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CNN Student News

Aired May 14, 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 FRIEDMAN, CO-HOST: Russia and the U.S. forge an historic agreement. We'll have that in our "Lead Story."

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: And in our "News Focus," a family fills us in on how they're coping with the college crunch.

FRIEDMAN: From higher learning to the deep blue sea, activist Sylvia Earle gives us a brand new perspective on life under water.

WALCOTT: Then, pass the tissue please. Stay tuned to our "Health Report" to learn how to ease the sneeze.

And welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Shelley Walcott.

FRIEDMAN: And I'm Susan Friedman.

A major announcement from President Bush is our "Lead Story" today, an announcement concerning nuclear weapons.

WALCOTT: Mr. Bush says the United States and Russia have reached a new arms control agreement. The deal could reduce the amount of warheads each country has by about two-thirds. President Bush says the agreement will make the world -- quote -- "more peaceful and put the Cold War behind us once and for all."

Bill Schneider puts it all in political context.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): The arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union was the principle battlefield of the Cold War. It was based on the principle of mutually assured destruction: you destroy us, we'll destroy you. Kaboom, the end of the world.

Arms control agreements like the limited test ban treaty of 1963 and the anti-ballistic missile treaty of 1972 and the START treaties that reduced strategic arsenals were events of great political as well as strategic importance. JOHN F. KENNEDY, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Negotiations were concluded in Moscow on a treaty to ban all nuclear tests...

SCHNEIDER: That was then. This is now. Now, with the end of the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia have a new relationship.

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Russia and the United States are not enemies. They do not threaten each other.

BUSH: I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul.

SCHNEIDER: You don't run an arms race against a country that no longer poses a threat. September 11 pulled the U.S. and the Russians even closer together. The old adversaries from the Cold War found themselves on the same side in the war against terrorism.

BUSH: The events of September 11 made all too clear the greatest threats to both our countries come not from each other or other big powers in the world, but from terrorists who strike without warning, or rogue states who seek weapons of mass destruction.

SCHNEIDER: A fact that became more apparent in the last few days, as Russia found itself the target of a terrorist attack. And a former U.S. president found himself in Cuba. Today President Bush declared the arms race over.

BUSH: This treaty will liquidate the legacy of the Cold War.

SCHNEIDER: But the world has hardly paused to notice. Because we now believe that the threat to the world no longer looks like this, it looks like this.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Jimmy Carter was president in 1977 when the U.S. and Cuba opened diplomatic missions in each other's capital.

FRIEDMAN: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter continues his landmark tour in Cuba. He has a jam-packed week planned on the communist ruled island, and he kicked it off talking to a couple of human rights activists. The former president also toured a controversial biotechnology lab yesterday, significant because the Bush administration is accusing Cuba of trying to develop biological weapons.

CNN's John Zarrella has more on those allegations, which Fidel Castro strongly denies.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On his first full day in Cuba, Former President Jimmy Carter, joined by Cuban President Fidel Castro, visited the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, considered by the Castro government one of the socialist state's crowning accomplishments. But now it's under attack by the Bush administration as a place where Cuba has developed limited bioterrorism capabilities.

Before he left for Cuba, Carter said he asked intelligence experts if there was any evidence.

JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The answer from experts on intelligence was no.

ZARRELLA: Carter stepped into the middle of the Washington- Havana fray from the minute he touched down in Havana on Sunday. In his welcoming remarks, Cuban President Fidel Castro told Carter he could look at anything he wanted.

PRESIDENT FIDEL CASTRO, CUBA (through translator): You will have free and full access with specialized staff that you will choose. Access to that or any other prestigious scientific research center, some of which have been recently accused of producing biological weapons.

ZARRELLA: Later, after a meeting with Carter, Cuba's foreign affairs minister was asked if President Castro's offer was also good for President Bush.

FELIPE PEREZ ROGUE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): President Bush is not visiting Cuba. I do not doubt one day maybe he is. But he's not visiting Cuba now.

ZARRELLA: Cuba is fiercely proud of its research institutes, which have developed vaccines for Hepatitis B and Meningitis. They're working on medicine to promote the growth of new skin. Like researchers elsewhere in the world, they're working on an AIDS vaccine and another to prevent Lyme Disease in animals.

During a rally and later a news conference, Cuba's research scientists called the bioweapons allegations lies and defended their work.

DR. JOSE LUIS FERNANDEZ, DIRECTOR, IMMUNOLOGY CENTER (through translator): After dedicating more than 35, 37, 30 years of your life and considerable effort to saving human life, it is not easy to bear these accusations so unworthy and without ethics.

ZARRELLA: So far, the Bush administration has not produced any specific evidence to support the charges.

(on camera): As for former President Carter, he says while there is no evidence Cuba has been exporting technology that could be used for biowarfare, he says he has asked the Cubans to make sure there is no improper use of the technology they do export.

