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CNN Student News

Aired April 24, 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.
SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: (AUDIO GAP) CNN STUDENT NEWS. Here's a look at your Wednesday lineup. Presidential adviser Karen Hughes says it's time to head home. We'll have the details of her resignation in our "Lead Story." From the inner circle to outer space, it's time to talk space tourism. Back on terra firma, we examine the issue of endangered Norwegian wolves. Then Student Bureau tells us why trees make good historians.

Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott.

One of President Bush's most trusted aides is stepping down. White House counselor Karen Hughes says she will resign this summer and return to Texas. She made the announcement yesterday saying she and her family are homesick. President Bush says the move is merely a change of address and Hughes will remain a trusted adviser.

Hughes talked about her decision yesterday with CNN's Judy Woodruff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: Karen Hughes, thank you for joining us.

KAREN HUGHES, ADVISER TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Thanks, Judy.

WOODRUFF: You are giving up a job at the pinnacle of power, why?

HUGHES: Because I think it is the right thing do for my family. My husband and I made a very difficult decision. As you know, I love the president dearly and he is not only my boss but he and Mrs. Bush are also very close friends. I'm known as his number one advocate and I plan to continue to be his advocate. But he always says if your mom or dad, your responsibilities as a mom or dad come first. I agree with that.

It is important to my husband and me that -- I grew up in the Army and I moved a lot and I found a home in Texas. And we really love Texas. We want my son to have those roots there. He is getting ready to go to high school, he won't be home that much longer. In three years he will go to college and I really want him to feel rooted in Texas.

WOODRUFF: Those are all important considerations and yet you are arguably one of the most powerful people in this city working for the man who is the most powerful person in the world. How hard a decision was this to reach?

HUGHES: It was a difficult decision. No one makes a life- changing decision like this one lightly. My husband and I thought a great deal about it and talked about it for several months. I also talked to the president who was wonderfully supportive. Earlier in my career when my son was little I commuted to a job. I worked in Dallas with the Republican party of Texas and did a lot of my work by fax and phone.

The president knows he can call me any time. When I talked to him about moving home to Texas he said as long as I can still have your advice and your counsel and rely on your judgment. I want to you still involved in it, and I want to be involved and I plan to continue to be involved.

WOODRUFF: What was his reaction when he finally understood that you were serious? Did he try to talk you out of it?

HUGHES: No. He knows me very well, both he and Mrs. Bush knew that my family and I missed Texas. I think they understand. They are Texans too. They always ask about my son. They ask about my husband. They ask about my family. When we were in Texas recently, when Prime Minister Blair was at the ranch at Crawford, I drove to Austin to see one of my best friend's son play soccer.

And I realized I was missing a lot. I was missing the opportunity to see my friends' children grow up and to have my son go to his friends' home and be involved with their parents. This is a wonderful, wonderful, a wonderful opportunity. It is the thrill of a lifetime and the honor of a lifetime to work for the president and serve the president. But again, I plan to continue to do that. My commute will be longer, but I still plan to be involved. As he said, I'm changing addresses but I plan to be one of his key advisers.

WOODRUFF: What was so hard about Washington, would you say for your family? Maybe another way to ask it, what's different about Washington, between Washington and Texas?

HUGHES: Well, you know, I don't really know. I think it is -- life here, just with the weather -- a lot of things are different. The weather is very different. The atmosphere is different. But this is really not about -- we have liked Washington very much. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. We have enjoyed it. People have been very friendly. My neighbors, everyone from my neighbors to the people at the church I attend here, to my colleagues in the White House have all been very very welcoming and friendly. We have enjoyed it.

But Texas is home. I have a daughter and a grand-daughter in Austin. Dear, friends there. That's my home. I think -- I said I think in all candor, I think we are all a little homesick, and plus we miss the Tex-Mex.

WOODRUFF: Your relationship with the president has been described as sort of like an old marriage -- you finish each other's sentences.

HUGHES: We have traveled together a lot over a long period of time.

WOODRUFF: Who will finish his sentences now?

HUGHES: Me. I won't be here on as much of a daily basis. But I plan to still, for example, I told him when is he preparing for the state of the union speech next year, I always went to Camp David and spent the weekend. We talked about the speech. I plan do that again. I will come in and go up to Camp David and we will spend the weekend talking about the State of the Union Speech I assume.

So whatever he wants me to do I'm prepared to do it. I plan to continue to be involved with him, if he wants my advice, I will only be a phone call away. I plan to also come back to Washington and spend quite a bit of time here.

