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CNN Student News

Aired April 23, 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, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to your Tuesday edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. Round one is over, so what's next in the French elections? We'll have that in our "Lead Story." Up next, we'll "Focus" on a war over water rights. Then, the threat of warfare of another kind is the subject of today's "Health Report." And from health to the environment, we'll tell you about an innovative new recycling program.

This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott -- welcome.

Thousands of protesters take to the street in France as extreme right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen advances to a runoff election for president. Le Pen will challenge incumbent Jacques Chirac in a showdown May 5. His victory this weekend shocked many French voters who thought for sure it would be Prime Minister Lionel Jospin who challenged Mr. Chirac in the runoff. Now longtime Chirac opponents are rushing to endorse him to prevent Le Pen from winning.

CNN's Hala Gorani has more on the emotional reaction followed by our Joel Hochmuth who will recap Sunday's election.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shock, earthquake, disbelief, France woke up Monday morning to a brand new political landscape with an extreme right winger winning a spot in the presidential election runoff May 5.

Spontaneous demonstrations broke out all across France soon after the initial results starting pouring in confirming that Jean-Marie Le Pen had made it to the second round beating Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out of the contest. The largest protests were in Paris. Up to 10,000 people marched through the streets of the capital.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want a united people. We don't want racism, we don't want fascism.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The real France is not Jean-Marie Le Pen. The real France is dead. GORANI: Some were holding signs reading I'm ashamed to be French. Others crying, outraged with the call the racist far right came in second in the first round of the presidential election after incumbent President Jacques Chirac. In some places clashes broke out between police and protestors. Analysts admit the results were a complete surprise, but say France is not sinking into 1930's style fascism.

PHILIPPE MOREAU DESFARGES, POLITICAL ANALYST: France will remain a democratic, a safe country, an open country because best remember that we are linked to Europe, we belong to a great gathering with this European Union, it's why France is not alone and for that we must be very optimistic.

GORANI: In two weeks France will go to the polls again and Jean- Marie Le Pen will face the incumbent President Jacques Chirac. Already the polls predict a landslide of Mr. Chirac who is the front runner with 19.8 percent of the votes in the first round. With political parties from the right and left calling on (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for a vote against the far right candidate.

Hala Gorani, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With extreme rightist candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen celebrating his stunning second place finish in France's election, many were left wondering how did it happen? How did a candidate given virtually no chance during the campaign pull off an upset and qualify for next month's runoff election? Experts say the two mainstream candidates have no one to blame but themselves. Conservative President Jacques Chirac, who will join Le Pen in the runoff, and Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who was the surprise loser Sunday, have governed under an awkward power sharing arrangement for the last five years.

ULYSSES GOSSET, FRENCH JOURNALIST: And it's not the victory of Le Pen that we should remember, it's the loss of Lionel Jospin who was a decent prime minister, but who had no charisma, no real ideas. And many people were saying that the programs of Jospin-Chirac were equivalent so there was no enthusiasm for the French electors to go there and they just didn't go to vote.

HOCHMUTH: A record 28 percent of French voters stayed home. Most analysts had predicted Chirac and Jospin would end up in the runoff so many voters may have stayed home. But they may have used the first round to send a message by voting for one of the 16 candidates, including some at the extremes of French politics. Apparently Le Pen, who'd been hammering the same themes for years, did strike a chord among the French working class, especially over issues like crime and immigration.

JEAN-MARIE LE PEN, NATIONAL FRONT PARTY (through translator): They know that immigration in our country is also linked to insecurity and also unemployment. So of course people trust me because I can see the relation between unemployment, insecurity and immigration.

HOCHMUTH: Along with his strong anti-immigration stance, Le Pen is opposed to the European Union and its growing influence over France's economy and international affairs. But does his surprise finish mean French politics have taken a hard turn to the right?

GOSSET: Absolutely not. I would say that the French are lost. They are in search of a new leadership. Neither Chirac nor Jospin was -- were giving them what they wanted.

HOCHMUTH: But Jospin's loss is the latest in a series of blows to the European left which began in Italy last year, spread to Denmark and Portugal and could engulf the Netherlands and Germany.

