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CNN STUDENT NEWS For June 26, 2002

Aired June 26, 2002 - 04:00   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: As Wednesday rolls around, we continue to cover the fires burning in the western United States. Details to come in our "Lead Story."

SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: Later, it's lights, camera, action for a two-day filmmaking frenzy.

WALCOTT: After the movie, we get a new "Perspective" on Latin America's economic woes.

FREIDMAN: And take time out to dine by the Bay.

WALCOTT: And welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott.

FREIDMAN: And I'm Susan Freidman.

President Bush gets a firsthand look at the destruction from the Arizona wildfires after declaring parts of the state federal disaster areas.

WALCOTT: That declaration will free up millions of dollars in federal aid. The state is going to need it. The fire has burned more than 350,000 acres.

Now yesterday, President Bush toured some of the hardest hit areas. He also met with some of the people fighting the blaze. About 30,000 people have evacuated their homes and nearly 400 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the inferno. Smoke plumes are so large they can be seen from space.

The fire ravaging Arizona is one of the 18 blazes burning in six western states. But for the native people of Arizona, fighting wildfires is nothing new.

Here's Jason Bellini with their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Apaches, fighting fire is seasonal employment, steady work summer after summer. In the reservations vast Ponderosa forest, fires are not uncommon events. Apache firefighting teams pride themselves on containing them themselves, no outside help required.

Line boss Corwin Smith (ph) thought the same would be true of the Rodeo fire. He and his crew began battling it within an hour or two of when it started.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought we were going to catch it, because the way it looked -- you know, everybody thought we were going to catch it. And then it just took off and went up and over the ridge top.

BELLINI: Thousands of acres later, Corwin (ph) is just one of 30 or so crew leaders from around the United States, supervised by an elite firefighting team flown in from Alaska.

Still, this monumental fire is primarily an Apache-fought fire on primarily Apache tribal lands.

A new generation of Apache firefighters, some on their first major fire, are aware of the tradition they're following.

(on camera): So do you guys have family who have been doing this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. My grandpa.

BELLINI: Does he tell you how they used to do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. On horses. They did it on horses back then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it's kind of natural to all of us, it seems like, the things that we do. I think the main thing to me, about it, is that we're so in touch with the land, that's why, you know.

BELLINI (voice-over): Most of the young Apaches I asked why they're fighting the fires...

(on camera): It's hard work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's OK.

BELLINI (voice-over): ... told me it's the tribe's modern problems that compel them, in particular unemployment.

(on camera): So this is what you do all summer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pretty much, trying to make some money.

BELLINI: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To pay for college and everything.

BELLINI (voice-over): But less immediate concerns are also on the minds of some Apache firefighters.

(on camera): This moonscape earth left behind by the fire is sad for anyone to look at, but it's especially so for the people whose land this is. They're going to have to deal with the consequence of this fire long after it's out and long after all the attention this fire is getting goes away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It might not seem like nothing to nobody, but, you know, to us, well, it's all we have, really.

BELLINI (voice-over): The financial cost of the fire will be staggering for them, but not the only cost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I -- you know, it's usually not that quiet when you're in the forest. You can always hear something. But now there's, you know, there's nothing.

BELLINI (voice-over): Nothing resembling a forest on this land for at least another generation.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Cibecue, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Making "Headlines" today, President Bush's peace proposal for the Middle East. During a speech in Washington Monday, Mr. Bush called for a stop to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza as well as an independent Palestinian State. He also suggested that the current Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, should be removed from power. The proposal is getting mixed reviews around the globe.

Robin Oakley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At their weekend summit in Seville, European Union leaders condemned terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians and agreed the Palestinian Authority needed reform. So relief from those leaders, the U.S. was reengaging in the Middle East.

JAVIER SOLANA, EU INTERNATIONAL POLICY CHIEF: I welcome on behalf of the European Union the engagement -- strong engagement of President Bush in order to try to do the utmost to solve this traumatic problem of the Middle East.

OAKLEY: But the Europeans aren't backing Bush's effective demand, without naming him, that the Palestinians should replace Yasser Arafat before they get their own state.