John Zarrella, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: Another former U.S. President is gaining popularity among Cubans. It might seem ironic but all over Cuba people walk around with George Washington in their wallets. Since 1993, the U.S. dollar has been legal in Cuba. And because the Cuba peso is worth very little, Cubans are trying to earn bucks in just about any way they can.

CNN's Kate Snow reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In old Havana, with its crumbling colonial facades on a narrow street down a dark hallway, the set welcomes visitors. For about 25 bucks a night, she rents out a room in her apartment. Her visitors are from all over, she tells me. The symbol on the door means she has a license to charge them in dollars. If you make dollars, she says, it's a lot easier to get by.

The bathroom is 1958, but the newer furnishings were bought with greenbacks, and she's not the only one on the block offering a room.

SNOW (on-camera): Three, four, five, six rooms.

(voice-over): Dollars have created a parallel economy in Cuba. Cuban workers can spend their peso salaries, on average, the equivalent of $12 a month, but only on certain things. The bread you get with pesos or a government ration card is nothing compared to the sweets on display at a dollar bakery.

If you have dollars, you can fill up with higher quality gas, buy a stove or dishwasher. And check out this dollar mall in central Havana, from perfume to shoes, even sinks, tubs and tires for sale.

(on camera): Dollars are so important, Cubans have found all sorts of creative ways to earn them, some of them legal, some of them illegal, like selling counterfeit cigars or pirated videotapes or CDs. We talked to one man who sells CDs. We agreed not to tell his name or show his face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I can buy them for $2, then sell them for $4 or $5. You understand? It's survival.

SNOW: "A lot of people do it," he tells us. "Life is hard here."

On Obispo Street, a man approaches to ask if he can take me to a restaurant inside someone's home. Their called palidares (ph).

Llamila (ph), a former systems analyst, and her husband Pepin, a former mechanical engineer, quit their jobs when they got a restaurant license. It allows them to seat only 12. They pay extra for the sign out front. And they can only charge in pesos, which they quickly convert to dollars. PEPIN CHORENS CEPEDA, RESTAURANT OWNER (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): What does it mean? First and foremost having economic independence. That's important, to meet your needs and the basic and the not so basic.

SNOW: For many Cubans, economic independence means the freedom to make and spend a buck. Not every Cuban has access to dollars. But for many, it's a way of life.

Kate Snow, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: We continue our "Headlines" in Sierra Leone. There is election fever in the country's capital Freetown. Nine candidates are running in today's president elections, which many people hope will bring stability after a decade of civil war. Just barely two years ago, this country was cited the most dangerous place in the world to live.

But as CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, times are changing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sierra Leone is in the midst of an election campaign, but it looks more like a massive street party. Nothing about it is restrained, stiff, starched or formal. Passion about one's favorite candidate comes naturally. One of those candidates is Zainab Bangura, the only woman running for president. Her program has struck a chord with a war weary populous.

ZAINAB BANGURA, MOVEMENT FOR PROGRESS: What those issues want is a clean government and zero tolerance on corruption and a more positive role for women, youth and the disabled and an expanded role of the private sector.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Danielle's wall (ph) enough is enough. We need positive change. Vote for Emerald (ph) please. Movement for Progress Zainab Bangura.

WEDEMAN: At voting time, however, it's a different atmosphere. Soldiers once engaged in battle now line up to cast their ballots. The police and the military voted Friday. Tuesday will be the turn of the civilians. The army has been warned and has promised to stay out of politics. A British army officer oversees the process along with other international observers.

DAVID ALLAN JONES, BRITISH HIGH COMMISSIONER: People are now very much focused on the end to the war, which was declared a few months ago, and the fact that they are now able to exercise their democratic rights and vote for a government of their choosing.

WEDEMAN: Freetown seems to be reveling in the theatrics of electioneering, but some wonder whether anyone can solve this country's profound problems. (on camera): For many here the election is a noisy if somewhat entertaining distraction, a distraction from a life of grinding poverty.

(voice-over): Abraham Solley (ph) repairs the tattered old shoes of refugees like himself, earning just pennies a day. Three years ago, he and hundreds like him fled fighting in the north, finding shelter of sorts in this old factory. According to the United Nations, Sierra Leone has the world's highest infant mortality. The average life expectancy for men is just 38 years.

In this refugee camp there is scant optimism elections will change anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't trust any politics.

WEDEMAN: But after 10 years of war, others are willing to give that trust enthusiastically.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Freetown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: Our focus this week is on the college crunch. Getting into college and paying the tuition is on the minds of a lot of young people and their parents.

But, Shelley, your experience was a little bit different, right?

WALCOTT: Yes, it certainly was. You know I'm from Canada. I went to school in Quebec.

FRIEDMAN: Right.

WALCOTT: And I think that my entire three year undergrad education probably cost me what a college student in the U.S. pays in one year.

