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CNN Student News

Aired April 09, 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 take a turn into Tuesday with headlines from the Middle East, including Iraq's oil stoppage.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: And as our survey of the news continues, we "Chronicle" the latest shuttle mission.

MCMANUS: Later, discover an item that combines health and fashion.

WALCOTT: Then we meet a couple of very special musicians.

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

MCMANUS: And I'm Michael McManus.

Our show was preempted yesterday for breaking news.

WALCOTT: We're back now, and here's a look at what's going on. Secretary of State Colin Powell kicked off the first leg of a trip that will take him to Israel later this week. Now during a stop in Morocco, Powell met with King Mohammed who expressed total condemnation of the Israeli offensive.

MCMANUS: Yes, and Iraq also is showing solidarity for the Palestinians. Yesterday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein announced an immediate halt of oil exports for 30 days or until Israel stops its incursion into Palestinian territories. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon agreed to pull out of two West Bank cities early today, however, troops will maintain a cordon around those cities. And Sharon says Israeli forces will be posted in so-called security zones even after the campaign.

Iraq's decree is already affecting oil prices as our Joel Hochmuth reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Saddam Hussein says Iraq is temporarily cutting off oil exports to punish both Israel and the United States for Israel's attacks on Palestinians. The question is how much punishment does the move present? In the short term, at least, the boycott is expected to push up already rising gas prices.

SPENCER ABRAHAM, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: Your higher gasoline prices are a great concern to this administration because they strain the budgets of America's working families, they raise the cost of goods and services and they ultimately create a drag on the economy, which can have an impact on the livelihood of working Americans.

HOCHMUTH: Still, the Iraqi boycott isn't expected to have much impact on world supply. Iraq exports just over two million barrels each day, about 4 percent of the global petroleum trade. Most of that oil flows through Turkey and the Persian Gulf port of Basra to the United States and Europe. Still, Iraq is only the fifth largest exporter of oil to the U.S., Saudi Arabia is No. 1.

GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: The real key, of course, as always in oil is Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have not indicated any desire, and in fact in the year 2000, less than two years ago, they led an effort to get the countries of -- that export oil to pledge not to use oil as a political tool. Obviously they're under great pressure now, and it depends upon how they react, I think.

HOCHMUTH: So far Saudi Arabia has given no indication it's thinking about joining the embargo. Iran and Libya are the only two Arab nations even talking about the idea.

MARY HUTZLER, ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION: The real issue is if we get more turmoil in more countries and if more -- and if other countries, such as Libya and Iran, also support Iraq's situation, and that's something we're just going to have to keep a watch on.

HOCHMUTH: 1973 was the last time Arab nations used oil as a political weapon. Many Americans remember sitting in seemingly unending gas lines in the wake of that oil embargo.

Since then, though, the world's wealthiest nations have created an international agency that stashed away about four billion barrels of oil in strategic reserves. Even that might not be necessary since other oil producing nations, like Russia, are expected to compensate for production lost from Iraq.

Meantime, Arab nations themselves have grown even more dependent on revenues from sales of their oil.

MITCHELL: And it would be seriously adverse to their own economies to stop this now. Saddam Hussein is a particular case. His export revenue goes into the Food for Peace Program that goes to the people, and he's obviously demonstrated a complete disregard for the people in his own country. I don't think the other Arab leaders have the same attitude that he does, or the same constraints they do with respect to oil revenues.

HOCHMUTH: There's speculation that Saddam's move is really intended to boost his image at home rather than to inflict any damage abroad.

As Jane Arraf reports, the Iraqi leader is trying to cement his image as a friend of Palestinians.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fighting from the sidelines, the Iraqi president unleashed the only major weapon he can use right now: an immediate halt to Iraqi oil exports, most of which end up in the United States.

SADDAM HUSSEIN, IRAQI LEADER (through translator): The Revolution Command Council, the Iraqi leadership of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party, and the cabinet in their meeting, on the 8th of April, 2002, declare in the name of the faithful, honest, Mujahid, noble Iraqi people, completely stopping oil exporting, starting from this afternoon on April 8th, through the pipelines going to the Turkish port of the Mediterranean and our ports in Basra for the period of 30 days.

