market.

GENE SCHAERR, ASSN. FOR COMPETITIVE TECH.: When one of their witnesses was questioned about the impact of this case or the potential impact of their remedies on balkanizing the Windows Operating Systems that consumers rely on so heavily and buy in such great numbers, the state's witness simply said well that's just tough.

HOCHMUTH: Microsoft says the states are going too far, that they're trying to help the company's competitors rather than consumers. The trial will unfold over the next couple of months and will feature testimony from company chairman Bill Gates and chief executive Steve Ballmer. Even then, its battles aren't over. Microsoft still faces several lawsuits for massive damages from rivals, including Sun Microsystems and AOL Time Warner, parent company of CNN. On the horizon, too, is an investigation by the European Union.

Joel Hochmuth, "CNN STUDENT NEWS".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: As we continue to observe Women's History Month, we focus our camera on Sylvia Earle. She's known as the premier advocate for the world's oceans. "Time" Magazine named her their first "Hero for the Planet." And if that isn't enough, she was recently inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame.

Our Tom Haynes caught up with this famed undersea explorer in a place he knows well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM HAYNES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It took an overnight voyage from Key West, Florida, for us to catch up with the Gordon Gunter (ph). As we pulled alongside the ship, I could see Sylvia Earle. She greeted me as if we were a couple of old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

Sylvia and her crew make up the Sustainable Seas Expedition, researchers and scientists trying to better understand how life in the ocean coexists. On their journey, the team will explore sea life in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Sylvia is the lead scientist on this mission. Many of her younger colleagues consider her the Jacques Cousteau of their generation.

BENJAMIN RICHARDS, SUSTAINABLE SEAS EXPEDITION: As a budding marine biologist and a marine biology student, getting to work with her and alongside her and getting to, you know, be around her is just an exceptional experience. She's full of energy, is constantly an inspiration.

HAYNES: Sylvia has made her life's work being an advocate for the ocean. She's logged more than 6,000 hours underwater and holds the record for the deepest untethered solo dive, plunging more than 1,200 feet.

SYLVIA EARLE, SUSTAINABLE SEAS EXPEDITION: I think what first attracted me to the sea was just getting knocked over by a wave when I was about 3 years old. It got my attention, but what has held my attention for all my life is the existence of life in the ocean and it's not just water. Water is the key to life.

HAYNES: Sylvia is comfortable in front of the camera. Sometimes even playful, using her camcorder to film us. The 66-year-old first lady of the ocean is an admitted introvert, whose favorite pastime is swimming with the fish.

EARLE: The ocean, life on earth, our connection to all of the rest of life, the importance of taking care of the natural systems that take care of us. I see myself either and sometimes as a mirror so people can see themselves or as a window so that they can see beyond and the things that they should be caring about if they don't already. HAYNES: Sylvia lets me see through that window. Her deepness, as she's often called, takes my hand for a guided tour more than a hundred feet beneath the ocean surface.

EARLE: The ocean is like a soup, it's just filled with creatures from the top all the way to the greatest depths seven miles down. And I just love it all.

HAYNES: On the bottom we spot fishing line caught up in a bed of coral. This is exactly the kind of thing the Sustainable Seas Expedition is looking for, man's impact on natural habitats. The question is do we remove the fishing line or leave it alone?

EARLE: I'm torn, I want to take it out of the ocean. It doesn't belong there. It's all mangled -- you know tangled around the coral heads and cutting through some of the sponges. And on the other hand, there're other things that are growing on the line so.

HAYNES: It's an amazing experience, my first deepwater dive. This is a world completely foreign to me, but at the same time, it's a place where I feel so comfortable.

(on camera): Wow, that was incredible.

(voice-over): Once I got over the head rush, my famous tour guide reflects on the significance of our underwater experience.

EARLE: But if people could see what you've seen and understand that this is a part of what makes the world work and that we can upset it, we can harm it, and when we do, we're really compromising and jeopardizing our own future, not just the fish.

HAYNES: Sylvia Earle has no illusions. It's a tall order getting people revved up about the ocean. She knows it will be a little easier if she could give everyone the kind of personal underwater tour she gave me, but she's undaunted by the challenge and even considers it an opportunity.