French Foreign Minister Dominic DeFieldcran (ph), visiting Arafat in Ramallah, said it was for the Palestinians to choose their own leader. That message was repeated by Germany's Jacques Afisher (ph) and by a spokesman for Britain's Tony Blair. Even Russia's president was insisting Arafat must stay. VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): It would be dangerous and an error to remove him from the political arena as we, the Russian leadership, think it would only lead to radicalization of the Palestinian movement.

OAKLEY: EU leaders who welcomed Arafat to Brussels last autumn and who are the biggest funders of the Palestinian Authority have long insisted that Arafat remain an essential part of any peace dialogue. When in February they called for Palestinian elections, they did so in the expectation the contest would give Arafat a new mandate for peace negotiations. Experts, therefore, see troubles ahead.

DAVID BUTTER, MIDDLE EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW: It's not actually demanded by Bush that Arafat must go, but of course everybody knows that that's the subtext. When you get into the actual details of organizing elections or trying to build up Palestinian institutions under current circumstances, when in actually putting flesh on the bones of this initiative becomes the issue, then I think a lot of the European doubts as to this approach will probably start to come to the fore.

OAKLEY (on camera): They're not saying so openly, but some European leaders would have liked a bit more flesh on the bones of the Bush speech right now. They certainly fear that any alternative to Arafat might prove even more of a problem. But for the moment, they're pleased enough to see a few U.S. cards on the table.

Robin Oakley, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: President Bush is among a host of G8 leaders gathering southwest of Calgary, Canada in a remote lodge. The Great Eight, as it's called, is held each year among the leaders of eight major countries. This year a major topic of discussion will be the world's poor. During the summit, leaders hope to hammer out a development plan for those less fortunate.

While heads of state are inside, thousands of military and police will be outside. Their job, keeping the peace among threats of terrorism and the ever-present protesters. If you think that sounds expensive, you're right.

To Canada now and the high cost of a summit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY TOMLINSON, CTV NEWS REPORTER (voice-over): Canadians rarely see this kind of fuss for a handful of people to have a private meeting.

MIKE GAUDET, RCMP SPOKESPERSON: The magnitude, the factors that need to be assessed are phenomenal.

TOMLINSON: So far it's about $300 million for the police and their equipment, extra charge for the military. We don't know how much that is yet. Add another $200 million for the day and a half of meetings. It's the biggest peacetime security expenditure in Canadian history.

Before it even starts, people in Calgary are wondering if it's worth it, especially those who can't get even close.

DAVID ROBBINS, THE COUNCIL OF CANADIANS: What we're getting for our money is a -- is a virtual police state in the city of Calgary and fear and fear -- putting fear into the public at large that protest is somehow wrong, that protest is somehow illegal.

TOMLINSON: Those who can get into the convention center will find a lot of references to Africa. But this meeting is costing as much as what Canada's pledge to that continent in new aid. That irony isn't lost on the aid agencies.

RIEKY STUART, OXFAM, CANADA: People are here because there have been years and years and years of broken promises and no action.

TOMLINSON: In addition, Halifax is still figuring out how much it cost to host the G8 finance ministers. Canadians also paid to have the G8 foreign ministers at this Whistler resort where there were no new announcements. There the foreign minister felt no price is too high for a face-to-face meeting, especially with the U.S.

BILL GRAHAM, CANADIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: This is an enormous opportunity to get our voice directly to the American administration in a voice that is coordinated. In that sense, these are very, very not only healthy discussions, very important discussions.

TOMLINSON (on camera): Some people suggest the leaders could just have a video conference next time and link the media in at the end. That way they could put all the money they save into more aid for Africa.

Kathy Tomlinson, CTV News, Calgary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: We'll be back later with an interesting perspective on the Latin economy as well as an examination of Argentina's middle class so stick around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA BUSSARD, NATRONA HEIGHTS, PENNSYLVANIA: Hi. I'm Lisa Bussard from Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania.

And I'd like to know what more I can do as an individual to help the environment.