WOODRUFF: Again, we haven't worked out all of the details of that. I went ahead and made the announcement today because I had to notify my son's school by May 1, whether he would be attending next year or not. So we haven't resolved all the -- we will have to look at all the issues and the exact details, we will work it out because I am going to be here for several more months. I am not leaving tomorrow. I will be here for probably through late in the summer.

WOODRUFF: Are you describing this as it is still a full-time job, but just in a different place?

HUGHES: Again, we haven't worked out all the details, but clearly, when the president wants my advice, I will be glad to give it. And I'm going to be there. He and I have a very close relationship. He told me that he wants to continue to be able to rely on my friendship and advice and judgment. I plan to be available in any way he wants me to.

WOODRUFF: Any tears over this?

HUGHES: Well, it is some -- it was hard to tell my staff this morning. I have a wonderful group of people who work with me. And it was a little hard. But -- that will probably come later when I actually -- when I actually turn the light off.

But again, I think also the fact that I know that I am going to plan to come up here at least every couple of weeks and remain involved, so it is not like -- as the president said this morning, I told him that actually, a colleague had some tears and gave me a hug. And he said that's the wrong attitude. You are just changing your address. You are still going to be here. You are still going to be involved. That's the way I'm looking at it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Hughes has worked for President Bush since his 1994 campaign for Texas governor. She's considered one of his closest aides. CNN's Candy Crowley has more on Karen Hughes and the impact her departure may have on the Bush administration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andy Card knows more about the ways of Washington. Carl Rove knows more about politics. But Karen Hughes knows the most about George Bush.

HUGHES: I have worked for him for long enough that I hear -- I'm not sure I have my own voice any more. I hear his voice in my head.

CROWLEY: She signed on for the first governor's campaign, stayed through for the second and was there when it began.

HUGHES: I went in and said governor, we have been called and asked our reaction to a poll. What poll? This is not an election year. The poll that shows you are the front-runner for president. We both laughed.

CROWLEY: A wife and mother, Hughes was an intense but reluctant road warrior, eventually deciding by the fall to bring her son along on the campaign. She proved the steeliest member of the so-called iron triangle the then-governor's most protective, most loyal staffers who signed on early and stayed late.

BUSH: I have known Karen for a long, long time. I -- we knew each other when the definition of a motorcade was one car. She has been at my side and I trust her a lot.

CROWLEY: We finish each other's sentences, the president once said of Hughes. She wrote some of them too. Hughes penned the president's obligatory campaign autobiography in a month's time. When it became clear that candidate Bush's beautiful but flowery speeches were out of sync with his own voice, Hughes rewrote them. Speech writer, strategist, adviser, she listens to George Bush and George Bush listens to her.

HUGHES: He sometimes doesn't like what I have to tell him. But I consider it part of my job to tell him.

CROWLEY: But what problems she had were relayed in private, while it frustrated reporters, Hughes saw her primary task as the promotion and protection of George Bush and his agenda. Critics question whether Hughes was loyal to a fault, whether her admiration of the boss blinded her to missteps that might have been avoided if her perspective were broader. Still, Hughes was not just a spinner but a true believer.

HUGHES: I wouldn't be doing this for anyone else. This is not -- my life ambition was to go out and work for someone who was going to be running for president.

CROWLEY: In the end she is leaving him for another man, two in fact, her husband and now 15-year-old son. Both have had trouble adjusting to life inside the beltway and under the microscope. After the move to D.C., Hughes' son complained, we came here because of you, mom. No, she told him, we came here for the president.

Candy Crowley, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: If you use a computer, laptop or PDA, chances are you use software created by one of the world's most successful companies. That company of course is Microsoft. It came under fire when the federal government accused the company of antitrust practices in regards to its Windows software. The government claimed Microsoft held a monopoly in the desktop software market. Instead of splitting the company up like AT&T or Standard Oil, the Justice Department settled with Microsoft. This week, company founder Bill Gates represented Microsoft in court in an attempt to limit damage to his company. Nine states still in disagreement over the federal settlement are pushing for tougher remedies.

Microsoft didn't grow as big as it is selling to U.S. consumers only. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for up to 20 percent of Microsoft's total sales. We take a look now at some of the challenges facing Microsoft overseas.

Here's Kristie Lu Stout.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Bill Gates, teen idol. In a recent poll of top teenage icons in China, Gates ranked No. 2 ahead of even Mao Tse-Tung. Heartening news for a company out to conquer the fastest growing IT market in the world.

