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CNN Student News

Aired March 08, 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: Time for your Friday dose of "CNN STUDENT NEWS". First up, Operation Anaconda shows no signs of ending. We'll have details in today's "Lead Story." There is more on the war against terrorism as we focus on how the Internet has become the new front line. Later in "Perspectives," we'll celebrate two music divas. Alicia Keys talks about adjusting to stardom, and we'll explore the continuing entertainment legacy of Aaliyah.

Welcome to "CNN STUDENT NEWS". I'm Shelley Walcott.

Hundreds more U.S. servicemen are arriving in eastern Afghanistan near Gardez to help fight in the current allied military mission dubbed Operation Anaconda. Despite high winds and heavy dust, ground troops and bombers are continuing their assault on al Qaeda and Taliban forced holed up in the mountains of Paktia Province near Gardez.

Army officials estimate Operation Anaconda has killed about 450 al Qaeda and Taliban fighters there since the start of the campaign last Friday. Eleven allied fighters, including eight Americans, have died. Afghan commanders say the enemy is cut off from supplies and reinforcements. This is the fiercest battle yet of the military campaign. And U.S. officials say the operation will continue until each and every enemy fighter surrenders or dies, but it remains to be seen how long that will take.

CNN's Nic Robertson has more on the situation on the ground in Gardez.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hidden from view by a dust storm, a coalition aircraft flies in support of "Operation Anaconda." Below, the windswept streets of Gardez, the nearest town to the fighting, testimony to the changing conditions on the front lines not far away. From an equally desolate army base, an Afghan commander briefs journalists on the battle so far.

"It was a mistake," he says, "in the beginning, to miscalculate how many al Qaeda and Taliban there were." He says in the first two days, al Qaeda got reinforcements, but now all roads are blocked, and the al Qaeda are surrounded. "The battle is lasting longer than expected," he says, "but morale among coalition forces is high, in anticipation of victory."

It's hard to tell if the streets are empty because of the bad weather or the heavy overnight bombing reported close to the town. In his store, Abdul (ph) says the bombing worries him, because people aren't shopping, and it's bad for business.

Down the street, at his store, Hakum Ran (ph) says the fighting is bad because it puts Afghan against Afghan. However, he adds, it is necessary to get rid of al Qaeda. All around, the remnants of previous wars litter this town, the destruction high, locals say, because Pashtun tribes here are fierce, and fought hard against the 1980's Soviet occupation.

(on camera): Commanders here say they have 800 fighters battling alongside coalition forces, and can offer more troops, if necessary. However, they say the high mountainous terrain has slowed progress so far, a problem that will likely be compounded by the worsening weather.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Gardez, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: The past six months have been a nightmare for the families of the September 11 victims. But yesterday they received some good news, the September 11 Victim's Fund will be expanded to cover more people and give them more money. The special master overseeing the Victim's Compensation Fund announced the more flexible and generous criteria for pay outs yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH FEINBERG, SPECIAL MASTER, 9-11 VICTIM'S COMPENSATION FUND: As a result of these changes in the computation of awards, we anticipate that the average claimant under our program will receive approximately, on average, an additional $200,000 tax-free before we trigger these new collateral offset rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALCOTT: The new criteria includes higher awards for non- economic damages from September 11 and a broader definition of victim. Those who accept the government's compensation are assured payment within 120 days and in return, they must waive the right to sue the airlines involved in the terrorist hijackings and attacks.

As the war against terrorism moves forward, so does the search for possible future threats. In some cases, the U.S. intelligence community is relying on the help of cyber tactics like hacking.

CNN's Mike Boettcher has the story of one man who is following his suspicions with the help of the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With his scruffy hair and torn T-shirt, Guido Rudolphi hardly looks like a man who now spends hours each day tracking terrorists. But Rudolphi, who operates an Internet monitoring service from this spartan loft in Zurich, Switzerland, is a hacker. A legal one, he says, and in his hands a keyboard can be a digital crime lab.

He was appalled by what he saw on September 11th, and wanted to do something.

GUIDO RUDOLPHI, : I started to scan the Internet for everything I was able to find regarding Osama bin Laden, and any person I knew that was connected to him.

