CNN 10 - April 7 2017

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Today`s special, we`re serving Fridays and our customers tell us they`re awesome! I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.

We`re getting started in the U.S. capital, where Senate Republicans have been working to get President Donald Trump`s Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, confirmed to the high court. A few Democrats said they`d vote for Judge Gorsuch as well, but most of them have been working to block the nomination. And in the back and forth between the political parties, both a filibuster and the nuclear option came into play yesterday. 

We defined these terms on Wednesday`s show. You can find that in our archives at CNN10.com.

What`s interesting about the filibuster and the nuclear option is that neither of them is actually mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. The American governing document allows the congressional chambers, the House and Senate, to set their own rules. 

The filibuster is a tradition, a sort of rule that allows a minority party to block a nominee or piece of legislation, and a nuclear option is a rule change that allows a majority party to get around that block and vote with a simple majority. 

Republicans control the Senate. They have 52 seats. While Democrats and the independents who vote with them have 48 seats.

After yesterday`s move to invoke the nuclear option, both parties have now used the controversial rule change and this time around, it was expected to lead to the confirmation of Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

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CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: The one thing to know about the nuclear option is you may not understand it, but it does really matter.

SUBTITLE: The One Thing: The "nuclear option".

CILLIZZA: The nuclear option is sort of a common place term for a way in which the filibuster rules of the Senate are end run, usually to stop debate on any matter in front of the Senate, you need to get 60 votes. 

But if you use the nuclear option, you take that 60-vote margin and take it down to a majority 51-vote threshold. In 2013, Harry Reid, after months and months of threatening to deploy the nuclear option actually did it.

SEN. HARRY REID (D), NEVADA: It`s time to get the Senate working again, not for the good of the current Democratic majority or some future 

Republican majority, but for the good of the United States of America.

CILLIZZA: The filibuster, whether real or threaten, had always been a way that the Senate distinguish itself from the House. The House very much runs in a "majority rule" rule. If you have the votes, you have the votes. In the Senate, in order to close off that debate, which means to force an actual majority vote, you needed always to have 60. It required typically some bipartisan consensus building, because neither party often had 60-plus seats in their control.

When you remove that, you start to slide even further down the slippery slope that Harry Reid started us all on in 2013. If we`ve already wiped out the use of the traditional filibuster, that 60-vote margin on several things including Supreme Court nominees, what`s to stop either this majority or the next majority, Democrat or Republican, from instituting it on legislative matters? And at that point, the Senate fully becomes the House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:

What nation sees more tornadoes than any other country on Earth?

Is it China, Russia, Saudi Arabia or the United States?

The U.S. is far and away the world leader in tornadoes. They`ve been recorded at some point in every state.

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AZUZ: But it`s not just tornadoes. Hurricanes, floods, droughts, blizzards, wild fires, they all combine to bring America some of the most extreme weather in the world. But given the fact that it`s spring and given the fact that most tornadoes spin up between April and June, this is what`s considered Tornado Season. And the National Weather Service says as many as nine twisters might have struck the Midwest and Southeast this week. 

A system of storms thundered across the region, bringing hail, high winds and soaking rains. In southwestern Georgia, a tornado up to a mile and a half wide was seen. Hundreds of flights were cancelled in Atlanta, quarter size hail was reported in Alabama and Kentucky, and flooding was seen throughout Columbia, South Carolina. 

As the storms barreled through, several states were given tornado watches or warnings. Is that the same thing?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: When severe weather strikes, one of the most common questions we get, what`s the difference between a watch and a warning? 

Well, just for comparison`s sake, let`s take the stop light, green light, yellow light, red light. 

Sometimes, the National Weather Service will issue a hazardous weather outlook and advisory. Treat that as a green light. Know that the possibility of rough weather is there, but go about your day as you would, just stay alert.

But as conditions tend to ripen, you may see a tornado watch issued by the National Weather Service. Use this with more caution, this means conditions are favorable for tornado development, and so, you need to know what you should do in case a tornado strikes. 

That`s where the warning comes in, if the radar has indicated a tornado, or someone has spotted a tornado in progress, that`s when the tornado warning is issued and you should get to your safe place immediately, stop what you`re doing and seek shelter.

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AZUZ: By removing certain plants and trees, covering or filling in ponds and using sound cannons, airports have a number of methods to keep birds away. 

Last spring, we reported on a border collie named Piper who literally chase the birds from a small airport in Michigan. Some airports utilize trained falcons to do this. Some are using "robirds", fake remote controlled falcons to keep the skies clear of any birds that don`t carry people.

