Week of January 17, 2012 (transcript)

OPEN/WELCOME
C1 & C2/STS>8-7 NR

Hi and welcome to Assignment: The World for the week of January 19th, I’m Teej Jenkins.
Our top story this week… an Italian cruise liner runs aground. 

TOP STORY
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#1 - Italian Cruise Ship
44 degrees 51 minutes North
12 degrees 14 minutes East
AP-16A, 15P, 15A, 14P

Rescue operations are underway after an Italian cruise ship ran aground on Friday.  The Costa Concordia was carrying 4,200 passengers when it struck a reef off the coast of Italy. The hull of the ship was split open when it ran aground near Tuscany and started taking on water.  Passengers described scenes of panic after a loud noise was heard at dinner time, and one man said he heard some people had jumped into the sea to try to swim to safety on the reefs of the nearby Giglio Island. Officials said helicopters rescued 50 people that were trapped on the Costa Concordia after the liner listed so badly they couldn't launch lifeboats. Six deaths have been blamed on the accident, while another 16 passengers and crew remain missing. Costa's Chief Executive Officer has blamed the accident on a "human error" by the ship's captain. The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, has been placed under arrest and is facing charges for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning ship while passengers were still on board.

listed (v): to lean to one side of a ship.


ATW FACT
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In February of 2011 an Antarctic cruise was cut short after its ship had hit an uncharted rock while anchoring. There were eighty travelers on board and no one was hurt during the accident. The ship was able to travel to a nearby port after the incident and let passengers off.

Source: CNN


INTRO REST OF THE NEWS
C2/8-7 NR/ S 8-8

In the rest of the news this week…

-       A building collapses in Lebanon
-       New  political parties are elected in Kazakhstan
-       And nine eurozone countries credit scores are downgraded.  

#2 - European Downgrade
48 degrees 52 minutes North
2 degrees 20 minutes East
AP-14A, 12P

Trouble continues for the eurozone as nine countries’ credit ratings, including France and Austria, were downgraded over the weekend by the financial company Standard and Poor. Standard and Poor is a global financial company that looks at market intelligence such as credit ratings. France and Austria both lost their top tier triple A credit rating and were knocked down the second highest rating. While Germany, and the Netherlands all kept their triple A rating. It is still unclear as to how the downgrades will affect the global economy, but the downgrade could scare off some investors and raise the cost of government borrowing.

credit rating (n): a score or grade that a company or organization gives to a possible borrower. The score is based on the borrower’s past payment patterns, personal history and financial resources and  indicates how likely the borrower is to repay a loan.


#3—Kazakhstan Election
51 degrees 10 minutes North
71 degrees 30 minutes East
AP-15P, 15A

Election officials in Kazakhstan said three parties have won seats in the parliament, ending the total control once held by the president's party. However, President Nursultan Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party remained the overwhelming force in the legislature, winning more than 80 percent of the vote in Sunday's election. Since 2007, Nur Otan held all elected seats in the previous 107-member parliament and nine deputies who were nominated by the presidential advisory body. Prosperity and stability in Kazakhstan, mainly driven by the country’s vast reserves of oil, gas and minerals, has accounted for much of the support for Nur Otan and the president. Kazakhstan is eager to boost its international image and hopes that a transition to a multiparty parliament will serve to improve its democratic credentials.

deputies (n): an important assistant who helps the person who the leader of a government, organization, etc.


#4—Lebanon Collapse
33 degrees 53 minutes North
35 degrees 30 minutes East
AP-16A

Lebanese rescue teams continued their search on Monday for residents trapped under the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building in Beirut. The five-story residential building collapsed on Sunday night and officials are still unclear what caused it. Lebanese security officials said 11 people were known to have died in the accident and at least 12 people were injured. Officials say possible causes for Sunday's collapse include cracks in the building made worse by heavy rain or the effects of several nearby construction sites. Regardless of the cause, building collapses in Lebanon are very rare.

residential (adj): containing mostly homes instead of stores, businesses, etc.


POP QUIZ #1
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In our second story what two countries did we say had their credit score downgraded   . . .was it

1.)    Italy and Germany
2.)    France and Austria
3.)    United States and Greece


OLD CLUE # 1—LOCATION
Birmingham, England
C2/8-7 NR & DEKO

Now it’s time for the answers to last week’s clues in the news.
Decko & 8-8
Picture – High Speed

Find the location of our first clue and you get Birmingham, England. A high speed rail from London, England to Birmingham, England has been given the government’s approval. The high speed rail will cut the travel time between the two cities by almost an hour making the new commute time only 49 minutes long.

OLD CLUE # 2— SCRAMBLED CLUE
Extinct Tortoise
Decko & 8-8
Picture-Tortoise

Unscramble the letters of our second clue and you get Extinct Tortoise. A tortoise believed to have gone extinct in the 1840’s, may still exist. DNA testing being done by researchers in the Galapagos Islands found at least 84 tortoises of this so-called extinct species. The giant Galapagos tortoises are one of the famous species that helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.

OC #3 – FILL IN THE BLANK
Israeli Relations
Decko & 8-8
Picture –Obama

Fill in the blanks of our third clue and you get Israeli Relations. Jordan’s King Abdullah II will be visiting with President Obama this week. The two will discuss relations between Israel and Palestine, as well as economic issues and security concerns in the Jordan region.


THIS WEEK IN WORLD HISTORY
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This week in world history: January 20th, 1961

John F. Kennedy is inaugurated to become the 35^th president of the United States. JFK was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1917 and volunteered to fight during WWII. Kennedy was given a medal for saving several of his men when a torpedo sunk the ship he was commanding. During his time as president, Kennedy fought for desegregation and civil rights. On November 22, 1963 Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, cutting his presidency short.