ARRAF: The move, like so many recently, was meant to highlight Iraq's support for the Palestinian uprising. It's rare to find President Saddam Hussein sharing the spotlight. At this Baghdad demonstration, though, Yasser Arafat's image was paraded alongside the Iraqi leader's. The rally, in support of Palestinian suicide bombers, was organized by the government. But the rage against Israel and the United States was real.

Paradise, they chant, opens its gates only for martyrs. For nearly two years, as the latest Palestinian uprising sparked and burned, Saddam Hussein sent financial support to the families of the suicide bombers. Then last month, news spread that the Iraqi leader had ordered the payments to be more than doubled. Now $25,000 for each family of a suicide bomber, $1,000 to each Palestinian wounded in the uprising, and another $5,000 to each family whose home was destroyed by Israeli forces.

All that money would go a long way to helping ordinary Iraqis. But here, no one is allowed to question how the Iraqi president spends money. Iraq, like other Arab countries, doesn't consider the suicide bombers terrorists, as long as Israel occupies Palestinian land.

(on camera): In the space of just two weeks, Yasser Arafat has become so popular the Iraqi government has named a major street in Baghdad after him.

(voice-over): "He's a hero because he's willing to die," says 15-year-old Mahmoud. "They asked him, 'what do you want, to be a prisoner of war, or a martyr?' He told them three times, 'I want to be a martyr.'"

Despite years of veiled threats, Iraq has either been unwilling or unable to launch a direct, sustained attack on Israel. For the Iraqi president, supporting the Palestinians is a way of trying to prove he's fighting for all Moslems and Arabs, not just for himself. Jane Arraf, CNN, Baghdad. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Russia is now the world's biggest producer of oil. The country pumps about seven million barrels a day. That just edges out Saudi Arabia, which pumps about 6.9 million barrels daily. It's a slim lead, but those in the know say the Russian oil industry could well be on its way back to its glory days of the 1980s.

We have two reports now beginning with CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): At the eastern edge of Europe, in the foothills of the Ural Mountains, on the surface, a land of forests and snow. Below the surface, one of European Russia's richest deposits of oil, and it's here that Lukoil- Perm, a subsidiary of Russia's largest oil company, Lukoil, is drilling for the lifeblood of Russia. It's tough work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are just a few places like this on earth. The soil is filled with calcium chloride, which they also mine here. You have to make sure you don't erode that salt, so we're working in very difficult conditions.

DOUGHERTY: They drill 2,100 meters into the earth, 6,300 feet, and it promises to pay off. Experts say this one field alone holds 19 million tons of oil. It could take 35 years to pump it all.

But drilling is just the beginning. In the past two years, Lukoil has invested in new technology, including horizontal wells. On the surface, all you see is one well. Below the surface, branches in several directions tap into multiple deposits, increasing productivity two to three times.

VLADIMIR SHERBYAK, LUKOIL-PERM MANAGER (through translator): The big issue is lowering the cost of production. In Russia, the average cost of producing a barrel of oil is between $8 and $10. Internationally, it's $3 to $4. Lukoil-Perm is getting close to that, but we've got a lot of work to do.

DOUGHERTY: The entire operation from pumping to refining is controlled by computer. No gushing oil wells here. We had to ask one engineer to show us what crude oil actually looks like.

Another key to success, vertical integration, selling not only crude oil but gasoline, diesel fuel, motor oils and other motor products. Last year, Lukoil bought America's Getty Petroleum Marketing, the first major U.S. company to be bought by a Russian firm.

As Russia's largest oil company continues to grow, workers like Svetlana Kuznetsova are living better. She earns $430 a month, more than four times what the average Russian makes, and she wants that to continue.

"We depend on our salaries," she says. "We want our workers to earn money so we're for producing oil."

