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CNN Student News

Aired April 26, 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: CNN STUDENT NEWS is underway. We take off in "Top Story" with a tourist in space. For all you still Earthbound and looking to do your part, go online and get matched up. We'll explain later. We'll also take you to Sumatra to recount the woes of elephants there. Then Student Bureau introduces you to more volunteer opportunities.

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

A South African millionaire takes off on a cosmic getaway. Twenty-eight-year-old Mark Shuttleworth took off yesterday on a Russian rocket bound for the International Space Station. The rocket is expected to dock with the space station tomorrow. The voyage cost Shuttleworth $20 million and makes him the first African to enter the Earth's orbit. The launch was big news in South Africa.

Coming up, Charlayne Hunter-Gault will bring us the excitement from one school where a few dozen would-be astronauts watched with eager eyes. But first, we head to CNN's Jill Dougherty for more on the world's second paying space tourist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: As the giant Soyuz rocket fired its engines, inside the Soyuz capsule, South African Mark Shuttleworth, the second amateur in space, looked cool and collected. On the ground, his parents embraced as mission control pronounced it a perfect liftoff.

Ten minutes later, Shuttleworth and the two professional cosmonauts flying with him, Russian Yuri Gidzenko and Italian Roberto Vittori were in outer space.

Almost three hours into the flight, the crew reported to ground control that everything was going smoothly. Shuttleworth, a 28-year- old self-made Internet millionaire trained eight months for his eight day visit to the International Space Station. He paid a reported $20 million for his ticket. He thinks it's worth it.

MARK SHUTTLEWORTH, AMATEUR COSMONAUT: It's a very long story that goes back as long as I can remember, that I've known about space flights, it has been my dream to fly, and it's a great privilege, after many months of training to be sitting here with this great crew.

DOUGHERTY: The Russian space program thinks it is worth it too.

Officials freely admit it needs the money.

VLADIMIR SOLOVYOV, FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Shuttleworth's flight means additional finances for the development of our program on the International Space Station. And also, the whole new set of interesting -- even revolutionary experiments will be conducted during his stay on the space station. Besides additional finances, the Shuttleworth flight brings world attention and popularity to space exploration.

DOUGHERTY: On the International Space Station, Shuttleworth will perform experiments prepared by South African and Russian scientists, including tests on animal stem cells and methods of fighting HIV/AIDS.

(on camera): He plans to talk live from space with schools in South Africa, telling students that just like him, one day they, too, may be able to fly.

Jill Dougherty, CNN, Mission Control, Carolyov (ph), Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The preparation, last minute. The facilities, makeshift. The screen, small. Like this room, that's the library, and a handful of students able to crowd in.

But these students were among the lucky ones. Most schools in South Africa, like most homes, don't have a television, let alone a satellite dish that would have enabled them to see the lift-off. But here, at the moment of blast off...

(APPLAUSE)

MANDLA NULOVU, STUDENT: It is so exciting, seeing them, the rocket from the atmosphere to the -- to the space.

TSHIDI NTLHOLO, STUDENT: And the most fascinating thing was that the South African person was there.

HUNTER-GAULT: Teaching science at Minerva High, located in one of South Africa's poorest townships, has been a challenge.

MOMVULA TSHELA, SCIENCE TEACHER: We don't have some of the apparatus that are supposed to be used. We do not have some of the chemicals that are supposed to be used in the laboratories for the experiments.

HUNTER-GAULT: But teachers have raised test scores dramatically over the past three years. The school's performance has earned it a place in a new national program that will provide computers with Internet access, and other technological resources aimed at improving math and science.

Some of these students will be able to talk with Mark Shuttleworth in space and participate in programs he plans to launch on his return. No one seemed to notice or care that the first "Afronaut" in space was white and a billionaire.

MOSES MTHAPO, STUDENT: We'll be motivated in our hearts, and be able to see and to go reach for our goals.

HUNTER-GAULT (on camera): Sharing this experience with these students here today was a very moving experience for me, taking me back to my school days in the segregated American South of the '40s and '50s, where our teachers didn't have the facilities or the resources either, but they believed that dreams propel ambition. Dreams fueled, for example, by the first "Afronaut" in space. Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CNN, Alexandra, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Mark Shuttleworth is fulfilling what he calls a childhood dream, one he has worked long and hard for.