Source:  History.com


CHECK IT OUT INTRO
C2/8-8 GREY

Sometimes people think that they can eat something bad for them because they had something healthier earlier in the day.  At Cornell University this is known as the “Health Halo.” Today we travel to Cornell University to find out more about this eating habit. Check it out.

CHECK IT OUT
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(Dr. Wansink) The Health Halo occurs whenever we think we're eating something that's healthy or good for us, and as a result, we end up doing all of these other things to sort of reward ourselves later on in the day. So here's the deal:  you eat a salad, believing that you're really doing your body good, and the whole time you're eating the salad, when you really wanted was the cheeseburger. As a result, what happens is that people frequently reward themselves either at that meal, by ordering chips or maybe ordering the dessert because they still have room, or they end up rewarding themselves in the afternoon by eating more snacks or at nighttime by eating a bigger dinner? One thing that kids can do to avoid this healthy halo is to simply not go for something that has a big halo around it. Instead of going from the Reuben sandwich you typically would eat at lunch and feel satisfied eating, to a salad where you're just dipping your fork in vinaigrette... No! There's no way you cannot backfire from eating a salad if this is what you really want, because you're going to be telling yourself, "I deserve more!" The best thing to do is to actually just eat less of what you really want, because you'll feel satisfied. You won't feel like you're cheating yourself, and you probably won't feel stuffed to begin with. It's a lot better of a strategy to avoid this bad compensating behavior is to just eat what you want, what will make you satisfied, but just eat less of it.


ISN’T IT COOL
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AP-14P

The inaugural class of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, a school for underprivileged girls in South Africa, graduated on Saturday. School founder, the former US television host, Oprah Winfrey praised the teachers, administrators, and family members who helped the students succeed. All of the 72 graduates are headed to universities in South Africa or the United States.


ISSUE QUESTION                                  
ANSWERS DUE MONDAY, January 30th.
C1/8-8 BLUE & DEKO

With childhood obesity rates continuing to skyrocket in the United States teenagers, doctors, and parents are now turning to alternative methods of weight loss such as gastric banding. A gastric band is a small band that is put at the top of the stomach during a surgical procedure to reduce the amount of food a person can consume. Some people feel that using this procedure on adolescents is fine. In addition to having positive physical effects, some people feel that adolescents who struggle with their weight will also have positive changes in their body image and social lives. Others feel that this surgical procedure is not appropriate for adolescents or teenagers. They believe that this procedure is for adults only because teenagers’ bodies are still growing and developing. Using a gastric band as a form of weight loss can have damaging physical and emotional effects on these young adults. We want to know what you think, “Should teenagers be allowed to use extreme methods, like gastric banding, as a form of weight loss?”

Discuss this issue with your classmates after the show and then write to us with your opinions.


MAIL BAG   
DEKO & C1/8-8 BB

We received over 200 responses to our issue question: “Should people in prison have the right to vote?” The majority of you 51 percent say yes, while 45 percent say no, 4 percent were undecided.                                              

Zachary from Kohler, Wisconsin writes “ . . . Having the right to vote is something you deserve, and prisoners do not deserve the right to vote. People who do something bad do not show enough responsibility being able to vote.”

Jessie from Latham, New York adds “ . . Why should prisoners get to influence new laws if they break the current ones that put them in jail? Being in prison is a punishment and voting is a privilege.”

Erik from Janesville, Wisconsin writes “ I think it is not right to let prisoners vote because, part of your punishment in prison is losing contact with the outside world. If you let a prisoner do something a free person can do, I believe they lose the point of why they are in jail in the first place.”

But still most of you feel that prisoners should have the right to vote.                         

Amanda from Glendale, Wisconsin adds “America was first built under the impression that it was a free country. If this is true, then shouldn't all citizens, good or bad, be able to express their political views by voting?”

Nathan from Byron, New York writes “ . . .they may be prisoners but they are still people and citizens and according to the law ALL citizens are allowed to vote no one is perfect everybody makes mistakes some greater than others.”

Lindsey from Jamestown, North Dakota writes “I actually do think that people in prison should have the right to vote. I know that they have broken the law, but making decisions is the next step to regaining confidence to being a better person, and having a better life.”

We look forward to your responses to our latest questions:

“Should the United States military downsize and rely more on drones?” and “Should teenagers be allowed to use extreme methods, like gastric banding, as a form of weight loss?”

We’ll put some of the more thought provoking e-mails and letters on air.

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 atwonline dot org.

We also read e-mail at atw@wxxi.org.


POP QUIZ #2
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In our last story where did we say a building had collapsed. . was it?

1.)    Lebanon
2.)    Tuscany
3.)    Kazakhstan


NEW CLUES
C2/8-8 NR & DEKO

And now it’s time for next week’s clues in the news…

Our first clue is a location… 

34 degrees 01 minutes North
6 degrees 49 minutes West


Our next clue is a scrambled letters clue….it is two words

First word
P O C Y U C

Second word
T S P O T R S E


And finally, our third clue is a fill in the blank clue.  It is two words

First word
B _ R _ _ R

Second word
_ A T _ _ L

These are clues to stories we think will happen in the coming weeks.  We’ll reveal the answers on next week’s show.  Good luck!


GOOD-BYE
C2>C1/STS & DEKO
S 8-7

And that’s it for this week’s show.  From all of us here at Assignment: The World, I’m Teej Jenkins. Have a great week.