BRUCE EINHORN, CORRESPONDENT "BUSINESS WEEK": Certainly the Asian markets are growing fast. China is the, you know, world's, you know, most -- the fastest growing emerging market. India is coming up fast as well. So it's an important market for Microsoft.

STOUT: According to IDC, Asia's IT sector is poised to lead the rest of the world in IT spending growth with China set to surge at a compound annual growth rate of 27 percent.

(on camera): Asians love Microsoft software. The problem is, they don't love paying for it. In fact, according to the Business Software Alliance, 25 percent of software used in Japan is pirated, 59 percent in India and in China, a whopping 94 percent.

DION WIGGINS, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, GARTNER: For Microsoft, piracy has been an interesting thing in Asia. For example, in China they have pretty much ignored it until recently. They have just let things happen.

STOUT (voice-over): And rampant piracy is not the only hurdle. Microsoft also faces keen local challengers like Red Flag, the Beijing-backed Linux developer marketing China's very own operating system. And as Microsoft expands beyond the PC into mobile software, enterprise software and game machines, it faces an even wider array of Asian adversaries like Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft's Xbox game machine has been struggling to take on the Japanese game giants on their home turf.

EINHORN: They haven't sold as many as I think people were expecting at first. Cost is one problem. Another problem is that they have -- they've had some hardware glitches. And also the software that comes with it, the programs have been a little underwhelming, I think, for some of these game aficionados.

STOUT: But the main challenge is convincing the Asian consumer why he needs Microsoft instead of a cheaper alternative.

WIGGINS: Well Microsoft's addressing it specifically for each market. China, for example, last year in December they partnered with four of the major manufacturing companies of PCs such as Legend to actually ship the operating system at the source.

STOUT: A move to ensure a legitimate copy in every box.

Whether courting local partners or fighting off pirates, Microsoft can at least enjoy Bill Gates' status as an Asian teen idol. Perhaps a sign of more market share ahead.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: He is 28 years old, a multimillionaire and he's preparing for his first voyage into space. Mark Shuttleworth is scheduled to blast off tomorrow aboard a Russian rocket for a stay at the International Space Station.

CNN's Jill Dougherty introduces us to the world's latest amateur astronaut.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mark Shuttleworth was hooked on space even as a kid, setting off homemade rockets in his backyard.

MARK SHUTTLEWORTH, SPACE TOURIST: But I never managed to get anything that actually made it into the neighbor's garden which is probably just as well.

DOUGHERTY: Now he's going to ride a rocket for real. This Thursday, a Soyuz booster will launch the 28-year-old South African Internet millionaire, along with an Italian and a Russian cosmonaut, into space for an eight-day visit to the International Space Station.

Seven months of training and a reported $20 million for his ticket and Shuttleworth is ready. He'll be the second amateur in space. American Dennis Tito visited the ISS last year. But during an interview while he was in quarantine, Mark told me he's not just a space tourist. SHUTTLEWORTH: But if what I'm doing helps to reignite people's interest in space and if it helps to draw investment to provide completely privately owned launch and reentry capability, then that's fantastic.

DOUGHERTY: Training was rigorous, including how to put on a spacesuit in zero gravity.

Aboard the Russian segment of the ISS, Shuttleworth will conduct experiments, including one with animal stem cells.

SHUTTLEWORTH: And these are very exciting new biotechnology area research which we hope will ultimately be used to treat things like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease and other wasting conditions which we currently have no way to treat.

DOUGHERTY: Mark also will be doing video links with South African schools. He sees a future where amateurs can fly to space without spending millions of dollars. But proponents of space tourism say it's not safe enough yet for the average person.

JEFFREY MANBER, MIRCORP: We get a lot of people seriously interested even at the price tag to go to space. The problem is, one, you have to be medically and psychologically fit, and two, the months of training.

DOUGHERTY: Soon to be first African in space says he's fit and ready for the ride of his life.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

April 24, 1962, an image is transmitted in the first coast-to- coast satellite telecast. The image was sent from California to Massachusetts.

WALCOTT: We've chronicled the state of the environment this week on STUDENT NEWS. Today we turn our attention to a conflict over timber in Liberia. The president of that country has been accused of using Liberia's timber resources for his personal profit and to support rebels in nearby Sierra Leone. The accusations have gained the attention of the United Nations.

Gary Strieker has more on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Liberia, log timber is replacing diamonds as a source of finance for a civil conflict. That, according to a panel of experts reporting to the U.N. Security Council.

