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CNN 10
CNN Student News For April 2, 2002
Aired April 02, 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: Tuesday takes off with a look at the conflict in the Mid East. Terror threatens the prospect of peace. We'll have more on the crisis.
SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: In "Chronicle," a tale of two cities. How are the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York changing the skyline of Beijing?
WALCOTT: More on China in "Perspectives" as we examine the culture and customs of this ancient civilization.
FREIDMAN: And in our "Health Report," teens turn to a practice that could be deadly. We'll examine the horrors of puffing.
WALCOTT: Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott.
FREIDMAN: And I'm Susan Freidman.
Israeli soldiers and heavy armor are on the move in the West Bank. Israelis call the stepped up offensive Operation Protective Wall. Palestinians call it a campaign of terror.
WALCOTT: Efforts towards peace in the Middle East are being battered by nearly a week of bloodshed. Yesterday, President Bush outlined what he feels the Palestinians and Israelis must do to bring the current crisis to an end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's very important for the Prime Minister to keep a pathway to peace open, to understand that on the one hand Israel should protect herself and on the other hand there ought to be a pathway, a capacity to achieve a peaceful resolution to this issue. It's important for Israel to understand.
I'd like to see Chairman Arafat denounce the terrorist activities that are taking place, the constant attacks.
We've got a plan that will lead to peace; a security plan called Tenet, it's a political plan called Mitchell. Both sides have agreed to this plan. And we urge the parties to accept the Tenet plan so that we can bring some -- a peaceful resolution to an issue that's affecting the lives of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALCOTT: Since Friday, Ramallah has been the center of the Israeli offensive. A gun battle erupted there Sunday between Israeli forces and Yasser Arafat's compound guards.
CNN's Michael Holmes is covering this evolving story. His report up first, followed by Bill Schneider on how the heightened Mid East conflict is affecting the U.S. war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The day began with house-to-house searches in downtown Ramallah. At a city apartment block, men, some in police uniforms, ordered out, searched, blindfolded, handcuffed and led away.
Pro-Palestinian activists from two international groups are in Ramallah and elsewhere -- dozens of them, perhaps more. In this city, they're defying an Israeli-imposed curfew. Here, some trying unsuccessfully to intervene in the detentions. Israel says operations like this have netted several known terrorists.
But it's a wide net. Innocent men often swept up with suspect ones. Soldiers prevented us from getting any closer. Later those soldiers removed a number of weapons from the building and invited us to film them. "Take a picture," the soldier said.
Activists, saying the men were policemen, countered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police can have weapons.
HOLMES: Then, just 20 steps away, gunshots.
(GUNFIRE)
HOLMES: Israeli troops at first confused about where it was coming from. It appeared to be a gunfight in a nearby building, but which building?
(GUNFIRE)
HOLMES: Bullets flew towards the Israeli troops. Watch this soldier/ He appears to be hit in the hand. And armored vehicle moves in to protect him. Seconds later, Israeli soldiers ran out of the building. More shooting, then a vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft gun opens up on the building.
(GUNFIRE)
HOLMES: A wounded Palestinian man lays on the ground, calls for help, as the firefight intensifies. We notice Israeli troops using our armored car for cover. Tank rounds hit the building. When the shooting dies down, the injured Palestinian man became the subject of a tug-of-war. Those international activists appear, wanting to take him to the hospital. Israeli soldiers yelling they would get medical care, not wanting to lose custody of a suspect. The man taken was away on a makeshift stretcher by the Israeli soldiers.
(on camera): Here where we're based, a storekeeper agreed to come from his home tonight, open up his store and give us some food. But only if an armored car would come and pick him up. Such is life in Ramallah at the moment.
As he left, his parting words to us were, "If only all of this would end." Michael Holmes, CNN, Ramallah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The suicide attacks have drawn the U.S. and Israel closer together.
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): You cannot make any compromise with terrorism. You cannot compromise with people who are prepared, like the suicide bombers in Israel's street, or the Twin Towers in the U.S., to die simply in order to kill innocent people.
BUSH: I fully understand Israel's need to defend herself. I respect that. It's a country that has seen a wave of suicide bombers come into the hearts of their cities and kill innocent people.
SCHNEIDER: Was that a green light for Israel to make war on the Palestinian Authority, just as the U.S. did on the Taliban? The U.S. says no, it was more like a yellow light.
BUSH: I urge that their government, the Israeli government, make sure that there is a path to peace, as she secures her homeland.
SCHNEIDER: If the U.S. is at war with terrorists and those who harbor them, where does that leave Yasser Arafat? President Bush has stopped short of calling Arafat the enemy.
BUSH: Chairman Arafat has agreed to a peace process.
