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	• NEWS >> ATW 04/03/08 Yearly Script Program Index -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN/WELCOME Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of April 3rd, 2008… I’m Teej Jenkins. Our top story this week, an Iraqi cleric calls for a truce. TOP STORY - IRAQ 30 degrees, 30 minutes north 47 degrees, 47 minutes east Shiite cleric Maktada al-Sadr called for his militia to put down their weapons while calling on the Iraqi government to make concessions. Al-Sadr demanded the government grant a general amnesty for his followers, to release imprisoned members of his movement who had not been convicted of any crimes and to bring back “displaced people who fled their homes due to military operations.” It was not clear if the government would meet his demands. Meanwhile, Iraqi troops swept the city of Basra in search of Shiite militia. An advisor to Iraq’s Prime Minister said military operations would end within days following al-Sadr’s call for his militia to stand down. Despite the call for calm, sporadic violence was reported in Basra and Baghdad. The order to stand down came after intense negotiations that included a trip to Iran. Two Iraqi lawmakers asked Iran to stop sending weapons to al-Sadr supporters. The U-S has accused Iran of sending weapons, money and training to all the major Shiite factions in Iraq. displace (v) ~to expel or force to flee from home or homeland ATW FACT Mount McKinley is North America’s highest summit at a height of approximately 20, 320 feet. Death Valley is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. It stands at 282 feet below sea level. Source: U.S. Geological Survey/USA Today INTRO REST OF THE NEWS In the rest of the news this week… _ Thailand hosts a climate conference _ Arab leaders meet in Syria _ And Mideast diplomacy continues. #2 - ISRAEL 31 degrees, 46 minutes north latitude 35 degrees, 14 minutes east longitude Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in her second visit to the region this month, met with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as part of the U-S effort to encourage peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. In earlier meetings Rice announced that Israel would remove about 50 roadblocks in an effort to improve movement of Palestinians through the West Bank. The Palestinians pledged to improve their security. Rice said the actions have to be the “shared responsibilities” of both parties. Rice also held three-way talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad. Rice continues to call for improvements in the Palestinian economy but announced no agreements. Roadblocks (n a barricade or obstruction in a road. #3 - SYRIA 33degrees, 30 minutes north 36 degrees, 18 minutes east Arab leaders at the Arab League Summit in Damascus called on Israel to honor a 2002 Arab land-for-peace proposal and backed peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians. They stressed the importance of maintaining momentum in talks. Syria’s foreign minister said the Arab nations are ready for peace but added that “there are requirements.” The summit was not without controversy. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan did not attend the talks in protest of Syria’s stand on Lebanon. In all 10 of the Arab League’s heads of state stayed away. Arab leaders began meeting every year in 2000 in hopes of encouraging unity. But since then the annual summit has been weakened by low attendance and walkouts. Momentum (n) strength or force gained by motion or through the development of events. #4 - THAILAND 13 degrees, 45 minutes north latitude 100 degrees, 31 minutes east longitude Representatives from 163 countries are in Bangkok, Thailand this week at a United Nations-led climate control conference. Attendees hope to reach an agreement to cut greenhouse gases that threaten Earth while making sure the world’s economy continues to grow. The international agreement would replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Representatives hope to reach an agreement by 2009. While all governments, including the United States, agree that emissions need to be reduced, those countries that are major polluters do not agree on how to achieve those goals. The U-S, one of the world’s largest polluters, rejects mandatory national reduction targets agreed upon in the Kyoto Protocol. They say they should not have to make cuts that would hurt their economy. protocol (n) a preliminary memorandum often formulated and signed by diplomatic negotiators as a basis for a final convention or treaty. POP QUIZ #1 In our story about Iraq, we told you that one of the demands being made of the Iraqi government was to bring back what group of people? Was it? 1. disillusioned 2. disrupted 3. displaced And the correct answer is number three, one demand called for the returned of displaced people due to military operations. OLD CLUE # 1—LOCATION – HARARE, ZIMBABWE Now its time for the answers to last week’s clues in the news. Find the location of our first clue and find yourself in Harare, Zimbabwe. The nation is on the edge of its seat, waiting for the results of what many feel is a suspect presidential race between current President, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change. The slow trickle of election results has stirred fears among the public that President Mugabe is attempting to rig the election in his favor, but still, current trends in the results are proving otherwise, forcing Mugabe’s party to consider that a change in leadership is on the horizon. OLD CLUE # 2— SHUTTLE RETURNS Fill in the blanks of our next clue and you get Shuttle Returns. The space shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth safely on Wednesday in rare nighttime landing. This ended the longest shuttle mission to the International Space Station, where crews successfully installed the first section of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Kibo laboratory and the Canadian Space Agency’s two armed robotic system, Dexter. OC #3 – BHUTAN VOTE Unscramble the letters of our third clue and you get Bhutan Vote. Over a century of absolute monarchy was ended in this secluded Himalayan kingdom by its first parliamentary elections ever. However, controversy is already arising. The People’s Democratic Party, who won two seats in the National Assembly, is asking Bhutan’s election committee to look into accusations that the Bhutan Untied Party broke election rules by campaigning within 48 hours of the election. There were also accusations of harassment and bullying of PDP supporters. THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY April 4, 1949... 