CNN Student News - September 7 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Covering current events from around the world, this is CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz. Thank you for watching this Wednesday.

First up, the remnants of a secret war. We`re taking you to the Asian country of Laos. It`s a landlocked communist nation located between Thailand and Vietnam. And during the Vietnam War, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Laos was fighting a civil war of its own. And the United States had
a role in it.

In Vietnam, the U.S. supported South Vietnamese forces fighting the communist government of North Vietnam. In Laos, the U.S. supported southern Lao forces fighting communist forces in the north. The U.S. mission led by the Central Intelligence Agency dropped millions of tons of bombs on Laos.

But many of them did not explode and 43 years after the mission ended, some are still going off when people find or step on them. An average of 50 people in Laos are killed or maimed each year. And the presence of the bombs prevents much of the agricultural country from expanding its farmland.

Yesterday, the U.S. government pledged $90 million to help clear these bombs out. U.S. President Barack Obama, who`s in Laos, made the announcement.

Andrew Stevens gives a sense of the challenge ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For nine years until 1973, the U.S. carpet bomb Laos, trying to stop the communist insurgency and smashed North Vietnamese supply lines.

It was known as the Secret War. No American boots on the ground, just American bombs. More than two million tons of them rained down. Per capita, more explosives were dropped here than on any other country in history.

(SHOUTING)

(EXPLOSION)

STEVENS: And they`re still exploding today.

This is a controlled detonation by the Mine`s Advisory Group which works in Laos to clear the bombs literally a few square yards at a time. Every patch of land has to be mapped and then swept.

Once detected, they zero in on the object and uncover it.

And this is what they usually find, clustered munitions known locally as bombies.

Up to 80 million of these failed to detonate and 1 percent of them have been cleared.

(on camera): How long realistically with the resources at the country`s disposal is it going to take to make this country safe?

NEIL ARNOLD, MINES ADVISORY GROUP (MAG): Currently with the resources, I`d say decades.

STEVENS: Decades?

ARNOLD: Yes.

(EXPLOSION)

STEVENS: And that is one more explosive device taken out, but across these plains, across these valleys and across these mountains, there are still tens of millions of threats remaining.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Good news and bad news from the animal kingdom. We`ll start with the bad. The eastern gorilla is now considered critically endangered.

That means there`s a high risk of this animal becoming extinct in the wild. This is according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

It says that the eastern gorilla, which is found in the African nations of Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, has decreased in population by more than 70 percent in the last 20 years. Illegal hunting was left fewer than an estimated 5,000 eastern gorillas in the wild. It`s
the world`s largest living primate.

Now, the good news. The giant panda is no longer considered endangered. Between 2004 and 2014, hundreds more giant pandas were added to the population, bringing their number in China to more than 1,860. It was helped by a nationwide ban on trading panda skins and the significant increase in the animal`s habitat. The species is still considered vulnerable.

In the U.S., flu season starts next month. It`s a time when flu epidemics often break out in the country. The Centers for Disease Control says it can last from October to May. This year, a group of American Pediatrician says flu mist, a nasal spray, designed to prevent the flu, should not be an
option.

The reason: this summer, the CDC said it was not very effective.

Doctors are still recommending that Americans get the flu shot, just not the mist. They say everyone six months and older should be vaccinated and that that`s the best protection against getting the flu. Vaccinations are not 100 percent effective. There`s a chance you get the shot and still catch the flu. You just wouldn`t get it from the shot itself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me try and settle this flu shot thing, although I`m sure it`s going to keep coming up again and again.

SUBTITLE: Debunking flu myths.

GUPTA: You can`t get the flu from the flu shot. It`s a dead virus, it can`t actually cause flu. Why do people feel sort of crummy afterward?

It`s because the flu vaccine is actually working, making your immune system fire up, get ready and recognize it, if it actually sees the flu, how to kill it.

No, it`s not 100 percent fail safe. But it`s still going to offer a lot of protection, so you are not going to be as sick as likely to get sick or if you do get sick, have a shorter duration.

OK, so if you are like me, your mom probably said don`t go outside in the cold without your hat on, you are going to catch the flu. You can`t catch the flu from just simply being outside in the cold.

But it does raise the question, why are there so many more flu cases in the winter months? You are likely to stay indoors more. So, if one person is sick, more people are likely to get sick.

The sun is lower in the sky, and as a result, you have less Vitamin D actually being produced in your body. Your immune system starts to get suppressed a little bit. You are more likely to get sick with the flu.