SCHNEIDER: Despite President Bush's effort to find a balance, the current crisis has made the U.S. a target of anger in the Arab world. To Arabs, the U.S. has shown itself to be both hypocritical and ineffectual.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALCOTT: Britain's Queen Mum is being remembered and honored this week. Queen Elizabeth died Saturday at age 101. Her death comes as her daughter's Golden Jubilee year gets underway. Many royal observers expect those celebrations to be scaled down.
Diana Muriel has more now on the impact the Queen Mum's death will likely have on the Royal Family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A picture of grief, the first sighting of Queen Elizabeth following the death of her mother. But once the private and public mourning is over, the work of the royal family must go on.
In this golden jubilee year, the queen has a full program and will tour much of the British Isles. The high point coming in June with a four-day celebration of fireworks, concerts, royal processions and services of Thanksgiving. Many believe the role of the queen and the way she is perceived by her subjects may well change now that her mother is gone.
HUGO VICKERS, ROYAL HISTORIAN: The queen, although head of her family, has always deferred to her mother. And, in a way, the personality and character of the queen have always been slightly eclipsed by the queen mother, who was such an outgoing person and didn't have the burdens and responsibilities that the queen has.
MURIEL: Although the queen mother had no constitutional position, she was a powerful figurehead as well as patron of more than 350 organizations, including eight military regiments, the British Red Cross and the Women's Institute. Those duties are now expected to be shouldered by other members of the royal family.
The Queen's husband, Prince Philip, and her daughter, Princess Anne, are already amongst the hardest working of the Royals.
Her youngest son, Prince Edward, together with his wife, Sophie, countess of Wessex, recently announced their retirement from their respective business occupations specifically in order to help the queen with her jubilee program. But how popular a substitute would they be for royal duties.
MURIEL: Royal photographer Ian Lloyd says despite their backgrounds in media, they both have a lot to learn.
IAN LLOYD, FREELANCE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHER: I think given the fact that Edward and Sophie are supposed to be media savvy people, well, they do lend themselves into some silly situations. I think that the British public has reached the end of its tether, and I think that they've really have got to play it carefully, because any more disasters will just not be tolerated.
MURIEL: The queen could be expected to look to her eldest son, Prince Charles, to do more. But the problem of his relationship with divorcee Camilla Parker-Bowles remains. The death of the queen mother may provide a revolution of this situation. She was known to have disapproved of his remarriage to a divorcee.
It was a similar constitutional crisis that forced her beloved husband, King George VI, unwillingly onto the throne following the abdication of his brother, King Edward VII, who chose to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson in 1936.
Times and public tolerance have changed, and Prince Charles may now decide he can marry the woman he so clearly loves.
ROBERT JOBSON, ROYAL COMMENTATOR: The queen mother always urged Prince Charles to put duty first. She feared that if he married a divorcee, it would put the monarchy into crisis again, and I think that is why he never did so during her lifetime.
MURIEL: The younger royals, especially Prince William, who is finishing his education at St. Andrews University, are unlikely to take on any many more royal duties at this stage.
(on camera): The queen then, with Prince Phillip, will be very much in the public eye. In future, to stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, here behind me, without either her mother or sister by her side. Just a decade on her annis seribilus (ph) of 1992, the queen's golden jubilee year has begun with personal loss, but must continue in public duty.
Diana Muriel, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
April 2, 1792, the U.S. Mint was established.
WALCOTT: Today's "Chronicle" segment takes us to China where the city of Beijing is taking on a whole new look. Skyscrapers are popping up where one-story buildings used to be, but memories of September 11 are casting a long shadow over the Chinese capital.
Jaime FlorCruz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bolt by bolt, building by building, these modern day artisans are reshaping Beijing's skyline now a mishmash of palaces and one-story courtyards shadowed by tall buildings. The flat Beijing skyline is now history as ancient landmarks and old neighborhoods are displaced by high-rise apartments, hotels and office buildings. Planners seek to build China's tallest building, inspired by the skyline of New York.
PAN SHIYI (ph), REAL ESTATE (ph) (through translator): Every time our engineers, city planners and bureaucrats visit New York, they think it's a model and we should build our cities the same way.
FLORCRUZ: But is taller better? Not necessarily some now say as planners debate the safety of skyscrapers following the September 11 events.
JIN LEI, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "ARCHITECTURAL CREATION" MAGAZINE (through translator): Architect put aesthetics first, function second and security the third. FLORCRUZ: But the attacks on New York's World Trade Center may be changing Chinese priorities. This architect had designed a Twin Tower for Beijing's future Olympic village.
JIANG WEI, ARCHITECT (through translator): We came up with a plan for a 519 meter tall building, the world's tallest. But after 9/11, people became concerned with the dangers to skyscrapers so experts are now rethinking this.
FLORCRUZ: Jiang still believes in the future of skyscrapers in mega cities (ph).