GUY VERHOFSTADT, BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER: The rising of the far right throughout Europe is undoubtedly a worrying phenomenon, but the reaction to this should not be to wince or to whine endlessly about it but on the contrary, to do something about it, to tackle the problem as we did in our country for the past couple of years.

HOCHMUTH: Clearly European leaders will be keeping a close eye on the runoff set for May 5. With the field narrowed to two candidates, pollsters are predicting Chirac will win in a landslide.

But as Chris Burns reports, history teaches never to count Le Pen out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He was written off as a caricature, a throwback, a tough-talking former paratrooper whose party imploded four years ago. People aren't laughing anymore. They're listening intently or with anger to a master of sound bytes who staged a dramatic comeback.

"The people of France don't know it" he says, "but France is in danger of dying. Dying" he says, "because leaders like conservative President Jacques Chirac are selling France down the river to be part of the European Union, of Euroglobalization" as he calls it, "an elite bunch of technocrats" he says, "surrendered the Franc for the euro and opened France's doors to immigrants, bringing crime and stealing jobs from the French."

He contends Chirac gave Washington a carte blanche in foreign policy. "We conceded to Europe" he says, "he conceded to the United States, the job of representing us in all those matters."

Jean-Marie Le Pen, now 73, has fought long and hard. He entered politics after serving in the wars in Indochina and Algeria. He founded and led the National Front for the past 30 years, based on a platform opposing immigration and supporting tough law and order policy. Contrary to most French politicians, he supports the death penalty. His brash, outspoken style has gotten him in disgrace. He lost an eye in a campaign brawl back in the 1950s. Le Pen scuffled with a woman socialist politician in 1997, and a judge barred him from politics for a year because of it.

Le Pen called Nazi gas chambers a "detail of history" and was fined for it. Le Pen in each case tries to cultivate the image of being victimized by the powers that be. In the latest campaign, he accused Chirac and others of trying to keep him from attaining the 500 politician signatures Le Pen needed to run.

LE PEN (through translator): Chirac's system was built on a pyramid of institutional politics, a government technocracy. The entire French national representation of the region, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the municipalities, the opinion holders and the various lobbyists were all against Le Pen, the man of the little people of France.

BURNS: "Don't be afraid of dreaming" he told his supporters on election night. "The dream of a Le Pen presidency, restoring the power, greatness and prosperity of France, scrapping the euro currency and taking charge of itself again."

BURNS (on camera): That idea is a dream for some French, but others fear with nightmarish implications.

Chris Burns, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Saturday marked the third anniversary of the worst school shooting in U.S. history. Hundreds of people from the Columbine High School community gathered for a memorial service in a nearby park. They paused for a moment of silence as they remembered the 13 victims. This year's seniors are the last class who were at Columbine the day of the shooting.

CNN Student Bureau's Abbey Baker, herself a Columbine graduate, tells us what this anniversary means for the school's students and faculty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBEY BAKER, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Like any high school senior, Brooke Allison hangs out with her friends, goes to class and can't wait for prom. But Brooke's high school experience was anything but normal all because of one day three years ago that no one will ever forget.

BROOKE ALLISON, STUDENT: I was in the cafeteria eating lunch with my friends. I didn't know what like the shooting noises were or anything. We thought it was a senior prank. I went out of the bottom -- the common doors and I fell out of my shoes so I fell and like everybody was kind of like trampling over me. And one of my -- one of my really good friends kind of picked me up and like carried me. BAKER: For music teacher and assistant football coach Lee Andres, the hardest part of that day was talking to the parents about their children.

LEE ANDRES, TEACHER: We walked outside downstairs behind -- you know behind the stairs and came out and everybody was on their -- on their bellies.

BAKER (on camera): On that unforgettable day here at Columbine, many students ran through these doors in a fight for their lives. Those that were freshmen are now seniors and have been given the title "the last class" -- the last class that was here on April 20, 1999. In one month this senior class will be graduating and this time opening these doors to a new beginning.

(voice-over): But before these students can move forward into the future, they stop to take one more look back at an anniversary that is now forever a part of CHS.