Last year, the Council imposed sanctions against Liberia based on evidence that President Charles Taylor supported rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone, profiting as a broker for diamonds from the war zone and channeling money and weapons to the rebels.

(on-camera): The sanctions include a worldwide ban on the imports of so-called "conflict diamonds." But critics say the sanctions are too limited and now, the panel of experts recommends adding an embargo on all imports of Liberian timber.

(voice-over): Most of Liberia's timber exports are shipped to China and to Europe where protesters have demanded action to stop the shipments, accusing Taylor and his associates of ransacking Liberia's forests.

In five years, the country's annual timber exports have risen from only $5 million to more than a 100 million. And investigators allege Taylor uses the trade to enrich his own personnel fortune and to provide cover for arms trafficking, to assist RUF rebels in Sierra Leone. Allegations, his government denies.

CHARLES TAYLOR, LIBERIAN PRESIDENT: The whole question of using resources from the timber industry to provide arms for RUF is incorrect. The government totally rejects that.

STRIEKER: Conservationists say Liberia has the last remaining, closed canopy, tropical rain forest in the region and it is quickly being destroyed by unregulated logging. They say it's impossible to calculate the impact of this destruction on Liberia and its people, including loss of habitats and species, human displacement and long- term effects like floods, droughts and climate change.

Supporters of the timber embargo claim it's the only way to save Liberia's forests and to stop Taylor's financing of regional conflict. But the Security Council has deferred action on it, saying more time is needed for further study.

Gary Strieker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The U.N. acknowledges that Liberia is no longer fueling a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone, however, an expert panel recommends retaining some sanctions. It says there are still border skirmishes with soldiers. The U.N. Security Council has to decide by May 7 whether to renew sanctions against Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIBBY SCOFIELD, NORCROSS, GEORGIA: Hi, my name is Libby Scofield, and I am from Norcross, Georgia. I would like to ask CNN if recycling will help protect the ozone layer? And if it does, how?

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENTAL CORRESPONDENT: If you're talking about recycling soda cans and newspapers, the answer is no. There are a lot of reasons to recycle your household trash but saving the ozone layer is not one of them. But it is important to recycle certain chemicals that can damage the ozone layer. This would include Haylon and fire extinguishers and certain refrigerants that can also damage the ozone layer. EPA rules call for phasing out a lot of chemicals that could damage the ozone layer, and countries around the world are trying to do the same thing under the Montreal Protocol which is a treaty aimed at saving the Ozone Layer. Scientists say if countries follow the treaty and follow the rules, the ozone layer should be able to repair itself some time within the next hundred years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

WALCOTT: You know they may travel in packs but that hasn't stopped Norway's wolf population from thinning out. Conservationists say wolves in Norway will be teetering on the brink of survival unless something is done and soon.

Here again is Gary Strieker. And a word of warning, this report contains some disturbing pictures.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STRIEKER (voice-over): After a very bad year for wolves in Norway, wildlife authorities there are reportedly rethinking their plans to continue killing wolves. Last winter, government sponsored hunters killed 10 wolves in southeastern Norway in response to complaints by sheep farmers that the predators were attacking their stock. Conservationists had protested that the country's wolf population, numbering just 28 animals, could not sustain the hunting.

RASMUS HANSSON, WORLDWIDE FUND FOR NATURE: Last year we told them that harvesting such a great fraction of a very small population was biologically completely unsafe.

STRIEKER: Experts now say there are only 13 wolves in Norway, less than half of last year's population, and that the single remaining wolf pack will probably scatter without breeding, because it's alpha male was among those killed.

(on camera): It's a major reversal for wolf recovery in southern Scandinavia, where wolves were wiped out by hunters in the early 1900s, and where only about 10 years ago, a few wolves migrated south from Finland into Sweden and then into Norway.

(voice over): In Finland, wolf hunting is still permitted in some areas, but Finland has a border with Russia, where a large wolf population can easily export replacements for those that are killed. In all of Sweden and Norway, there are now fewer than 100 wolves, what experts describe as an isolated and vulnerable population. Norway's share of that population, they say, has now suffered a catastrophic loss.

The government was planning to launch another wolf hunt this winter, but those plans are said to be on hold until authorities develop a new policy on managing wolves in Norway.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Several species of wild fish are disappearing from the oceans at an alarming rate. And as a result, chefs in many West Coast restaurants are now refusing to offer Chilean sea bass and other types of fish, and their precedent is being matched by chefs across the United States.

