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CNN 10

CNN Student News

Aired June 12, 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, CO-HOST: First things first, today's "Lead Story," wildfires out west.

SUSAN FRIEDMAN, CO-HOST: Changing directions, we head eastward to "Chronicle" the cultural mix bond by the World Cup.

WALCOTT: Next pit stop, Russia, where military reform may be on the horizon.

FRIEDMAN: From the barracks to the streets to examine an illegal yet popular activity.

WALCOTT: Let's get started with your Wednesday edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott.

FRIEDMAN: And I'm Susan Friedman. Glad you could join us.

Firefighters are fighting the flames of wildfires in Colorado. As the fire enters closer to suburban Denver, thousands of residents are on alert, ready to evacuate if necessary.

WALCOTT: A wind shift and cooler temperatures gave firefighters a little break yesterday, but the massive fire is still out of control and affecting several Colorado counties. Colorado Governor Bill Owens says the fires are the largest in the state's history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL OWENS, GOVERNOR OF COLORADO: To give you an idea of the comparison, over the last eight years we had had eight federally designated fires in the state of Colorado. In the last 7 weeks, we've had 11 of these fires.

Things remain very critical in terms of Colorado's -- the fuel situation for these fires. We are at 2 percent of our normal snow pack, and we're in the middle of the worst drought in Colorado's history. And as you know, the Hayman fire has become the largest fire in Colorado's history. Last time I checked it was 77,000 acres. By comparison, the largest fire previous to that had been about 17,000 acres. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WALCOTT: Here's Lilian Kim with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LILIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Homes in suburban Denver are still under threat, residents told to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice. Firefighters say the wind-driven flames are unpredictable, and severe drought conditions are adding to the problem.

STEVE HART, FIRE INCIDENT COMMANDER: We've never seen these conditions and our fathers have probably never seen these conditions in Colorado. So, I think that that's a crack statement is where it is bad in the future. We don't foresee anything in sight that's going to help us.

KIM: The fire, which has come within five miles of Denver suburbs, has left a haze over the city. Hundreds have left their homes. Many more may eventually be forced out. Authorities have drawn up plans to evacuate as many as 40,000 residents. Firefighters say the blaze was started by an illegal campfire about 55 miles away.

GOVERNOR BILL OWENS, COLORADO: For the remainder of the summer be very, very careful. These fire professionals don't need to be fighting fires that are manmade. We have enough of these natural fires, the coal seen fire, the lighting-induced fires to keep us busy for the rest of the summer.

KIM: This is one of at least seven major fires burning in Colorado. Crews from around the country are heading to the state to help with the fire fight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Now officials say they're especially concerned that the fires began before the official start of the summer.

As Susan Lisovicz reports, drought conditions have officials concerned in other states as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ashokan reservoir looked more like a quarry in March, than one of New York City's most critical water basins. It was only 38 percent full.

This is Ashokan today. It's 75 percent full. Recent spring rains have helped compensate for the lack of winter snowfall. The 30- year water engineer Tom Hook says the reservoir should be at 100 percent capacity before the peak demand period.

TOM HOOK, NY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: Look at it as your bank account. You know how much you need to start off with at the beginning of the month. If you keep drawing on and drawing on, you don't put anything in there, well, next month you're going start off deeper in the hole or deeper in the debt.

LISOVICZ: Filling pools, watering lawns, irrigating crops and simple evaporation -- summer's heat puts stress on the water supply.

(on camera): Water would normally be flowing over this fill-way into the next basin at this time of year. But this reservoir is down by 35 billion gallons of water. That's the equivalent of a month's consumption in New York City.

(voice-over): And New York is not alone. Drought conditions exist in 30 states, with the populous Atlantic coast and portions of the West classified as the most severe. Many communities have water conservation programs in force. But fully half of the nation's population depends on wells for water in its homes. And wells are especially vulnerable to drought.

HARRY ILNS, HYDROLOGIST, U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY: Although a lot of major metropolitan areas have seen improvements in their reservoirs, many of those residents who draw their water from wells haven't seen those same kind of benefits. The groundwater system is slower to recover.

LISOVICZ: Experts say drought is a normal weather pattern, one that can last years. That offers little comfort to communities living in this drought at the start of the hottest time of the year.