ED BEGLEY JR., ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST/ACTOR: There are so many things that we can do to help the environment. Every one of our actions are linked to big items like global climate change or ozone depletion. We can begin to just act more efficiently, to take the most environmentally sound form of transportation man has ever invented on the ground, which is a bicycle. Or walking is also certainly wonderful. Public transportation uses a lot less fuel and less congestion on the highway.

MICHAEL BURK, TELEVISION EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: As individuals, plant a tree. It's not a big thing, but there's a lot of symbolism in it. I think, for our children, I would give every child their own tree. Let them nurture it. Let them nurture their garden. Let them nurture something so that they realize that food doesn't just come from the market.

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA, CEO, JOHN PAUL MITCHELL SYSTEMS: There's a lot of things you can do besides recycle paper. You could put together something in your community that makes your city, your state, your country and the world a better place to live.

PAIGE MURPHY, DIRECTOR, TEAM EARTHWORK: I really feel, as an individual, that's where it starts. But as an individual, whether it is picking up trash or turning off your light switches, simple things every day that you have to really just think: OK, this is easy to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: When you head to the movies, that hour and 30 minute film you watch probably took months to make. Well thanks to the 48- Hour Film Project those weeks and months have been compressed into, you guessed it, 48 hours.

Our Bruce Burkhardt has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'd like to welcome you to the very first Atlanta 48-Hour Film Project.

BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It took George Lucas several years and $120 million to make "Attack of the Clones."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can do that.

BURKHARDT: These folks have two days, and maybe a few out-of- pocket expenses, like a yo-yo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A yo-yo. We have to use a yo-yo as a prop.

BURKHARDT: Started in Washington D.C. in 2001 by a couple of independent filmmakers, the 48-Hour Film Project has since moved to New York, and now Atlanta.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, the top three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you like that?

BURKHARDT: Starting on this Friday evening, at 7:00 p.m. each of 22 teams has two days to write, shoot and edit a short film, anywhere from five to 12 minutes. We decided to follow one team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "J'aime le fromage," "I like the cheese" in French.

BURKHARDT: Maxwell Guberman is heading up this small team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Detective cop.

BURKHARDT: First step, drawing for the genre.

The rules are few and simple: each team competing must be composed of volunteers only. All that being decided, it's time to create. Forty-eight hours -- go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't give her the money. He's got in on him, but we don't know where.

BURKHARDT: At Max's apartment, he, along with brother, Angus, and other team members, brainstorm into the night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Third scene, Angus goes and politely pursues these guys.

BURKHARDT: On Saturday morning, after just a few hour's sleep, it's time for some film making -- gorilla film making.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys want to attract as little attention as possible right now. All you got to do is go like this -- you're just going to go -- OK. OK, ready, and action. All right, hold up a second. It's in some kind of weird mode. One thing that surprises me about the teams that we followed is how incredibly organized we are.

Right now, that's too many bags, too many variables, too much stuff. We're losing time. So I have to get my head together here.

BURKHARDT: Here's something Spielberg doesn't have to deal with. When a couple of actors didn't show up, some impromptu casting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we need some good looking guys.

Are you in a hurry? Are you on your way somewhere?

We need some big, kind of tough-looking guys.

BURKHARDT: In this situation, life gives us lemons, but very special lemons, you know, neat people and stuff like that, and we're making a good glass of lemonade here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm psyched. I'm psyched.

BURKHARDT: Now a couple of hours past the halfway mark in this 48-hour odyssey, Max and company are playing beat the clock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a low-level panic pretty much a lot of the time, pretty much all the time. Early Sunday morning, less than 12 hours left, shooting is complete and the editing has begun.

ANGUS GUBERMAN, ACTOR: We got to decide which one is the best, this angle here. BURKHARDT: The finished product has to be turned in by 7:30 Sunday night. A minute late, and they're disqualified. We have so little time left, we might not even have a title for this thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have got to go. We have got to go.

BURKHARDT: A winner will eventually be declared, though there is no real prize. The reward lies elsewhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've also learned that I have some terrific friends who are great at what they do. We are home free. We are home free.

Very nice job, gentlemen.

(CHEERING)

BURKHARDT: Fade to black.

Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

FREIDMAN: What comes to mind when you think of Brazil: sandy beaches, good food, a winning soccer team? Well life isn't all fun and games for Brazilians. In fact, these days the country's market and currency are no laughing matter at all.

Diana Muriel explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Right now the country's performance at the World Cup championship looks like the only cause for celebration in Brazil. On Friday, the Brazilian real fell to an all-time low against the dollar. The stock market is at its lowest level this year and Brazilian bonds have lost around 19 percent of their value this month. All this prompting credit rating agencies Moody's and Fitch to downgrade their outlook on Latin America's biggest economy pouring oil on speculation that Brazil, like its neighbor Argentina, is about to default on its $274 billion debt.

Market confidence is floundering on this man, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the presidential candidate for the Worker's Party. He's riding high in the polls for the elections in three and a half month's time.

PETER WEST, BBVA: He has modernized his message, but the markets fear that he's still trapped in the past. And he has a program which talks about the rupture in economic policy and that has set off all sorts of fears, and in particular, about whether debt will be serviced.

MURIEL: Argentine President Eduardo Duhalde has called on Washington to ease the pressure on Brazil. As its largest neighbor, Argentina's already damaged economy will only suffer more if Brazil flounders.

Friday's resignation of Argentina's central bank chief will now make it even harder to negotiate badly needed loans with the International Monetary Fund.

WEST: Argentina is going through some very difficult negotiations with the IMF and it's proving to be like pulling a tooth. They haven't got much time left. The economy minister is going to Washington this week. We'll see if he can come back with anything to advance that process.

MURIEL: Others too are caught in the fall out. On Thursday, Uruguay followed Brazil and Argentina's lead and gave up trying to defend the value of its currency. The peso dropped as much as 28 percent. Now the IMF is recommending increasing Uruguay's credit facility by $1.5 billion as the country, like Argentina, struggles through its fourth year of recession.

Diana Muriel, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Brazil's government is desperate to avoid comparisons with its neighbor, Argentina, which is also fumbling financially. Behind Argentina's economic crisis lies a very real human drama. People once considered middle class are now struggling just to put food on the table.

And as Lisa Morando (ph) reports, the effects could last a generation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA MORANDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jose Soto steers his rented cab through the crowded and crooked streets of Buenos Aries praying that he makes a little more money than he did the day before.

JOSE SOTO, TAXI DRIVER (through translator): When I started driving a cab about five years ago, I worked from 6 in the morning to 8 in the evening and made between $2,000 and $2,300 a month. These days I work from 8 in the morning until 11 or 12 at night and I'm not even making a thousand pesos.

MORANDO: Jose Soto's story is not unique. Statistics show over 45 percent of Argentineans live in poverty. And like Jose's wife, Rosito, some two and a half million don't have jobs at all.

ROSITO SOTO, UNEMPLOYED FACTORY WORKER (through translator): We always lack something and sometimes you cannot say no to the children. It's enough that we cannot take them to the movies or the theater, no where, we have to buy them something, a little magazine, some candy.

MORANDO: Rosito lost her factory job a few months back, so to help the family make ends meet, she tries to pick up a day job here and there.

R. SOTO (through translator): In the morning I'm at home cooking something, if I have something to cook. If not, I sell used clothes that friends have given me and that way I can buy things that I need.

MORANDO: As is often the case with poor families here, several generations live under one roof. This elderly grandmother, Nelida Costa, raised 7 children and 30 grandchildren and today cares for 6 great-grandchildren.

NELIDA COSTA, HOUSEWIFE (through translator): I worked all of my life helping my husband because we had to build a home. I always worked as a maid, but that way we made ends meet. But today it's impossible because there's no work.

MORANDO: So for people like Jose Soto who make up Argentina's increasingly poor, a job driving a cab is good enough for now but he worries about not only his future but that of his children.

J. SOTO (through translator): Everyday I have less and less in my pocket and my children are asking me why I'm never home or why I'm coming home so late, why I'm not seeing them or seeing them so little.

MORANDO: Lisa Morando, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: For even more on the fiscal troubles facing Latin America, head to our Web site, CNNSTUDENTNEWS.com.

