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CNN Student News

Aired March 25, 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.

MICHAEL MCMANUS, CO-HOST: We get this Monday started with a look at the rundown. In today's "Lead Story," President Bush wraps up his tour of Latin America and the U.N. end its poverty conference in Mexico. Details coming up. Our stay in Mexico continues as we "Chronicle" the rights of spring. Later, we get a fresh perspective on combat art. Then, meet a mayor teaching young people the value of a can-do attitude.

Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS for Monday. I'm Michael McManus.

And it's back to Washington for President Bush after a four-day goodwill tour through Latin America. Mr. Bush wrapped up his mission Sunday in El Salvador. The trip, which also took him to Peru and Mexico, focused on the economic and social conditions of the various nations there.

At a news conference with Salvadorian President Francisco Flores on Sunday, President Bush pledged to support free trade efforts in the Western Hemisphere. Both leaders agree that trade could help end poverty in the region.

CNN's Major Garrett has more on Mr. Bush's trip and which, if any, goals or agreements were reached.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The president's Latin American tour ended much as it began, with fewer policy breakthroughs than the White House wanted.

In El Salvador, no announcement about a trade pact, linking the U.S. and all of Central America, why? Congress isn't ready to give the White House a green light.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Completing these agreements will promote prosperity throughout the hemisphere, and reinforce the region's progress toward political, economic, and social reform.

GARRETT: It was the same in (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Mr. Bush wanted to arrive with a freshly renewed Indian free trade pact.

BUSH: The Indian Trade Preference Act is a cornerstone of good policy as far as I'm concerned, and it's a cornerstone of good relations.

GARRETT: But Senate Democrats refused to act, prompting one Indian leader to tell President Bush it looked to him as if Democrats were manana-ing the issue to death.

In Mexico, the president could not announce progress on immigration reform, in part because Senate Democrats have blocked legislation simplifying visa renewals.

BUSH: It's an important piece of legislation. It allowed families to stay together.

GARRETT: White House officials not only complain about Democratic obstructionism, but this line from the Democrats' weekly radio address:

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA: The president's trip this week into Latin America is part of an orchestrated strategy to carry favor with a team of voters in the United States. Our community knows the difference between rhetoric and results. They know the difference between pandering and producing.

GARRETT: While top aides were incensed, the president appeared unmoved.

BUSH: Sometimes in Washington, D.C., people can not get rid of old habits, which is petty politics, Mr. President.

GARRETT: Despite the shortcomings of the trip, the president returned to a region his father helped transform, supporting negotiations ending wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador and encouraging democracies throughout the region.

GARRETT (on camera): President Bush entered the White House eager to place Latin America at the center of his foreign policy, but the War on Terror derailed those plans, at least for the time being. The president hopes to return to the region in October with new trade and immigration bills that he could not deliver on this trip. Major Garrett, CNN, San Salvador, El Salvador.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: President Bush's Latin American tour began with a visit to Monterrey, Mexico. He met with world leaders at a U.N. Conference on Poverty and Development.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck looks at the agreements that were reached and the criticisms that have already followed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The document took shape during months of debate by hundreds of government experts, social activists and members of the private sector.

The Monterrey commitment, introduced amid the fanfare and expense of a big time U.N. summit, is being touted as the solution to world poverty. The agreement promises to help the U.N. reach its goal of cutting in half the number of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, bringing 1.1 billion out of the despair of deep need by shifting money, lots of it, from north to south, from the developed to the developing world. The U.S. alone promises to spend $15 billion starting next fiscal year in development work. The European Union, offering the biggest amount, $20 billion.

(on camera): But already people are saying it is not enough. The U.N. says it needs between $50 and $100 billion to reach its stated goal.

(voice-over): And some say the richest countries are still being too stingy. One of the critics of the U.S. is one of its former presidents, Jimmy Carter.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our assistance that we give to other countries, although the Americans are generous people, is extremely low.

WHITBECK: And then there are those who wonder how all of the talk in Monterrey will translate into concrete actions.

RICARDO LAGOS, PRESIDENT OF CHILE: How much of that assistance to the most underdeveloped countries, how much access to the world markets are going to be given to the intermediate countries, and in what way are we going to be able to make sure that the direct foreign investment, or if you wish, international private capital flows, will go to emerging capital markets?

