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CNN Student News

Aired May 17, 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 FRIEDMAN, CO-HOST: Topping today's show, Cuba is in the spotlight. We'll talk about political freedom and catch up with one very famous Cuban citizen.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: From politics to culture, we'll take you to the movies and tell you where the line may not be so long for "Star Wars."

FRIEDMAN: Then, pondering career options? Consider law school. We'll tell you why in "Perspectives."

WALCOTT: And finally, need a little comfort at college, maybe Fido can help. Get the scoop in our "Student Bureau Report."

FRIEDMAN: It's Friday, May 17, and this is CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Susan Friedman.

WALCOTT: And I'm Shelley Walcott. Thanks for joining us.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wraps up his historic trip to Cuba, but he doesn't go home empty handed.

FRIEDMAN: Instead, he heads back to the U.S. today knowing that he got a message across. During the past week, Carter has called for democratic elections and greater civil liberties for all Cubans. He also came out in support of something called the Varela Project, which calls for Cuba to hold a national referendum on political reforms.

CNN's Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman tells us more about that project and its goals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): What was conceived as a visit to learn about Cuba's scientific achievements ended up highlighting a far more controversial issue. At The Center For Biotechnology, Jimmy Carter asked about U.S. allegations linking Havana with bioterrorism, and questioned the Bush administration's motives for making the charges on the eve of his visit here.

CARTER: I asked them specifically on more than one occasion, is there any evidence that Cuba has been involved in sharing any information to any other country on earth that could be used for terrorist purposes? And the answer from our experts on intelligence was no.

NEWMAN: Mr. Carter says the Cubans assured him they were not exploiting technology to Libya or Iraq. It wasn't the only controversial subject of the day.

Jimmy Carter arrived in Cuba Sunday to begin his historic visit. His host assured him he was free to go anywhere and meet anyone he pleased. Carter did just that by inviting two prominent government opponents to breakfast.

ELIZARDO SANCHEZ, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST (through translator): The most amazing thing for me is the good intention this man has brought with him to Cuba. We hope that the two governments, Washington and Havana, take this opportunity to start to twist in the bilateral relations that can't be any worse.

OSWALDO PAYA, CUBAN DISSIDENT: He sums up the situation in Cuba and our plans for peace (INAUDIBLE) struggle spurred by the new hopes raised by the Varela Project, a subject Mr. Carter was very interested in.

NEWMAN: The Varela Project is an unprecedented opposition initiative to introduce political change through a referendum, an initiative the Cuba government would rather ignore. So far, Jimmy Carter, a staunch human rights activist, has met behind closed doors with President Fidel Castro and his opposition and will continue to do so in the next few days.

Cuban people, meanwhile, are standing by with a mixture of curiosity and amazement, about the visit of a former American president, once vilified here and now welcomed as a friend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: After calling for free speech in Cuba, former President Carter met yesterday with some of Castro's opponents. We return to Lucia Newman for a closer look at the life of those who disagree with Cuba's communist government.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF (voice over): One of the three bedrooms of Gisela Palacios' tiny Havana apartment looks like a library, which is exactly what it is. Here you can find recent bestsellers, and not so recent, such as "1984" by George Orwell.

People who borrow books jot down their names and the title on a list, says Gisela. It's called an independent library, a place where you can find books you can't find in state-run libraries, everything from classics to anti-communist literature by Cuban exiles. GISELA PALACIOS, CUBAN DISSIDENT (through translator): I realized people were hungry to know, learn and we think different from what the government provides.

NEWMAN: Gisela and her husband, Hector, who's been in prison twice are dissidents, a small but determined class of Cubans who defy their country's communist system.

HECTOR PALACIOS (through translator): At this very moment, even if you don't believe it, they're listening to this conversation and probably recording it because you phoned yesterday.

NEWMAN: Nobody knows better than Vladimiro Roco that the police are never far away. He was freed two weeks ago after spending five years in prison for organizing opposition to the government.

The son of one of the founding fathers of Cuba's communist party was also once a Marxist, who paid a high price for changing his mind.