EARLE: We have a chance that is unique. This is a pivotal point when there is enough of the natural world still in tact to maintain stability if we take care of it. But if we don't and if we continue as we are now, we are in real danger of seeing the tremendous disturbances that are not in our best interest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: And in our "Science Report" tomorrow, Michael McManus brings us the strange and interesting world of insects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Insects alone participate in every single one of the echo system services that we as humans and as a planet, Earth need. If it's aquatics, if it's terrestrial, in the air, insects are there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALCOTT: After the show, go to the Web for a special section with interactive information, Web streams, fun facts and articles.

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

WALCOTT: While U.S. bankers are concerned about which way interest rates go -- they were left unchanged by the Fed yesterday, by the way -- Afghan bankers have a much bigger worry, money itself. When the Taliban left, they took lots of money and left the banking system in virtual ruins.

Michael Holmes now on Afghanistan's struggle to balance its books.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Abdul Qadeer Fitrat is back behind the desk that used to be his. He was the governor of the Central Bank of Afghanistan in 1996, flying to Washington when the Taliban took over Kabul. He couldn't come home for six years.

ABDUL QADEER FITRAT, ACTING GOVERNOR, CENTRAL BANK: Many of the employees fled the country. Senior employees all fled the country. Employees told me that they -- it was a black day. It was a black day in the history of Afghanistan.

HOLMES: Today his job as acting governor is far more challenging than his previous time at the desk. He's presiding over a banking system in shambles.

FITRAT: I found an empty vault, a dirty building and deeply affected employees.

HOLMES: At long dormant counters, businessmen putting their faith in a broken system under repair, and there is much to repair.

(on camera): Does a banking system as the world understands it exist here at all?

FITRAT: No. In Afghanistan, we live still in 1940s banking and financial system.

HOLMES (voice-over): Much is riding on donor nations. This country desperately wants and needs to refill its vaults.

(on camera): Vaults like this one. In November last year, with the Northern Alliance on the outskirts of the city, the Taliban's banking chief walked into this vault, smashed open those safes behind me and walked out with more than $6 million, and then with the rest of the Taliban, he left town.

FITRAT: This is really shame that the governor and the general treasurer of a bank is a robber himself. In my view, that's simply a robbery of the public assets.

HOLMES (voice-over): Deep inside the bank's vaults, little foreign currency but bags of afghanis worth little. This is not a strong currency. This wall of cash would not buy a luxury car in the West. This pile is all the Taliban left, worth just $40,000, apparently not worth the effort to take.

After being cleaned out, the Central Bank is being cleaned up, from the inside out. Soon there will be fully functioning bank accounts. They want foreign banks to set up shop. Mr. Fitrat, hoping his computer screen saver is a snapshot of the future.

FITRAT: We welcome foreigners and foreigners, of course, are our friends.

HOLMES (on camera): So your message to the world is -- "we're open for business."

FITRAT: You are -- we are open for business. Please come and feel at home.

HOLMES (voice-over): Mr. Fitrat hopes to have the banking system running within 6 to 12 months. Optimistic perhaps, and he's only predicting that for Kabul. Other cities and regions will take much longer.

Michael Holmes, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: In today's "Business Report," safety deposit boxes. You know those supposedly indestructible vaults where people keep their most valuable possessions. Well safety deposit boxes may not be as safe as you might think. They can fall victim to natural disasters like floods and fires and most recently, the terrorist attacks on September 11.

Fred Katayama has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sherri Bethelmy placed her antique family jewels in a safe deposit box two years ago. Holding her heirloom: the Chase Manhattan Bank branch in New York's World Trade Center.

SHERRI BETHELMY, PLAINTIFF: I assumed that the vault, wherever they put the boxes, would be in a very safe, secure place, that they couldn't get stolen, couldn't burn up in a fire. They wouldn't be destroyed.

KATAYAMA: But, her safe deposit box did not live up to its name after 9/11. Half of the contents were missing. What remained was charred by fire.

BETHELMY: They were pearls, and now they look like BBs, and they're cracked.

KATAYAMA: She and two other victims sued the bank for negligence.