Susan Lisovicz, CNN Financial News, Ashokan, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: Better news regarding the India-Pakistan situation tops our "Headlines" today. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrived in New Delhi yesterday hoping to continue defusing tensions between the two nuclear nations. He's one of many diplomats who have traveled to the region over the past few weeks. One tension easing move, India's recalling a fleet of its ships from the coast of Pakistan. The hope that moves like this one show the threat of war is receding.

Well, from the threat of war to the reality of hunger. To Rome now where a United Nations conference is being held on what to do about the pandemic problem of world hunger.

Walter Rodgers has more from the conference.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The World Food Summit in Rome fraught with irony, participants arriving in limousines to talk about 20 percent of the world's population that goes to bed hungry at night. This in a city with among the best restaurants in the world.

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: Every day more than 800 million people worldwide, among them 300 million children, suffer the gnawing pain of hunger and the diseases or disabilities caused by malnutrition. According to some estimates, as many as 24,000 people die every day as a result.

RODGERS: Hunger itself is an enormous irony, the world producing more than enough food to feed its poor already. This World Food Summit was called to prick the conscious of the developed world to renew its commitment to reduce world hunger by 50 percent, a pledge made in 1996, a target already missed.

SILVIO BERLUSCONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): A hungry man is not a free man. Freedom from hunger is a fundamental human right. Without this freedom, other fundamental rights cannot exist.

RODGERS: Stopping hunger faces many political obstacles. Huge government farm subsidies in Europe, America and Japan create less than a level playing field for struggling farmers in the poorer countries. Also tariffs and closed markets in Europe, Japan, and to a lesser degree the United States, that lock out what farmers in the developing world would produce.

JACQUES DIOUF, U.N. FOOD & AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION (through translator): Eliminating hunger is also in the interest of the powerful and the asset holders. Imagine the size of the market if 800 million hungry people were to become consumers with real purchasing power.

RODGERS: An impending famine in Southern Africa looms large over this world hunger summit. The United States has pledged grain shipments of 400,000 tons to help and has challenged Europe and Canada to match that. Otherwise, 13 million people could die there this year alone.

Many third and fourth world countries are also clamoring for new American biotechnology for genetically modified crops reducing dependence on pesticides and herbicides. But Europeans oppose genetically modified crops. One source here suggesting because the Europeans cannot compete with U.S. agricultural technology.

(on camera): The less developed countries also bear responsibility. Often they build grandiose airports rather than developing their own agriculture. Other third world countries are simply too corrupt to care about their own hungry people.

Walter Rodgers, CNN at the World Food Summit in Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: It's strong and resists fire and corrosion. Its name is asbestos, a material once used to insulate buildings. Now, unfortunately, this wonder of construction had a hidden flaw. Health concerns surfaced indicating asbestos fibers could pose a risk of cancer. Companies started removing asbestos from buildings, including schools. But were all U.S. schools cleaned up?

Jason Carroll has the answer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's midday in Brookfield, Connecticut. Kids are supposed to be in school, but they're not on the playground at this elementary school, no cars at the high school, no one at the middle school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever, ever anticipated anything like this.

CARROLL: All Margaret Fitzgerald and Lynn Orzolek wanted was a clean classroom. But what these two tenacious music teachers did ended up closing all four public schools in Brookfield, 3,100 students forced out of their classes just a few weeks before the end of the school year. Why? Asbestos contamination.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just wanted a safe place for the kids to go to school. We just wanted a safe room to have them be in.

CARROLL: For months these two complained about the dust in their classroom at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School. Worried, because two years ago asbestos was found there. At the time, the school was cleaned and called safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really just assumed if there truly were any danger that we would never ever, you know, be allowed in there. I just kind of trusted...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Subject to it. We'd never be subject to it. We trusted the administration to...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The (ph) people -- yes...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people who were in charge to give us a safe place to teach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... supposed to do it.

CARROLL: But with so much dust floating around, they worried about asbestos. The administration refused to conduct tests, so last month Fitzgerald and Orzolek spent almost a thousand dollars of their own money to get an independent test. It found asbestos at hundreds of times above accepted levels.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have dust contamination in our music room in Brookfield, Connecticut in suburbia that is higher or as high as apartments within two blocks of ground zero.