WHITBECK: As head of the U.N. Population Fund, Thoraya Obaid saw her operating budget slashed last year. To her the success of the Monterrey summit will be easy to determine.

THORAYA OBAID, U.N. POPULATION FUND: Maybe let's talk in about a year and we'll see what sums have been invested and where we are moving. It's a process that we have to follow and monitor very closely.

WHITBECK: Money promised becoming money spent, bettering lives or simply creating illusions?

Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Monterrey, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: After September 11, intelligence officials around the world stepped up surveillance, detentions and arrests in an attempt to crack al Qaeda's global network. Many of those charged have remained in custody making it virtually impossible for journalists to speak with them.

In the Philippines, in an exclusive interview, we get a rare glimpse of two men arrested by officials as suspected al Qaeda operatives.

CNN's Maria Ressa has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this lower-class neighborhood in Manila, Larita Ali (ph) and her children watch news about Osama bin Laden on TV, but the war on terror has had a very real immediate impact on her family.

Nearly four months ago, Philippine police arrested her husband, Jordanian Hassan Dden Ali, along with two Palestinians, Ahmed Abd Masrie and Mohammed Sabri Salamah. Confidential police documents obtained by CNN say the three are actively involved in recruiting members for a terrorist cell linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, charges the three vehemently deny.

In an exclusive interview with CNN, which police escorts repeatedly tried to stop, Hassan Ali accuses the Philippine police of planting evidence for their case in his home.

HASSAN DDEN ALI, JORDANIAN SUSPECT: There is conspiracy between immigration and Philippine National Police (ph). They want to catch me, and not only me, all Arabs.

RESSA: He grew angry when the police again tried to stop the interview.

ALI: Let people to know -- let people to know what is happening. Why you are catching me? I am willing, OK, to tell everything and everywhere.

RESSA: Intelligence sources tell CNN they believe these men are part of an al Qaeda sleeper cell connected to a 1995 terrorist cell busted here, led by Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. All three arrested have lived in the Philippines for more than a decade, Ali the longest at 17 years.

Salamah, in these intelligence documents dated December 1994, came under police surveillance while working with Mohammed Jamal Kalifa (ph), who police say funneled money to extremist groups here from his brother-in-law, Osama bin Laden.

Masrie, according to intelligence officials, shared a house with Ramzi Yousef and his conspirator, Abdul Hakim Murad. Both men are serving life sentences in U.S. prisons.

ANDREA DOMINGO, IMMIGRATION COMMISSIONER: The three that were arrested were actually in the same place during their high school days with Murad and Yousef, and I guess other people like Kalifa (ph), they seem to know each other.

RESSA: Not true, says Masrie. He says he did live in the house pinpointed by intelligence officials, but that he never met Ramzi Yousef. He denies intelligence claims he went to high school with the other two men arrested with him. AHMAN ABED MASRIE, PALESTINIAN SUSPECT: How come? I am in Lebanon and Kuwait (ph), and also I have my high school certificate, different country.

RESSA: Ali said they never met until they were arrested.

ALI: What we know, we know it only here, only after they plant evidence.

RESSA: His wife told a slightly different story. "They were all students here in the Philippines back then, so they met each other that way."

When told what his wife said, Ali conceded they met as students, but did not know each other well.

(on camera): Is this discrimination against Arabs and Muslims as the men claim, or effective police intelligence work against a terrorist network? That question may never really be answered in court. With no anti-terrorism law in the Philippines, all these men will face will be criminal charges, the first illegal possession of firearms.

Maria Ressa, CNN, Manila.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRYSTI BLAND, ALPENA, MICHIGAN: Hello, my name is Krysti Bland and I'm from Alpena, Michigan. And my question is, where does the vice president live when he's in office?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Krysti, it's only recently that the vice president has had an official residence. But the residence now is in Northwest Washington, a very lovely area of the city, and it's at the U.S. Naval Observatory. And when you pass the grounds, what you see is, number one, the vice president's residence, which used to be for the chief of naval operations. And then you also see some of the buildings that are associated with the observatory, a very sophisticated observatory. But that's where the Vice President lives.