FRIEDMAN: Wow, what a difference!

WALCOTT: Yes.

FRIEDMAN: As a matter of fact, a recent study shows that rising college tuition in the U.S. is prompting more students to pick less expensive colleges, work more while in school and take fewer classes.

WALCOTT: But no matter where you plan on going to school, the cost of a higher education doesn't come cheap.

CNN's Kathy Slobogin breaks it down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY SLOBOGIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crystal Fonseca is the first in her family to graduate from college.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How was class last night?

SLOBOGIN: But Crystal paid a price. Her working-class parents could not pay the tuition at the University of Rhode Island, so she worked her way through: 40 hours a week, plus classes.

CRYSTAL FONSECA, WORKING STUDENT: There were times that I would go to a test and I would have to make the choice of I have to work, or I have to study, and it always panned out that I have to work.

SLOBOGIN: Crystal, normally a strong student, was put on academic probation.

FONSECA: My grades suffered tremendously. I was happy to get a C. I had a lot of D's, which I'm not proud of. But with what I had to do and manage, that was the best I could do.

SLOBOGIN: But even working full-time didn't cover the tuition. Her education left her almost $40,000 in debt. She is not alone. If a college education is the path to a middle-class life, it's a path increasingly paved with debt; 64 percent of college seniors graduate in debt, and the average amount has nearly doubled in the last eight years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most Americans have lost ground when it comes to paying for college.

SLOBOGIN: A new report finds that a college education is taking a bigger bite than ever before of family income.

PAT CALLAN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY & HIGHER EDUCATION: It is certainly unaffordable for many of the lowest-income groups. I mean, for the poorest, the percent of family income that it takes to finance a year of college has gone from 13 to almost 26 percent.

SLOBOGIN: Government aid to students has remained fairly constant, but it hasn't keep up with tuition.

For example, according to the report, a federal Pell Grant covered 98 percent of tuition in 1986. By 1998, it covered only 57 percent.

With tuition rising more than twice as fast as inflation for the last decade, Pat Callan says things will only get worse.

CALLAN: You're on a collision course. Nothing in American society, probably accept for health care, has gone up this way. And with health care we seem to solve the problem by a lot of rationing. That is, some people don't have any at all, and that's exactly the situation we want to avoid.

SLOBOGIN: Although she struggled, Crystal Fonsica is a success story, now going after master's degree, debt and all. Her motivation: to be successful enough to one day pay for her children's education.

Kathy Slobogin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Every year thousands of people, a mix of tourists and believers, travel to a farm in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Keith Oppenheim explains they're all making the trek to see a big animal that some folks say is a living legend.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is David and Valerie Heider's farm where buffalo are raised and sold for meat, except for this young lady. Her name is Miracle. People come from all over to learn the story of her origins.

DARLENE VERDICK, VISITOR: It's almost godlike, you know. That's the way I feel.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Eight years ago, Miracle was born white, an extreme rarity. Statues on the farm portray the Native American legend of a white buffalo calf that appeared before two Lakota warriors. The calf became a beautiful woman, but when one of the warriors tried to grab her, he was struck by lightening. The calf woman later reappeared to the Lakota people and told them that the birth of a white buffalo calf would be a sign that she'd be returning soon to purify the world.

(voice-over): True to legend, this modern miracle changed colors in her first months of life to black, to red, to yellow. Some visitors claim they feel her power.

DAVID HEIDER, MIRACLE'S OWNER: You get people from all walks of life. We had a guy stop in here from Minneapolis. And he said he'd had breakfast with Elvis and Elvis was coming down to see the buffalo.

OPPENHEIM: The crackpots are outnumbered by the curious as well as those who truly believe and leave momentos on the fence. The Heider's aren't sure what to think, they just like the ideas and the people this buffalo brings.

VALERIE HEIDER, MIRACLE'S OWNER: Where else can you learn a culture -- another culture firsthand. And we don't have to go anywhere. We don't have to go to the world, the world comes to us.

OPPENHEIM: In Janesville, Wisconsin, I'm Keith Oppenheim reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

FRIEDMAN: Yesterday we introduced you to marine biologist Sylvia Earle. She's been fascinated by the sea for just about as long as she can remember. Known in scientific circles as "her deepness," Earle says she considers water the key to life.

Here now an underwater tour in Part II of our series "The Deep Blue Sea."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SYLVIA EARLE, SUSTAINABLE SEAS EXPEDITION: This is a passport to heaven. This little deep worker submersible enables people to go to as much as 2,000 feet beneath the surface and stay for hours. Actually, nearly a hundred hours of life support.

And you'll see this nice little O-ring seal all the way around the hatch. And that seals right on to bare metal. That O-ring actually mates directly on this flat steel surface and that's what keeps the water from coming in, keeps you warm and dry -- safe and dry inside. When the hatch comes down, the neat thing is that you can see. It's almost as if this doesn't exist. You're actually out there in the water but you're dry.