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NICO NIJENHUIS, CLEAR FLIGHT SOLUTIONS CEO: The robirds are basically robotic birds of prey. They look like and fly like real falcons and we use them to chase away other birds from areas like airports. Birds and aircrafts go badly together. 

Birds can cause problems in many areas, like the agriculture industry, the oil and gas industry. They`re basically a drone, but not your everyday drone. The robirds mimic the flight envelop of a natural bird. We had to create a flight (ph) computer that was capable of thinking like a bird. 

The typically, traditional scarecrow in agricultural field is actually been proven that this tactic measures eventually attract birds. Whenever there`s collusion between a bird and an aircraft, it costs $200,000. So, even being able to prevent several of them during a year means that you are saving the aviation industry at one location millions of dollars.

We`ve been operating the birds since around 2012 and we really see it working. And the relatively small blueberry farmer that we also operate, we increase his harvest by 15 percent. Meaning, he earns 45,000 euros more in revenues.

We`re battling nature with nature and we know that that works.

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AZUZ: This is like jetpack meets Iron Man. It`s the awesome-looking invention of a British entrepreneur. It involves six tiny jet engines, some body armor, some serious physical fitness, and while it looks fund in some clips, there is a learning curve. 

It`s called Daedalus. Guess they thought acorus (ph) was too lofty sounding. Heh! The company, Gravity, hopes to build 25 suits by the end of the year. They say it could travel hundreds of miles per hour if someone wants to try that, the estimated cost, a quarter million dollars per suit.

Now, saving up and shaping up to suit up and take that suit up could be a ricorous (ph) process that wouldn`t suit everyone who`d be sore if they soared, but then fell prey to gravity in the gravity suit. Don`t fly too close to the sun, son, because no matter your drive to survive and walk away alive from a high dive, you`d have to be made of iron, man. 

That closes out the week for CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz.

CNN 10 - April 6 2017

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: China, North Korea and the U.S. are the three nations directly involved in our first story on CNN 10. 

I`m Carl Azuz. Thank you for watching.

A meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled for today and tomorrow at President Trump`s resort in Florida. With that meeting coming up, North Korea launched a missile into the sea on Wednesday. The test didn`t go well. A U.S. official described it as a spectacular failure.

But analysts say the launch was designed to be an insult to President Trump and Xi. They also say that if America wants to put more pressure on North Korea to stop its nuclear program, it will need China`s help, something Mr. Trump recently echoed in an interview with "The Financial Times" when he said China has great influence over North Korea and that he hoped China would help. That country is North Korea`s only major ally. More than 80 percent of North Korea`s trade is conducted with China. 

What happens if China doesn`t help put more pressure on its neighbor? 

President Trump says the U.S. could act on its own. His administration says all options are on the table when dealing with North Korea. What could some of those options look like?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump says he`s willing to go it alone to stop North Korea`s nuclear weapons program. 

But he`s facing regime that he has challenged U.S. administrations on this issue for a quarter century. Experts argue he has three basic strategies for confronting Pyongyang starting with negotiations.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Would you speak to the leader of North Korea? I said, absolutely. Why not? Why not?

WATSON: Previous U.S. administrations have negotiated directly with North Korea, and in the past, Pyongyang has made some concessions in exchange for 

big financial aid. But experts say Pyongyang used its existing nuclear weapons as the ultimate insurance policy, protecting North Korea from the threat of possible military strikes.

PROF. ANDREI LANKOV, KOOKMIN UNIVERSITY: They are not going to give up a single nuclear weapon, a single warhead as they have already produced, and no amount of negotiation is going to change that.

WATSON: A second option: sanctions. The U.S. already has many sanctions in place to economically isolate North Korea. But a further step might be to punish companies that do business with North Korea, particularly those in China, North Korea`s largest trading partner.

LANKOV: So, past policies have not worked actually because China is not completely participating, actually because the North Korean state is designed in a way that basically makes the government quite oblivious to the demands of the population.

WATSON: The final option would be a military strike. Targets could include the North Korean leadership or their nuclear weapons or ballistic missile facilities. But a former top U.S. official warned the consequences for a key U.S. ally could then be devastating.

ASH CARTER, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: It`s quite possible that they would as a consequence of that launch, an attempted invasion of South Korea. 

This is a war that would have an intensity of violence associated with it that we haven`t seen since the last Korean War.

WATSON: There is one possible ray of hope: neither the U.S. nor China, the two biggest superpowers in the region, want to see a nuclear-armed North 

Korea. If they can work together, then perhaps they can find a way to deal with the hermit kingdom and its weapons of mass destruction.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: One challenge ahead of President Trump and Xi is their disagreement over how to pressure North Korea, and they`ll have more than that to talk about. They`re the leaders of the two largest economies on the planet. Their nations are both regional powerhouses. Will two nations that are an ocean apart be able to find common ground?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The United States and China, perhaps the most consequential relationship in the world today. But if that`s the case, then what`s at stake?