And one of the regular occurrences at the last term when it was Al Gore as the vice president, he threw a Halloween party for the press every year at the vice president's residence. It was one of the most looked-forward-to social events. Of course, he also was a very active member of the administration. And many of the meetings on important subjects like U.S.-Soviet relations, U.S.-Russian relations were held at that spot as opposed to the more formal offices in the White House area or even on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Much of the Bush administration's focus this weekend was on international relations. Sunday, U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni met again with Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv. The talks were aimed at negotiating a cease-fire between the two sides. Vice President Dick Cheney, just back from the Middle East, says Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat must make a commitment to stopping the violence.

Our Joel Hochmuth has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Will he or won't he, that was the big question as Vice President Dick Cheney made his rounds on the Sunday morning talk show circuit. Will he return soon to the Mid East to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat? In essence, he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer not yet.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If, in fact, Arafat will do what he's, in the past, said he will do, if he'll actually deliver on the Tenet plan, if he'll move to put a lid on the violence and do what's required in Tenet, for example, sharing of intelligence information, take responsibility for securing their own area so attacks can't be launched against the Israelis and vice versa. If, in fact, those steps are actually implemented, then at that point I'll be prepared to meet with Mr. Arafat. To date, that hasn't happened, and therefore there's no meeting currently scheduled.

HOCHMUTH: It was just last week Cheney was in Israel and met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss ways to end the ongoing violence between Israelis and Palestinians, violence that has now claimed more than 1,5000 lives on both sides over the last year and a half. At the time, he told Sharon he was ready to meet with Arafat to speed the peace process along. There had been speculation that could come as early as this week. But then last Thursday, just two days after Cheney left the region, a suicide bomber killed three Israelis in Jerusalem and wounded dozens of others. The military wing of Arafat's Fatah movement claimed responsibility, raising new questions about Arafat's commitment to end violence against Israelis and to the Tenet plan in particular.

Now the Tenet plan is named for CIA Director George Tenet who met with both sides last year and got them to agree to commit to a cease- fire. That still hasn't happened, and the U.S. holds Arafat largely responsible.

CHENEY: The proposal that everybody signed up to on both sides was the so-called Tenet plan last summer, and what we're trying to do now is implement the Tenet plan. And if and when Arafat does not just agree to that, but actually begins to implement it and move towards a cease-fire along with the Israelis, both sides have obligations and responsibilities under that, then I'm prepared to meet with Arafat, but not until.

HOCHMUTH: Many see an Arafat-Cheney meeting as a vote of confidence for Arafat, considered by many world leaders as a sponsor of terrorism. Arafat has never met with the vice president or President Bush, whereas Israeli leader Sharon has already met with Mr. Bush four times. CLIFF MAY, FOUNDATION OF THE DEFENSE FOR DEMOCRACIES: We cannot reward terrorism. And until and unless Arafat gives up terrorism, which sadly he has not done, there is no way that Cheney can violate that principle. We don't negotiate with the Taliban. We don't negotiate with al Qaeda. We can't negotiate with Arafat as long as people who report to him are committing acts of blatant and terrible terrorism.

HUSSEIN IBISH, AMERICAN ARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE: I think if we're serious about bringing this conflict to an end, if we're serious about dealing with it, of course we have to talk to both sides. We can't be talking only to the Israelis and not to the Palestinians when there's a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

HOCHMUTH: For now, the Bush administration is staying engaged in the process through its special envoy Anthony Zinni. As for Cheney, he's downplaying the importance of a meeting with Arafat. He says such a meeting is not the end all of the peace process, just a part of it.

Joel Hochmuth, CNN STUDENT NEWS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Yesterday was Palm Sunday and Christians the world over celebrated. In Vatican City, Pope John Paul II held mass with thousands attending. Palm Sunday ushers in the most important week of the church year culminating on Easter Sunday. Christians use palm branches to commemorate Christ's entry into Jerusalem.

Now on to another right of spring and that is a pilgrimage of sorts that involves ancient ruins, the sun and the new birth which spring brings to the land. I'm describing the celebration of the Spring Equinox that takes place north of Mexico City. It's an event drawing thousands hoping to shake off the winter chill and receive the warming energy of the sun.

Morgan Neal has more on this yearly event.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN NEAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A line of thousands snakes its way up the steep edges of the Pyramid of the Sun, indigenous healers shoulder-to-shoulder with international tourists gathered to celebrate the Spring Equinox.

Each year, crowds flock to the pre-Hispanic Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, 48 kilometers north of Mexico City. They come to shake off the chill of winter and receive the energy of the sun, believed to flow here on the first day of spring.

