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CNN STUDENT NEWS
Aired April 01, 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.
SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: A new week and a new month begin on CNN STUDENT NEWS. Headlining our show, the escalating conflict in the Middle East. When we move on to "Chronicle," we cross paths with young Olympic hopefuls. Then, find out what has these fans so motivated. Later, what are you planning for spring break? Have you considered snowboarding? We have safety tips in our "Student Bureau Report."
Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Susan Freidman.
As people around the world observed Easter and Passover this weekend, more suicide bombings plagued the Middle East. Israelis and Palestinians are now literally at war, and there's no sign of a peaceful resolution on the horizon. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made it clear where he stands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Yasser Arafat is the enemy of Israel and the enemy of the free world. The state of Israel is currently in a very difficult situation. We have been in very difficult situations before and we've overcome them. This time, too, we will win out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREIDMAN: President Bush monitored the Middle East developments this weekend while observing Easter at his Texas ranch. He addressed the violence Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I fully understand Israel's need to defend herself. I respect that. It's a country that has seen a wave of suicide bombers come into the hearts of their cities and killing some people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREIDMAN: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, meanwhile, remains surrounded by Israeli forces at his compound in Ramallah. In an interview with CNN, he said it's the Palestinians who are victims.
Michael Holmes has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began before dawn, gunfire. Then Israeli soldiers took a Palestinian man from his home, made him show them he was unarmed and then forced him to accompany them to a Palestinian police station. The police already gone. Later, more gunfire, another search, this time of the Ramallah municipal offices. At times, heavy fighting, tank shells and machine guns in various suburbs, large numbers of troops in the city center, roads to Arafat's compound barricaded.
But the barricades did not prevent this bizarre sight, Palestinian doctors behind them, dozens of foreigners, members of a fairly new group calling itself Grassroots International Protection for the Palestinian People, mainly Europeans, some Americans, one Israeli. They carried white flags and a perhaps foolhardy determination. The group didn't break stride as they walked across the compound, past stunned Israeli troops and towards Arafat's building.
Israeli soldiers fired warning shots well away from the group. One shrugged at us as we entered the besieged building as if to say what are you doing. Then, only about 40 steps away from those Israeli soldiers, we walked past equally perplexed and heavily armed Palestinian security officers. One of them asked us for cigarettes. Everyone seemed stunned. Nobody searching the backpacks many in this uninvited group carried into Arafat's building.
Within a minute, a guard called from upstairs. CNN come. We did, and others followed. All of us searched for the first time on the way upstairs. Then into a conference room of an amused and smiling Arafat waiting with advisers. No questions they said, but I ask anyway.
(on camera): Do you feel the fight...
YASSER ARAFAT, PRESIDENT, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: And the most important thing is not what I am facing, because for me it is not the first time. You have to remember what happened in 88 days in Beirut. But the most important with our people are facing day by night.
HOLMES (voice-over): Of the group of perhaps 40, maybe 25 or 30 elected to stay. To them, their safety not the issue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not tolerable, and we are here a group of international people in solidarity with the Palestinian people against this aggression, against this oppression.
HOLMES: This woman, an Israeli Jew, married to a Palestinian.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What Sharon is doing is devastating, not only for the Palestinian people but also for the Israeli people. He's pushing the Palestinians to the point beyond despair. He's out to destroy the leadership that's willing to make peace with him and leave -- and live side by side in a Palestinian State next to Israel. He wants Hamas, Jihad, suicide bombings. He knows that his fallacy is only increasing that so that he can say to the world these are terrorists.
HOLMES: And this from a Palestinian doctor who's been inside the compound for days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am afraid that the Israeli soldiers, because these three days we face a lot of problems with them. They don't know I am a doctor. They don't me allow to take the wounded people from the other side to here to make an operation for him.
HOLMES (on camera): It was an extraordinary sight as the group simply marched past tanks, armored personnel carriers and gunshots to walk into this place. Inside, these men say they're not going anywhere.