12 nations, including the US, sign the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C. The treaty commits each member country to consider an armed attack against any member to be an attack against all members. CHECK IT OUT INTRO Cities across the US face a growing number of vacant buildings. Usually these unwanted structures get knocked down and thrown out, but Buffalo ReUse is taking a different approach. Check It Out! CHECK IT OUT Michael Gainer-Executive Director, Buffalo ReUse Jon Markle-Buffalo ReUse Amanda Alessandra-Buffalo ReUse Anthony Morrow-Buffalo ReUse (Michael) Buffalo Reuse is an alternative to demolition. Essentially we saw just an immense amount of money and resources going into the demolition of abandoned and vaccant structures here in the city of Buffalo. We wanted to create an alternative that would result in throwing less of that stuff into a landfill. (Jon) We are a non-profit deconstruction organization. We take apart houses. (Michael) Removing the building, but saving as much material as possible. (Jon) We actually talk about harvesting them, thats the term we usually use, harvesting the material from the house. (Michael) So we're just now getting ready to take the roof off. When you deconstruct a house, you take it down in the complate opposite order that it was built. So when you build a house, the last thing to go on is the roof and when you deconstruct it, the first thing to come off is the roof. Then we'll go down and we'll take the ceilings, and the walls and the floors and we'll be moving forward. The reality of the situation is theres alot of unwanted houses here in the city. Do our goal is to get some mileage out of that. So if we're going to have to take them down, let's save the material so other people can fix up their houses and do it with good material. (Amanda) The older stuff in the city is built to last and thats alot of the stuff we get. So if you just sort of refinish it, its good as new. (Anthony) Its not like we're wasting things. We're putting things back to use. (Michael) If we're going to do it let's do it in a way that creates the most jobs as possible, and then finally in a way that has good follow through and keeps the community in mind. (Michael) So we're doing it for the same cost and we're creating a lot more as a result of that. We have material, we have job creation, we have a lot of infusion of energy into the communities, we have a great crew of people who really care about the work that they're doing and the communities that they serve, and all of this really gives back to Buffalo in a big way. ISN’T IT COOL Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Zoo in New York City introduced a new baby kangaroo…named Riley. The name was selected in an Internet naming contest. Born to parents Christy and Junior, the baby western gray joey hopped and groomed itself in the pen with her mother. ISSUE As Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue their run for the Democratic nomination for President some analysts are calling for Mrs. Clinton to bow out of the race. Some fear a long-drawn out campaign will weaken the Democratic Party’s chances of winning the White House. Neither candidate appears to be able to win enough delegates to claim the nomination before the national convention this summer. Some Democrats feel its time for the party to choose a candidate. They say that Barack Obama has an insurmountable lead and should be their candidate. Supporters of Senator Clinton, however, are saying wait a minute. They say the race isn’t over and that a strong debate between candidates will only make for a stronger nominee in the fall elections. They say that voters in states yet to hold their primaries deserve a chance to make their vote count. Well, we would like to know what you think… “Should Senator Hillary Clinton bow out of the race for the Democratic nomination?” Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions. MAILBAG We received almost two hundred responses to our issue question: “Does your school need amplification systems in classrooms?” The majority of you, 75 percent say no… amplification systems are not necessary. 21 percent say yes, they are a good idea. 4 percent are undecided. Many of you feel an amplification system would help. Tyger S. of Jamestown, North Dakota writes, “Many children miss sentences, paragraphs, even pages because they can’t hear a nervous, shy or quiet person.” Jordyn H. of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin thinks it should be up to the teacher. Jordyn writes, “Some teachers have very soft and quiet voices while others have loud voices.” Jacob A. of Woodbury, Minnesota adds, “Teachers cannot talk over children when they are loud. Teachers are losing their voices.” The majority of you, however, do not feel amplification systems are necessary. Viktar V. of Weyers Cave, Virginia writes, “Teachers should teach students to be quiet and listen. And I think it will save electricity and money.” Austin B. of Wall Lake, Iowa writes, “Even though my class gets loud… my teacher is very calm and just waits until the class notices and then quiets down.” Jocelyn W. of Dickinson, North Dakota adds, “Students would probably tend to talk louder and not learn the importance of listening.” Andrea R. of Ticonderoga, New York thinks a system might add to the problem. Andrea writes, “If the class is being too noisy than the microphone would make it even noisier.” Finally, Sarah G. of Fort Defiance, Virginia writes, “If kids are doing what they are supposed to do… then kids will hear just fine.” We look forward to your responses to our two latest questions “Do you think life is possible on other planets?” and “Should Senator Hillary Clinton bow out of the race for the Democratic nomination?” If you would like to receive an Assignment: The World Press card, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. You may write to us here at Assignment: The World, Post Office Box three-zero-zero-twenty-one, Rochester, New York… one-4-6-zero-3… or you may contact us at the A-T-W website at http://atwonline.org. We also read e-mail at atw@wxxi.org POP QUIZ #2 In our story about the Climate Conference in Thailand, we told you they hope to reduce what? 1. greenhouse gases 2. greenhouse vegetables 3. greenhouses And the correct answer is number one, negotiators hope to reach agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gases around the world. NEW CLUES And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news… Our first clue a location… 44 degrees, 26 minutes north latitude 26 degrees, 06 minutes east longitude Our second clue is a fill in the blank…it is two words. First word B blank S blank Second word T blank A blank E L blank And finally, our third clue is a scrambled letter… it is two words. I A L N F O R U F These are clues to stories we think will happen in the coming weeks. You can find the answers on radio and television newscasts and in newspapers and newsmagazines. We’ll reveal the answers on next week’s show. Good luck! GOOD-BYE And that’s it for this week’s show. For all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Teej Jenkins. We’ll see you again next week. © 2008 WXXI-TV/ Assignment: The World. All Rights Reserved.