WEI (through translator): China's land resources are very limited, people either have to go underground or upwards. The question is how high buildings should be.
FLORCRUZ: The higher the better. if you ask investors who seek higher return on investment and prestige.
WEI (through translator): For the Twin Towers' design, some foreign investors would join in only if we could build it as the world's tallest.
FLORCRUZ: Such a mix of civic pride and profit motive keep construction sites humming from dawn to dust.
(on camera): Beijing's rush to modernize has spurred a building boom of Olympian proportion. After 9/11, Chinese planners are hoping to build skyscrapers that are not only higher but also stronger and safer.
Jaime FlorCruz, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."
FREIDMAN: The importance of family and balance is evident in Chinese culture. Much of China's art, literature, music and even food reflect tradition and values. The country's capital and second largest city, Beijing, is a cultural epicenter.
Stephanie Oswald takes us there for a look at some Chinese treasures.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE OSWALD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the Cultural Revolution took place in China during the late '60s and early '70s, the traditional arts took a serious blow. But as with many aspects of life in China, an interest in the past is now current at today's Peking Opera.
Throughout Beijing, locals and tourists alike come together to see this dramatic expressions of folk art, acrobatics and magic. (MUSIC PLAYING)
OSWALD: At this performance, we learned quickly that applause during the show is not only acceptable but encouraged to express appreciation. Another difference from opera in the United States where most people take in dinner before the show, in Beijing, the entertainment is served with the meal. How about four or five mini courses while you watch the stage?
The resurgence in all things traditional continues at the ancient teahouse where symbolism is omnipresent. Take, for example, the importance of door couplets hung outside a home. They're a sign of welcoming and good luck.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This couplet is presented to CNN people.
OSWALD: Centuries old, this tradition of calligraphy is illustrated for the modern age by a master.
GAI KIAO TING (ph), CALLIGRAPHY MASTER (through translator): It's very important to let the young generation in China know about old culture like hundreds of thousands of years old. Chinese culture be handing down the calligraphy in a beautiful way.
OSWALD: The grace of the stroke and color of the ink are important, but it's the stamps that make the difference.
TING (through translator): That one stamp proves that. This is a real work by me, it's not a replica or imitation. And also that stamp's functions is for balance of the beauty of the work, not just to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) stamps, its function is for balance.
OSWALD: Balance, which is integral to Chinese culture.
Another tradition thousands of years old is the tea ceremony. At Dong Princess Mansion (ph), we follow the three sips theory.
XAO LING (ph), TEA MISTRESS (ph): First one is happiness. Second one is good luck. Third one is long life.
OSWALD: Ceremonies are usually reserved for special occasions, but the power of the tea is said to be the same, ceremony or not.
LING: And all kinds of tea would do good to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) but any can't (ph) own function as jasmine tea can clear (ph) your eyesight. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) tea can do good (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Also can keep you slim, that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE). And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) pressure (UNINTELLIGIBLE) different function.
OSWALD: Another food adventure, a traditional Peking duck banquet. So popular the Beijing Kwan Jue Roast Duck Restaurant (ph) can serve more than 1,000 people a day. It's another place where cultural differences come to life. The Chinese leave nothing to waste. Our sampling includes stewed duck foot webs and grilled duck hearts as well as the more familiar Peking duck dishes.
But perhaps the most important item to digest is the message of cultural understanding.
WANG RONS (ph), CHEF (ph) (through translator): It will bring people from all over the world closer together. It will let people who tried Peking duck here to feel a closer friendship, to form a relationship between the people overseas and the people in China.
OSWALD: Feeling overwhelmed when dining here is common. Most meals are served family style and the abundance of choice and quantity is a cultural phenomenon. The Chinese believe that if you finish everything presented then there wasn't enough. Learning this took a lot of pressure off our minds and our waistbands.
(on camera): There are more than 50 different ethnic groups in China, each with its own style and tradition, from the costumes to the cuisine. This restaurants highlights a nationality called Diey (ph) from the Unon Province (ph) in southern China.
(voice-over): The people here, just like so many of our hosts in Beijing, warmly and openly share their culture.
(on camera): I'm getting it (ph).
(voice-over): Even honoring us with a delicacy such as snake becomes something to embrace.
While the food may be unfamiliar and the language may be a barrier, the common denominators of friendship and appreciation for differences make this a true celebration of diversity, not only China's but the world's.
Stephanie Oswald, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: A new use for CAT scans for healthy people. The scan is said to possibly detect signs of heart disease or even cancer at a very early stage. They cost around $500 and are not typically covered by insurance. Some people say the scan found early cancers and may have even saved their lives. But some doctors warn the scans could lead to further unnecessary tests and anxiety.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: Young people spend a lot of time being educated on the dangers of ecstasy, marijuana and other drugs, but to many the real danger lies in their own kitchen or bathroom cabinets. Millions of Americans have inhaled some sort of everyday chemical such as hair spray or nail polish remover to get a high.