Winter months tend to be lower humidity. Viruses like the flu virus they like lower humidity. They are likely to live longer.

So, your mom may have been right: I mean look, moms are always right, but maybe not for the reasons you originally thought.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Now, we`re headed to South America where the 2016 Paralympic Games start today in Brazil. The roots of this international competition date back to 1948, when the sports event was organized for British World War II veterans who had spinal cord injuries. Today, the Paralympics bring together thousands of athletes with disabilities. They come from all over the world. They compete in the same city that hosted the Olympics, which is Rio de Janeiro this year.

And the athlete we`re profiling today, a two-time Paralympian and one-time world championship gold medalist has advised that applies far beyond the sports she`s competing in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMANDA DENNIS, U.S. PARALYMPIC ATHLETE: My name is Amanda Dennis and I`m a paralympic goalball athlete.

I really didn`t actually enjoy playing sports. I started off with soccer, I tried to block it out a little bit, but I sat in the middle of the field because I really couldn`t see the soccer ball, so I just watch everybody else play. So, I really wasn`t that into playing sports.

My visual impairment came from birth. So, I have a rare condition called an aniridia, which takes away your irises. It doesn`t let you see light properly. Everybody on the team has a visual impairment. So, the equalizer on the playing field is that everybody is blindfolded.

I just love playing. I love picking up the ball, throwing it, the sound of the ball hitting the net.

When I was about 10 years old, I decided that I wanted to make the Paralympic team. I wrote to the U.S. coach who`s my coach today, and I was like, hey, I know I`m only 10 years old but I really want to make this team, like you have no idea. I had about three years or so to make myself as good as I could get to make that team.

There are going to be people who pushed you down, who tell you you can`t do it. You`re not old enough. You`re not good enough. You`re never going to be on this team.

But to keep doing what you love, do it because you love to do it. And if you have passion for what you want to do, you always find yourself successful.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: When it comes to snorkeling, you probably envision clear, warm, tropical waters, the brilliant pastels of a coral reef and the shimmering ocean life beneath.

This next snorkeling event has none of that. The water is cold. It`s not near an ocean. It has all the charm of your average peat bog. But since 1986, it`s been bringing together people with unique taste in recreation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: Bog snorkeling takes place in two trenches, which had been dug about three feet deep and are filled with murky water. The surprising thing is that you really can`t see a thing, nothing. The taste of the bog water is when you watch potatoes in some water and then you try and drink that. It`s not pleasant.

SUBTITLE: One hundred fifty people competed at 2016`s World Bog Snorkeling Championship in Wales.

Competitors must swim 120 yards.

The world record is 1 minute 22.56 seconds.

Swimmers traveled from Australia, South Africa, Sweden, and Germany to compete.

JUDITH AND STEVEN LEWIS, BOG SNORKELLERS: Definitely do it again, but we`ll have to be fitter, because I had to go halfway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next in to the bog is Pete Rockwall (ph) and he is the over 50s champion from 2015.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one, go!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Maybe bog snorkeling is just a boginning of bog sports. Who wouldn`t want a peaticipate in bogminton, bogsketball or bogxing. Footbog, volleybog, hot air boglooning, bog air bogs, ball tee bog (ph), wiffle bog, skate bogging, snow bogging, sandbogging, weightbogging and, of course, the winner time favorite, tobogganing.

I`m Carl Azuz getting bogged down in puns for CNN STUDENT NEWS.

END

CNN Student New - September 6 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Thank you for taking ten minutes for CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz. We know many viewers are just rejoining us after the summer break and welcome you to an exciting year ahead for our international current events coverage.

Today`s news starts in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. China was the site of the annual G20 Summit.

G20 stands for group of 20, powerful world leaders from 19 countries, plus the European Union, who met on Sunday and Monday. Their focus: international economic cooperation. There were a lot of subjects discussed here, both at the summit itself and on the sidelines -- weaker than expected economic growth around the world, the threat of terrorism, the challenges of immigration.

It was U.S. President Barack Obama`s last G20. He and Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to move forward on a previous agreement to reduce their nation`s greenhouse gas emissions. But he and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not reach an agreement on how to end the violence in Syria. The

U.S. leader saying that there were, quote, "gaps of trust" between the two governments.

While world leaders agreed to keep working together to sink up their economic plans, this particular G20 meeting was reportedly inclusive, without any major agreements or breakthroughs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: This is a 400 feet (122m) wooden model of London`s skyline in 1666.

It took several months to build but just 45 minutes to burn.