CNN's Eric Horng has more on the call and controversy over saving some popular fish.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC HORNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The average American eats 15 pounds of seafood a year. While beef consumption has fallen in recent decades, demand for fish, particularly at restaurants, has steadily increased.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At better restaurants, I like it very much. It's much healthier.

HORNG: At Lucques, a fashionable Los Angeles eatery, seafood makes up about one-third of the menu. Swordfish is a favorite of Chef Suzanne Goin, but you won't find it here anymore.

SUZANNE GOIN, CHEF, LUCQUES: People want that dish again and I just -- you know for now I can't -- I just can't do it.

HORNG: Goin, like hundreds of chefs across the country, won't serve swordfish or Chilean sea bass or monk fish because she fears for their survival, citing information from environmental groups that suggest many species are being overfished.

GOIN: I actually think the ticket is going to be the consumers. Like getting the consumers turned on because then when the consumers demand it from restaurants or from stores or from fish markets, that's when everybody's going to have to respond.

HORNG (on camera): But the efforts of chefs like Suzanne Goin are leaving a bad taste in some people's mouths, specifically fishermen who call the conservation campaign an overreaction.

(voice-over): Tony West has been fishing commercially for more than 50 years and blames what he calls misinformation for a 30 percent drop in business, saying a campaign to save endangered East Coast swordfish has affected opinions about West Coast swordfish where the problem is less severe.

TONY WEST, COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN: Oh yes, I'm -- oh let's conserve swordfish, yes, if it's coming to an end. Who said so? Oh my chef says so, he would know. Well they don't know.

HORNG: Restaurants account for two-thirds of all U.S. dollars spent on seafood. And with an increasing number of chefs tailoring their menus, table conversations may soon center on what's not on the menu rather than what is.

In Los Angeles, I'm Eric Horng.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: We turn now to some cutting-edge research in earth science, the study of tree rings. Trees in temperate zones typically grow one ring per calendar year. The ring pattern that forms provides scientists with a year-by-year record of the trees existence and thus its age. It also provides a wealth of information on climate.

Our CNN Student Bureau has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Trees have become good historians and even more importantly, better weathermen. The scientists at the University of Arkansas Tree Ring Laboratory specialize in the study and analysis of annual growth rings of trees.

DAVID STAHLE, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS TREE RING LAB: Well of course we're most interested in the oldest trees possible because they provide us with the longest records of environmental history, especially climatic history. In drought years they produce a narrow ring and in wet years they produce a fat ring. So if you can exactly date the rings, which indeed we do in dendrochronology, then you can derive a record of drought years and wet years for centuries of time.

DAN GRIFFITH, SCIENTIST: This is the fun part, being outside and you know, work.

Well dendrochronology begins in the field, absolutely, and site collection is a very fundamental element to successful dendrochronology.

STAHLE: We don't kill the trees in order to conduct this work. We can take the samples with the Swedish increment bore and extract a core five millimeters in diameter. A tiny pencil thin core will have on it all of the annual rings usually and will provide us material that we need to do these studies. And that's what sets us apart. Dendrochronology is the most accurate and precise dating method in all of geochronology.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In fact, Stahle and his team of tree ring scientists discovered the worst drought of the past millennia. This discovery quickly gained national prominence as a possible reason for the disappearance of the first North American English settlement in the early 1600s.

STAHLE: Right here the -- probably the middle of the Jamestown Drought that was written about by a Dr. Stahle (ph). So the colonists at Jamestown had the monumental bad luck to arrive in the new world in the middle of one of the worst protractive droughts in the tree record for the last 800 years. And we think that this is part of the explanation for the suffering and trauma experienced in the early days at Jamestown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a whole network of tree ring data that covers the entire United States in 500 or 600 chronologies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This work has distinguished the University of Arkansas as having one of the most extensive ancient tree ring collections worldwide.

GRIFFITH: Most school children recognize that trees can tell us how old they are but they don't realize that trees are such great environmental story tellers and that we have a lot to learn from trees and they can tell us much about their environment.

HALFORD: The scientists who have cracked the cypress tree's silent code have forever assured that those stories can now be told.

James Nash Halford, CNN Student Bureau, Fayetteville, Arkansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" became a NATO member in 1949, environmental problems include water and air pollution, government is a constitutional monarchy? Can you name this country? Norway.

WALCOTT: That's it from here today. We'll catch you back here tomorrow. Have a good one. Bye-bye.

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