CARROLL: Unconvinced, the district hired its own consultant who confirmed what Fitzgerald and Orzolek already knew.

MARK GRANVILLE, BROOKS LABORATORIES: The results are accurate. The interpretation, we -- as we said, we don't know the source.

CARROLL: Parents demanded the town's other schools be tested. Huckleberry and two more schools were closed after they too showed signs of asbestos. Test results at the high school still pending, but it was shut down as a precaution, leaving seniors unsure about their future. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just kind of stressful knowing that we have finals in two weeks and we might not be able to prepare for those properly.

CARROLL: Kathy Hulce has been upset for two years.

(on camera): Right here you've got -- these are letters written to people like whom over the years?

(voice-over): Hulce wrote scores of letters to administrators demanding they find the source of the asbestos that contaminated Huckleberry elementary two years ago. They never did.

KATHY HULCE, PARENT: I've been terribly frustrated for the past two years. And I question how did this happen? Two years ago this should have been done correctly.

JAY CHITTUM, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS: What I say to parents is the fact that once we're finished with this, we will have all the answers we need as far as the cleanliness of the building. The answer that we are still grappling with is the source, and we'll still be working on that.

CARROLL: Working on it because a parent and two music teachers just wanted a clean classroom.

Jason Carroll, CNN, Brookfield, Connecticut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Droves of soccer fans from around the world have descended on East Asia. Now before the World Cup finals started, authorities prepared for possible violence and other security problems, most of which haven't materialized.

And as CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon reports, the feared culture clash actually has turned out to be quite fun.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the first World Cup finals ever to be held in Asia. For many fans from other continents and at least one Irish leprechaun, it's a chance to see and explore a very different culture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great. Wouldn't get the chance. None of us would probably ever come here but for the football.

MACKINNON: Many of Japan's World Cup stadiums are not in big cities but in places where tourists are usually rare.

(on camera): So what do you get when you put thousands of international football fans into small-town Japan? A very unique cultural experience.

(voice-over): When else would you see Germans dressed in lederhosen walking along the highways here? Fans from the Arab world came to cheer the only Arab team. Saudi Arabian fans appreciated extra Japanese support at their games.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have their face painted in green to support. That's very kind of them, we appreciate it. And I mean it's really hard for a lot of Saudis to come here.

MACKINNON: Cameroon is well known here because one of their players used to be in the Japanese league.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyway, fantastic country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fantastic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People are very disciplined but...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is very cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) here. Very organized.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very organized.

MACKINNON: Colorful fans from all points of the globe bringing great photo opportunities for locals, too. Many locals do confess they had no idea what to expect before the games started.

"My son told me not to come here today. He was afraid I'd be killed," says this woman, "but we're having a great time."

So it seems are their guests.

Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Ibaraki, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

FRIEDMAN: Tough economic conditions in Russia are taking a toll on the nation's military. A good portion of Russia's 1.2 million enlisted men are fed up but not necessarily fed. Many troops forage in the woods for mushrooms and berries to battle hunger. Others are reeling from violent hazing. Politicians and generals alike know that desperate measures and reforms are needed to strengthen the nation's army. Problem is, these changes come with a high price tag.

CNN's Jill Dougherty reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Desperation is etched on their faces, mothers, fathers and the boys they love. They're here at the Soldier's Mother's Committee Office in Moscow to find out how their sons can avoid the draft.

"Of course it's scary," says Alexei (ph), "there's hazing, there's not enough to eat and there's Chechnya."

The Russian military is in crisis, underpaid, demoralized, unable to even train properly. In 1991, the Soviet military had four million men in uniform. It's now down to about a third of that, but even that is unsustainable.

One of the worst problems in the military, a vicious system of hazing called in Russian "vinachena" (ph). A third of the men in this military prison were convicted of hazing, but it still goes on.

Many young Russians will do anything to avoid the draft, including bribing their way out of it for thousands of dollars. As a result, the military now is able to call up only 11 percent of eligible men. The draft simply is not working, says General Vladislav Putilin.

"Our system of recruitment is obsolete," he says. "It doesn't suit us in the military. Our lawmakers don't want it and have devised ways to avoid serving. And society doesn't want it."