VLADIMIRO ROCA, CUBAN DISSIDENT (through translator): The first thing that happens when a person begins to think differently from the government, it does so openly, is that you lose your job and you know that in Cuba, the only employer is the government.

NEWMAN: Roca says not only are dissidents unjustly vilified by the government as agents of Washington, they also can never tell who their friends are.

ROCA: I'd say all of our organizations have been infiltrated by the secret police. The idea is to control, spy, and create divisions among us.

NEWMAN: And for all their trouble, most Cubans don't even know who the dissidents are since they have absolutely no access to the state-run news media.

In this small apartment in Havana's China town, Raul Rivero heads the independent journalist association. The only way they can get their message to the Cuban people, he says, is to broadcast back into Cuba on Radio Marti, a Miami-based anti-Castro radio station, funded by the United States. This tie with Washington is used to discredit them.

RAUL RIVERO, OPPOSITION JOURNALIST: We're in a kind of no man's land. We're on the margins of society, illegal and under constant attack by the government.

NEWMAN: Rivero concedes some join the opposition just so they can apply for a visa to the United States as victims of political persecution, but for the two believers who refuse to leave their country, the dream of another kind of Cuba is worth the risk.

Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FRIEDMAN: Former President Carter has covered a lot of ground this past week. He met with Cuban dissidents, disabled children, AIDS patients and of course, Mr. Castro, but there's one popular young face he didn't get a chance to see.

CNN's John Zarrella reports on the new very private life of Elian Gonzalez.

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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Not often, but every once in a while, like this past May Day, Elian Gonzalez makes a public appearance. And every once in a while, Fidel Castro stops by to visit. A year and a half ago, to help Elian celebrate a very public birthday. His first after returning to Cuba.

And last November, after Hurricane Michelle flooded the Gonzalez home in Cardenas, the Cuban leader briefly looked in on him, father Juan Miguel and his stepmother. So far, as the Castro government promised, the boy who was the center of an international custody battle two years ago has since led a private life.

(on camera): You'd never know Elian Gonzalez lived here in Cardenas. On the streets of the city there are no pictures of the boy, no signs, no posters.

(voice-over): Outside the new house, moved into after the hurricane, a guard is posted. His family wouldn't talk with us, saying the experience is behind them. People we did talk to say...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Elian represents for us history. He is part of our country's history, of our town, our province.

ZARRELLA: In fact, the only place you can find any mention of Elian is the town museum. Two dollars to get in, $25 to take pictures. The room is filled with photos mostly of the boy's return. There's a schoolbook from his time in Washington and a tee shirt worn by the fisherman who rescued him.

But this is not the only Elian museum. The Miami home, where Elian lived with his relatives, is also a museum. For his great uncle Delfin, there is still no closure.

DELFIN GONZALEZ, ELIAN'S UNCLE (through translator): If there is rights of free press and freedom of expression, I would ask Jimmy Carter to ask Elian in public if he would like to stay in Cuba or come back to Miami.

ZARRELLA: Here, too, pictures of a happy boy with Santa Claus, with his dog. His clothes still in the closet. His bed is made up and covered with stuffed animals. Two museums: the same story, different points of view. And a family divided perhaps forever.

John Zarrella, CNN, Cardenas, Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: You can find more about Elian online. Log on to cnnstudentnews.com. While you're there, check out all of our Cuban resources, including our quick vote: Should the U.S. end its trade embargo with Cuba? Cast your ballot online. And we'll have more from inside Castro's Cuba in our "Week in Review." That's coming up in "Perspectives."

First, however, we head over to Shelley for our latest and last installment of "The College Crunch."

WALCOTT: Thanks, Susan.

OK, you've chosen a college, you've been accepted, now your worries are over, right? Well probably not, because now, unless you're riding on a full scholarship, you've got to pay for it. A recent study shows that tuition at the nation's public colleges and universities is taking an even bigger bite out of the family income than it was 20 years ago.

CNN's Anne McDermott tells us how the family of one college bound student is coping.

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ANNE MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I know why you're crying, because when you get to college, it could cost as much as $70,000 a year. Fortunately, a year in a public school in northern California will only cost Maggie Shiebie (ph) about - oh - 17 grand. Dad's a little dazed.

