Return to Transcripts main page

CNN 10

CNN Student News

Aired May 15, 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.

SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: Time to take a check of the rundown. First up, we go inside Fidel Castro's Cuba with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: Later, we go to college to find out who's being recruited and why.

FREIDMAN: Then, we head out to sea to tour a research facility that's a virtual living laboratory.

WALCOTT: After that it's out of the water and off to space camp. Get the scoop in our "Business Report."

FREIDMAN: Hello on this Wednesday, May 15. I'm Susan Freidman.

WALCOTT: And I'm Shelley Walcott. And this is CNN STUDENT NEWS.

Another big day for former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who is in the midst of an historic trip to Cuba.

FREIDMAN: The most prominent American to visit Cuba since its 1959 revolution is moving forward with his diplomatic mission. Former President Carter spent his second full day on the communist island visiting an AIDS hospital and a farm co-op. He praised Cuba for its efforts to fight AIDS. The highlight of the trip, however, came when Carter addressed the Cuban people in a live broadcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (through translator): After 43 years feelings full of animosity, we hope that in the near future you will be able to extend your hand over this great division that separates our two countries and that you will be able to say we are ready to join the community of democracies. And I hope that soon the people of the United States will also be able to open their arms and say we welcome you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREIDMAN: In the United States, many Cuban-Americans are following former President Carter's progress. In many regards, Cuban culture has become mainstream in America.

CNN's Bill Schneider explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cuba always had a raucous allure. Americans went there to play, to gamble, to experience forbidden pleasures. And you could go for the weekend, just like in "Guys and Dolls."

Cuba in those days meant Desi Arnaz, a serious musician who became Americanized and comical. What's been rediscovered in recent years is authentic Cuban culture -- a culture that survives in Cuba in a time warp.

More than anything else, that means music. Musician Ry Cooder went to Havana, where he searched out and literally rediscovered Cuba's great musicians. They found a whole new audience as the "Buena Vista Social Club." That movie's political message was unspoken but clear. In Castro's Cuba, these musical treasures were left to fall into poverty and neglect.

In the biographical film "Before Night Falls," the politics are fierce and outspoken: the Castro regime's terrible persecution of poet Renaldo Arenas for being a homosexual.

Something else has been discovered: an authentic Cuban-American culture. Miami's Little Havana, once the domain of old men playing dominoes and plotting to overthrow Castro, has been Yuca-fied, as in, young urban Cuban-Americans.

The two best known Cuban-American performers have bridged the gap between two cultures: smoldering actor Andy Garcia and pop singer Gloria Estefan. The two of them have also bridged the gap between the two political cultures. As passionate advocates of Cuban-American interests, and as passionate defenders of American values to the Cuban-American community.

It's not always easy. Last year the Latin Grammy Awards had to be relocated from Miami to Los Angeles to avoid a confrontation with Cuban-American protesters. In the protesters' view, honoring Cuban performers enhances the image of the Castro regime.

But Americans who go to Cuba today are a far cry from the left wing radicals who went to Cuba in the 1960s to help with the sugarcane harvest. Most of them go today to celebrate Cuban culture, not the Cuban revolution -- a culture that barely survived the revolution, but one that thrives in the U.S.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Cuba lost $4 billion to $6 billion annually and went into recession when the Soviet Union collapsed. Tourism drove its recovery. Now in 2002, tourism's first trimester performance was weak. Analysts say Cuba may be going back into recession. WALCOTT: The United Nations Security Council has approved the biggest overhaul of Iraqi sanctions in years. The resolution is aimed at speeding up the flow of civilian goods to Iraq while clamping down on Iraqi imports of military and so-called dual use items. It will also extend the U.N. Oil for Food program for six months. Sanctions were imposed on Iraq 12 years ago after its troops invaded Kuwait. In December 1996, Iraq was given permission to sell oil now amounting to some $10 billion a year in order to buy foods and medicine, for example.

Now most Iraqis say they want the sanctions to end for good, but there are key issues to be resolved first such as allowing U.N. inspectors back into Iraq to perform weapon inspections. And why won't Iraq allow that? Well getting to the truth in a country under tight government control can be a hard thing to do.