(voice-over): And then, a group of us left, gingerly following a white towel. Again, past still bewildered Israeli troops. They politely searched us and we left. Yasser Arafat's still isolated but obviously buoyed by an extraordinary house call.
Michael Holmes, CNN, at the Palestinian Authority compound, Ramallah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: The Queen Mother of England passed away over the weekend at the age of 101. She lived a long and bountiful life. And though her death was not entirely unexpected, many Britains express sadness at her passing.
Walt Rodgers now on the life of the Queen Mum.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER RODGERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): For the better part of a century, she waved to the British people, first as the duchess of York, then queen, then later as queen mother.
Now it is Britain's turn to wave goodbye. Few alive today recall that it was the queen mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who actually rescued the British monarchy before the Second World War, rescued it during the 1936 abdication crisis. For that, she earned the undying gratitude of the British people.
KITTY KELLY, AUTHOR: We especially love her because she turned her husband into a king and helped him stand up and help Britain win the war.
RODGERS: In 1936, Britain's crisis was not war, it was the decision of King Edward VIII to give up the throne. He wanted to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, and chose to abdicate to do it. One journalist called the abdication "the greatest news story since the resurrection." At that time, Elizabeth Bowes Lyon was the duchess of York, sister-in-law of Edward the abdicator. He stepped down because, he said, he could not reign without the woman he loved. To marry the woman he loved, Edward had to give up the British throne.
Elizabeth was married to Edward's brother George, who was next in line. By all accounts, George dreaded the thought of becoming king, dreaded the spotlight. So did his wife, Elizabeth. She was angry. This absence of choice was thrust upon her and her husband. She knew her husband was ill equipped, feared he would not make it.
BEN PIMLOTT, ROYAL BIOGRAPHER: He faced this appalling prospect for a very shy, very nervous, very stuttering, and not very intellectual young man to suddenly have to take on this astonishing role, and she had to support him. And she felt protective towards him, and furious with the man and the woman who'd forced this to happen.
RODGERS: There were very real concerns George VI could not cope. His hobby was needlework. At the time, England was headed for war with Hitler. Some feared he would not make it through his own coronation.
It was Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, the woman who then became queen and mother to the current queen, who gave her husband courage, strength, and spine. Scots blood coursed through her, the steel of Macbeth, some said. If her husband was not ready, reluctantly, she was.
SALLY CARTWRIGHT, ROYALS WRITER: What she saw was the huge, unbelievable burden that had been imposed on her husband and her children because of Wallis Simpson. They could have grown up, the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, in a relatively normal fashion. Her husband would probably have lived for many years longer had it not been for Wallis Simpson.
RODGERS: Wallis Simpson simply was not acceptable in Britain or to the Commonwealth in 1936. She was divorced, she was American, she was a commoner. Worse, she had made an enemy of Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, the woman who became queen and later queen mother.
PIMLOTT: The reality of the situation is that Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother as she became, did not particularly like Wallis Simpson, felt that she had led her brother-in-law astray, resented her for the fact that she had catapulted her husband onto the throne which he did not want.
RODGERS: And there lies one of history's great riddles. Why would the queen mother so dislike the woman who paved the way for her to become queen?
One theory, jealousy. Elizabeth was one of the many women that Edward passed over before falling in love with Wallis Simpson.
KELLY: He had sad blue eyes, and wherever he went, people wanted to be in his presence. She too fell under that spell. RODGERS: In subsequent decades, the royal family came to dismiss that as mere rumor.
If truth be told, however, Edward VIII may have been unsuited to be king -- foppish, feckless, privately sympathetic to Adolf Hitler.
So Edward abdicated, gave up his throne. His brother George VI didn't want it, but his wife, herself a commoner, saved the royal family in this crisis.
KELLY: It was the best thing that ever happened to the royal family. It saved the House of Windsor. It took somebody, a commoner, a Scottish aristocrat but nevertheless a commoner, to really put some tough fiber and sensibility, and she became very royal as she went on.
RODGERS: On that one issue, nearly everyone agrees.
