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CNN STUDENT NEWS For August 7, 2002

Aired August 07, 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.

SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: Your midweek news agenda is topped with headlines out of Iraq. Details in our "Lead Story."

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: Moving on to "Chronicle," learn how bridges move our economy as well as our cars.

FREIDMAN: Up next, we go under the hood to test drive the merger of gasoline and electricity.

WALCOTT: And later, we meet an inventor making headway in the world of transportation.

FREIDMAN: Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Susan Freidman.

WALCOTT: And I'm Shelley Walcott. Glad you could join us.

Iraq says it's willing to talk but many U.S. officials are skeptical.

FREIDMAN: The United Nations wants a clear answer from Baghdad, is Iraq ready to accept the return of U.N. weapons inspectors under conditions laid out by the Security Council? U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote a letter to Iraq yesterday welcoming the nation's proposal to talk about weapons inspections. But he says some U.N. requirements must be met.

All of this comes as the U.S. discusses a possible attack on Iraq. A two-day Senate hearing last week focused on the ways, means and consequences of ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

It's an issue that's triggered much debate and fear as CNN's Rym Brahimi reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYM BRAHIMI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well it'll probably be a day or two before Iraqi officials respond to Kofi Annan's reaction to their invitation of the chief U.N. weapons inspector to come to Baghdad. What there has been, though, is reaction from the Iraqi press. It's really quantifying President Bush's rejection of that invitation as full of hysteria and actually as also something that reveals what they call the U.S. administration's evil intentions with regard to Iraq. The Iraqi press is saying that they're not at all surprised at the U.S.' reaction. They're also saying that the invitation was actually a slap in the face of the United States because it's preventing the U.S. from rallying a coalition against Iraq.

Now that said, the press also seems to say that an attack is impending. That's reflected at the highest levels. Yesterday, President Saddam Hussein was meeting very top level officials and he was telling them, essentially, that they're facing an enemy that's better equipped and that they're going to have to put all their resolve to face that enemy. Literally, the president of Iraq acknowledging that an attack is probably inevitable.

Meanwhile, Iraqis that you talk to on the street are increasingly worried, especially after President Bush came out to say that regardless what happens with the inspectors, he still wanted to see a regime change here in Iraq. So people who used to see an American attack as inevitable but probably in the distant future are now saying to you well, the attack is going to happen and it's going to happen anytime soon.

What are they doing to get ready? They've started slowly to stock up on food, not anything visible yet. If you go to the local sooks (ph) or markets, if you will, you'll find shelves still stocked up with food and consumer goods and consumer products. So that's not a problem yet. And they've also been given by the government two months government rations ahead of time to be able to prepare for this.

Rym Brahimi, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: President Bush supports a change in the Iraqi regime, but as CNN's Robin Oakley reports, not all of his European counterparts agree.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Europe was jittery enough about any U.S. invasion of Iraq even before German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder launched his reelection campaign. He added fuel to the fire insisting I can only warn against playing around with war and military invasion. We won't get involved in this. But then, his party is lagging in the polls and 84 percent of Germans say they're against zapping Iraq.

PROF. NILS DIDERICH, FREE UNIVERSITY, BERLIN: The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) campaign and Schroeder is in a very difficult situation. So he looks for the opinion polls and there is a clear majority against an intervention. And so I think he has taken his decision on this.

OAKLEY: The French President Jacques Chirac has his election won, and he joined Schroeder last week in declaring there must be no invasion of Iraq without a fresh U.N. mandate.

Europe is split. Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is proud to be a friend of George Bush and will likely aid an invasion. The U.S. can probably count on Spain's Premier Jose Maria Aznar too. He praised Bush's "axis of evil" speech.

Then there's the U.K.'s ever-loyal Tony Blair who agrees that Saddam poses a threat. Some saw it as significant the U.K. aircraft carrier Ark Royal was dispatched to the Mediterranean for joint exercises with U.S. forces this week. But Blair's under growing pressure. Many of his own Labour M.P.s oppose action against Iraq.