Jill Dougherty spoke with him about that dream. The two sat down and talked while Shuttleworth was still in training and in quarantine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jill Dougherty in Star City, right outside Moscow, the place where the cosmonauts and other trains. With us is Mark Shuttleworth who will be taking off for the International Space Station.

And I should explain this mask, because Mark is in quarantine, and I have to wear a mask to make sure that he doesn't catch a cold or something worse from me before going up.

Thanks for being with us, Mark.

Mark, you don't describe yourself as a tourist, and you're not a professional cosmonaut. So what are you.

MARK SHUTTLEWORTH, ASTRONAUT: I'm trying very hard to try to take a first step into providing and producing a private space program for South Africa, for Africa, modeled largely on the lines of NASA and other public space agencies, looking into science and education from space, using space as a platform for science and education.

So, no, I'm definitely not a professional astronaut or cosmonaut, and I'm also not a tourist. I'll need a long holiday after this is finished.

DOUGHERTY: And I understand this interest goes way back even to your childhood, that you used to build rockets? SHUTTLEWORTH: Not very successfully. I used to scour old encyclopedias for recipes for gunpowder, and fireworks propellant and designs and try to model them up and terrify the neighbors with strange creations.

DOUGHERTY: What does it feel like? What does it feel like to be weightless? What does it feel like to go through some of the centrifical training?

SHUTTLEWORTH: One of the most fascinating things that I have had do here is talk to the astronauts, and they say you can train and train and train, but you will never really know what it is like until you get there. We have simulated parts of the exercise. We had the centrifuge, which simulates the intense G forces of launch and landing. The Soyuz is more like an old Apollo style rocket and capsule than it is -- it's not a shuttle by any means, and it has -- physiologically, it's a much more intense experience, intense launch and intense reentry and landing.

DOUGHERTY: Now, the experiments, is there one that actually you have to participate in?

SHUTTLEWORTH: Probably the most exciting one from a work point of view is the stem cell and embryology experiment. We will be carrying to space, I think for the first time ever, stem cells, and these are a very exciting new biotechnology area research, which we hope will ultimately be used to treat things like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease, and other wasting conditions which we have no way it treat.

DOUGHERTY: When you look way down at, say, 50 or a hundred years from now, where do you think we will be with people going to space, realistically.

SHUTTLEWORTH: I think there is going to be a tremendous resurgence of interest in space. There is a very deep curiosity in people in general about what's out there.

I don't see myself as a tourist, but if what I'm doing helps to reignite people's interest in space, and if it helps to draw investment, to provide completely privately owned launch and reentry capability, then that's fantastic.

DOUGHERTY: Well, thank you very much, Mark. It was fascinating, and I wish you nothing but the best up there.

SHUTTLEWORTH: Thanks for coming.

DOUGHERTY: Thank you.

And again, Mark Shuttleworth, the man from South Africa who will be taking off for the International Space Station.

I'm Jill Dougherty at Star City.

(END VIDEOTAPE) April 26-28, participate in National Youth Service Day.

WALCOTT: Have you ever volunteered, you know, given up your time for free? It's a foreign concept to some, but to many others volunteerism is a great way to give back to the community, not to mention add some important substance to that very important resume. Finding just the right cause is easier than you think.

Andy Jordan reports on how volunteering is just a mouse click away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY JORDAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Deborah Robbins knows exactly why this caged bird sings.

DEBORAH ROBBINS: Animals that you know right away, whether you're giving them what they want or not. You feed them and at the beginning of the day, they look you know tiny, and then towards the end of the day, you think visibly they're bigger, and you know it's because of what you did.

JORDAN: Online, becoming a makeshift mom for a sick bird is as easy as one, two, three punches.

JAY BACKSTRAND, VOLUNTEERMATCH.ORG: If you punch in your zip code and then you select the categories that you're interested in and we'll pull back a list of those local volunteer opportunities that match what you're interested in. I wanted to build a site to make it easy for them to actually tape into their interests in volunteering.

JORDAN: At volunteermatch.org, Jay Backstrand is the head matchmaker, pairing up non-profits in need with web surfers who start out virtual and end up volunteers.