PIMLOTT: I think the queen mother provided a great ballast of stability. She was a strong woman, and who strengthened, reinvigorated, the dynasty. And in a sense, her legacy is to be found in Queen Elizabeth II, who is also a considerable monarch.
RODGERS: Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, mother to a queen, wife to a king, sister-in-law to another king. Not considered the intellectual equal of the first Queen Elizabeth, but certainly her equal in force of will.
It was that will that rescued the British monarchy in the great abdication crisis, that will which strengthened her husband during the Second World War, and it was her will power which helped hold the British monarchy together through two more generations, through the divorces of Charles and Diana, Ann and Mark Phillips, Andrew and Fergie.
Now one can only guess how the royal family will manage without her.
Walter Rodgers, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: In Afghanistan, allied troops made the best of the holiday weekend despite being away from their family. Troops stationed in Kandahar gathered at dawn Sunday morning for an Easter service. It gave many of them a chance to reflect on their mission for peace.
A man with a quest similar to that of the troops, a quest for peace that is, is Hamid Karzai. He's Afghanistan's interim government leader who has won the respect of many people in his nation.
Our Sarah Moslewsaki (ph) reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP BLOCH, STYLIST: He reminds me a lot of Ben Kingsley. He has a definite elegance, a certain style.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Hamid Karzai, the "Star of Diplomacy," "Kabul Chic." In the words of one fashion king, "the chicest man on the planet." That may be how you first heard of Karzai, but his role in the world is more important than fashion or stardom. He is the interim Prime Minister of the new Afghanistan.
His mission began in a very dangerous time. In late October last year, Abdul Haq, one of the major opposition leaders in Afghanistan, was hanged by the Taliban trying to organize opponents inside Afghanistan. Braving death, Karzai took over the leadership of the opposition troops against the Taliban. He literally went from village to village in Taliban territory to reach his people and gain their support.
HAMID KARZAI, INTERIM PRIME MINISTER OF AFGHANISTAN: Sometimes using motorbikes, sometimes walking. I've been walking probably sometimes 18 hours a day, sometimes riding on a motorbike, sometimes walking through a whole riverbed for sometimes 4 hours, sometimes driving in a pickup truck through valleys full of water and mountains. It was exciting. It was a mission.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That mission started secretly from a base in Pakistan and reached conclusion last December in Bonn, Germany. Delegates at the U.N.-sponsored talks signed an agreement to set up a post-Taliban government that represented Afghanistan's many regions and broad range of ethnic groups. The agreement established a 29- member interim cabinet headed by Karzai.
Since then, he has traveled around the globe to win international support and foreign aid. He met world leaders in Washington, Tokyo, in Beijing, Moscow and throughout Europe. His goal: bring peace back and make Afghanistan a better place for the next generation.
KARZAI: I want an Afghan man and an Afghan woman and an Afghan child to live like people live in rest of the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But to reach peace in a country that knows more about war than peace in the last 23 years is going to be difficult. Karzai, a Pashtun leader and son of a former senator in Afghanistan, served as a junior minister before the Taliban took over in the '90s. He has lived in the United States, and some of his family still lives in Maryland.
Today, Karzai confronts warlordism, terrorism and drug trafficking. Afghanistan is thought to be responsible for 75 percent of the world's opium and 80 percent of the heroin traded on the streets of Europe. Karzai says he needs billions of dollars and a national army to rebuild Afghanistan.
So far, he's well accepted in Afghanistan, perhaps because he has his hand on the foreign checks and the support of the international community or perhaps because he doesn't carry any baggage from the past.
Sarah Moslewsaki (ph), CNN STUDENT NEWS. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: Young athletes around the world dream about competing at the Olympic Games. It's a dream for many, a reality for just a few lucky ones. We travel now to Alpharetta, Georgia to look at a young student who hopes to be one of the lucky ones.
Indra Sibal has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
INDRA SIBAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For eight years this has been the life of Alex Tregre, train, skate, study, train, skate, study. This 13-year-old competes against some of the best skaters in the country and has her eyes set on the 2006 Winter Olympics, all before entering high school.