When Europe's leaders get together, they call for more efforts to bring peace between Palestinians and Israelis, more evidence against Saddam.

DANIEL LEOHANE (ph), CENTER FOR EUROPEAN REFORM: However, if the attack were not to happen say until February or early 2003, there's still a lot of time to exhaust political channels, diplomatic channels, U.N. channels. There's also a lot more time to try and find some stability in the Israeli-Palestinian situation and to provide that fresh evidence to make a more convincing case for attacking Iraq.

OAKLEY (on camera): For the moment, much of Europe has strong reservations about any U.S. military action against Iraq. Germany can be ruled out as an ally in the near future. But with a U.N. blessing and some effort, others could be brought round in time to backing the Bush line. The question is whether the U.S. thinks it's worth making that effort.

Robin Oakley, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: This September 11 Americans will face the memories of the attack that changed the United States forever. Yesterday, New York City officials announced the city's plans for commemorating that day and remembering the thousands of lives that were lost. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says observances will be powerful and simple.

Jennifer Cogiola (ph) has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER COGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bagpipe processional from all five boroughs will walk to ground zero and at dusk an eternal flame will be lit in remembrance of a day Americans will never forget. This is just a part of New York City's plans for the anniversary of 9/11.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Our intent is to have a day of observances that are simple and powerful.

COGIOLA: A solemn 102 minute ceremony is to begin at 8:46 a.m. with a moment of silence one year to the minute after American Airlines Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Former Mayor Giuliani and others will then read the more than 2,800 names of all who died that morning. And at 10:29, the time when the north and last tower fell, bells will toll from houses of worship throughout the city.

How to appropriately remember the day was a difficult decision. Heartfelt suggestions came in from family members and people from all over the globe as those in New York, a city that is forever changed, tried to recover.

BLOOMBERG: It was a day when we saw the worst of humanity engage in the worst form of barbarism and we saw in New York the best of New York respond with the unbelievable courage and willingness to sacrifice that makes this a unique place and the greatest country in the world.

COGIOLA: For the one-year anniversary, a day of mourning and a day to remember.

Jennifer Cogiola reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: So have you ever dreamed of being the next Richard Branson or Michael Dell? They are two of the most successful entrepreneurs around. And now the London School of Business has launched a new course teaching entrepreneurs of the future how to spot a good idea, how to sell it and when to think about going bankrupt.

Tony Campion has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you want to build a big high-profile business, this is really crucial stuff.

TONY CAMPION, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lessons in how to make it big. This is business study with knobs on, nurturing ultra- capitalist instincts and teaching all the tricks of the trade. In this post-Enron era though, accountant has become a dirty word. What about entrepreneur?

PROF. JOHN MULLINS, LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL: When I did my MBA 30 years ago, I never heard the word entrepreneur. And today, entrepreneurship is one of the most fundamental things in most strong MBA curricula. At LBS about 80 percent of our students take one or more entrepreneurship courses, and they do that because they know down the road, if not sooner, that's what they're going to do with their life.

CAMPION: At the end of this intensive eight-week course, students make a presentation to real venture capitalists to convince them that their newly honed great business idea really is that great.

(on camera): So grand concepts and certainly grand aspirations on the part of the students who come here. But the big question is can you really teach someone how to think in a unique way? (voice-over): If you want to be an entrepreneur, surely you've either got it or you haven't.

CHRIS HANAGE, STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR: Somebody who came in yesterday and gave us a talk said that entrepreneurs are not well adjusted people. And I think there's probably an ounce of truth in that in that what you're looking for is you're looking to build a business, perhaps you've got a vision of something you want to create, perhaps you want to make a lot of money and so really it's a case of trying to do something all yourself.

OGOLA AMBALA, STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR: Most of us have already accepted that once we start doing what we plan to do we'll lose all our friends, our wives and our partners may not love us as much as we want them to because it's going to be difficult; it's not easy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, so these are somewhat similar ideas.