ROBBINS: I have gone way far away to do work with animals. I went to Thailand for a few months to work with gibbons, but I knew there had to be something I could do closer to home.

JORDAN: A click of her mouse and Deborah gets her animal fix at the Peninsula Humane Society down the street from her northern California home, and since the Humane Society requires about 500 workers and employs only 100, tapping into the local volunteer spirit is essential.

KEN WHITE: You do the math. We couldn't do half of what we do for the animals if it wasn't for the volunteers that come to help us.

JORDAN: That local community spirit can prove infectious. New York City currently tops the list of cities most in the giving mood, while overall hits that Volunteer Match did surge after the September 11th attacks, the momentum has continued with overall usage up 35 percent from the same time last year.

BACKSTRAND: People always want to volunteer. There might be little ups and down, but it's something that's really consistent. JORDAN: Organizers also credit the upsurge in activity, some 700,000 referrals to date, to the recession weary unemployed, who are aiming to beef up their resumes and make productive use of their time, time that for the founder of Volunteer Match, is only the beginning.

BACKSTRAND: There's a difference between getting that information going volunteering and maybe becoming a donor, maybe becoming a board member, becoming really committed long term to a specific organization. Those types of connections don't necessarily happen online.

JORDAN: For this volunteer, though, connection is the name of the game and the payoff is measured in squeaks.

ROBBINS: These guys are not here for any, you know, because it's a good thing, but at least they're getting a second chance here, and then the chance that we get is to see them close up.

JORDAN: I'm Andy Jordan and that's Nothin' but Net.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBBINS: All right. All right.

JORDAN: Andy Jordan, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: If you live in or have visited the southwest, then you have probably seen the saguaro cactus. They're beautiful, they're old and they've come to represent the American Southwest. The cactus is as popular with the desert dweller as palm trees are to the beach bums, maybe a bit too popular as Natalie Pawelski explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Saguaro cactus is a symbol of the southwest, a visual cliche slapped on margarita glasses and signs for Mexican restaurants. But walk up to one of these desert giants and you realize how impressive they can be. And it begins to make sense that a black market for cacti as yard art has grown. Supplying that market: cactus rustlers.

JIM MCGINNIS, ARIZONA AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT: If they go out and take the plant illegally and want to sell it quickly, then they can charge anything they want for it.

PAWELSKI: Some call Jim McGinnis a cactus cop. He enforces Arizona laws protecting Saguaros and other native plants.

(on camera): Saguaros only grow here, in the Sonoran desert of Arizona and Mexico. As cities like Tucson and Phoenix spread, cactus habitat shrinks.

(voice-over): To protect them from destruction and theft, Arizona has outlawed poaching, but does provide permits, sort of like hunting licenses, for people who want to rescue native plants that are in the path of development.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you can't just go out into the desert and start taking plants and trees. You have to have the consent of the land owner and permission from the state of Arizona.

PAWELSKI: Poachers who ignore those rules can make hundreds, even thousands of dollars per cactus.

MCGINNIS: It's hard to track because Arizona is so large. And anyone can go out and take one of these stately cactus and no one would ever know.

PAWELSKI: McGinnis remembers one prize Saguaro he tracked across state lines.

MCGINNIS: And it was in Las Vegas with a price tag on it of $15,000. Now, if it's sold at that price, I'm not sure, but the individual stole the plant and he went to federal prison.

PAWELSKI: But on this day, a more legal relocation. A nursery crew rescues a Saguaro that's in the way of a new housing development. Saguaros don't grow arms until they have aged at least 75 years, but this one is probably still just a few decades old. If you still want that yard art and you have got some patience, you can also get Saguaros raised from tiny seeds in nurseries.

(on camera): Now, it's really strange to think that something as big as a Saguaro starts with these little, tiny seeds.

(voice-over): Talk about delayed gratification. Here's a Saguaro at one year old and at three.

DAN BACH, BACH'S CACTUS NURSERY: The center plant is the Saguaro. Hard to believe that that's the gigantic signature plant of the southwest.

PAWELSKI: Saguaros can live for a couple centuries or more, survivors of the days before this desert became a state, trying to survive the day when this desert becomes a suburb.