ALEX TREGRE, ICE SKATER: Lots of nights I dream of being in the Olympics and just having everyone watching me because I love to perform in front of people and I want to be the center of attention too so.
SIBAL: Those the words of many Olympic hopefuls, determined girls and boys who spend more time in the rink than practically anywhere else.
ANIKA LESZKOWICZ, ICE SKATER: Two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.
SIBAL: And that's six days a week.
Some like Anika are home schooled so practice time is fairly easy to arrange. Others have to squeeze in training both on and off the ice before class and after class. And every four years, the Olympics creates many young hopefuls, just like Alex and Anika.
LAURIE JACKSON, THE COOLER: The young children that come in with stars in their eyes is just amazing. And they're all telling me when they register that they want to be like Sarah Hughes and Michelle Kwan and they want to go to the Olympics.
SIBAL: Even in the snow deprived south, class sign ups have jumped 50 percent in some places.
(on camera): Even Sarah Hughes had to start somewhere. Well that somewhere for many young kids is right here at this rink just north of Atlanta where even if you're past your prime you can still learn to do a trick or two. Over 200 people signed up for learn to skate lessons in the week following the Winter Olympic Games. I even had one coach tell me the best things to happen to figure skating are the Olympics and the skating controversies.
(voice-over): From Tonya and Nancy in '96 to the judging scandal over the pair's medal in 2002, the Olympics have given skating plenty of controversy which means more attention and more interest in the sport. And even if you're not striving for the gold like Alex, you can still experience the fulfillment and the bruises that ice skating has to offer.
Indra Sibal, reporting for CNN STUDENT NEWS, at The Cooler in Alpharetta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: OK, time to premiere a recurring segment created just for you. It's called the "Mailbag." It's a chance for you to let us know what's on your mind.
Today's e-mail is from Lucy in Durham, North Carolina. She writes, "about drinking, statistic wise how many accidents or deaths occur annually with the U.S....?"
Well, Lucy, we don't have that exact figure, but check your STUDENT NEWS archives for March 26, we featured a story on a new binge drinking study. And here are some sobering facts about drinking and driving. In the year 2000, more than 16,000 people were killed in alcohol related crashes. In that same year, 22 percent of 15- to 20- year-olds involved in fatal crashes had been drinking. Obviously, drinking and driving don't mix. To learn more, check out madd.org. In the meantime, Lucy, we hope we were able to help.
As for everyone else, we want to hear from you so please put something in our mailbag.
ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."
FREIDMAN: Picking up a second language takes motivation. We told you a few weeks ago how Harry Potter was inspiring kids in China to learn English. Well today, CNN's Jaime FlorCruz tells us what's inspiring many adults there to do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): English fever is sweeping across China where converts chant catching phrases in the frenzied quest to master the foreign tongue. One of China's most passionate English gurus is Li Yang. His course is called Crazy English. His style resembles that of a preacher.
LI YANG, FOUNDER, CRAZY ENGLISH: I don't know exactly how many followers I have, but so far in the past 10 years, I've talked to over I think 20 million or maybe 24 million people.
FLORCRUZ: English teaching has become lucrative business.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to Beijing.
STUDENTS: Welcome to Beijing.
FLORCRUZ: In Beijing alone, 300,000 residents are learning the ABCs, bringing language courses as much as $730 million in revenues. Eager to find good jobs or study overseas, they are scrambling to take important English rating tests like the TOEFL. SUSAN CHYN, EDUCATIONAL TESTING SERVICES: Right now the current testing volumes are over 800,000. And China this year tested over 100,000, so about roughly one-eighth of all of the TOEFL population.
FLORCRUZ: This Beijing company and its American partners will help Chinese pass exams required by U.S. colleges. For $10 a pop, they may submit answers to mock questions online and receive an instant rating.
Li Yang's crazy English takes longer but focuses on verbal skills, a big help to those who can master grammar and memorize words but are still unable to communicate.