So you think your school cafeteria may have a long way to go in the food department, well try the sky. Airline food has long been the butt of jokes to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) stuck in a pressurized cabin at 30,000 feet. And now there's a place where the cuisine is being critiqued beyond the flight.

Andrew Brown now with the downside of up in the air meals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Want to know what they'll be feeding you after takeoff? Travelers from all over the world are taking pictures of food they've eaten onboard an aircraft so they can be posted on this Web site, Airlinemeals.net. Marco 't Hart is the Webmaster.

MARCO 't HART, AIRLINEMEALS.NET: These pictures clearly show is that you get what you pay for.

BROWN: What, one may ask, did passengers pay for this cuisine from Druk Air (ph) or the food Al Nipon (ph) was serving here?

HART: When I see some meals from domestic flights in Asia, sometimes I get scared.

BROWN: Some people are still happy to dine in the sky. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's great.

BROWN: Others are fed up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate lamb (ph).

BROWN: And it wasn't good, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The scrambled egg was like rubber and you could have played cricket with it.

BROWN: And no wonder.

(on camera): Passengers on long haul flights will be just sitting there for up to 16 hours and so will some of the food that they consume.

(voice-over): Gebi Scherrer managed food for airlines for more than 10 years. He says it's difficult to control what happens to a meal once it leaves the catering facility on the ground. Eventually it has to be reheated in the air and sometimes that leads to problems.

GEBI SCHERRER, IN-FLIGHT CATERING EXPERT: Either it can be overheated, burned or it's cold.

BROWN: When the jet age was in its infancy, experts say airlines couldn't offer passengers much in terms of in-flight service so the food at least had to be good.

SCHERRER: Today you have the TV in front of you, there's movies that's on.

BROWN: Perhaps a site like this can help make meals once again a central part of the in-flight experience. The airlines are already scrambling to showcase their finest fare.

HART: This is depiction (ph) from our meals. They don't look very good or they're outdated and we want to contribute new photos.

BROWN: Hart is displaying corporate pictures, but the main part of his site is still dedicated to photos like these. Check them out at Airlinemeals.net, if you dare.

Andrew Brown, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Well from eat if you dare to fantastic fare. In a great city, restaurant options should be vast and fascinating. Well by that standard, San Francisco is second to none. The city by the bay offers a dazzling assortment of dining options from Afghan to African Vegan (ph) to Vietnamese. If you're craving it, you can find it.

Our Student Bureau looks at the city's appetite for great food.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENNY SPINOSA (ph), CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): It's breathtaking sites and rhythmic sounds have made San Francisco the best city in the world according to surveys conducted by prestigious magazines such as "Travel and Leisure" and "(UNINTELLIGIBLE) Traveler." And for tourists whose hearts belong to good food...

JOHN SHAW, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, ROSE PISTOLA: People come here to dine. You know when they come on vacation, most of the people who come here are coming here partially because it's such a great town to go out to the restaurants.

SPINOSA: With more than 3,000 restaurants serving to fulfill every food lover's desire, more people dine out more often per capita in San Francisco then in any other city in America. San Francisco cuisine is flavored by its rich cultural diversity with about a third of its residents being foreign born. The city boasts of authentic Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Filipino cuisine and more.

MIGUEL DE OCAMPO, ALUMNUS, CALIFORNIA CULINARY ACADEMY: All this goes and melds to our interesting type of cuisine, interesting dining experiences in San Francisco.

SPINOSA: The city has become a great culinary region because it is surrounded by some of the world's best farmlands growing mostly organic produce and world class wine. And with the Pacific in its shores, San Francisco is also a city for fresh and delectable seafood.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have the best seafood. We have the best produce. We have the best French bread. You can't get anything better in your whole life.

SPINOSA: It is easy to leave your heart in a city that's increasingly becoming the culinary capital of America.

Penny Spinosa, CNN Student Bureau, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" second largest country in South America, voting is mandatory, industries include food processing and metallurgy? Can you name this country? Argentina.

FREIDMAN: That wraps up today's show. We'll be back tomorrow. Thanks for joining us.

WALCOTT: Have a good one. Bye-bye.

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