The sculpture was set alight to commemorate the 350th anniversary of London`s Great Fire.

The burning took place on the River Thames.

KATE HARVEY, PRODUCER, ANTICHOKE: The Great Fire of London, which took place in 1666 was an extraordinary event for London. It was a fire that destroyed the majority of the city. Eighty thousand people were made homeless and ended up living in refugee camps on the fringes of London for many years afterwards.

SUBTITLE: In the 17th century, most buildings were constructed from timber and packed closely together.

The fire started in a baker`s shop and quickly spread, lasting 4 days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: OK. From the United Kingdom, you`re taking you to Vatican City. It`s an independent state surrounded by Rome, Italy, and it`s where Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church recently declared a new saint. Catholicism is the largest denomination of Christianity. Huge crowds were on hand for the canonization ceremony and though the Catholic Church`s newest saint died in 1997, you probably heard her name before, she was known as Mother Teresa.

Born in Albania, in 1910, she eventually devoted her life to helping poverty stricken people in the nation of India. Mother Teresa earned global recognition, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work and compassion for the poor. And in declaring her Saint Teresa, the pope praised her charitable work and called her an emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NARRATOR: Nearly 2,000 years after the first Pope Peter, the Catholic Church has put halos on some 10,000 saints. They are the ones you`ve likely heard of -- St. Patrick, Ireland`s patron saint, St. Valentine, patron saint of love and engaged couples, and thousands of others that only the most pious may know.

To get the title of saint, contenders need to pass a few tests.

The first, they have to be dead. Usually for five years. But some have to wait in line a little longer. Saint Bede was declared a Saint more than 1,000 years after his death. Dying may be the easy part here.

You also have to perform two miracles. Candidates must answer prayers often for medical cures from their heavenly perch. The church believes Mother Teresa did just that, when a man with brain tumors and a woman with stomach cancer were inexplicably cured after praying with the nun.

John Paul II got the saintly seal when an order of nuns prayed to the former pontiff and cured Sister Marie Simon Pierre of Parkinson`s.

If there`s no medical or scientific explanation for the cure, the church says you officially have a miracle on your hands. If you pass all the tests, the Pope will induct you into one of the most sacred clubs and in the very end grant you a halo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Days after making landfall in the U.S. state of Florida, a storm named Hermine is still having an impact on parts of the U.S. From North Carolina to Massachusetts, high winds and dangerous rip currents have caused states of emergency and kept people out of the ocean. The storm itself is now out in the Atlantic and forecasters think it will stay there before it weakens throughout the week.

Early last Friday, Hermine blew ashore on Florida`s gulf coast as a category one hurricane. It was the first hurricane to hit the state since

2005 and it raked across Southeast Georgia and the Carolinas before moving back out to sea in the Atlantic. At least two deaths were blamed on the storm. Some Floridian coastal areas saw severe damage in flooding and as of yesterday, tens of thousands of people still didn`t have electricity.

Last week, we called Hermine both a hurricane and a cyclone. Is there a difference between those storms and a typhoon?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: If you`ve been hearing the word "typhoon" and thinking to yourself, well, that looks an awful lot like a hurricane, well, in fact, it is.

SUBTITLE: Typhoons vs. hurricanes. What`s the difference?

MYERS: Typhoons are hurricanes, are cyclones. They are the same thing, just in different oceans. A lot like a hot cake is a flat jack is a pancake is short stack. If you are west of the dateline, so west of Hawaii, north of equator you`re a typhoon. If you`re in the Atlantic or the Pacific, around America, you are a hurricane and if you are around the Indian Ocean or in the southern hemisphere, you`re a cyclone.

So, it`s not out of the question for a hurricane to become a typhoon if it moves over the dateline. In fact, after crossing the international dateline, Hurricane Genevieve turned into Typhoon Genevieve a few years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Rise of eSports. These are electronic sports which include professional video gaming. Their popularity has exploded and with

increased attention from viewers has come increased attention from advertisers. Now, playing a look at the business potential of eSports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK SUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over: ESports is one of the world`s hottest new markets -- not only for the players and fans, but for business as well. And, brother, business is aboomin`.

ESports` yearly revenue is expected to rise over $1 billion by 2019, a five-fold increase from 2014. Brands are pumping in almost 50 percent more in advertising and sponsorship this year, almost $325 million. And it`s all down to the eyeballs on it.

(on camera): Huge tournaments are held all over the world with audiences of up to 113,000 people in attendance. And that`s dwarfed by the online viewership with some tournaments reaching 34 million viewers by a platform such as Twitch.