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the military to devise a plan to phase out the draft and move toward a volunteer army, well- paid, well-educated, well-trained.

(on camera): The military says any real reform will take money, big money. And any realistic plan they say will take at least eight years to implement.

(voice-over): That's too slow say critics who have organized rallies against the draft. They say the generals are digging in their heels.

BORIS NEMTSOV, UNION OF RIGHT FORCES: But President Putin at least, unfortunately, all the generals but not people and not Russian parliamental (ph) parties. And I see that this is huge mistake.

DOUGHERTY: So as politicians and the military debate how to end the draft, parents at the Soldier's Mother's Committee listen and take notes hoping they will find some way to keep their sons out of the army.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: Who's your favorite superhero of all time, the Incredible Hulk or maybe the X-Men? Well, the folks at Marvel Comics are feeling a little partial to Spider-Man these days, and they're hoping this superhero's turn on the big screen will net them some huge profits.

Susan Lisovicz returns with our business report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Marvel Enterprises branched out from comics to new business ventures in the 1990s, the company found itself burdened with debt that not even Spider-Man or the Incredible Hulk could lift. In 1996, Marvel filed for bankruptcy. Company executives now hope that the release of Spider-man, the movie will help Marvel climb back permanently into the black.

PETER CUNEO, CEO, MARVEL ENTERPRISES: The best way to think of our business and what we're doing here is to think of our management team, myself and all the key people in the company, as the agents for our characters. Our characters are true celebrities.

LISOVICZ: With that philosophy in mind, Marvel has been knocking on the doors of Hollywood's major studios.

AVI ARAD, CEO, MARVEL STUDIOS: You have to earn your stripes. And you had some lesser deals that were more like standard Hollywood deals. All our new deals now, excellent. The dream deal in Hollywood is gross participation dollar-wise, which means we don't deal with net profit, gross profit, Hollywood accounting. If the movie does X, we get a percentage of that.

LISOVICZ: Marvel says it's happy about that deal it made with Columbia Pictures for the right it use Spider-Man, but not every box office hit containing Marvel characters has made big money for the company. Marvel received a tiny flat rate for "X-Men," which earned $157 million in U.S. theaters.

DAN RAVRY, AUTHOR, COMIC WARS: It's fascinating that when Marvel was weak, especially in the bankruptcy period, and when it was going down in '95 and '96, Marvel didn't have the strength to demand really good terms. The "X-Men" movie, for instance, did quite well about a year and a half ago and later in DVD sales especially did well. Marvel settled for one flat payment. That was about $350,000. That's it. One payment for the rights to use "X-men" characters.

LISOVICZ: But that deal got Marvel back on track. The current company story line began in the mid '90s. Avi Arad and partner Ike Perlmutter took bold steps to save their former business, Toy Biz. Toy Biz was closely aligned with Marvel through licensing agreements and risked being dragged down by Marvel's trouble. As Marvel chiefs Ron Perlman and Karl Icon battled one other for control of Marvel, Arad and Perlmutter hatched their own plan to take over the ailing giant.

RAVRY: They saw that Marvel of the getting sick, and realized their toy company would suffer as a result. During the bankruptcy fight, they thought they only had one choice, which was to try to takeover Marvel. It was like a minnow tried to swallow a whale.

LISOVICZ: Perlmutter and Arad won that battle. Perlmutter now owns nearly half of Marvel Enterprises. And Arad sits at the helm of Marvel Studios. But for Marvel, it's still about comic books. Their philosophy is that the comics create strong characters, characters with stories that can be taken to other media. Marvel characters will appear in three movies over the next year, including "Daredevil," "X- Men 2" and "The Incredible Hulk." Plus, "X-men," "Mutant X," and "Spider-Man TV series" are planned for release next fall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our core business is very simple. We have a collection of celebrities, who we're exposing on a worldwide basis through various media forms, and through various products.

LISOVICZ: And Wall Street seems to be reading Marvel's current script. In the past year, the stock has climbed more than 350 percent.

Susan Lisovicz, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: So have you seen the movie "The Fast and the Furious?" Well, if you have, then you know what a draw street racing can be. But here's the disclaimer, street racing is extremely dangerous and illegal. Car racing is best left to drivers in the Indy 500.