Christy Feig now on the dangers of inhaling.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEGAN HAKEMAN: I used (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and butane sometimes. CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Megan Hakeman started inhaling the vapors of household products when she was 12 to get a brief high.
M. HAKEMAN: We like cleaned out my cupboards and we like use everything.
FEIG: It's called huffing, and it kills more than a hundred people every year.
HARVEY WEISS, NATIONAL (ph): Anytime someone uses an inhalant, even the first time, that could be a fatal instance for that child.
FEIG: A survey in 2000 found nearly 17 million Americans admitted huffing at least once in their lives, more than ecstasy and oxicoten (ph) abusers combined. And even if it doesn't kill, it can do long-term damage.
DR. WESTLEY CLARK, CENTER FOR SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT: Unfortunately, we do not know when inhaling will suddenly kill or when it will start causing hearing loss, memory loss, limb spasm, bone marrow damage, liver damage or kidney damage.
FEIG: The problem is, these products are all over your house, like spray paint, hairspray and computer cleaner. Even nail polish remover, vegetable cooking spray and spray whip cream.
JOAN HAKEMAN, MEGAN'S MOTHER: Said there's no way that she could be buying drugs. Well here I was her supplier.
FEIG: But for parents on the lookout, Joan says there are warnings.
J. HAKEMAN: The signs were all there, red and runny eyes and nose, sores around her mouth, dizzy appearance, loss of appetite and anxiety.
FEIG: After three months of rehabilitation, Megan has kicked the huffing habit and is working with her mother to help other kids stop too.
Christy Feig, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: Now, on to our Student Bureau report, which deals with adoption. Many people would love to adopt a child but just can't afford it. The costs can run tens of thousands of dollars before the child is even taken home. A Nebraska agency is trying to change that with a cost-free way of matching child with parent.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAILYN REED, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): After nearly one year of waiting, Omaha couple Jeff and Ellen Platt were eager to adopt a child. ELLEN PLATT, ADOPTIVE MOTHER: It blows my mind how the whole thing comes about. And so it just is -- it's enormous, and it makes you feel really, really lucky to have the opportunity to have a child that you're raising and hopefully doing it right.
REED (on camera): With more than 125,000 families nationwide opting to adopt annually, it's no wonder psychologists and hopeful parents are examining the hardships that come with adoption.
(voice-over): Adoptive parents often face large fees and a lack of information. The Nebraska Children's Home Society has a different approach, don't charge a fee, provide unlimited counseling.
ELAINE TAYLOR, COUNSELOR, NEBRASKA CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY: I like the mission and the values that the Nebraska Children's Home Society is founded on. I like the fact that we don't charge a fee for any of our services which allows families not to have to have a certain amount of money to adopt a baby and add to their family.
AMANDA BRUCKNER, COUNSELOR, NEBRASKA CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY: Everybody gets their own caseworker. Birth parents get their own caseworker, adoptive parents get their own caseworker so everybody has their advocate. The boundaries are really, really clear. And another very important thing is they offer support and counseling as long as you need it. And they're just very, very sensitive to all the things that are surrounding this (ph).
REED: The agency not only focuses on adoptive parents, it also assists birth parents who are weighing their options.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were always there for me no matter what I needed. I had anybody that I could -- wanted to talk to, needed to talk to at any time day or night.
REED: All of these efforts created a family for the Platts when their young daughter came into their lives.
JEFF PLATT, ADOPTIVE FATHER: We waited for quite a while to receive our daughter, and it was a blessing and just totally awesome.
E. PLATT: I just feel like I just don't take a day for granted. Everything that she does just rocks me.
REED: Despite the Platt's praise for a non-fee based agency such as the Nebraska Children's Home Society, the organization remains the only free adoption service in the U.S., a service neither licensed nor available outside Nebraska.
Kailyn Reed, CNN Student Bureau, Omaha, Nebraska.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: Our look at adoption continues tomorrow. We'll travel to China to find out how the Internet is assisting those looking to adopt. "Where in the World" a communist state, about 10 percent of land is arable, world's fourth largest country? Can you name this country? China.
WALCOTT: We'll have more on today's "Where in the World" country tomorrow. Today you learned about its culture, its cuisine and its customs.
FREIDMAN: And earlier you heard about its architecture and skyscrapers. Tomorrow, a monumental Chinese achievement, we'll take you to the Great Wall, a long and winding fortification. And while it actually proved to have little military utility, the Great Wall is a stone masterpiece awaiting today's invasion of tourists.
Tune in tomorrow as we continue our coverage of China. See you then. I'm Susan Freidman.
WALCOTT: And I'm Shelley Walcott. Thanks for watching. Bye- bye.
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