Let`s start with the standoff on the Korean Peninsula. Both China and the United States agree that North Korea`s nuclear weapons program is bad news. 

They disagree on how best to stop it. 

The U.S. thinks China should use its economic leverage to force North Korea to halt its testing program. China says the only way to solve the problem is if the U.S. directly negotiates with the regime. It`s a situation where tens of millions of lives are at stake, how will China and the U.S. can work together is key to solving the crisis.

Next, consider the Chinese and American economies, combined worth about 40 percent of global GDP. They are inextricably linked, with hundreds of billions of dollars in goods traded each year. But any barriers to that trade would mean that both economies would suffer. That in turn would hurt the global economy overall.

Finally, let`s turn to the South China Sea. Over the last few years, China has aggressively built up artificial islands, extending its military capability far beyond its own borders. In response, the U.S. has sent warships near Chinese claimed territory. So, will China continue its expansion? Does the U.S. draw a red line in response? The answers will help shape the future of a volatile region.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:

What is the second-largest planet in our solar system?

Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune or Earth?

Though scientists say Saturn`s mass is 95 times that of earth, it`s still smaller than Jupiter, making Saturn the second largest planet in our solar system.

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AZUZ: And the mission to the ringed planet is coming to an end. We`re reporting on Cassini`s final assignment. The spacecraft has been out of this world for almost 20 years and its mission formally ends in September. It got off the ground in 1997 and it took Cassini seven years to reach the region of the mysterious planet. The mission`s total cost has been about $3.26 billion with the U.S. funding almost 80 percent of that. 

One major accomplishment for Cassini was landing on the surface of Saturn`s largest moon, which is named Titan. Scientists were able to study the moon and find a few similarities it has to Earth, though Titan is much colder. 

Cassini doesn`t have much fuel left but it`s not going to quietly fade away. The last assignment it has will be to perform 22 dives in between Saturn and its rings. It will be going very fast, 70,000 miles per hour, through a gap that measures about 1,200 miles wide. That speed, a grain of sand could cripple Cassini. So, let`s hope it doesn`t hit that or anything bigger.

It sounds fine. What`s the value in this? Scientists hope it will help them learn about where Saturn`s ring came from and what the planet`s interior is like. Cassini will be closer to Saturn that ever before. In fact, on its final orbit, Cassini will be crashed right into the planet.

Unlike the cat in the hat, I cannot read with my eyes shut. But the National Institutes of Health says through his wacky and subliminally educational books, Dr. Seuss improved children`s health. He helped them develop literacy skills. That`s not the only healthy effect of reading.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When you think about reading, just the idea of being able to focus on something in particular that`s not a big screen, not a device, can really be a benefit. There have been studies that have shown that it can help reduce your stress levels, help improve your attention levels, and possibly be overall good for your mental functions. You can reduce your rates of cognitive decline by up to 32 percent. 

This is significant. It`s fascinating to see how the brain responds even if the body is sitting still looking at those pages. So, for example, if there`s a scene that you`re reading that`s a very active scene. The areas of your brain that are called the motor cortex that were responsible for movement, they may start to light up. If it`s a particularly stimulating part of the book that you`re reading, your sensory cortex, which actually allows you to see, that may start to light up. 

There have been some interesting studies showing that you don`t actually have to read a book -- I recommend this one by the way. You could actually hear books. You could listen to an audio book for example, and that can have some of the same beneficial effects that we`re talking about. 

So, just keep in mind, the more you read, the more you know, the more you learn, the further you`ll go. That was a different doctor, Dr. Seuss. But regardless, it will help you live to a hundred.

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AZUZ: For "10 Out of 10", it`s a little closer to Earth than Saturn. What engineer wouldn`t want to test this out? It`s a zip line, but not for every tourist, more for space tourist. If something were to go wrong on the launch pad, when future astronaut crews are preparing to blast off on a rocket, this EES, the Emergency Egress System, at Cape Canaveral, Florida, could help them get away in a fun way. It covers a quarter mile in 30 seconds.

Of course, they probably prefer to be zipping off to space, but if you`re down to the wire and you got to stay grounded, this is one advantage of having cable. As long as the zip lines are open, it`s a pretty egressive way to get from A to B. 

I`m Carl Azuz and we reach the end of the line on CNN 10. Hope to see you tomorrow.