RALF REICHERT, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ESL: The most simple way to eSports, it has 200 million fans worldwide who watch it. This is bigger than the NHL.

SUNG (voice-over): And what`s making it genuinely irresistible for sponsors is the global audience is going to get bigger, almost 50 percent bigger by 2019. Coca-Cola and Samsung are some of the big names already moving into the game, trying to woo fans. ESports enthusiasts are more likely to be successful high earners than the stereotypes of people holed up at basement dwelling gamers.

MARTIN VETTORI, PAYSAFECARD.COM: They`re really following the clubs. They`re living they`re living these hobbies. Here, you get three extras

(ph) to the 14 to 25 year old and get a huge opportunity if you target those specific demographics.

SUNG: So, stop being surprised by eSports` rise. It`s no longer a niche phenomenon but a mainstream big money mainstay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: A spokesperson for California`s Department of Fish and Wildlife says it`s not unusual to see bears hanging around neighborhoods. It is unusual to see them taking a dip in your pool. The homeowners here may need to clean their pool. Now it`s not the time.

It seems California`s beer populations on the rise. They`re even known to sniff out garbage on trash day, at least until a fearless beagle comes charging in, scaring them away.

That`s got to be embarrassing. Being hounded away by a smaller species when the food is kind of trashy to begin with. But there was no bear- gaining with the dog. After the beagle-eyed bowwow berated them, their only move was to make a doggone break and then just grin and bear it y`all.

I`m Carl Azuz, and that`s CNN STUDENT NEWS.

END

CNN Student News - September 2 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS, where Fridays are awesome! My name is Carl Azuz.

Two stories out of the U.S. state of Florida lead things off.

First, a setback for SpaceX. It`s a private space exploration company that has a contract from NASA, and one of its Falcon IX rockets blew up during a test-firing in Cape Canaveral yesterday. It was an unmanned vehicle. No one was hurt. But the rocket and its payload were destroyed and that included a communication satellite intended to help bring Internet service to the Middle East and parts of Africa and Europe.

SpaceX says an anomaly on the launch pad caused the explosion. The company has had a handful of failures and a string of successes over the years, and

NASA says it`s still confident in its commercial partners, which include SpaceX.

Next, all eyes on Hermine. That`s a storm that was spinning in the Gulf of Mexico last night and headed toward northwest Florida. Hours before it was expected to make landfall, forecasters said Hermine had strengthened to a category one hurricane.

Hermine had dangerous, potentially damaging winds and threatened to push ashore, a storm surge, a wall of water of between one and eight feet.

Florida`s governor called Hermine life-threatening and put thousands of National Guardsmen on alert to help with rescue and recovery.

Leaders from around the world are making travel plans.

Where? To Hangzhou, China, the country that`s currently president of the G20.

What? The G20 stands for Group of 20. It`s gearing up for its annual meeting.

Why? To discuss global economic issues and how to cooperate to address them.

When? This year`s event will be held Sunday and Monday.

Who? Heads of state from Argentina to Australia, from Europe to the U.S., from South Korea to South Africa. They represent almost 90 percent of the global economy and two-thirds of its population.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The G20 isn`t a group of 20 at all. It`s actually 19 countries, plus the European Union and often an assortment of guest countries invited along.

The idea begun in the late `90s, when the Asian financial crisis rocked global markets.

The first G20 was held in Berlin, in 1999, and consisted of finance ministers and central bank heads.

Then, almost a decade later, the world faced a far greater challenge, the subprime crisis triggered a near total financial collapse. Fear was palpable. The G20 was turbocharged. Heads of government from member nations were called to action and met at crisis meetings in Washington, London, and Pittsburgh.

IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT, EURASIA GROUP: For a brief flicker of a moment, the world was experiencing such incredible stability, the worst recession that we`ve seen since the Great Depression that everyone wanted to at least tell the public that there was a legal of agreement.

QUEST: During the financial crisis, the G20 leadership pledged about a trillion dollars in new stimulus. That goal was roughly met. But other proposals went nowhere.

ROBERT KAHN, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: You have to be honest and say that it`s a pretty poor grade over the last several years in terms of delivering on these commitments that they`ve made. It is that countries meeting together, get that practice of working on problems, and so, should
we have a major crisis again, that infrastructure will be in place and ready to be utilized.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: On Tuesday, November 8th, U.S. voters will choose a new president and we`re bringing you a series of reports related to the upcoming election. The United States is often called a democracy. But it`s not a direct pure democracy. How does the Electoral College factor into the vote.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ (voice-over): Electoral College, it`s simpler than regular college. It`s actually the name of a group of people who choose the U.S. president.