CAMPION: Students on the entrepreneurship course have embraced the fact that success comes at a price and that values may have to take second place. All they have yet to find out is how many will make the sacrifices and yet never reap the rewards.

Tony Campion, CNN at the London Business School.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: It would seem that starting your own business requires a lot of patience and so does sitting in traffic. Stay tuned, I'll be back later to tell you why America's road congestion is actually getting worse and which cities have the worst traffic. Could be someplace near you.

FREIDMAN: Yesterday we told you about some highway and road construction issues facing the U.S. Today we look into structures carrying traffic over and under bodies of water. America's bridges and tunnels allow many highways to continue uninterrupted, but some of these engineering marvels are in desperate need of repair.

Here's Kitty Pilgrim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They may look great, but nearly three out of every 10 bridges in the country have what engineers call deficiencies, structural problems. A quarter should be torn down and replaced.

FRANK MORATTI, TRIP: What's happening to bridges across the country is that they're aging, the average age of them is approximately 40 years old, and the volume of traffic is just exploding, particularly commercial trucking.

PILGRIM: Weight on bridges has increased. Cars are heavier, more things are being shipped by truck, and traffic is horrendous. Car traffic increased by 28 percent in the last decade, truck traffic by 40 percent, and that will get worse. Truck traffic is expect to nearly double again in the next 20 years, car traffic by 50 percent.

(on camera): Some of the worst bridges in the country are in New York. The Williamsburg Bridge is the worst. It links the island of Manhattan to Brooklyn. One hundred thousand vehicles pass over every day.

(voice-over): Oklahoma is the worst. Nearly a third of the bridges in Oklahoma are structurally deficient. Nearly a quarter in Missouri, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota. Proximity to Washington brings no special privilege. The Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac is carrying three times the number of vehicles it was built for back in 1960.

The issue is money. Last year, the federal government spent $32 billion on transportation, roads, bridges, and tunnels, but current proposals in Congress call for cuts from between $3 billion and $5 billion. States are feeling a squeeze on funding and on repairs, in part because of the economic downturn. All states fund repairs through a gas tax, but, in some cases, as in Oklahoma, parts of that are diverted to other projects.

Tunnels also pose special problems these days. After the September 11th attack, many are in serious need of security upgrades and repairs to keep traffic flowing faster.

JIM DAVIS, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS: The biggest issue about tunnels now in terms of 9/11 is the vulnerability. You just don't want vehicles delayed in a tunnel because the longer they're in there, the greater possibilities for a lot of things to happen.

PILGRIM: All this is critical to the economy. Traffic on the bridge also is a key topic for most commuters in this country, and, in terms of business, most of the goods in this country are moved by truck.

(on camera): Bridges and tunnels are the delivery systems for the nation's economy, and, right now, they need some capital investment.

Kitty Pilgrim, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

WALCOTT: By now you know automobiles are a major polluter of the atmosphere. Many solutions have been proposed over the years; and according to many researchers, the best so far is the electric car. The drawback: all electric vehicles have a limited range. Now engineers are combining both electric and gasoline motors into the same car.

CNN's Steve Young hit the road to see if hybrid cars make sense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Toyota Prius gets 52 miles per gallon in the city and 45 miles per gallon on the highway. You heard that right. It scores even better in stop and go traffic.

It has both electric and gasoline engines, a hybrid. It produces 1/10 the emissions of cars most people drive, but you'll pay nearly $20,000 for this hybrid, $3,000 more than a comparable Corolla with a single engine.

(on camera): These hybrids are great for the environment, but do they make economic sense? That's largely a function of the cost of gasoline. And here in the United States, it turns out you need to keep hybrids about 10 years before you start getting ahead of the game.

(voice-over): Toyota doesn't pull any punches about that.

WADE HOTT, TOYOTA NORTH AMERICA: The more gasoline costs, the more economic sense it makes. But in this country, where gasoline is less expensive than bottled water, it would probably take you pretty much the life of the car to pay back the $3,000 differential in gasoline savings.