MR. SHIEBIE, FATHER OF FUTURE COLLEGE STUDENT: First I thought, wow, this is really exciting for Maggie, that she made it into a really good school like UC Santa Cruz.

MCDERMOTT: And his second thought? Well it was something along the lines of, Yeow! In other words, how do you pay for it? Well you never know what the mail will bring or won't.

SHIEBIE (ph): The Pell scholarship that we got, that we applied for, we weren't eligible because we make too much money. The middle- class dilemma. Mom and dad both work. Have nice but not extravagant lives. So Maggie will do her part.

MAGGIE SHIEBIE (ph): I'll probably get a job.

MCDERMOTT: And probably say, you want fries with that - over and over. Folks like the Shiebies (ph) have a fair number of options, though: tax deferred education IRAs, negotiating aid packages with schools, employer education assistance programs. And if you don't qualify for need-based scholarships, how about merit scholarships, or sports scholarships. Maggie might qualify. The girl can golf. And then there's student loans. But I asked an expert; doesn't that create a lot of debt?

UNKNOWN FEMALE: The sad thing is, many of our students graduate with greater credit card debt than student loan debt.

MCDERMOTT: OK, watch those cards. As for the Shiebies (ph), they figure they'll do a little of this, a little of that, and they'll make it work.

What's going to be the biggest adjustment when your daughter goes to college?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh ...

MCDERMOTT: Well it won't be so much the money as that empty room come September.

Anne McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: OK, well here's a sure sign that summer is just around the corner, the major movie studios are releasing their blockbusters. And one of the most eagerly anticipated made its way into theaters last night.

FRIEDMAN: That's right, "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" is out. And many diehard fans across the U.S. waited in lines for midnight showings. The movie's galactic appeal reaches out to fans across the globe.

Tom Mintier reports on "Star Wars" opening day in Thailand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The opening of "Star Wars Episode II" came as it did across most of Asia, on a Thursday at noon. The crowd outside major cineplex in Bangkok was small, true "Star Wars" fans but here no Darth Vader costumes, no Princess Leia hairdos. While a bit reserved, Thai moviegoers came to see one thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) "Star Wars."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

MINTIER: School is already underway in Thailand for nearly a week now, but many in line for tickets were in uniform not in class. These boys told us school was just a half-day today.

"If I had class today," he says, "I would rather study first and come here at night."

"I would rather wait until evening to come to the movie," he says. "If there was class today, I would go."

This mom brought her two sons to see the movie.

"I find the movie very interesting," she says, "suitable for children. They watched 'Spider-Man' already." (on camera): While the opening of "Star Wars Episode II" was a big event in Thailand, it opened at more than 150 screens, at this theater complex it is showing on eight screens and no line to buy tickets.

(voice-over): None of those eight screens at this theater was sold out. At the Imax Theater, the crowd that came to see "Star Wars" had little trouble finding an empty seat.

The 35mm print may soon be a thing of the past. "Star Wars" was shot digital, but only one theater in Thailand has the newest digital projection system. Older projectors, like this one, will remain for a while. These are difficult economic times, even for the movie business. Cost for the projector alone is nearly 300,000 U.S. dollars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know I don't like it when you do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, master, I forgot you don't like flying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: The music, the sound, the special effects, traditional fare for "Star Wars." They're all here. The opening day with the first screening at noon may not be an indication of how this "Star Wars" film will do at the box office. Someone working at the theater told us that expectations are better at night, so much so that two midnight shows on Friday and Saturday have been scheduled.

Tom Mintier, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Well the last "Star Wars" movie made more than $430 million. Now critics say the moneymaking potential of this latest installment is also stratospheric.

OK, next week more on the business of making movies, everything from women in film to comic books on screen.

FRIEDMAN: Never heard of the titan arum? Well here's a clue: it's big, in bloom and causing quite a stink at London's new Kew Gardens.