CNN's Nic Robertson has more from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Between exams, students at Baghdad University relax in the shade. We talk about their future; it is clouded by one thing, they say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, you can ask everybody, or anybody, here in Iraq: What they want for the future is to, you know, sanctions, to lift them.

ROBERTSON: Lifting international sanctions has been the government mantra here since the import restrictions were imposed on Iraq, during the Gulf War. That's half a lifetime ago for these students.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard. We just want to live in a peaceful, and you know, we want America to leave us alone, you know?

ROBERTSON: But views here are shaped not just by life experience, but also by government policy. Frequently these days, on Iraqi television, government ministers can be seen preparing for a war. They're unlikely to go to front lines to fight -- training all part of a message to the Iraqis: The country is still at war.

(on camera): So perhaps there's no surprise then whenever we go out with our camera and an obligatory government official, people always tell us the same thing, that the Iraqi leader is popular. It is only when we go out by ourselves alone that we hear something else, about missed opportunities for the people in a country and about how hard life is.

(voice-over): But to think that the Iraqi leader is slammed in private could also be misleading. Government subsidies allowing for free education; fuel for cars at 250 dinars, or 10 cents, a gallon; cheap bus rides; reduced rail fairs are economic strings, drawing Iraqis closer to their leader.

(on camera): Subsidies aren't limited to transport. For about 250 dinars -- that's about 12 cents -- Iraqis get a monthly ration that includes 9 kilos of flower, 2 1/2 kilos of rice, 2 kilos of sugar, and various other dietary staples. They also get cheap electricity and cheap phone calls.

(voice-over): It all adds up to a social contract of sorts. But for all the forging of bonds of loyalty, there are glaring disconnects. On one hand, cheap phone calls from home; on the other, cellular phones are illegal. And despite low fuel costs encouraging car use, adding an extra radio antenna to your car will cost you seven days in jail, no trial needed.

So when I asked students about international accusations that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism, I hear this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did Iraq do? Did they have one fact or something about the terrorist country?

ROBERTSON: It seems as if they have learned all their lessons. If asked, stick to what they know: the government line.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: And now the latest installment in our series "The College Crunch." We know universities across the U.S. actively pursue the best students and the best athletes, but did you know that some students are recruited because of their ethnicity? Some Jewish kids say they are hot property to a number of colleges, but there are some questions as to why.

Martin Savidge reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the new Atlanta Jewish community high school, the big question plaguing seniors isn't if they'll go to college, but which college they'll go to. And the students say they've got no shortage of choices.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know I've received a lot of mail.

SAVIDGE: These days, Jewish teens are some of the prized recruits. And kids admit the whole thing doesn't taste exactly kosher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a good feeling if you're Jewish, to have them think that about you, but it may not necessarily be true.

SAVIDGE: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, the buckle of the Bible Belt, where they're putting the finishing touches on a multimillion-dollar Jewish center, complete with a temple and kosher cafe, and trying their best to bury the ghosts of prejudice and quotas. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're saying, we want you to apply, we want you to want to go here, and that's I think the message you should get from what we're doing around the Jewish students and every other student.

SAVIDGE: But some suggest the push for Vanderbilt for more Jews on campus has less to do with diversity and more to do with college rankings and rivalry.

With statistics showing Jewish students regularly scoring high on entrance exams, university officials are betting they'll pump up the school's academic stature.

Vanderbilt isn't the only university building up, some might say buttering up, to Jewish students. So are other colleges. And with good reason. They look at such notable schools like Emory, and Washington University, where 30 percent of the students are Jewish. Both schools are ranked higher academically than Vanderbilt, according to published surveys.

Back in Atlanta, a hard sell has Jewish students wondering, are they wanted for their diversity or just their test scores?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If statistics show that people with brown eyes have higher scores and they recruited them, you know, it's just the same. Whatever the statistics show, they go by it.

SAVIDGE: Martin Savidge, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Coming up later in our "Business Report," it may be recruitment season but the pickings are slim for business school grads. That story and much more coming up, stay with us.