That said, our Student Bureau checked out the street racing scene and filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): A late night, a lonely road, the perfect conditions for street racing. This scene is becoming increasingly common in cities and towns across the nation.

"GRANT," TEEN RACER: I have probably been racing for about a year and a half or two. I have never been arrested or caught. And I do it for the adrenaline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Racers like these are a growing breed among America's teenagers. This is due in part to the low cost of compact sports cars and the abundance of after market parts for them. It has come to the point where some new solution to this growing problem is needed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of the times when kids are all just met up in one area and just showing off their cars and not (ph) innocent, cops come and break it up which is when the races actually do start.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Due to the illegal and inherently dangerous nature of street racing, it receives much negative attention. However, this bad reputation is also given to the people who are legally involved in showing their cars and sanctioned drag racing.

JONATHAN NEMBHARD, RACING ENTHUSIAST: Don't get it twisted like Braiz (ph). This ain't "Fast and Furious" you know. This is a love. This is -- this is a scene, you know. You know we don't go out there racing, trying to, you know, take people's pink slips or hijack, you know, freighter trucks. You know we do this for the love of the sport. We do this because we like this, you know. A lot of these cars here, this is hard-earned stuff people work for to get.

MIKE BALOG, RACING ENTHUSIAST: The street racing thing right now, I mean the cops are really strict about, you know, getting on everybody for street racing I mean. They're trying to legalize it kind of sort of, but it doesn't seem to be working. So I don't know what the risk (ph) you're looking at it towards now, but I mean if -- I mean you got Bithlo to go race at so right now (UNINTELLIGIBLE) place to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Local drag strips like this one in Bithlo, Florida are helping to quell the problem of street racing, providing a safe, controlled and legal racing environment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess if you're going to be doing street racing you might as well come and do it here to be safe and don't hit anybody (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

"GRANT": Yes, I go out to Bithlo about once a month, maybe twice, and I try to race out there. It's just as fun, but I think it would be way too hard to completely get rid of it because I mean two cars at a stop light, if they want to go, as long as no cops, they'll go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blake Taylor, CNN Student Bureau, Orlando, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: OK, well government officials at first made it easy to tell time, divide the U.S. into four times zones, Eastern, Central, Rocky Mountain and Pacific.

FRIEDMAN: Well then things got a little confusing. During World War II, Daylight Savings Time evolved. Then came Alaska and Hawaii and time zones became more complicated.

WALCOTT: And throw in Indiana and does anybody really know what time it is?

Well, Keith Oppenheim checks the clock in Hoosier Country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They call it Indiana Time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't have to change your clocks, reset anything and everything stays the same.

OPPENHEIM: Yes, for Hoosiers, time is on their side or is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good to look at your watch and look -- have the person look at their watch that you're talking to so you know exactly where you stand as far as time.

OPPENHEIM: You see in fall and winter most of Indiana's on Eastern Time, two sections are on Central, no big whoop. But when most of America springs forward to Daylight Savings Time, most, but not all, of Indiana stays on Standard Time. That means for half the year the state's divided even further, 10 counties on Central Daylight Time, 5 on Eastern Daylight Time, the rest on Eastern Standard Time.

(on camera): Confused, well this will help. Right now I'm in South Bend, Indiana, which is in the Eastern Time Zone. And since there's no Daylight Savings Time here, the time on the courthouse clock reads a few minutes before a quarter to noon, and that, at least in terms of what you read on the dial, is the same time you'd find on clocks in Chicago, the Central Time Zone.

REP. JULIA CARSON, INDIANA: It just doesn't make sense.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Congresswoman Julia Carson has submitted a bill that could pave the way to bring Daylight Savings to all of Indiana. But there's opposition.

LARRY JERNAS, INDIANA FARMER: And like everything else, people hate change. If the majority of the people are happy with the way we are, leave it alone at that.

OPPENHEIM: By the way, previous attempts to alter Hoosier clocks failed. And in a sense in Indiana time stood still.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: Well while we're on the subject of time, don't forget our new time. We'll be on a half hour earlier beginning Monday.

WALCOTT: And now, ha ha, we're out of time.

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