BOETTCHER: First, he tracked down a classified French secret service report on bin Laden, including a secret list of suspected bin Laden associates. One name in particular caught Rudolphi's eye, a Mauritanian named Mohammed Ould Slahi. Rudolphi, who is Swiss, became curious because Slahi operated an Internet site through a Swiss web space provider.

RUDOLPHI: So, we started to try to find and locate his home pages, and get some background information on them.

BOETTCHER: What Rudolphi found about Slahi may shed light on how the secretive al Qaeda communication system works.

RUDOLPHI: This guy here, I was told, is Slahi.

BOETTCHER: Rudolphi discovered Slahi had twice been brought in for questioning during the investigations of two al Qaeda plots: the failed plan to blow up Los Angles International Airport during millennium celebration, and the successful September 11th attacks. Each time, Slahi had been released. But Rudolphi wondered why terrorism investigators were so curious about a man who seemed more interested in making web sites than bombs. The answer, Rudolphi concluded, would be found in Slahi's web site.

RUDOLPHI: As you see here, it has so-called private entries, which can only be viewed by him.

BOETTCHER: Rudolphi says Slahi was running a seemingly innocuous web site, but behind it there was something called a guest book, where visitors to the site could leave messages. It was a way of communicating that he had seen in action, when he previously tracked web usage by extreme right-wing groups.

RUDOLPHI: It is the perfect communication tools if you want to hide the content of the communication. You can put a message in the guest book. The owner of the guest book receives an e-mail, but in seconds can look at the message, edit it, and so it looks pretty normal, although the real content, which he has seen already, has disappeared, and may be harmful.

BOETTCHER: Were al Qaeda terrorists using the guest book as a means to communicate and activate attacks? Rudolphi began to look at a number of what he calls radical Islamic web sites with guest books, including Slahi's. He soon found a disturbing pattern.

RUDOLPHI: Here you see the traffic for the last two years. It started to increase dramatically in May 2001, and shortly before September 2001, it dropped to an all-time low.

BOETTCHER: Rudolphi tried to find a reason why there was a dramatic peak before the September 11th attacks, and was suspicious that terrorists might be using some of those web sites to coordinate operations. CNN has learned that several coalition intelligence agencies now agree with Rudolphi's hunch.

Rudolphi kept coming back to Slahi and his web sites. He said there were just too many coincidences for his taste, including the fact that Slahi's brother-in-law is a key lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. And, by cracking a code on Slahi's web site, Rudolphi found a digital trail leading to a country that served as home to many of the September 11th hijackers.

(on camera): Mohammed Ould Slahi's path took him here, to the heartland of Germany, a place that coalition intelligence sources believe is an operations center for al Qaeda.

(voice-over): Slahi lived in Duisburg, where he studied microelectronics.

HOLGER VOGT, PROFESSOR: He was polite, he was calm, quiet.

BOETTCHER: Professor Holger Vogt taught him, then employed him. He said that Slahi kept to himself, then abruptly dropped out of sight, saying he was suffering from malaria.

VOGT: He seemed to be somebody who wants to learn technical things, and we talked about these technical things. There was no personal communication on things very outside of, let's say, a student being here, a student living here. So, no politics.

BOETTCHER: Even in the local Muslim community, he was a closed book. Dinq Neuzat met Slahi two years ago as both men celebrated the annual Muslim observance of Ramadan.

DINQ NEUZAT: We only talked about Islam, what Allah said, and what Mohammed said. About more, or politics, we never talked. Only Islam.

BOETTCHER: One thing did raise Slahi's profile: German authorities charged him with fraud when they discovered he ran a business with $35,000 in working capital from this apartment house. At the same time, he was collecting German welfare payments.

In 1999, he fled to Canada, where he attended the same mosque as this man, Ahmed Ressam, who would later be arrested on charges of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. Slahi was questioned by Canadian intelligence, and within days he fled Canada, too. RUDOLPHI: We were able to locate him...

BOETTCHER: Guido Rudolphi and his colleagues were able to find Slahi using the web. They tracked him to his native country of Mauritania, in West Africa, where Slahi operates an Internet cafe, another fact that raised Rudolphi's suspicion.