YANG: A lot of people say it looks like a cult but it's OK. You know even (UNINTELLIGIBLE) called a political content or pop star, all of these things have a lot of things in common.
FLORCRUZ: And what is that?
YANG: Common is people get very involved, people are studying (UNINTELLIGIBLE) themselves.
FLORCRUZ (on camera): English for many Chinese is not just a tool of communications but also a possible passport for a chance to study or work overseas. Small wonder that English courses like this one are enjoying a cult-like popularity.
Jaime FlorCruz, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: Listen up "Star Wars" fans, you thought you were a big fan, we're about to meet two men who take the definition to a whole new level. "Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" doesn't open until May 16, but these guys have been in line to buy tickets since January 1.
Lilian Kim now from Seattle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LILIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's coming May 16, and these guys are first in line.
JEFF TWEITEN, "STAR WARS" FAN: I'm a huge "Star Wars" fan.
KIM: Jeff Tweiten and John Guth plan to sit in front of this Seattle movie theater until "Star Wars Episode 2" premieres.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not a bunch of geeks that just, you know, sit at home in front of our computers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is all in an effort to produce an artistic project that we're working on to capture what it's like to wait for something.
KIM: Four months of waiting in the cold, but they think they can handle it.
TWEITEN: Sit back, slow down, enjoy the moment of, you know, just sheer anticipation.
KIM: John, a small business owner, and Jeff, an artist, spend the day chatting with passersby and talking on the phone. They're updating their artistic project on their Web site, but moviegoers just don't get it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be nice to have that much time on my hands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's kind of a complete waste of time, actually.
KIM (on camera): What's interesting is that this theater doesn't even know if "Star Wars Episode 2" is going to be playing here, but that's not deterring Jeff and John. They say they'll move if they have to.
(voice-over): Until then, these "Star Wars" fans will stay right here, hoping that the force will be with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could call it the force. I guess that's appropriate for the setting, sure.
KIM: In Seattle, Lilian Kim reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FREIDMAN: In case you were wondering, Jeff and John do shower and take care of personal errands when necessary, but one of them is always in line.
Well students across the U.S. have more than movies on their minds right now, the reason: spring break. Time to choose between sand and snow. For those who are heading to the mountains, snowboarding is a popular pastime.
Here's our CNN Student Bureau with tips on avoiding injury on the slopes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM NAMEY, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Along with the fun of coasting down a snowy mountain, snowboarding offers a great physical workout. But snowboarding also comes with this...
DR. THOMAS NAMEY, SPORTS MEDICINE EXPERT: Upper extremity injuries are a little bit more common in snowboarding, especially involving the wrists and the elbows. So any individual who is a high- speed snowboarder should very seriously consider having support for the wrist in the form of a wrist brace.
T. NAMEY: Helmets are important to prevent serious head injuries. In fact, snow helmet sales have doubled in the past year. DR. T. NAMEY: A lot of people also don't realize that goggles are not a fashion statement. They are very important to protect the eyes, both because of the wind and because of the intense solar ultraviolet radiation, so sunglasses or sun protectors for the eyes very, very important.
T. NAMEY: And don't forget sunscreen and a good skin and lip moisturizer.
DR. T. NAMEY: A sunburn at high altitude is as bad as a sunburn at the beach and can contribute to aging of the skin and a disposition to develop malignancies of the skin later in life. So it's very important to use a moisturizer and a heavy dose of a good protective sunscreen.
T. NAMEY: Another tip to think about before snowboarding, stretching exercises help since cold temperatures make the muscles tighter and more vulnerable to injury.
Tom Namey, CNN Student Bureau, Sugar Mountain, North Carolina.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
"Where in the World" at one time, this empire covered more than a quarter of the Earth, the Prime Minister is the head of the government, currency is the pound? Can you name this country? United Kingdom.
FREIDMAN: That's it for today's show, but we'll see you back here tomorrow. I'm Susan Freidman. Have a great day.
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