Why them and not just citizens through a popular vote?

Well, some of the Founding Fathers weren`t completely comfortable with a direct election by the people. They wanted to buffer or limit that. They didn`t the average American was really in tuned with politics. Electors on the other hand are all over them.

UNCLE SAM: I need your vote.

AZUZ: Here`s how the system works. Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes. The more people who live in the state, the more electoral votes it gets. Take California, most populous state in the nation, 55 electoral votes. South Dakota, three, not many but it doesn`t have nearly as many residents as the Golden State.

Every state but Maine and Nebraska has a winner take all election system. That means whoever wins the state`s popular vote, wins all of its electoral votes. What kinds of numbers are we talking?

Well, there are 538 electors in the Electoral College, so you need just over half of them, 270, to win the election. But you can`t just win the top five states with the most electoral votes. In a close contest between two candidates, every electoral vote counts and here`s where it gets tricky.

The Electoral College is supposed to reflect what most Americans want, but it is a possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and lose the Electoral College and therefore the election. Former Vice President Al Gore, for example, won the popular vote in 2000 but lost the Electoral

College and the election. Same thing happened in 1876 to Samuel J. Tilden and 1888 to Grover Cleveland.

Did some folks get mad at the college? Uh-huh. But despite hundreds of proposals to change that or get rid of it, it hasn`t happened in part because it allows smaller states to still have some power in an election and because it would take changing the U.S. Constitution.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Georgie Smith was a designer and chef at California. She noticed that some people who`ve grown past the age of the foster care system didn`t really have somewhere to live that gave them a sense of home.

So, she started a nonprofit called a Sense of Home. And her foster youth staff has made comfortable living spaces for 100 others who couldn`t stay in foster care.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I aged out of the system, I slept in the park.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lived in floor placements. You don`t really feel like stable inside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is for the living room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, let`s stage it over here, guys, so you can move it into position.

GEORGIE SMITH, CNN HERO: Los Angeles County has the largest foster youth population in the country. At 18 to 21, they`re out on their own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My goal growing up was, oh, I`m going to get my siblings. All of us have been removed from our parents. We`re super broke.

SMITH: They`re out there fending for themselves with no support, no community, no nothing.

We should put the bed here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

SMITH: I understood that it was a broken system and I was moved to do something.

We got the two orange chairs that could go potentially here.

We give them the foundation for which they can thrive.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job.

SMITH: It`s a feeling of family, feeling accepted and belonging.

Oh my God, this is looking so good.

Are you ready?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m so excited.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Oh my gosh! This is crazy.

SMITH: There`s an incredible transformation that happens on the inside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my goodness.

SMITH: Their ability to trust in others.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let`s make it so real like we`re going to be OK. We don`t need to survive anymore, that we can start living. Thank you,

Georgie, like honestly, thank you so much. This means the world to me.

SMITH: It`s not just the home that saw importance to kids, is that feeling of that community, it`s family for them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: In the state of Oregon, every intersections illegal crosswalk, even if it`s not marked that way. So, to help get drivers` attention, this is like take your bigfoot to school day. You would own show and tell.

The giant, hairy crossing guards are part of a Department of Transportation program. He`s working to insure people drive safely and get across the street safely once they get over the shock.

I bet he drives a monster truck. And he definitely gets the message across, teaching kids and drivers to look both ways before putting one big foot in front of the other. How does he know when it`s time to cross? He just checks his sasquatch.

And checking mine, I know it`s time to go.

We will be off Monday for the Labor Day holiday. So, enjoy the three-day weekend and please come back Tuesday for CNN STUDENT NEWS.

END

CNN Student New - September 1 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Here to explain news events from around the world, I`m Carl Azuz for CNN STUDENT NEWS. Thank you for watching this September 1st.

We`ve got a story out of South America starting things off. The leader of Brazil was officially impeached yesterday. Brazilian lawmakers voted 61 to 20 to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office. In 2011, Rousseff became Brazil`s first ever female leader and she was reelected in 2014.

But the country`s economy had slipped into a recession by then and a major corruption scandal involving many Brazilian lawmakers including dozens from Rousseff`s own political party took a tool on the president`s popularity.

Rousseff was not accused of corruption herself and she insisted she committed no crime. She called the procedure against her a coup. But Brazil`s senate found her guilty of breaking laws concerning the country`s budget. The country`s interim or temporary president, Michel Temer, will serve out the rest of Rousseff`s term.