(on camera): Russia has come roaring back since the early 1990s when its oil industry was in collapse. In just the past two years, it's increased production faster than any country in the world.

(voice-over): It's now ready to challenge OPEC, setting its sights on becoming the key oil supplier to the West.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Perm, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oil trains head north towards Russia bearing freshly drilled oil from the old Azerbaijan fields. Old methods, old world, old channels for oil transportation. Just across the railway line, the old world is opening up to a new, a world aimed not so much at making the desert bloom but black. Work recently began here on the oil terminal from where Azerbaijan's new rich deposits deep beneath the Caspian Sea will be conveyed westwards to Europe. The route, a major regional pipeline that will end in the Turkish Mediterranean port of Cheyhan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We think and feel that after 11th, September 11, it will be more, maybe, attention for the stability in the Caucus region. It is the biggest project and it is very important for Azerbaijan's economy and not only for Azerbaijan's economy, but for Turkey and Jordan and for the economy of the world.

(on camera): It doesn't yet look like much, of course, but now that the work has finally got under way what you can hear over and above the noise of the heavy duty equipment is almost literally the audible sighs of relief, relief in several quarters, relief that the old doubts -- security, political, strategic and financial -- seem to have been laid to rest.

(voice-over): Right in the heart of Baku, the capital, oil is still being drilled in the old Soviet way. But the real focus has shifted out to sea, to the modern offshore rigs. For some times pieces in the strategic Caspian energy puzzle have slowly been falling into place. Now, the puzzle is complete, with agreement over the Baku-Jihan line.

A catalyst for that decision become what is now an ironclad reality, the events of September the 11th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the governments, and the Western governments clearly, I think it's helped them to clarify their views of this region, the importance of oil and gas coming from the Caspian region as another source of energy for the Western world.

KESSEL: When these Turkish bikers buzzed into Jihan with symbolic barrels of oil after driving the route of the 2,000 kilometer pipeline from Baku through Georgia, the idea that it would become one day a reality was still a pipe dream. For all that it was being strongly pushed by the Turkish government and enthusiastically endorsed in Washington.

Now, no turning back. The Azari oil is scheduled to begin flowing through the new line by the end of 2004, that first, 350,000 barrels a day, eventually up to a million a day.

(on camera): Rather like the constant swaying motion of the drill itself, a steady flow of oil through the new pipeline could also become a major factor for stability in the region, an attempt, you could say, to try to override the previous instability that was caused by those very intense arguments over whether the pipeline should be built at all.

(voice-over): A key factor which needed to change was Russia's opposition. The agreement on the new line is overshadowing the alternative routes from the Caspian north to Russia or westward to Russian ports on the Black Sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Russia was against this project and they pushed us to have the main export pipeline through Russia. But after the 11th, the attitude of Russia will change, changed. And now they, I think so, that they have now a problem with this route.

KESSEL: The other key factor was when the multinational oil companies finally joined the ranks of the governments involved. Old misgivings rushing away as the commercial and political viability of the new line became the new reality. The commitment to the new oil line is now seen as a very tangible expression of the end of the cold war, a symbol of how an old world of competition and confrontation, hence instability, is giving way to a new era of cooperation and regional stability.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

April 8, 1958, NASA introduces America's first astronauts.

MCMANUS: The space shuttle Atlantis is now orbiting above Earth. The astronauts shot into space yesterday carrying a heavy payload of parts and equipment for the International Space Station. This mission is one of construction and heavy lifting for the seven crew members aboard the orbiter. It also sets a human space flight record.

John Zarrella with a preview now of what promises to be a very busy week for NASA.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Space station Alpha's crew is tidying the place up a bit, awaiting the arrival of visitors. Three years ago when astronaut Ellen Ochoa last flew to the station, there was no one there. This time, she says, it will be like visiting somebody's home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They greet you at the door, they bring you inside, they have something ready to serve you, so not only, of course, does it look completely different because there's new modules, but there's really a totally different feel to it. ZARRELLA: These guests will have a lot to do. In what NASA calls one of the most complex space station missions, the shuttle crew will perform four 6 1/2 hour space walks to put addition on the station. Space walking astronauts will anchor on to the Destiny module a 43-foot long girder-like segment called a trust. Think of it like a new support beam for an addition to the house. But it's tight- working quarters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kind of like being in a large pressure suit and getting in to a small car. It's just a really confined space, and getting your gloved hand in to reach a lot of the connections is going to be a challenge.