Paula Hancocks fills us in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Titan arum, a blooming giant of a flower, not only for its sheer size but for the disgusting smell it gives off, obvious to us even two days after the pollination. PHIL GRIFFITHS, KEW GARDENS: The first day it opened, it really was strong and it -- and it's got to be like a large, fresh dead animal rotting in a conservatory. And it was quite a few hours before the smell got off your clothes and got out your mouth. Quite a few of the same, we had us throats were a bit sore after spending too long in here with it.

HANCOCKS: The plant's bad smell has earned it the name "corpse flower."

(on camera): From a seed very similar in size to this stone, this so-called corpse flower has grown nine feet or two-and-three- quarter meters in just six years, making it the world's biggest bloom. Now luckily for me the smell does die down after pollination, although stand downwind of it, you can still catch an unpleasant scent.

(voice-over): The giant lily is found in the tropical rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia and is thought to be an endangered plant. The smell can be picked up about a kilometer away, a novel way of attracting flies and other insects to help pollination. It also attracts the crowds. At the last flowering here in the mid-1990s, the police were called in to control almost 50,000 people who showed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in Indonesia and I missed seeing one in the jungle about four or five years ago, so it's good to see it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's fantastic. It's a monster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm still surprised by the size of it. It's a lot bigger than anything I've grown in my garden.

HANCOCKS: A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but the corpse flower by any name will always have that mixed aroma of excrement and rotting flesh.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

WALCOTT: Have you ever met with a lawyer? Well it seems like just about everybody is these days. Lawyers are crawling out of the woodwork, involved in everything from daycare to day trades. It's a boom time for lawyers, and maybe a good career for you to think about.

Kitty Pilgrim explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the season of the lawyer. Law schools are turning out another 37,000 this spring, graduating them in legions of 35 to 40,000 a year over the last two decades.

There are 900,000 lawyers at work in the United States, and more than enough work to go around.

The news is dominated by cases against everyone from Enron to the Vatican.

Shareholders are pushing their rights against corporations, parishioners against priests, the government against corporate America, the Little League team, the big league team.

The legal litany this spring has not been brief.

STEPHEN GILLERS, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: If the American law now enables people who have been injured in their pocketbook or psychologically to sue the people who did the harm, because they can now get lawyers to represent them in those lawsuits, whereas at one time it would have been difficult -- that's a good thing.

That's something to cherish about the American legal system.

PILGRIM: Some, however, question how this is changing society, and in particular, the role of judges in determining just what cases should be heard, and which abuse the system.

PHILLIP K. HOWARD, AUTHOR, "THE COLLAPSE OF THE COMMON GOOD": When judges don't make rulings of who can sue for what, then no one in America knows where they stand.

And what's happened is Americans lose the protection of law.

PILGRIM: Law schools say, save the lawyer jokes. The system is evolving.

JOSEPH BELLACOSA, ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: Reform always comes from some kind of scandal or excesses, that then have to be pulled back.

And I think that a lot of good will come from this, because just the heightened sensitivity and awareness that there are ethical responsibilities and public responsibilities, that are greater than greed.

PILGRIM (on camera): Law is becoming more specialized. General service law firms are becoming harder to find. Boutique firms now specialize in such things as intellectual property, labor law, securities law, even native tribal law. Lots of possibilities.

Kitty Pilgrim, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Well it's "Week in Review" time and what a week it's been. It would appear the Cold War has completely thawed. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter paid a visit to Cuba, NATO entered a new partnership with Russia and Russia and the U.S. signed an arms control deal. Diplomatic convergence or a mere coincidence?

Our Joel Hochmuth has this look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A remarkable week of diplomacy hammered more nails into the coffin of the Cold War. President Bush, Monday, announced he will sign a treaty with Russian President Vladimir Putin cutting both nation's nuclear arsenals by two-thirds. It's a development that would have been almost unthinkable at the height of U.S.-Soviet tensions just a generation ago.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This treaty will liquidate the legacy of the Cold War. When I sign the treaty with President Putin in Russia, we will begin the new era of U.S.-Russian relationships, and that's important.