More than 10,000 people, that`s how many migrants and refugees that Italy says it helped rescue in the Mediterranean Sea this week alone. This is part of an ongoing migrant crisis in Europe, said to be the largest migration to the continent since World War II. Several European countries are struggling to keep up with the number of people arriving and applying for permission to stay. Lawmakers are debating how many migrants to accept and how to insure security.

Many of the refugees and migrants themselves have fled war, poverty, terrorism and political instability.

They`re moving over three main paths. First, the Eastern Mediterranean route: more than 162,000 migrants and refugees have come from war-torn

Middle Eastern countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq and they`ve headed toward Southeastern Europe. The Central Mediterranean route: more than 70,000 people, mainly from the African countries of Nigeria, Eritrea, Gambia. They`re moving through North Africa in their way to southern

Europe. And the Western Mediterranean route: more than 2,500 people, many from Western African countries, traveling through northwest Africa.

Their journey is often incredibly dangerous. At least 3,165 people have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year. You`ll see how overloaded and under-equipped many of the boats are in this report by CNN`s Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is an unprecedented number of people reaching the Italian coast. Between late Sunday and Monday midnight, more than 6,500 people were picked up off the Libyan coast by the Italian coast guard, and others. After that, on

Tuesday, 3,000 people picked up in 20 separate operations and they will be brought to Italy.

Now, among them are two twins, just five or six days old. Now, they have been transported by helicopter to the main hospital in Palermo, Sicily.

There, the doctors say, despite the fact that they arrived with -- suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and hypothermia, that at least there, we have some good news. Their condition is improving.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: The great elephant census is out. It`s a massive project looking at the population of the world`s largest mammal across the African continent.

It found that a large percentage of African savannah elephants is gone. The reason: mostly poaching when people illegally kill animals.

Why? The tusks of elephants are ivory. The material is illegal to sell in many countries, but small amounts of it are worth thousands on the black market. So, the slaughter of elephants is hard to stop.

From Botswana, CNN`s David McKenzie took flight with the researchers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Getting ready to fly in Botswana`s far north. Elephant ecologist Mike Chase has spent years counting savannah elephants from the sky.

MIKE CHASE, ELEPHANT ECOLOGIST: Never before have we ever conducted a standardized survey for African elephants at a continental scale.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Start counting, nice speed, nice height, well done, Tammy.

MCKENZIE: Hundreds of air crew counted elephants in 18 countries across the continent over two years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elephant seventh, seven elephants.

MCKENZIE: Flying the distance to the moon and then some. There were results more shocking than anyone imagined.

CHASE: We spent thousands of hours of counting, flying over areas where elephants historically occurred, but no longer present in this habitat.

MCKENZIE: Killed for their ivory in seven short years up to 2014, elephant numbers dropped by a staggering amount, almost one-third. Across Africa, their numbers are crushing. If nothing changes, the elephant population will halve in less than a decade. In some areas, they will go extinct.

CHASE: In some landscapes, we saw more dead elephants than live elephants.

I don`t think anybody in the world has seen the number of dead elephants that are seen over the last two years, the great elephant census. For me, this becomes a lot more personal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We continue to check 22.

MCKENZIE: To fight the war, Botswana has mobilized the army. With more than 700 troops guarding its northern border. Patrol spent days in the bush on foot, armed with a shoot to kill policy for poaches. They`re up against a sophisticated enemy.

(on camera): They`re looking for any sign of poachers. If they come across them, they`re often highly organized groups of about 12 people. Two of them could be shooters often, and those shooters are frequently foreign special forces.

(voice-over): Mike Chase`s research proves that if we can`t protect elephants, they will learn to protect themselves.

(on camera): You can hear him snoring. Is that a he or she?

CHASE: He. He`s in his prime, about 30 to 35 years of age, and it`s these young bulls that have propensity to move dramatic distances and met their trans-boundary conservation corridors.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): But their satellite tracking shows that the elephants used incredible levels of intelligence to avoid poaching hot spots in neighboring countries, retreating to the relative safety with Botswana.

(on camera): It`s quite incredible being this close to this animal.

CHASE: It is. It certainly is.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): We call this bull "Promise", for the promise that Mike Chase has made and perhaps we all should to save this magnificent species.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Since 1824, an invention by Louis Braille has helped countless blind people around the world. Braille is a system of printing and writing. It uses between one and six raised dots positioned in individual cells and identified by touch.