ZARRELLA: The trust is the first of several that will be eventually linked together to hold additional solar panels and other equipment to power and cool the station's laboratories. One of the astronauts working the assembly is Jerry Ross, who's making a record seventh space shuttle flight. It's a record Ross hopes doesn't stand.

JERRY ROSS: If we let that record stand, that means that we haven't progressed, we aren't pushing out further and we're not doing what I think we ought to be doing in terms of research of outer space and utilization of outer space.

ZARRELLA: Ross say he Would like to make eight flights, but right now, all he and his crewmates are concerned with is starring work on that new space station addition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

WALCOTT: You know it goes without saying, life can be very difficult for people living with a disability. In the U.S., almost all public places have special amenities for people confined to a wheelchair. Disabled people living in Russia haven't been so lucky, though.

CNN Moscow bureau chief Jill Dougherty returns with a report on changes coming about slowly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Russia is not a good place to be in a wheelchair. Yuri Samolov (ph) and his friend, Slavin (ph), know that only too well.

"The cops are always telling us to get out of the street," he says, "but with sidewalks covered in snow and ice, it's the only way to get to the underground crosswalk."

Then there are the stairs with no ramps. But Russia's disabled people are beginning to move into the mainstream, changing the way they live their lives and in the process, changing Russian society. Evgeny Caperban (ph) lost a leg in the Army. His wife, Olga Vinagratava, has been disabled since birth, but there's nothing they enjoy more than a spin around Moscow in their specially equipped Oka car. The accelerator and the brakes controlled by hand. The Oka is manufactured at a plant that 50 years ago produced cars for World War II vets. Now it markets to the disabled in general, turning out 11,000 vehicles a year. The Oka is cheap, about $2,000.

"And the more severely disabled, the government pays for the whole thing," the director says. "For others, the government covers half the cost."

The cars give disabled people mobility, but that's just part of the battle for Russia's 11 million people with disabilities. The word in Russian for disabled is invalid, invalid, and in the old Soviet Union that's just how the disabled were treated. Many were not allowed to work at all or were confined to menial jobs at special workshops all in the name of protecting them.

ALEXANDER KLEPIKOV, ALL RUSSIAN SOCIETY FOR THE DISABLED (through translator): That model for social protection was passive. What we are promoting, and the government is joining us in this, is to be active, to make disabled people active members of society.

DOUGHERTY: In the parking lot of the All Russian Society for the Disabled, a handicapped parking sign, the first one this reporter has ever seen in Moscow. Inside, another rarity, an elevator large enough for two wheelchairs. The Society, with two and a half million members, helped to pass a watershed 1995 law on the rights of the disabled. But at one of Moscow's workshops for the disabled, the director says it's another thing to change society's views.

SERGET LUPILOV, WORKSHOP DIRECTOR (through translator): We're always trying to prove we're equal and sometimes even better workers. We have a phrase in Russia, God didn't give me good health, but he did give me brains.

DOUGHERTY: Olga Vinagratava says in the past 10 years she and her husband have seen major improvements for the disabled. It's slower than they'd like, but she says they're headed in the right direction.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: A company in Japan has created a product that could be the next big trend for skin care. It doesn't come in a bottle, you don't lather it on, all you have to do is get dressed and, according to the makers, let the vitamin producing clothes do the work.

Peter Hatfield takes us to Tokyo for our "Health Report."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETER HATFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Tokyo women who like to look good and stay healthy, this seems like the perfect opportunity to do both at the same time. These just aren't any old T- shirts and shorts, they're impregnated with a special chemical that produces Vitamin C when it's absorbed by the skin.