MARGARITA RODRIGUEZ (though translator): It is necessary to recharge the energy in order to live another year more peacefully.

NEAL: Visitors line ancient Teotihuacan's Avenue of the Dead and they wait to receive a lympiasa (ph), the traditional cleansing of one's aura. For just 20 pesos, a little more than two U.S. dollars, the shaman purges the body of bad energy, using tree branches, various amulets, and smoke to bring love, work and good health.

PANCHACO PEREZ (through translator): It is scientifically documented that we have an aura, that all human beings have an aura that can be treated or purified by fire in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

NEAL: Wearing traditional dress, dancers perform in front of the pyramid, giving a sense of what it must have been like for those who walked the same streets centuries ago. Morgan Neal, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

MCMANUS: For more than a year now, we've been hearing about an economic downturn and falling corporate profits. The stock market has weathered through hard times and many investors are looking forward to the second quarter, which begins next week. Not far from Wall Street, however, is an economic enclave that's been on an upswing throughout all of this mess.

CNN's Garrick Utley explains the secret behind the community's success.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you're looking for the global village, look here on Main Street in the community of Flushing in Queens in New York City, Chinese, Koreans, Pakistanis, Indians, the list goes on.

NARENDRA WALIA, SHOP OWNER: We feel like a home here. You live in Flushing, you don't miss India. You see all of the people living like Indians. There is Indian food and Indian culture.

UTLEY: This is not that other New York, where commuters head to work in the morning, Manhattan with its economic and human anxieties. Nope, in this part of the city, there are far fewer signs of recession.

WELLINGTON CHEN, URBAN PLANNER: We are now the most diversified company in the United States, probably the world.

UTLEY (on camera): In Manhattan, rents are going down, office space is standing empty, fewer people are coming to the city.

CHEN: Right.

UTLEY: It's the opposite here.

CHEN: Right.

UTLEY: Why? CHEN: I think, you know, I like to mention, the last time we had a recession here, in my opinion, was '75, '76, and these particular types of ethnic enclaves tend to be more resilient.

UTLEY: What is it that makes an immigrant community so vibrant? First and foremost, of course, are the life stories of the people who have come here. For example, across the street there, the yellow awning of the hardware store, founded by a couple from Taiwan who arrived here 10 years ago. Next to it, 99 Cent City, run by some Pakistanis. Next to it, a Vietnamese restaurant founded by a couple that came from the old South Vietnam.

Then, there is the matter of knowledge, of learning, the local public library. What's special about it? Well, this local library lends, each year, more books and videos than any other branch library in the United States. And finally, there is the money.

Along this Main Street, USA, within 1,000 feet, there are now more than 30 banks -- 30.

(voice-over): The result, a micro economy that generates its own growth.

ADAM BEREL, HOME DEPOT: It's fantastic. Real estate is booming, and business is always good. And there's an Asian culture that is bringing in lots of money, and they have their own kind of close-knit economy, and bringing in money to Home Depot.

UTLEY: In fact, the local Home Depot in Flushing claims the highest sales volume in the nationwide chain.

LAWRENCE YEH, BUSINESSMAN: Asians overseas believe that there is a much better life here.

UTLEY: Lawrence Yeh grew up Flushing. His mother is Chinese; his father, Italian.

YEH: And what's driving the community is the constant flow of new immigrants. We also have second and third generation American-born Asians, which is driving the community to the next level.

UTLEY: That next level in Flushing is the new mall. All right, it's pretty modest. There is no anchor tenant. The brands are mostly local. And there is virtually no unemployment.

IRWIN THEISER, GEN. MANAGER, FLUSHING MALL: This community does have a very strong entrepreneurial spirit, and if they can't find a job doing what they wanted to do, they'll find something. They'll create a job. They are not going to sit back and, "Woe is me, woe is me." The family -- the family structure of this community is quite strong.

UTLEY: And perhaps that's another reason behind the better economic times here. The culture is not corporate. There are no share prices to drive up, to please Wall Street across the river, just the work of building new lives and businesses, step by determined step.

Take the main local newspaper, the "World Journal." You have probably never heard of it if you don't read Chinese, but its national circulation puts it among the top 25 newspapers in the United States. Its publisher sees more change coming with more immigrants pursuing their dreams.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you walk on the street, you know, every day, especially during the weekend, you know, you see the people, it's crowded. Sometimes you can tell from their dress, you know, these are the new coming immigrant.