But since the rise of touch screens and how people get and share information, developers have had to figure out ways to improve accessibility. And it`s not just about a voice reading out words from text. What about a voice describing photos for people who can`t see them?

That`s one of the projects of an engineer at the world`s largest social network.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT KING, FACEBOOK`S FIRST BLIND ENGINEER: When I first signed up for Facebook, trying to get in, like how to try to find my list of friends, it felt like work.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECHNOLOGY CORRESPODNENT (voice-over): King is Facebook`s first blind engineer. His job is to make the site easier to use, for the visually impaired.

(on camera): You`re helping bring this experience to so many folks who don`t have that ability. So, what exactly are you doing here that`s helping that?

KING: I`ve been working a lot on our Messenger product. Another thing that I`ve been helping with is the system for describing photos to people who are blind.

SEGALL (voice-over): With over a billion users, Facebook now has a team focused on building accessibility tools. That team created an empathy lab to showcase different ways people use the product. The tech might be in its early stages, but the implications for someone like Matt are far-
reaching.

KING: The stuffs that we`re taking today, in a direction of being able to describe photos to people who are blind by using artificial intelligence, this baby stuff is moving in a direction of a world where nobody is left out.

It`s like you`re telling people who are blind, look, we care about you. We want you to be part of the global community. We want you to -- excuse me, sorry -- we want you to be -- you matter. Your life matters and being conducted with other people matters and we`re going to do everything we can
to make that possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: In the Middle Eastern country of United Arab Emirates, Dubai is home to the world`s tallest building, the largest shopping mall by area, and now, reportedly, the largest indoor amusement park. It`s as big as 28 football fields. It took three years and more than a billion dollars to build the privately owned park. And one of its roller coasters is actually too big to fit under one roof.

Analysts say it`s part of a plan to bring more visitors to Dubai. And while all the rides have their ups and downs and can cost a lot to roll out and keep on track, it`s the amusement of tourists that`s the theme of parks being built.

That`s your 10-minute ride to today`s news. I`m Carl Azuz. Hope to see you tomorrow.

END

CNN Student News August 30 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. My name is Carl Azuz.

We`re taking you through 10 minutes of current events, starting with the drought that`s been going on. It`s not one you might have heard of.
The Atlantic hurricane drought -- it`s been more than 10 years since a category three or stronger hurricane has made landfall in the Eastern U.S.

or on the Gulf Coast. A category three storm is a major one, with wind speeds of more than 110 miles per hour. The current hurricane drought is the longest on record.

But it doesn`t mean there haven`t been any big Atlantic storms. Hurricane Gaston is currently spinning in the Atlantic. It`s just not expected to hit land.

Forecasters say the longer a drought last, the more likely it becomes that a threatening hurricane will form. And right now, the North Atlantic is entering peak season for cyclones. The hurricane season itself runs from June 1st to November 30th. Mid to late August is the start of the most active and dangerous time for tropical cyclone activity. That`s according to the U.S. government`s meteorologists.

There are a couple of systems out at sea that could become a threat in the days ahead. What should you do if you live in an area where a hurricane could come ashore?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: Preparing for a hurricane.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You and your family need to be prepared for hurricane way before it makes landfall.

The number one thing you need to do: get your supplies. You need enough nonperishable food items for three days for each person in your family.

You also need one gallon of water per day for each person. Also make sure you have plenty of batteries and a battery operated radio, as well as flashlights.

Chances are during a hurricane, you will lose power. In that case, your cell phone will lose power as well. So, you`ll lose all of your contacts.

Make sure you make a list of all the emergency contacts that you`ll need.

Also, have an evacuation plan. Know your evacuation route and familiarize yourself with it.

Lastly, get your home ready. If you have hurricane shutters, make sure you know where they are and you know how to install them. Also, prune your trees and gather up any loose items that can become projectiles once the winds pick up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: From the Atlantic, we`re now taking you to an island country, situated between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Indonesia is home to Mt. Ijen. Ijen hasn`t erupted in more than 64 years, but it`s still active and workers regularly hike to the crater to earn a living.

One reason way, Indonesia struggles with poverty and unemployment. The income per capita there is just over $11,000 per year. That`s why for some

Indonesians, the reward is worth the risk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The miners are working in this lunar landscape. Ugh!

SUBTITLE: Journey inside a volcanic sulfur mine.

WATSON (voice-over): Flashlights in the gloom. On a pre-dawn hike of a volcano, the air is thick with volcanic fumes, gas masks necessary the closer we get to the heart of the volcano.