What does MBA stand for? Get the answer in the "Business Report."

FREIDMAN: You've heard the rhythms, you know the rhymes and chances are you're wearing the clothes. Hip-Hop has made an indelible mark on our culture, and now there are museums devoted to educating people about the past, present and future of the music.

Keith Oppenheim reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It used to be you had to be quiet in museums. Not anymore. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, where the story of hip-hop, that blend of rap and rhythm that turned the tables on the music industry, is on display.

DR. CAROL ADAMS, CENTER INNER CITY STUDIES, NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY: Hip-hop is sort of the soundtrack of commerce today. It's influencing everything and everybody. OPPENHEIM: The influence has extended from film to fashions. Styles, set by groups such as Run DMC or the Beastie Boys. Yet while dealing with questions about the violent lyrics in some rap songs, the main idea here is to connect hip-hop to the oral traditions of African American culture.

(on camera): For example, one panel here focus on Cab Calloway and his zoot suit. Calloway's words, rhythmic, inventive and sometimes spoken, were a precursor to rap.

DON DEMALLIE, MUSEUM VISITOR: So this seems to be truly American type music, but with pieces from other parts of the world.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Indeed, one learns the world is getting turned on to hip-hop, where rap songs are being created in many other languages. And one learns this is an art form young enough for kids to feel it is theirs.

STEVE HUDSON, MUSEUM VISITOR: Hip-hop is a feeling that the people back at the time had. The only way they can express themselves.

OPPENHEIM: And old enough for adults to appreciate its roots and contributions.

SHERRY BELL, MUSEUM VISITOR: It's legitimate, it's here. It's going to go on -- it's going to be around for a long time.

OPPENHEIM: In Chicago, I'm Keith Oppenheim.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

WALCOTT: Marine biologists call it a floating research vessel, a lot like having a living laboratory in your own backyard. The Bermuda Biological Research Station is situated smack-dab in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

And as Tom Haynes reports, scientists are taking advantage of its prime location and making some pretty important discoveries there too.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM HAYNES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Debbie Steinberg is admiring her latest discovery. She's trying to determine how carbon dioxide emissions or greenhouse gases affect microorganisms in the ocean. Debbie and a crew of scientists are conducting their research about 20 miles off the coast of Bermuda. It's one of the only places in the world where they can gather such unique samples so easily.

PROFESSOR DEBBIE STEINBERG, VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE: It drops off so quickly off the island of Bermuda you can get into 4,000 meters of water in about an hour on this ship. So we can get into deep water quicker than pretty much any place in the world. HAYNES (on camera): Scientists say Bermuda is like a moored ship in the middle of the ocean. Its centralized location here in the Atlantic makes doing experiments a lot easier than on the mainland. In just a couple of hours, you can reach points in the ocean that would take days, even weeks from the mainland.

(voice-over): That gives students and scientists at the Bermuda Biological Research Station, or BBSR, the critical advantage of time. Samples collected from thousands of feet underwater have a very short life span from the moment they're taken from their natural habitat.

PROFESSOR STEVE GIOVANNONI, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY: So the fact that we can get them from the sea into this laboratory where we have sophisticated equipment in a short period of time means that we can do things here that we couldn't do anywhere else.

HAYNES: Scientists like Steve Giovannoni have been coming to BBSR for nearly a century. The research center is considered the first of its kind to document critical links between the ocean's health and human health.

GIOVANNONI: This is really kind of a great age of exploration of microbiology in the sense that we're discovering new organisms and finding out about how they impact global ecosystems. And many discoveries like that are being made every year, fantastic discoveries.

HAYNES: Discoveries that may also lead to advances in medicine. Scientists are looking into ways sea sponges, indigenous to Bermuda, could be used to treat certain forms of cancer and osteoporosis.

PROFESSOR HANK TRAPIDO-ROSENTHAL, BERMUDA BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH STATION: People have long looked at sponges as potential sources of anti-cancer compounds, but we've also found a sponge, not in Walsingham Pond but off the south shore of Bermuda, that stimulates bone growth. So we anticipate a potential development of an osteoporosis treatment from chemicals found in this offshore sponge.