YOUNG: If you buy it from Toyota instead of leasing it, the IRS will give you a $2,000 tax credit. But that still doesn't make a compelling economic argument.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can express your opinion about the environment on your car, or you can do it with your car.

YOUNG: Honda is also selling hybrids, but it started two years after Toyota, which pioneered the technology back in 1997. Toyota has a 90 percent share of the worldwide hybrid market.

Detroit won't even have a hybrid until 2003. Hybrids, with a range of 500 miles, have a big advantage over all electrics, which spend more time on the charger than they do on the road. Steve Young, CNN Financial News, Secaucus, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: During our look at modes of transportation this week, we focused on the fun people can have on two wheels like the Harley- Davidson motorcycles and four wheels like the ever popular convertible and now the lowdown on the latest in three wheel fun.

Rusty Dornin reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What has three wheels, makes a Mini Cooper look like an SUV, can be parked in a motorcycle spot and looks like something built for Batman?

(on camera): What is this?

MIKE CORBIN, CORBIN MOTORS: The roadster is basically a personal hot rod. It's something you take out on Sunday afternoon and go cruising with your buddies and get wind on your nose and feel the fresh air and go out and have a good time.

DORNIN (voice-over): The Merlin Roadster, the latest three wheeled car from Corbin Motors. First, it was the Sparrow, an all electric three wheel car that apparently got folks thinking.

CORBIN: We go to the shows with the Sparrow, people said hey, Corbin, the Sparrow is cool but I'd like one without a top on it, with a motorcycle engine in it.

DORNIN: That's what they did and that's what give the roadster that distinctive rumble. And it gives it the gas to go 100 miles per hour. How about those problems with three wheelers tipping over? They say they've solved that.

CORBIN: The transmission and the engine are on the central line of the car. When you go around a turn, it wants to roll and so we have really long A arms. The tires sit way out here and the whole center twists.

DORNIN: One thousand Merlin roadsters are ordered. Ten are finished. None have officially hit the road.

(on camera): How much of an attractive selling point is the idea that you can park this in a motorcycle spot?

CORBIN: For me, when I'm in the city, it's a big selling point. Parking, motorcycle parking is easy. And even, it's even more fun when you're in San Francisco and you find half a spot. You ever -- you're out parallel parking, right, and you can't quite get your car in. These cars just back right in.

DORNIN (voice-over): At a sticker price of $23,900, hot rodding for one is not cheap, nor is it fantastically fuel efficient, 35 miles per gallon, about seven miles per gallon more than the average car and almost 30 miles per gallon less than the most efficient gas car. But there's always next year's model.

CORBIN: We have another model called the Merlin Coupe, which will have a smaller engine and that will get about 80 miles per gallon. And that should be out the end of next year.

DORNIN: Not everyone dreams of driving something out of a caped crusader cartoon. But most of us have the impossible dream of driving downtown and parking with no problem.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Hollister, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Well traffic can cause more than frustration. As you saw earlier in our show, bridges and tunnels are in desperate need of repair because of a huge increase in traffic. Traffic jams cost nearly $68 billion annually and cities face congestion an average of seven hours each day.

Natalie Pawelski continues now with our traffic report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you think traffic is getting worse in your town, you're probably right.

TIM LOMAX, TEXAS TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE: There's a combination of factors. It's the amount of people, the amount of roadway that is there. It's sort of a demand/supply relationship. You can think of it that way, and there's a lot more demand than there is supply.

PAWELSKI: The annual Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute finds in the average American city people traveled 85 percent more miles by car in the year 2000 than they did in 1982. And rush hour drivers are now wasting an average of 62 hours a year stuck in traffic. Now that's not total travel time, that's just the extra time spent going slow or going nowhere because of traffic congestion.

The study says the worst traffic is in Los Angeles where the average rush hour driver loses 136 hours a year, more than three work weeks, to traffic jams. The runners up in the time drained category San Francisco, D.C., Seattle, Houston, San Jose, Dallas, New York, Atlanta and Miami where the average rush hour driver loses an extra 69 hours a year stuck in traffic.