Natalie Pawelski, CNN, Pima County, Arizona.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

WALCOTT: Another prickly environmental problem but this time it's not a plant but a pachyderm. Residents on the island Sumatra are trying to figure out how to protect their crops and villages from wild elephants. In many areas of Asia, including the second largest island of Indonesia, elephants and people are having trouble living so close together.

CNN's Gary Strieker looks at the desperate measures some people are taking to safeguard their land. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY STRIEKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this government camp in Sumatra, elephants are trained to work and perform for the people who captured them. There are hundreds of elephants like these in similar camps across the island, captured because in the wild they were problem animals, persistent crop raiders or stubborn trespassers into villages.

They're like prisoners of war in a conflict between elephants and humans. A deadly competition for living space in most areas of southern Asia, where wild elephants still exist.

The Sumatran elephant is a distinct subspecies found nowhere else. There were an estimated 3,000 of them 20 years ago, but their population has now dropped to an uncertain number.

MICHAEL STUEWE, WORLD WILDLIFE FUND: The Sumatran elephant is probably in graver danger than any of the other populations.

STRIEKER: Deforestation is forcing the elephants to retreat into shrinking fragments of forest, where they can survive only by searching for food in surrounding farmers' fields and plantations.

STUEWE: These guys are always on the run from human beings. And every now and then they overdo it. They destroy one guy's property too much, and that fellow is going to react and the elephant may die.

STRIEKER: In these clashes, many elephants now pay the ultimate price: poisoned or shot. But there are casualties on both sides. This house was demolished by a herd of elephants. The family inside barely escaping with their lives.

Many oil palm plantations are trashed by hungry elephants. The manager of this plantation says he has given up trying to drive elephants off much of his land. And now they stay there most of the time eating his palm trees.

The previous manager tried to stop them, and he was killed right here by an angry elephant. Farmers like these say elephants are destroying their crops, making their lives unbearable. And they want the government to take them away.

But the government has no money to pay for capturing and holding still more elephants. So the clashes continue, with farmers building fortresses and defending their crops with fire and human barricades.

(on camera): As the last of Sumatra's lowland forests are destroyed, and the last elephants are reduced to wandering starving herds, confrontations along these front lines are like small skirmishes in the final stage of a war that's already been won.

(voice-over): The question now: Will the winners in this conflict have any mercy for the losers? Is there any future for wild elephants in Sumatra?

Gary Strieker, CNN in Riau Province, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: An election has sent political shock waves through France. It's time for our "Week in Review," and this week our own Joel Hochmuth looks into the presidential election runoff between incumbent Jacques Chirac and extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen. Many younger people are up in arms about the tough-talking Le Pen getting so many votes. But as we're about to find out, they might not have to go far to assign blame.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOEL HOCHMUTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democracy may be alive and well in France, but that doesn't mean everybody's always happy with the results. Tens of thousands of protesters, many of them students, have taken to the streets and cities across the country this week to demonstrate against Jean-Marie Le Pen.

In a major upset, the extreme rightist candidate qualified to face incumbent Jacques Chirac in a runoff for president May 5. Le Pen wants to end legal immigration and take France out of the European Union. He once dismissed the Holocaust as a detail of history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want a united people. We don't want racism. We don't want fascism.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The real France is not Jean-Marie Le Pen. The real France is (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

HOCHMUTH: But while protesters express their disgust and embarrassment at Le Pen's surprising finish, many have no one to blame but themselves. Nearly 30 percent of voters didn't even bother to show up on Sunday, a record low turnout in France. The angry protests come in stark contrast to the apathy apparent in the days just before the election, then students were hitting the streets for a far different pursuit, recreation.

Many figured the outcome was a foregone conclusion that Chirac would be headed for a runoff with socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. Voting was the last thing on their minds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have more important things to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many people but only two winner at the end and we already know who they will be.

HOCHMUTH: Of course the final vote count would prove him and pundits all across France wrong. Le Pen would edge out Jospin by less than a percentage point, bringing an end to the Prime Minister's political career. Although Chirac is expected to win the runoff in a landslide, world leaders are hoping French voters don't take anything for granted.