UTLEY: Americans may disagree whether that's good news or troubling news, but it's a fact. This is where globalization comes home.

CHEN: I always admire these entrepreneurs. They land with $5 in their pocket. Their back is against the water. It's sink or swim, and they try to make something with their lives. In a very short time, they come out and emerge as the middle class, and I have to give them credit for that.

UTLEY (on camera): That what drives this?

CHEN: That's what drives it.

UTLEY (voice-over): As it always has driven American life, and will.

Garrick Utley, CNN, Flushing, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: Well painting offers more than just amusement, it's also a great tool for communication. A picture can often tell a story better than words. It can provide a glimpse into history like no other medium.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve looks at a military art program that is reaping these benefits.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The glory, the gore, the hardware, the hard life: Virtually all aspects of the military are depicted in the art collections of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.

RENEE KLISH, ARMY CURATOR: The Army arts program actually began in World War I, when eight artists were sent to Europe. Basically, they were told: Paint what you see in whatever medium, whatever style.

MESERVE: They have been at it ever since, in wartime and peacetime, swelling the Army's collection to more than 13,000 pieces of art.

KLISH: In World War II, many of the pieces are dark. They have come out of the Depression and into that.

In the Vietnam period, it is like being in the middle of a shag rug.

MESERVE: The Navy's combat art program didn't officially get under way until World War II.

Captain John Roach, painting for them since Vietnam, does not believe photography has rendered his skills obsolete.

CAPT. JOHN ROACH, U.S. NAVY ARTIST: Photographs are an absolutely magnificent, wonderful way of capturing the moment and the event, but the artwork tends to transition beyond that and show you what was not seen, either by compressing the event or by an intellectual overlay of what you're looking at.

Roach sees himself as a spokesman for service men and women. And, indeed, these collections were initiated with public relations and propaganda in mind. But some of the artists, who have been both civilian and military, have chosen to show the fear and ferocity of war.

KLISH: These are some of our World War II pieces...

MESERVE: Many of these works hang in climate-controlled storage because the services have little display space. They do loan pieces out to museums, the Pentagon and the offices of high-ranking government officials. And, occasionally, works have disappeared.

This painting of Guantanamo Bay was recently recovered when it showed up on an Internet auction site. It had been missing for 50 years. Although some prominent artists have contributed, one curator acknowledges most of these are not Rembrandts or Van Goghs. What they are is history of the military and the country it serves.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: To Columbus, Ohio now and a mayor that's helping to carry a message. That message is the importance of reading. Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman believes an investment in words now will more than pay off later.

Our Student Bureau has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRITTANY METIAS (ph), CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Columbus, Ohio's Mayor Mike Coleman recently visited Highland Elementary School to read to its second grade students.

MIKE COLEMAN, MAYOR OF COLUMBUS, OHIO: "What should I be when I grow up?" said -- asked Otoo (ph).

METIAS: His passion for assisting the young minds of the community was reflected in his merry voice and beaming eyes as he read through the children's book, "I Know I Can."

COLEMAN: All right.

METIAS: A book with a theme that encourages children to work hard to become who they want to be.

COLEMAN: Today I'll do my very best. Until I do, I will not rest. That's the way...

METIAS: He set aside time to speak with me.

(on camera): Mayor Coleman, what was the purpose that brought you here today to read to these students?

COLEMAN: To read to these students and to be with them, to encourage them that they can grow up to do anything they want to do in life but they have to go to college.

I know I can go on to college.

To my neighborhood.

METIAS: Mayor Coleman completed his visit at Highland by inducting all of its second grade students as honorary junior mayors. He swore them in and left them with his lasting words of encouragement.

CHILDREN: I know I can.

This has been Brittany Metias, CNN Student Bureau, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCMANUS: All right. Head online to CNNstudentnews.com to learn more about El Salvador and President Bush's trip to Latin America. While you're there, you movie buffs can click on the Oscar special to check out all of last night's winners. And here's a plus, you can get a four-day advanced look at a cool story on the technical magic makers behind the cameras. We're going to bring you that story on Thursday's show.

And tomorrow in our "Health Report," we'll tell you why it's important to have a strength training program designed, you got it, just for you. And mine's telling me to go do some sit-ups, so I'm out of here.

Have a good one. We'll see you tomorrow.

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