LOMAX: Once you get to a big system, it's difficult to maintain the pace of the roadway and transit system development and you wind up falling behind. More congestion is typical in bigger cities.

PAWELSKI (on camera): The report says traffic jams aren't just annoying, they are expensive. For the 75 cities studied, researchers added up all the extra time and fuel wasted because of traffic congestion. The price tag they figure is almost $68 billion a year.

Natalie Pawelski, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: One man's love for science is credited for an invention that could outmaneuver just about any traffic jam. By now you may have heard of the Segway Human Transporter. It's considered by many people to be the latest and greatest in transportation.

And as our Student Bureau reports, it's just one of the ideas from inventor Dean Kamen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA MASHOVIC (ph), CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Dean Kamen, a 49-year-old entrepreneur and inventor as well as a man of many honorary doctorates, has a lot to talk about. His latest invention, the Segway Human Transporter, is a one-person vehicle that utilizes sensors and gyroscopes to move a person from place to place.

The transporter weighs between 60 and 70 pounds, is pedestrian friendly and doesn't require much thought by the occupant. Riders move effortlessly on the Segway due to the scientific advances contained in the transporter. It moves forwards and backwards in response to what seems to be an insignificant lean by the rider. It can make a complete 360-degree turn with the twist of the handle.

DEAN KAMEN, INVENTOR: It's also why we call it a Segway. If you look in the dictionary under segue spelled the proper way, S-E-G-U-E, it will say a smooth transition from one place to or idea to another.

MASHOVIC: Kamen's passion for innovation stems back to his childhood and his love of science.

KAMEN: I probably didn't know it was called science when as a little kid I used to wonder why when you put something like a hot cup of coffee on a table you'd later come back and could count on the fact that it would be cold.

MASHOVIC: But Kamen is a man with passions beyond everyday science. His office walls are covered with pictures of helicopters that have intrigued him for a very long time.

KAMEN: I have literally been working on balancing, moving devices for as long as I can remember. And I've always toyed with the idea of putting autopilots and stabilizers in helicopters.

MASHOVIC: In the corner of Kamen's office is a life-size teddy bear wearing a denim tie. Denim is Kamen's fashion statement and the bear is another way of displaying it.

KAMEN: I was told a long, long time ago I'd never get anywhere in business without a partner and without a tie. And so I got myself a partner who doesn't say a whole lot and he's got a tie.

MASHOVIC: When asked if Einstein was a role model, Kamen replied I'm not sure.

KAMEN: He didn't wake up one morning and say E=MA2. No, no, that doesn't. E=MB2, no, no. E=MC2, yes, that's it. If you don't start with the punch line, if you start earlier in the process, it is an adventure.

MASHOVIC: Another one of Kamen's adventurous projects is the FIRST organization. As founder of this regional and national robotics competition, this March Madness type of event aims to instill Dean Kamen's love of science to young people.

KAMEN: We'll tell you what I tell everybody, your teachers can't teach you anything, your parents can't teach you anything, this government can't teach you anything. Learning is a very personal experience. It's frustrating. MASHOVIC: Upon meeting with Kamen, it is evident that he wants to share his passion of science with young people as well as keep making a difference in the world that we live in today. He is working on a number of projects that could possibly change the way people live in the world.

Jessica Mashovic, Manchester, New Hampshire, CNN Student Bureau.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, climate is mostly desert, economy is driven by the oil industry? Can you name this country? Iraq.

FREIDMAN: Well we hope to see you back here tomorrow. Science correspondent Ann Kellan is taking us on a ride in a $10 million concept car loaded with safety features. It's touring the U.S. and is making a stop in our "Science Report."

WALCOTT: Sounds like fun.

FREIDMAN: Yes.

WALCOTT: Plus, we'll catch up with some college grads on a unique road trip of their own. Find out where they went and who they met. But you've got to check us out to check them out so we'll catch you back here tomorrow. Have a good one.

FREIDMAN: Bye.

WALCOTT: Bye-bye.

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