GERHARD SCHROEDER, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): I think it's very regrettable that the French extreme right has become that strong. I think all democrats in France and in Europe have an interest in preventing Le Pen from getting even the slightest chance to become a relevant factor in France. It will be possible. I think those who count will now gather behind President Chirac.

JEAN-MARIE LE PEN, FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through translator): No, I'm not afraid of Chirac, not at all. I don't hate him, and I'm not afraid of him. You know I think that Mr. Chirac is inside a very vulnerable candidate. And in fact, he's a lot more vulnerable with me against him then he would have been with Mr. Jospin.

HOCHMUTH: Chirac is planning his campaign strategy, it will not include any head-to-head debates with Le Pen.

JACQUES CHIRAC, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): It is a moral battle that I've always conducted. I have always refused the alliance with the far right, always. For me, it is a moral requirement for France. It's more reality than ever; therefore, I have no common points, no wish to debate.

HOCHMUTH: Chirac may have far more to lose than gain by debating Le Pen, the fiery and unpredictable orator. With Chirac now expected to pick up most of the vote from the left, that strategy seems like smart politics.

Joel Hochmuth, CNN STUDENT NEWS.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: There are many ways young people can make a difference in their own communities, voting is one and so is volunteering. The City Year Organization of Boston is on a mission to get every young adult to do a year of community service. Now that may sound like a challenge, but many students are signing on.

Our CNN Student Bureau talked to one college graduate who's spending her year making a difference in the lives of some younger community members.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATIE FERRAND, CITY YEAR VOLUNTEER: I was interested in doing community service because I wanted to somehow give back to the United States.

JACQUELINE PINI, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): And after completing college in California, Katie Farrand is doing just that, making a difference in the community of Pawtucket, Rhode Island through an organization known as City Year, a program that brings together a diverse combination of 17 through 24-year-olds to carry out one year of self-motivated community service.

FARRAND: City Year is one of the few organizations that focuses directly on elementary/middle school children.

PINI: These children, ages 7 through 10, are involved in an after school program sponsored by City Year called Generation Serve.

FARRAND: Good afternoon, Generation Serve.

CHILDREN: Good afternoon, Katie.

PINI: City Year counselors, like Katie, work with 25 children each afternoon, giving them a place to do their homework and a chance to socialize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best thing with City Year is I get to be with other people and be helped with my homework.

PINI: And along with homework help, counselors allow time for a snack and involve the children in games and other weekly activities. According to these kids, counselors help them with more than just homework, they encourage children to use their imaginations in creative ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe they'll get me on an idea of what to -- what to draw because usually I'm fresh out of ideas.

PINI: One of the goals of City Year is to develop new leaders and educate the children about important subjects they don't always address in school. During one week, they studied the news and media and created their own news show with the help of the counselors. But these children are not the only ones who benefit from the after school program.

DANA RONES, CITY YEAR LEAD VOLUNTEER: I never really realized how much of a difference teachers make in the kids' lives.

PINI: Counselors see that the special attention and social environment at the after school program have a noticeable effect on the children.

(on camera): City Year was started here in Boston in 1988. Since then, members in 13 locations throughout the United States have accomplished over eight million hours of community service. By tutoring children and establishing after school programs, volunteers help others become involved in the community. This year, these counselors will provide support and learning opportunities for children who may otherwise not have a place to go.

RONES: A huge thing that we try to focus on is respect, but I've noticed that with a lot of the kids just respecting each other a lot more and being nicer to one another.

PINI (voice-over): And that respect and appreciation is also shown to the City Year workers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My favorite thing about City Year is hanging around with the staff members and especially Katie.

PINI: Katie says that working with these children over the course of her 10-month commitment to City Year has been rewarding. FARRAND: It really made me feel good about myself to know that I can give back to the community in some way so I definitely think it's something I'll carry with me.

PINI: Jacqueline Pini, CNN Student Bureau, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" exporter of gold and diamonds, Boer War fought here from 1899-1902, new Constitution certified in 1996? Can you name this country? South Africa.

WALCOTT: Been watching all week, then you're ready to take our news quiz. Log on to CNNstudentnews.com and see what you know and see what other great stories you can find on that site. There are plenty.

That wraps up for us this week. Have a great weekend. We'll catch you back here Monday.

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