HOCHMUTH: Under the agreement, both sides will cut the number of nuclear warheads in the arsenals to about 1,700 to 2,200 each over the next decade. That's down from about 5,000 to 7,000 each side has now. President Bush won a key concession from the Russians that both sides don't necessarily have to destroy the warheads, they can keep them in storage where they can be reactivated if needed.

Then in another development, NATO leaders meeting in Iceland agreed to accept Russia into a new partnership. While the arrangement doesn't give Russia full membership, it will now have a say on many issues like terrorism, arms control and international crisis management. The development represents a major change of course for NATO, which Europeans and Americans created more than 50 years ago specifically to oppose Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union.

LORD GEORGE ROBERTSON, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: The 11th of September 2001 forced the world, the whole world to rethink its concept of security and the ways that it goes about ensuring them (ph). Preserving the safety of our populations from these new threats is our responsibility and our challenge.

JACK STRAW, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: It's of monumental importance. Fifteen years ago, Russia was the enemy. Now Russia becomes our ally and friend. There could be no bigger change.

HOCHMUTH: Changing winds of diplomacy were blowing over Cuba as well, the former Soviet ally during the Cold War. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter visited this week. He's the most prominent American leader ever to visit the communist country since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. While his visit doesn't mean official relations between the two nations are improving, it is unprecedented. Never before has such an influential American been given the chance to speak uncensored to Cubans under the communist government.

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (through translator): For 42 years, our two nations have been trapped in a harmful state of belligerence Time has come, though, in which we must change our relations and the form in which we talk and think about one -- about the other.

HOCHMUTH: In his speech, Carter called on the U.S. to lift its long-standing trade embargo on Cuba and to ease travel restrictions, but he also criticized Cuba for its record on human rights and called on Castro to allow free elections. There's no sign either Castro or President Bush will enact any of the measures, which may disappoint those hoping for a substantial thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations. Of course events this week suggest anything seems possible as Old World animosities give way to New World realities.

Joel Hochmuth, CNN, STUDENT NEWS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: This week we've been discussing all things collegiate: recruitment, cost, grades, so here's one more campus topic: pets. Yes, pets. Recent studies show pets help relieve stress and promote healthier, happier lives. But how realistic is it for college students to own pets? For students not prepared to handle the responsibilities of pet ownership, Fido can elevate rather than alleviate worries.

Our Student Bureau explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIMBERLY FARMER, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Amie Wells knows just how much responsibility large pets can be. The history senior has had her dog Guinness (ph) for three years and also has two cats.

AMIE WELLS, PET OWNER: I mean there's times when I'm like, oh my goodness, you know with credits (ph) and it really helps right now in my job, he goes with me to work.

FARMER: Since many East Lancing apartments and rental houses don't allow dogs, that limits her housing choices. Amie says she never wanted to live so far from campus.

WELLS: He has hindered like kind of my life in a lot of ways, but I think in a lot of ways it's made it better.

FARMER: Amie says having a dog is like having a child. Her parents joke that Guinness is like their grandson.

(on camera): Not all big pets are hard to take care of or expensive. This snake only eats once a week at a cost of $3.

(voice-over): Biology and zoology senior Eric Higley says owning this snake has made him realize that having a dog in college is a lot of responsibility. He prefers easy-to-care-for reptiles.

ERIC HIGLEY, PET OWNER: This -- well it's a snake so you can't -- it's harder to get attached to for the most part, but it's -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to have. It's real easy to take care of.

FARMER: Eric doesn't have to worry about housing the way Amie does. And he finds his snake has another added benefit.

HIGLEY: Girls really like them so.

FARMER: Amie recommends cats to college students who want a pet and usually discourages students from getting a dog because of all the care involved.

WELLS: I know a lot of people who have pets and I really think that they're not taken care of. So when somebody asks me, you know should I get them, I'm like no, I don't think that you should. I mean it's hard to explain how much of a responsibility it is, you know.

FARMER: So no matter what kind of pet you pick, from cute and cuddly to scary and scaly, know the benefits and the drawbacks before you choose.

I'm Kimberly Farmer, CNN Student Bureau, East Lancing, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: That wraps up today's show. We'll see you next week.

FRIEDMAN: Bye-bye.

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