RUDOLPHI: If I want to use the Internet on a really sensitive matter, and under no circumstances want to run the risk that anybody can trace me back, I go to the Internet cafe.

BOETTCHER: Or public libraries, where some of the September 11th hijackers went to access the Internet.

(on camera): What did you do with this information when you saw it and thought it looked suspicious?

RUDOLPHI: First, I got in contact with the Swiss police. They were interested, but since then, I never heard back.

BOETTCHER (voice-over): But other law enforcement and intelligence agencies did have Slahi on their radar. Last September, the Mauritanian government detained and questioned Slahi at the request of the FBI, then released him. The FBI will not comment on Slahi.

(on camera): However, two coalition intelligence agencies tell CNN they now believe that Slahi was tied to both the millennium bomb plot and the September 11th hijackers. Those intelligence sources are convinced that Slahi was key in communicating orders to activate those terrorist cells. To get his side of the story, we tried to contact Slahi via e-mail, but the address we obtained no longer works. We did find a working fax number for Slahi, but there has been no reply. Is Mohammed Ould Slahi a simple Internet cafe owner, or the key to al Qaeda communications? Guido Rudolphi has his suspicions, and keystroke by keystroke, keeps looking for answers.

Mike Boettcher, CNN, Zurich.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

March 8 is International Women's Day.

WALCOTT: Well today is International Women's Day, a time to celebrate females across the globe. It's a pretty popular time in Russia where President Vladimir Putin praised the virtues of women during a ceremony at the Kremlin.

And speaking of Russia, one young woman there is showing her prowess in the world of chess.

Jill Dougherty has a story of a teenage girl sending the message that brainpower can be cool.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): If this is your image of chess, middle aged guys sitting for hours at a table, frozen in concentration, figuring out their next move, think again.

This is the new face of chess, 17-year-old Alexandra Kostenyuk, known to her friends as Sasha. Three years ago, she became the youngest women's chess grandmaster ever. This winter, she came in second at the Women's World Championship. Now she's on a one-woman crusade to spread the word that chess is cool.

ALEXANDRA KOSTENYUK, CHESS GRANDMASTER: I like it because I can win and I can be better somebody so I think it's cool.

DOUGHERTY: Sasha began playing chess at age 5. It was soon clear she was a whiz at it.

(on camera): Can you beat everybody in the room?

KOSTENYUK: I will try.

DOUGHERTY (voice-over): Chess is still a far cry from snowboarding, but Sasha says it's becoming a more visual and active sport like this five-minute blitz game. Taking a cue from American golf star Tiger Woods, Sasha physically trains for chess.

(on camera): So what sports are you doing?

KOSTENYUK: I run, I swim.

DOUGHERTY: Sasha has even come out with her own book just translated into English entitled "How I Became a Grandmaster at Age 14." It's filled with her personal history, advice on the game, even her own poetry.

(voice-over): Chess could use a makeover, Sasha says. She wants it to become as popular as tennis or basketball. And if it takes becoming this brainy sport's sex symbol, Sasha Kostenyuk is ready.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

The Grammys have 28 categories.

WALCOTT: Today in "Perspectives," we profile a young woman taking the music world by storm. I'm sure you've heard of her, she's Alicia Keys. The 21-year-old picked up, count them, five Grammy Awards this year. Among the accolades, song of the year and best new artist.

Kendis Gibson has a profile.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALICIA KEYS, SINGER: I keep on falling.

KENDIS GIBSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Alicia Keys was only 19 years old when it was much of the country that did the falling, falling for her brand of R&B, soul and hip hop.

KEYS: I'm a classically trained pianist, but I also love jazz, I love R&B. It's a mixture of Beethoven and (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

GIBSON: Whatever that sound is, it has caught on. Clive Davis, who discovered Whitney Houston, signed Alicia to his new label, J. Records.

CLIVE DAVIS, CEO, J. RECORDS: Whether it's Beethoven or whether it's her own material, it affects you and everybody knows. We have a major new star in Alicia Keys.

GIBSON: Everybody indeed.

SHEMAR MOORE, ACTOR: Miss Alicia Keys.

GIBSON: From the "L.A. Times" to "Billboard" to "Rolling Stone" magazines, her arrival on the music scene last summer heralded as the birth of a star. And fans confirmed it, sending her debut album, "Song in A Minor," to the top of the charts for several weeks in a row.

