Aired August 15, 2003

THE FOLLOWING IS A TRANSCRIPT OF STORIES FROM CNN STUDENT NEWS.

CHRISTINA PARK, CNN ANCHOR: It caused gridlock, shutdowns, and fear. But a massive blackout in parts of the U.S., otherwise did little harm to those left in the dark. 15 years later, Libya strikes a deal over the Lockerbie, Scotland Tragedy. And a major al Qaeda operative, is captured in Thailand. Hello and welcome to cnn student news on this Friday, August fifteenth! I'm Christina Park at the CNN center.

First Up: Power Outage

First up: For most of New York, it was hours without electricity on Thursday, the lights and screens suddenly going out over business meetings and in subway tunnels. The scene occurred simultaneously in several other U.S. and Canadian cities in the region. But to the relief of millions of people, Canadian officials say the massive blackout was due to a lightning strike, and was in no way connected to terrorism. Fredericka Whitfield explores what happened when the lights went out over Broadway, and many other parts of the northeast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The outage hit just in time for rush hour, on the east coast...New York city blacked out...

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Here in manhattan, the situation is obviously very very serious.

WHITFIELD: A remarkable sight. Thousands of people streaming out of buildings. Cars and pedestrians jamming the streets, in 90-plus-degree heat. The mayor offering reassurance...

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YOUK CITY: Everything is calm in this city... The emergency management center is open. They're going through their normal procedures. We're making sure that hospitals and police facilities and jails and the normal things that the city has to worry about are all getting what they need to function.

WHITFIELD: The best preliminary explanation: this was regional: massive outages reported in dozens of cities-- as far west as Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio... As far south as New Jersey... Connecticut to the east... And further north into Canada, including Toronto and Ottawa officials told CNN: the Niagara-Mohawk power grid, which supplies that entire region-- had overloaded. As millions began to have that creeping concern-- word quickly came from energy officials, and the department of homeland security saying quote: "Initial report indicates that this is a power system failure not related to terrorism. We are in the process of reaching out to the states to determine what if any federal resources they may need to deal with this incident."

Also affected: Airports in those blackout areas.

BLOOMBERG: I've just gotten off the phone with Gene McGraff, who is the chairman of the board of Con Edison ... and he is pleased to inform us that power is starting to coming back from the north and from the west. What that means is that we will be starting up power in the city --it will take a decent amount of time -- hours, not minutes.

Airports using generators now have some terminals up and running...

Fredericka Whitfield, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

A Word to the Wise

Simultaneous (adj) happening, existing, or done at the same time

Source: www.dictionary.com

Liberia In Crisis: U.S. Troops Arrive

PARKS: it was a hero's welcome for peacekeepers arriving in Liberia on Thursday. The country has been torn apart in recent years by a civil war, in which rebels fought to kick the country's president out of power.

With former leader Charles Taylor gone, troops from the u-s and Nigeria have been steadily flowing in to help the country get back on its feet. And the rebels seemed to be cooperating with the incoming troops, allowing thousands of Liberians to cross a key bridge and search for their loved ones.

Lockerbie Bombing Settlement

From Liberia to Libya...a North African nation accused of being behind a 1988 bombing, of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. The blast killed all 259 of the plane's passengers, and 11 people in the Scottish farming town below. Though Libya has since denied any direct role in the bombing...

The U.S. and Britain accused two Libyans -- an intelligence officer and an airline official -- of planning the attack. Libya refused to turn over the officials for trial, so the u-s and the United Nations leveled sanctions against the country in 1992. And in 2001, a Scottish court sentenced the intelligence officer to life in prison, while the other official was acquitted of the crime.

Now, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has struck a deal to accept responsibility for the blast and pay millions to the families of the victims...under the conditions outlined in this report, by Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: For Moammar Gadhafi: an attempt at redemption. The framework of a deal, to compensate the families of those killed in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103, is drawing relief from some... Skepticism from some... Outright anger from others.

DAN COHEN, LOCKERBIE VICTIM'S FATHER: It's a lousy deal...