ALLISON: I really thought about it and I just thought that that was something that I needed to do.

BAKER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) certain that on graduation day the last class will say farewell to Columbine but promise that they will never forget.

Abbey Baker, Columbine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The principal, Frank DeAngelis, had promised to stay on until all the students who were in Columbine the day of the shootings graduated. Now he says he'll stay at Columbine at least one more year.

President Bush marked Earth Day yesterday in New York's Adirondack Mountains. While there, he touted his Clear Skies plan which calls for mandatory limits on three types of power plant emissions. Those are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury.

From Clear Skies to fresh water now in Florida. Heavy growth in the southern U.S. is leading to fights between Florida, Alabama and Georgia.

Sean Callebs now with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For three generations, Tommy Ward's family has made a living off Apalachicola Bay, tucked away in the bend of Florida's panhandle, chiefly from rich oyster beds that have always thrived in this estuary.

But there are fewer oysters to go around these days, and the bay's productive future is in jeopardy. Fresh water streams and rivers that feed the estuary are being overburdened by communities upstream like the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta.

TOMMY WARD, WARD SEAFOOD COMPANY: Then everybody's concerned if you don't have fresh water you don't -- this bay is going to die.

CALLEBS: For years, Florida, Alabama and Georgia have been fighting over consumption of fresh water with little progress. This region isn't alone, but without the delicate mix of salt and fresh water, shrimp, oysters and other sea life in the bay could be wiped out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody's trying to slow growth or anything like that in any -- in any state, but what people would like to do would be to have some sort of controlled growth where you're not going to upset the natural system too much.

CALLEBS: The bay serves up 90 percent of the oysters sold in Florida and 10 percent of all those in the United States, but without an agreement in the water war the future is bleak.

WARD: Well you're just not going to have the oysters to harvest so you're putting people out of work. And if people can't make it, they've got to move on and find something else to do hopefully.

CALLEBS (on camera): You're talking about a whole way of life down here?

WARD: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) gone forever -- dying breed.

CALLEBS: The final chapter has yet to be written. While the three states are at an impasse, they are going to meet again in June. No one is expecting a quick solution, and it could very well be the courts have to step in and decide this feud.

Sean Callebs, CNN, Apalachicola, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Red Cedar River cleanup coming up in "Student Bureau Report."

WALCOTT: Well the Earth's water and air supply are two major focuses among environmentalists, but by no means are they the only two. There's growing concern among many experts about artificial night lighting. Researchers say the well-lit night can confuse sea turtles and trick birds into crashing into buildings. Tinkering with the world's lighting could even affect the human psyche and immune systems.

Natalie Pawelski spoke with a group of scientists about the ramifications of light pollution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Driving through Arizona's Kitt Peak Observatory at night. You have to brave the winding mountain road with parking lights only. The darkness makes for a grainy video, but it's important for astronomers because even the finest telescopes can be blinded by the light.

RICHARD GREENE, KITT PEAK NAT'L OBSERVATORY: They become more limited in their view. And it takes very much longer to get to the same faint light levels, to detect the most distant objects in the universe.

PAWELSKI: Simmering below is Tucson, which is ringed by major observatories. The city imposed light control rules back in the '70s, in large part to keep the sky dark for the sake of astronomy.

GREENE: Even though the population of the metro area has grown 40 percent in the last decade, the artificially scattered light above the observatory has grown less than 20 percent. So that's a sign that these controls are beginning to work.

PAWELSKI: But while the lights are staying relatively low in Tucson, it's a different story in the rest of the world.

(on camera): The most comprehensive study of light pollution found it affects 99 percent of Americans. It also found two-thirds of the people living in the U.S. live in places where it's no longer possible to see our own galaxy, the Milky Way, with the naked eye.

DAVID CRAWFORD: Mankind and everything else grew up for the cycle of day and night. And that tends to be disappearing.

PAWELSKI: Leading the charge to reverse that trend, the International Dark Sky Association, led not surprisingly by a retired astronomer.

CRAWFORD: Now if I have it right here, are you blinded by glare?

PAWELSKI: Just a little bit.