DAVID WOLLMUTH, BETHELMY'S ATTORNEY: If the vault area and the safety deposit boxes within the vault had been able to withstand that fire, then our clients would not have had any loss.

KATAYAMA: Chase would not comment. Safe deposit boxes are a popular marketing tool for banks. Americans use more than 30 million of them.

(on camera): What many customers don't realize is that safe deposit boxes aren't all that safe against the forces of nature. They're not fireproof or fire-resistant. The vaults encasing them provide about one or two hours' protection from a typical fire, but they're not certified for fire resistance, either.

(voice-over): And they don't protect against floods. In St. Louis, floodwaters destroyed an antique violin stored in a local bank's safe deposit box. A jury awarded $315,000 in damages seven years ago. Vault manufacturers say fighting burglary, not nature, is the priority.

RANDY BENORE, DIEBOLD: The design characteristics and any testing and certification don't cover fire or flood.

KATAYAMA (on camera): Why is that?

BENORE: Just that it's a fairly rare occurrence, and therefore, not something that is generally thought to be worth building into certification.

KATAYAMA (voice-over): What's more, banks do not insure items in the boxes. Lawyers for the plaintiffs contend Chase's lease agreement is vague. As required by New York state law, it says that the contents put in the box "may not be fully protected against loss under the insurance coverage maintained by the bank."

A source close to the situation says, given the extraordinary circumstances of 9/11, Chase will try to compensate uninsured victims. But money can't buy memories for Sherry Bethelmy, whose damaged beads make her pearl for her family's past.

BETHELMY: My first reaction was to cry, to tear up. Was to immediately recall how these looked on my mother, and how they look now.

KATAYAMA: Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Various funds and charities have been established since the terrorist attacks on America. One you likely have heard of, The September 11th Fund, has raised more than $347 million. The outpouring of donations displays the nation's great generosity. But as our CNN Student Bureau reports, it's had a negative impact on some other charities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARISSA HOUK, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Since the September 11 tragedy, many Americans are generously donating their time and money to charities related to the incident, like the Afghan Children's Fund, and ignoring local charities like the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

SUSAN MCDONNELL, MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION: We've experienced here in Columbus a loss of revenue and a loss of volunteer support because of people and well-meaning folks changing their contributions to the Red Cross.

HOUK: Worthington Kilbourne High School in Columbus, Ohio raised money to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation grant the wish of a local child named Derrick. Derrick was asked to help throws pies at teachers who raised the most money. Soon, the Make-A-Wish Foundation will be sending Derrick on his wish.

Recently, this type of support for local charities, like the Make-A-Wish Foundation, has seen a dramatic drop since many groups and individuals are putting forth support towards organizations such as the Red Cross.

MCDONNELL: Worthington Kilbourne High School is one of the schools that raised money for us this year, and they specifically raised it for Derrick. We're so excited to have them onboard with us this year because many of the schools that traditionally work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation have pulled out over a -- as a result of the tragedy of September 11.

HUNTER ALLEN, STUDENT: In the past, we've donated money to the James Cancer Hospital, to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, to different things around Columbus in honor of certain people. Well this year, we decided that we are going to probably donate our money to the Red Cross foundation because we feel that it's a charity, with the recent events, that would mean a lot more to the kids.

HOUK (on camera): Many local charities are now hoping for a greater awareness among Americans for their own local charities because of the proof that their help does make a difference.

This has been Marissa Houk, CNN Student Bureau, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ON-SCREEN: "Where in the World."

Independence Day: August 19, (1919).

Economy is highly dependent on farming and raising livestock.

Widespread landmines. Can you name this country?

Afghanistan.

WALCOTT: Well before we leave you today, the latest thing that could soon be keeping folks entertained in Afghanistan. It's a couple of lions, which will be donated by a wildlife park in China to a zoo in Kabul. The lions will replace Marjan. You may remember the story of the long suffering big cat who died earlier this year since we had two reports on the Afghan zoo and its king of beasts. Now replacements from China, a land where animal donations have long held symbolic political importance.

And here's something that holds symbolic importance for us, our Web site. Log on to CNNstudentnews.com for all the latest from our show, including a profile of Sylvia Earle. She's a leading advocate for the world's ocean.

And that wraps up today's show. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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