BLITZER: under the deal, Libya would pay the victims' families a total of 2-point-7-billion dollars. The process could begin this week, when Libyan officials are scheduled to deliver a letter to the U.N. -- accepting responsibility for the bombing. The payouts hinge on the subsequent lifting of sanctions on Libya from the United Nations. The possible--but some say unlikely--end of a U.S. embargo, and the possible removal of Libya from the state department's list of terrorist sponsors.

Depending on any combination of those three, the families could each receive as little as 5-million dollars, as much as ten million. The families have long been divided.

COHEN: We're supposed to be talking about punishment. What we're talking about here is money, you know? Gadhafi is going to give us lots of money and we're supposed to shut up and go away

BERT AMMERMAN, LOCKERBIE VICTIM'S BROTHER: I do believe it does symbolically start the process that if your country supports state-sponsored terrorism, you can pay an economic price for your senseless actions.

Wolf Blitzer, CNN Washington

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Alleged Bali Mastermind Captured

It's considered a major catch in the arduous search for terrorist leaders. U.S. officials said on Thursday that they'd nabbed the man known as Hambali. An al-Qaeda figurehead who's suspected of masterminding numerous terrorist attacks. Among some of the bombings blamed on Hambali are last week's attack at a hotel in Jakarta and last year's blast at a nightclub in Indonesia, which left 202 people dead. Hambali was captured in Thailand earlier this month. Officials believe he was planning another assault on a meeting of the Asia-Pacific economic conference later this year.

Shoutout!

Time for the Shoutout!

Who is the governor of California? If you think you know it, shout it out!

Is it:

A) Pete Wilson B) James Garfield C) Gray Davis D) Kenny Guinn

You've got three seconds--go!

The current governor of the golden state is Gray Davis. In a recall election scheduled for October 7th, voters will decide whether he'll get to keep his job.

That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Week in Review

As that recall vote approaches...135 candidates put their names on the list-- in a bid to become Davis' potential replacement. Deanna Morawski takes a look at the upcoming ballot, as well as some other top stories in our "Week in Review."

DEANNA MORAWSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This week in New Jersey, an arms sale didn't go as well as the seller expected. A British man was arrested Tuesday for trying to smuggle a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile into the u-s. Police say Hemant Lakhani thought it was going to be part of a planned terrorist attack against a commercial airliner. He allegedly sold a missile like this for 85,000 dollars to undercover officials posing as Somali terrorists. Lakhani's been charged with providing material support to terrorists and illegal weapons dealing. The 18-month long sting operation was run by the U.S., Russia, and Britain.

Speaking of running... Officials have finalized the list of candidates for California's gubernatorial recall election. A total of 135 names will appear on the ballot as possible replacements for democratic governor Gray Davis...who's trying to beat the recall. Davis's popularity has plummeted as the state's economy has gone south. If the recall succeeds, the candidate with the most votes will take over as governor and serve the remaining three years of Davis' term. Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has emerged as a front-runner, his numbers high in several polls.

Meantime, numbers are climbing on thermometers across Europe, setting record temperatures and causing unexpected tragedy. Officials say the heat wave has caused some 3-thousand deaths in France alone. Authorities are trying to figure out what to do next, as they face criticism for doing too little, too late. They blame the duration of the heat wave for the deaths...which happened in a region where most buildings don't have air conditioning. In the past week and a half, temperatures reportedly topped 104 degrees Fahrenheit at least 50 times. Typically, August temperatures in Paris are around 75 degrees.

That's your week in review. For CNN student news, I'm Deanna Morawski.

Before We Go

PARK: Before we go...you'd think lions would see a dog as a light snack...But these cubs call this Dalmatian, "mommy." the lions' natural mother wouldn't do her job, so the dog took them in. She'll take care of them for next four months, after which the cubs will be able to eat solid food. Then, they'll probably only hang out with the Dalmatian when they need a little canine companionship. A zoo in china is making sure everyone plays nice.

We'll see you next week, here on CNN Student News. I'm Christina Park.