The idea was developed by a company called Fuji Spinning, and researcher Koki Itoyama says the company is trying to cash in on Japan's boom in healthy skin.

KOKI ITOYAMA, HEAD RESEARCHER, FUJI SPINNING (through translator): When we were trying to promote skin care products, we came up with the idea of putting some type of cosmetics on T-shirts and have it absorbed when it's worn. We chose Vitamin C because it's one of those chemicals that are considered good for the skin.

HATFIELD: The chemical used to impregnate the cloth is called pro-vitamin, and it can't be removed even when the clothes are put into a washing machine. According to Itoyama, the warmth of the human skin activates the chemical, the body absorbs it and then turns it into Vitamin C. Fuji spinning is impregnating not only T-shirts and shorts but even underwear and making some extraordinary claims for its product.

ITOYAMA (through translator): By using the effects of Vitamin C, which prevents oxidation, we expect the product to prevent the skin from getting sunburned and to repair sunburned skin and also prevent the skin from aging.

HATFIELD: Japan has already had a boom in underwear that keeps you cool, cocoa that makes you lose weight and creams that make your skin whiter. T-shirts that feed you vitamins just had to be the next hot product.

Peter Hatfield, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: U.S. children and teenagers are heavier today than ever, and the numbers are still rising. Data released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 13 percent of children ages 6 to 11 were overweight in 1999, a 2 percent increase. The same year, 14 percent of adolescents were overweight, an increase of 3 percent compared to an earlier survey. Overweight children are at risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other health problems.

MCMANUS: Muscular dystrophy is the world's most common genetic childhood disease. Those living with the illness have severe muscle weakness that gets worse over time. In some cases, the disease can even lead to an early death. Despite the grim outlook, many people with muscular dystrophy are trying to live life to the fullest.

Our Student Bureau has the story of two brothers dealing with their disability by doing what they love most.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JANA JACOBS, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Robby and Ricky Heisner have been writing songs together and performing for 20 years. These brothers also share something else, both were diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, a disease that is characterized by progressive muscle degeneration, loss of the ability to walk and often the loss of lung or cardiac function.

When life got hard, they remained upbeat by making music and creating their own band called Vango (ph).

ROBBY HEISNER, MUSICIAN LIGHT TECHNICIAN: Music is what's kept us alive. The music is what's kept us as healthy as we are.

RICKY HEISNER, MUSICIAN: It's almost like a calling. You realize that you have a talent for something. People who are in chairs or with disabilities who will see us perform somewhere and they see that we -- we're not down, it's not the end of the world, we're having a great time.

JACOBS: Muscular dystrophy has been an obstacle the brothers have dealt with on a daily basis. However, they realize there is a stereotype often associated with their difference.

RICKY HEISNER: We've been told the chairs will scare people off and people will be so turned off by the wheelchair's they won't be able to get into the music no matter how good it might be. We make the music we believe in. We're having a good time other than the frustrations within the industry.

ROBBY HEISNER: And people with disabilities are just living their life and being creative and being smart, they've still got a brain.

JACOBS: Jana Jacobs, CNN Student Bureau, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" sixth largest population in the world, home to more than 60 different ethnic groups, birthplace of famous composer Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky? Can you name this country? Russia.

MCMANUS: Our "Where in the World" today, the country of Russia, or as Russians call it (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

WALCOTT: Very good, Michael.

MCMANUS: Thank you.

WALCOTT: You heard about Russia's role in oil production today. Tomorrow we'll have even more perspective on that country as we visit the circus Russian style.

MCMANUS: That's right. We'll also spotlight a business that's done very well in the states for years and now is making up for lost time in Moscow.

WALCOTT: On a more serious note, though, please stay with CNN for live coverage of the Queen Mother's funeral today.

MCMANUS: That's right. We'll have full coverage throughout the day from our reporters stationed all over London to bring you the latest.

WALCOTT: Well that's it for today. I'm Shelley Walcott.

MCMANUS: And I'm Michael McManus. Have a good one.

WALCOTT: Bye-bye.

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