DAVIS: The album is just filled with memorable cuts that will signify not only a major artist but with all the facts of this first album and we'll be wowed all over again.

GIBSON: For now, this New York City native from an interracial background is basking in the glory of her new fame and sharing it with her fans on the stage.

KEYS: I like to get up, you know move around, have fun. Enter the act from over here, step on these tables, come over there to you, you know, so we definitely have a good time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Israel widens its assault in the West Bank and Gaza. Yesterday, Israeli warplanes fired missiles at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters. In light of ongoing attacks by both Israel and the Palestinians, President Bush announced yesterday that his special envoy will head back to the troubled region. Mr. Bush says Anthony Zinni's mission will be to help end the escalating violence.

Our Joel Hochmuth has more on the continued fighting in our "Week in Review."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a while, the statistics start to run together. Over the weekend, 22 Israelis killed. Monday, 17 Palestinians dead. Tuesday, five Israelis, two Palestinians. Wednesday, 10 Palestinians and 2 Israelis dead, and on and on it goes.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm deeply concerned about the tragic loss of life and escalating violence in the Middle East. This is a matter of great interest to the United States and all who want peace in the region and in the world.

HOCHMUTH: It is a complicated and frustrating situation where the rhetoric is as heated as the violence. Monday, Israeli leader Ariel Sharon said the Palestinians had to be hit hard and would only negotiate after they had been beaten. That drew a strong rebuke from the United States, even though Washington has long supported Sharon's policy of retaliation for Palestinian terrorist attacks.

COLIN POWELL, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If you declare war against the Palestinians and think that you can solve the problem by seeing how many Palestinians can be killed, I don't know that that leads us anywhere. Right now I'm not satisfied that both sides have thought through the consequences of the policies they're following.

HOCHMUTH: At this point, the only parties talking peace are those not directly involved. Tuesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak brought his ideas to the White House. He is proposing Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat join him for talks in Egypt.

HOSNI MUBARAK, PRESIDENT OF EGYPT: We're not going to solve all the problems in one day, just as a change, to change the atmosphere, to see the people, the both of sitting with each other. They have never met with each other.

HOCHMUTH: Saudi Arabia has a proposal of its own, all Arab states in the region would recognize Israel's right to exist if Israel pulls out of the West Bank and Gaza to the borders that existed before the Six Day War in 1967. Some are skeptical.

GEORGE FRIEDMAN, STRATFOR.COM: First off, they're in no position to deliver the Arabs unless they've pulled a lot more strings than they've ever admitted to before.

Second, they can't guarantee that factions inside of the Palestinian community will adhere to it.

And third, one of the main actors in this are the Iranians who aren't Arabs, aren't under Saudi influence and control Hezbollah.

So this idea that there is a coherent block that can make a peace with Israel is pretty spurious.

HOCHMUTH: The question is can peace be imposed on two parties who seem unwilling to take the first step? Even if you lead horses to water, can you make them drink?

FREIDMAN: What is genuinely needed is a period of time where we basically say to the Israelis and the Palestinians that your fate is not more important to us than it is to you. It is in your interest to disengage and find some modality to live together, and we, the United States and the rest of the world, are in no position to find that modality, find your own level.

HANAN ASHRAWI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: If -- I find this extremely cynical because human lives are being lost every day. And you cannot allow the bloodshed to continue and the dynamic to work itself out because it's liable not just to erupt locally as it has done but to draw the whole region to the brink of this.

HOCHMUTH: Now with special envoy Anthony Zinni due to return to the region next week, it appears the Bush administration has decided it can't afford to do nothing. Vice President Dick Cheney, too, is to leave for Israel Sunday. Now it becomes a waiting game to see if the visits will do any good.

Joel Hochmuth, "CNN STUDENT NEWS".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: They say true love never dies, just ask fans of Aaliyah. Tragically, the young singer's life was cut short just a few months ago. But as Student Bureau explains, Aaliyah's star continues to shine and her legacy lives on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANTE HIGGINS, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Aaliyah proved to be box office royalty with the release of her second movie "Queen of the Damned." In spite of what critics say is a weak screenplay, the movie opened in the No. 1 spot and grossed more than $50 million.