CRAWFORD: And I can barely see you. Now if I did this, I see you perfectly because the light's going to you, but it's not coming to me. And now for the sky glow issue, I should do this, shouldn't I?

PAWELSKI: Shielding the tops of outdoor light, so light doesn't spill into the sky, a key verse and a gospel of dark sky maintenance.

CRAWFORD: You can save billions of dollars in energy worldwide every year by using light, instead of wasting it.

PAWELSKI: Several cities and towns have passed light pollution ordinances, but it is a fact of modern civilization that's seen in these satellite images, that for most people, the sky never gets truly dark. And a starry, starry night has already become a thing of the past.

Natalie Pawelski, CNN, Tucson, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives." WALCOTT: There are just two small islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, but to the wildlife living there they're nothing short of a haven on Earth. That's because the islands were recently donated to a New York-based conservation group, meaning more protection for the threatened species living there.

Gary Strieker has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They've been described as a penguin paradise, two remote, uninhabited islands in the south Atlantic that are major breeding grounds for marine birds, including rockhopper penguins, gentoo penguins and the world's largest colony of black browed albatross, more than 150,000 pairs of them.

WILLIAM CONWAY, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: It's the sort of thing that is awe inspiring, that makes one feel small, where the spectacular nature of the wildlife reaches into our heart.

STRIEKER: Each of the islands, Steeple Jason and Grand Jason, measures less than seven miles long and only a mile or two wide. They're part of the Falkland Islands, also known as the Malvinas, located about 250 miles east of Argentina. Conservationists say these two small islands are important units of a much larger dynamic ecosystem in the region vital to many species from elephant seals to penguins and the rare striated caracara.

More than a century has passed since millions of penguins were boiled in pots like this for their oil, but illegal egg harvesting and unregulated tourism are continuing threats to this wildlife and many species have been declining. Now there will be better protection and more study by scientists. Both islands have just been donated by an American philanthropist to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society. There will be a new research station there and a long-term commitment to protecting these major wildlife colonies.

Gary Strieker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: OK, well from protecting wildlife to protecting people. Smallpox is a disease once thought to be completely eradicated, but the feeling is different now for many investigators. Since anthrax was used as a weapon of terror, some are concerned that smallpox might in fact be a threat as well.

Rhonda Rowland now on smallpox and the question of vaccination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In early November, in this small room at St. Louis University, America began to confront its biggest security nightmare: the unlikely but terrifying possibility of smallpox attack. Healthy volunteers agreed to be inoculated with the country's old stock of smallpox vaccine. DR. SHARON FREY, ST. LOUIS UNIVERSITY: I'm one who had hoped and didn't expect to have to dust off the vaccine vials.

ROWLAND: Only 15 million doses existed, we were told, not nearly enough to protect the nation, unless the vaccine could somehow be stretched. So, scientists diluted it to as little as one-tenth of its normal strength and began inoculating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are going to dip this in the vaccine.

ROWLAND: After following the volunteers, nearly 700 of them, and watching for the telltale skin lesion to develop, researchers got the good news.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: What we did find was that, in fact, the dilutional studies were successful.

ROWLAND: That means these 15 million doses could now be diluted to cover 150 million Americans, about half the U.S. population.

But what about the other half? Coincidentally, government sources now say a long-forgotten supply of at least 70 million vaccine doses made in the 1950s was recently discovered in a pharmaceutical company's freezer, which means there may be enough vaccine to inoculate every single American, raising the question: Should we all get vaccinated?

FAUCI: People will be questioning, say, "Gee, now that you have enough vaccine, why aren't you vaccinating everyone just in case?"

ROWLAND (on camera): Right now, if you wanted to get the smallpox vaccine, you can't get it. The responsibility for determining who should get it and when rests with the CDC here in Atlanta.

The agency currently recommends ring vaccination -- that is, identifying and quarantining those exposed to the virus and vaccinating their contacts.

(voice-over): That approach, which was very effective in eradicating smallpox, is now being called into question by some health experts, who say, if used in a terrorist attack, millions could die since the outbreak could outrun the vaccinators.