TOM HAYNES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What does this allow you to do? What does this allow you to accomplish under water?

EARLE: One atmosphere, diving as they say, a little system like this gives you two gifts, the gift of depth, can go deeper than I can go either holding my breath or as a scuba diver. And inside one here you have that gift of time. I can stay even at a hundred feet. Imagine being able to check in on a fish when you're sitting there in their living room and you're perfectly happy and comfortable at -- and are circumstances that are right for humans.

What is remarkable is how much curiosity the creatures have. They actually will come and look at you.

HAYNES: Do you ever pretend you're one of the fish while you're down there?

EARLE: I always pretend I'm one of the fish. You know it's just like going to another country. If you really want to get along when you go to France or to a place where people rarely go in some South Pacific island...

HAYNES: When in Rome.

EARLE: Yes, you try to see the world through their eyes.

HAYNES: What's one of the most amazing sights you've seen when in this submarine?

EARLE: Well, gosh, where do I begin? I think the most amazing sight is probably the next one I'm going to see. It's always gets better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

May 14, 1973 (ph), the world's first smallpox vaccine tested.

FRIEDMAN: Spring allergies are in full swing in many places, and it's not hard to spot the people suffering from them. Watery eyes, running noses and sneezing are just a few of the giveaways. Question is, what causes these reactions and is there anything you can do to prevent them or make them less severe?

Let's get some answers and have a little fun in the process. Here's CNN's doctor turned poet Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the season of spring and all through the air all the creatures are breathing pollen everywhere. If you suffer from allergies you're not alone, 35 million Americans and the number has grown.

You may be like me, I thought my allergies came on late, and then I learned allergies are worse in Atlanta and differ state to state. I went outside, my symptoms quickly got worse. The first indication, I had the allergy curse. Of course it might be a cold, but it didn't go away. I know colds last just a few days but allergies, they're here to stay. It was my own body telling me it was irritated. Defense cells reproducing, the immune response hyperinflated.

For most people allergies are merely annoying, but for those with asthma, the reaction can be life destroying. So an ounce of prevention, it's worth a pound of cure, and hiding from pollen is the only way to be sure. Staying inside with all the windows closed, is that all we can do? Now that's a question we posed.

The allergist laughed and said with a smile, prevention works best but staying indoors may not be your style. It's all about options, which is best for you, and there are drugs that help, but they may make you snooze. Nose sprays that are popular and turn off the allergic store, but some contain steroids and once you start, you want more and more. And if drugs do not work, there's something else doctors can do, they can train the body to let pollen pass through. Allergy shots teach the body to see pollen's a friend not the enemy.

So pull out your shorts and break out the bikes, get outdoors for a short walk or a hike. Remember treatment is available, effective until fall, so enjoy the sunshine and a happy spring to all.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Earlier we told you about getting to college and paying for it. Up next, getting around once you're there. University campuses are often large and difficult to navigate when you first arrive. Imagine facing one more challenge though, not being able to see.

CNN Student Bureau has the story of one student facing that challenge and others with determination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURA LADUKE, COLLEGE STUDENT: I'm a real visual learner so I just kind of -- because I used to have sight, and I just kind of visualize everything. ANGELA BOCHEIS (ph), CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Twenty- five-year-old Laura LaDuke is a communications senior at Michigan State. She loves music and working at the campus radio station. Laura has been blind since she was 14, but she doesn't let that hold her back for one second. Coupled with her Seeing Eye dog, Reno, she's as mobile as anyone else at the university.

(on camera): On the first day, someone from the university walks Laura here to her classes. After that, she's on her own.

LADUKE: And just out of repetition, you know Reno and I both tend to learn together.

BOCHEIS (voice-over): In class, Laura takes notes just like everyone else, but she doesn't use a pen and paper, she uses a stylus and slate to take notes in Braille. Laura is affected by a condition that gradually causes the optical nerve to go weak and cause blindness. Although she's lost her sight, Laura thinks it's improved her other senses.

LADUKE: My hearing, I think it's gotten more acute, you know because I've had to use it more. Instead of feeling my way around, I listen, you know, where I'm going.

BOCHEIS: Laura really only has one problem with Reno on campus.

LADUKE: Some people like distract her and they won't realize that that's not good. On the street you know that could be potentially dangerous for me, you know. And they'll say oh, you know, a puppy, you know, or something a little bit like oh what a pretty girl, you know, and it'll distract her from what she's doing.

BOCHEIS: So if you pass someone with a Seeing Eye dog, think twice before petting it because you might be distracting him from his very important job.

I'm Angela Bocheis, CNN Student Bureau, East Lansing, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRIEDMAN: We're out of time, but we look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow. I'm Susan Friedman.

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