AALIYAH HAUGHTON, SINGER AND ACTRESS: I know (UNINTELLIGIBLE). I know that you crave to have the world at your feet.

HIGGINS: "Queen of the Damned" is based on the third book of Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles." It features a bronzed Aaliyah...

A. HAUGHTON: How sweet.

HIGGINS: ... as a 6,000-year-old Egyptian vampire who comes back from the dead to rule the world.

RONNIE GREEN, MOVIEGOER: It was mesmerizing, like how she was in "Romeo Must Die," like your eyes just kept going towards her. Every time she was on the screen, you just kept on looking at her, and she was just so beautiful, just shining.

NIKKI THOMAS, MOVIEGOER: She fits the exact description of what Akasha was supposed to look like. So as far as casting, they did -- they did that. She even -- she even moved the way that I imagine Akasha would move. She spoke the way I imagine Akasha would speak.

SCOTT GREEN, MOVIEGOER: I thought it was a good movie. It was a little strange, a little weird. HIGGINS: Aaliyah's star catapulted to new heights after her tragic death last August. Her death sent shock waves through the music industry and the hip hop community, but it has also solidified her legacy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's like an (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Every time her video came on, a new video, I had to (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's just -- it's a shame that we lost such a beautiful person inside and out.

THOMAS: She's just so close to becoming on the scale of a Janet Jackson or a Madonna.

HIGGINS (on camera): Aaliyah's adoring fans helped push her current album and single, "Rock the Boat," to the top of the charts. Her self-titled album even garnered two Grammy nominations, including R&B album of the year.

A. HAUGHTON: I love music with my heart and I love acting as well. There's some similarities but yet there are a lot of differences as well, and I like doing both. And the fact that I get to explore a different side of myself can be very cathartic in a lot of ways and the same with music. So I don't want to abandon one for the other, I want to try to do both as long as I can.

JORGE SARALEGUI, PRODUCER, "QUEEN OF THE DAMNED": She was the most reliable person on the set. She was always ready, always on time, would do whatever was needed, very nice to everyone all the time. She was a very giving person.

MICHAEL RYMER, DIRECTOR, "QUEEN OF THE DAMNED": What her fans are going to feel is a real feeling of the bittersweet that how brilliant she was, what potential she had. She was so clearly ascending to something quite special.

HIGGINS: Aaliyah's film debut came in 2000 opposite martial arts legend Jet Li in "Romeo Must Die." Aaliyah was riding the wave of success when she was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas. Her brother, Rasheed, had to help producers finish "Queen of the Damned" by loaning his voice to his sister's dialogue.

RASHEED HAUGHTON, AALIYAH'S BROTHER: Well when I was first approached by the director and the producers to do it, I was concerned that her integrity of her performance was still in tact, but I also knew that it had to be done. And her legacy is important to my mother, my father and myself so I was -- I was willing to do whatever it took.

HIGGINS: Those who knew Aaliyah say her legacy will remain with the X, Y and Z generations for years to come.

R. HAUGHTON: I want her fans to go see this film and see a talent, a beauty and a spirit that was tenacious and relentless in the pursuit of her dream and look in the mirror at themselves and emulate that. And say you don't have to compromise anything, you can follow your dreams and you can -- you can do anything you want to do. And it doesn't matter how old you are or how -- or how young you are, you can do that if you believe in yourself and you have a strong belief in your spirituality in who you are and stay true to yourself. And you can do that. You can do anything. That's what she's taught me, that's what I emulate even as her older brother.

HIGGINS: Dante Higgins, CNN Student Bureau, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ONSCREEN: "Where in the World?"

Called Helvetin in ancient times.

Three official languages: German, French, Italian.

Capital Bern.

Can you name this country?

Switzerland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: There's more globetrotting in store for you. All next week we'll be exploring Peru. We'll study the ancient Incas and learn about Peru's culture and people. If you can't join us for the journey, join us on the Net. You can track our travels there. But don't wait until next week to get online. If you head there now you'll find our "News Focus" story about tracking terrorists, plus much, much more.

And that's it for this week. Have a great weekend. And we'll see you back here on Monday. Bye-bye.

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