The downside for voluntary vaccinations is, about 200 people could die from the vaccine itself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

The downside for voluntary vaccinations is, about 200 people could die from the vaccine itself. An important question for those over age 32 who were vaccinated as children, are they protected? A study at St. Louis University begins to get that answer.

Rhonda Rowland, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: In today's "Student Bureau Report," the Red Cedar River. This body of water runs deep in the history of Michigan State University. The river is even mentioned in the school's fight song. Despite the sentiment, the Red Cedar is facing a serious problem, pollution.

Kelley Jelinski continues our look at environmental issues.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLEY JELINSKI, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): On the banks of the Red Cedar there's a lot of trash. Although the river is a popular place for joggers and walkers, many students, like senior Jerry Ciarlino, agree the Red Cedar has its problems.

JERRY CIARLINO, STUDENT: Oh the mighty Red Cedar, yes, very polluted, very dirty, kind of needs a little bit touched up, picking up the plastic and a lot of trash around here.

JELINSKI (on camera): Some of the Red Cedar's problems, like trash, are clearly visible, but there's another problem underneath the surface, E. coli. And what you don't know about E. coli could hurt you.

(voice-over): Michigan State University's Sanitarian Betty Wemette-Babian says scientists use E. coli levels as an indicator of how clean the water is. The higher the e. coli count, the more contaminants. And when levels are high, exposure to the water could make you sick.

BETTY WEMETTE-BABIAN, UNIVERSITY SANITARIAN: If they are, however, in the water and they inadvertently fall in and swallow water or if they would fall in and get their heads covered, at a minimum we would request that they go home and take a good cleansing shower with nice hot soapy water.

JELINSKI: Along with Wemette-Babian, several area researchers are studying the causes of the pollution.

WEMETTE-BABIAN: We do expect with all the study that's going on with the river that it's just going to be improved.

JELINSKI: Although your body shouldn't come into contact with the water when E. coli levels are high, you can still enjoy the river.

WEMETTE-BABIAN: On any given day, depending on the weather, if it's warm weather there are people sitting on the river eating their lunch, studying.

JELINSKI: Kelley Jelinski, CNN Student Bureau, East Lancing, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Perhaps you or your family are actively involved in a recycling program. You separate your paper from your plastic and your tin from your glass. You probably figure you're doing everything you can to reduce what ends up in landfills. Well, think again. You may need another recycling bin and what goes in it may surprise you.

Lilian Kim explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chicken bones, more pizza and some banana peels.

LILIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This isn't trash. What used to be thrown out is now recycled.

TANTLEY: I thought they had made a mistake, and then we read the information and they said no they really mean chicken bones with the tree leaves so here we go.

KIM: Offered in only a few U.S. cities, food recycling could be coming to a curbside near you. And it's not just food scraps, this truck will haul off biodegradable paper like pizza boxes and used paper towels, items not usually recyclable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the future of recycling. Where they're now recycling glass and cans and newspaper, we're asking them to take the next step and actually recycle their food scraps.

KIM: Mixed with yard clippings, the food waste is dumped at a nearby plant where it's turned into compost, a product used as a soil supplement.

(on camera): It takes about a ton of organics to make one cubic yard of compost, so I'm literally standing on a mountain of material that would otherwise have gone to a landfill.

(voice-over): But health departments that haven't approved the plan yet want to know how much organic waste smells and whether it attracts flies. Those who are now trying it say it's not so bad.

TANTLEY: I get passed the icky factor pretty quick, and it's just about retraining your senses.

KIM: A sign that food waste will no longer be wasted.

In Redmond, Washington, Lilian Kim reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" British crown colony with the capital at Stanley, comprised of two large and 200 small islands with bleak, rocky moorlands, economy depends on export of wool and sale of postage stamps and coins? Can you name this island? Falkland Islands.

WALCOTT: And we have more travel destinations in mind for you. Next stop, CNNstudentnews.com. Point of interests there, the in-depth material on the French election. And for you health conscious travelers, we have news you can use. We'll debunk some diet myths and give you the chance to calculate your body mass. OK, that's enough to keep you busy until I see you again tomorrow. Until then, take care.

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