HAYNES: Hank Rosenthal says it's still just potential. Practical benefits to people are still years away. But while researchers on the mainland keep at it in the lab, he'll keep diving for new discoveries and new insight into the mysteries of the ocean.

Tom Haynes, CNN STUDENT NEWS, Hamilton, Bermuda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: And you can further explore the oceans on our Web site. That's CNNstudentnews.com. Do you know which ocean is the largest on Earth? Head to our site to find out.

Earlier we asked you if you know what the letters MBA stands for. The answer: Master of Business Administration. It's a degree that at one time almost guaranteed you a job, but this spring a lot of business school students are finding that many companies are doing more downsizing than hiring. Fred Katayama explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Even before Enron, investors cried reform, after analysts failed to foresee the dot com and telecom bust. Fearing that investors had lost confidence in its analysts, the brokerage industry responded with measures.

They range from prohibiting analysts from buying stocks of the companies they cover, to reducing the number of rating categories. The missed calls on Enron have put the spotlight again on analysts in Washington.

STUART KASWELL, SECURITIES INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION: We want the SEC and the other government agencies to examine the Enron situation and follow that trail wherever it leads. If there`s wrongdoing, we want those people to be punished. We also feel that if there`s a need to tweak the rules, to improve the rules, to speed up disclosures, to look at the analyst situation, those are all entirely appropriate things to be doing.

KATAYAMA (on camera): Analysts say those internal reforms at the brokerages and the changing economic outlook are tempering ratings inflation a bit.

(voice over): A recent study by the earnings tracking firm, Zack`s Investment Research, shows that the percentage of sell recommendations issued have nearly doubled over the past year, but it`s still low at just under two percent.

A little over a year ago, Prudential practically jettisoned its investment banking unit and told analysts not to fear reprisals in issuing sell recommendations. Result: It has issued five times the number of sell recommendations Morgan Stanley has.

The critics like former Securities and Exchange Commission Chief Arthur Levitt say tweaks won't do the trick. The core problem, they say, analyst compensation is directly or indirectly tied to investment banking deals they bring in and that hasn't changed.

CHUCK HILL, THOMPSON FINANCIAL INVESTMENT: If I'm an analyst and I know that a significant portion of my compensation is coming from the investment banking side of the house, whether it`s conscious or subconscious, it`s got to have an impact on my work.

KATAYAMA: Prudential`s Michael Mayo knows this all too well. Three years ago, Credit Suisse First Boston dumped him several months after he recommended that his client`s sell bank stocks. Today, he has sells on a third of his bank stocks, and companies he covers slammed the door on him.

MICHAEL MAYO, PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL: If I want company management to participate on conference calls or go to a conference, that doesn't happen. If I ask a question on a conference call that a company is sponsoring, often my questions will not be answered, or even taken. KATAYAMA: So more need to be done on top of insuring a firm wall between investment banking and research. Companies need to disclose more information and not discriminate against analysts who call a spade a spade.

Fred Katayama, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: So you have your degree and you've managed to land a job. All problems solved, right? Well, no way. In fact, your business education has just begun. Lesson No. 1, teamwork.

Eric Philips reports on one very innovative way this lesson is being taught.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any questions about the mission positions? Speak now or forever hold your peace.

ERIC PHILIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Peace and quiet will be at a premium while these executives with Aventis Pharmaceuticals are at Corporate Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's go to work.

PHILIPS: First, astronaut training with gadgets to simulate tumbling in space or working in a frictionless environment.

(on camera): This is called the one-sixth gravity chair, and it's used to show the temporary astronauts what it would be like to walk on the moon. All this training takes place before their big mission.

(voice-over): The point is teambuilding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to make them interact with each other.

PHILIPS: So the mission begins. The team must fly the orbiter to a malfunctioning satellite, fix it and then return to Earth. Each team member has a role.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're ready.

PHILIPS: But from the outset, problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are 20 seconds behind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are way behind.

PHILIPS: Everything has to happen at once, confusion between Mission Control and the cockpit. Then...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: DEFCON, we have a voltage warning light. PHILIPS: ... more problems built in to force the team to be interdependent.

CHRISTOPHER VIERECK, SPACE CAMP ATTENDEE: Because what it does is it takes you out of yourself and it actually helps you to more quickly work together as a team.

MICHELE LEAHY, DIRECTOR, CORPORATE SPACE CAMP: Because it's an unfamiliar setting, it levels the playing field for everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we believe that the time spent here, this one or two days, is really worth it from a time perspective, from a cost perspective.

PHILIPS: And from a fun perspective.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Way to go guys.

PHILIPS: In Huntsville, Alabama, Eric Philips, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Education and business isn't limited to adults. We head back over to the desk and Susan who has the story of some kids making their mark in the corporate world. Right, Susan?

FREIDMAN: That's right, Shelley.

Maybe you know of a young person dreaming of having his or her own business. Well that dream is a reality for a group of young entrepreneurs. They're involved in a national program that teaches kids how to head their own start up.

And as our CNN Student Bureau reports, it's not as hard as you might think. Today we meet one young and successful biz whiz.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD CHAMPION, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): At age 12, Erik Wood knows what it's like to be a businessman. His business, Eworld, has grown from a once hobby to a rather profitable venture for the sixth grader.

Erik is among 26 young entrepreneurs honored at the 9th Annual Salute to Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards in New York City. A unique course at Erik's elementary school in Washington, D.C. teaches youngsters like him how to become an entrepreneur. The program, which was started by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship or NFTE, is becoming quite popular at Erik's school.

SHIRLEY HAYES, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: Many of them now are business people. They have their own brochures, they wrote business proposals, they have their calling cards. They happened to have gone to New York to the wholesale district, they made purchases, they came back and they've had sales. And many of them have been quite profitable in their selling. CHAMPION: Erik's principal also says that the program has a wide variety of benefits for students.

HAYES: I just think the program is an excellent avenue to help boys and girls in career decision making. And it's been wonderful here.

CHAMPION (on camera): Nannie Helen Burroughs School is unique in the fact that it's the only elementary school involved in the NFTE program.

(voice-over): As for Erik, NFTE has taught him how to handle owning his own business. Recently he has expanded his product line to include jewelry, designer hats, games and every kid's favorite, Pokemon cards. He says business is so good right now that sometimes he has problems keeping up with demand.

ERIK WOOD, OWNER, EWORLD: Some of the items I have on my product line because some of them are so hot that they go pretty fast and I have to keep on getting them in.

CHAMPION: Since starting Eworld, Erik has learned what it's like dealing with the media. He's already appeared in "The Washington Post" and the children's publication "Purple Mountain." But he admits that the pressures of owning his own business don't bring him down.

WOOD: Well it's not too much pressures. Pretty easy, all you have to do is stay on top of it and don't let it slip out of your hands. Like don't wait -- don't wait too long to get something when you know you need to do it.

CHAMPION: In the distant future, Erik wants to possibly expand his business to building affordable luxury cars but not before he goes to college. Overall he says he advises all other youngsters that want to build their own business to just start with a simple idea or something you like.

WOOD: I like Pokemon cards so I knew the cards to get. And let's say you like cars. You know the cars to get so pick out something that you like, what you want to do, what's your hobby and then take that as a business idea.

CHAMPION: I'm Donald Champion, CNN Student Bureau, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBARA TARPLEY, ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Hi, my name is Barbara Tarpley. I'm from Atlanta. And my question for CNN is silver dollars still in circulation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks for asking, Barbara. The quick answer is no they are not. As far as a little bit of history goes, the last silver dollar that was actually in circulation was the Eisenhower silver dollar and that was actually a circulation in this country between 1971 and 1978. Now, as of this time, there are no future plans to add any more silver dollars into U.S. currency, but we'll keep it in mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

"Where in the World" acquired by the British crown in 1684, often called Somers Islands, over 80 percent of inhabitants are of African ancestry? Can you name this country? Bermuda.

WALCOTT: That wraps up today's show. We'll catch you back here tomorrow.

FREIDMAN: Bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com