The gas creates an incredible effect, blue flames that ripple like ghosts up the volcano walls. At the bottom of the crater, we find this:

Indonesian miners, digging up the raw sulfur that builds up near vents in the volcano.

You look at workers struggling to cope with the volcanic gas.

(on camera): So I`m lucky. I`ve got a gas mask. This miner, he`s just using a fabric stuffed into his mouth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No mask.

WATSON: No masks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WATSON: Hard work then.

(voice-over): Dawn reveals we`re next to a crater lake that`s deeply acidic and warm to the touch.

When they gather enough sulfur, the miners load up their baskets and begin the long, backbreaking journey out of the crater.

(on camera): It`s an 800-meter hike out of the crater, most of it up a very steep incline. And miners like Mr. Mustadi (ph) here are carrying from 85 to 100 kilos of sulfur on their backs.

(voice-over): Hauling a man`s weight in sulfur up these steep trails to earn the equivalent of just around $12 a day. Excellent pay, he says, for men who would otherwise be impoverished farmers.

(on camera): This looks like one of the hardest jobs in the world.

(voice-over): This real-life Superman appears to agree.

The sulfur will eventually be used to purify sugar and make soap, skin treatments and even explosives. It is the yellow harvest of a volcano.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: As the month of August wraps, we`re wrapping our coverage of the U.S. National Parks Service. It turned 100 this year. It`s part of the

U.S. Department of the Interior.

Congress and the president approved its budget. The NPS receives around $3 billion a year. But according to the National Public Radio, the NPS needs

about $12 billion to complete the maintenance it`s requested.

There is some controversy over how the government and the park service allocate the money, but the benefits of America`s most famous national parks are hard to measure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They call this a wildlife gem. Clearly, someone has seen some wildlife off the side of the road, everybody stops, goes out, and have a look. And we did, too.

PETE WEBSTER, CHIEF RANGER, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK: And this is about the distance that we want to keep people from the elk.

QUEST (voice-over): As I sit down with the park`s chief ranger, Pete Webster, the elk raising majestically nearby.

WEBSTER: Yellowstone is a special place. It`s always been a special place for me, back when I was a kid.

QUEST (on camera): The elk has the right of way.

WEBSTER: Yes.

QUEST: So, if the elk comes towards us, we have to move?

WEBSTER: We have to move.

QUEST: So, how do you tell the general public and it`s sort of heading in all direction --

WEBSTER: Yes.

QUEST: -- which means we have to sort of --

WEBSTER: Yes.

We`ve come up with this distance of 25 yards as a reference. It`s challenging. We`ve always been a busy park. But starting last year and continuing on to this year, just the sheer volumes are increasing our capacity to be able to service these numbers of people.

QUEST (voice-over): Yellowstone and many of the national parks are facing the challenge of success.

My fellow road travelers are coming from all over the world and the far reaches of America. What I`m realizing is that while these national park

gems are impressive to international visitors, here at home, it stirs something much deeper in Americans. The sense of patriotism is palpable.

The director of the National Park Service, Jon Jarvis, is feeling it too.

JONATHAN JARVIS, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE DIRECTOR: I am deeply moved by the sort of patriotic responsibilities that I have and my team have here in managing these places for the American public.

QUEST: His life`s work has been about preserving these American treasures and even as he looks to retirement, he has thoughts for the next generation.

JARVIS: We need this next generation to step in to that role of not just the national parks, but all of our public lands. If you`re going to invest the taxpayers` dollars in something that returns in many ways to the American people, it returns economically, inspirationally, the National Park Service is the place to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Wouldn`t it be awesome if pizza just fell from the sky? Well, in New Zealand, it does. The international arm of Domino`s Pizza is testing delivery by drone. If this gets off the ground, you`d place an order, they bake it, box it, fly it and drop it on your picnic basket. It could help beat the New Zealand traffic. It could also have an effect on delivery jobs.

This is unlikely anytime soon in the U.S., though, where drone regulations are more strict. Kidding aside whether drone delivery is thinking inside or outside the box, but a Domino`s spokesman says it`s not just a pie in the sky idea. They`re hoping to move orders from online to skyline, and when people drone on about how much they love pizza, New Zealanders can say, "It`s heaven sent".

I`m Carl Azuz, delivering news and puns for CNN.

END

CNN Student News August 29, 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: It`s great to see you on this last Monday in August, for the weekly start of CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz, saying hello from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

We know some of you are just now returning from time off this summer. Thank you for logging on.

First story today takes us to the Southern European nation of Italy. A powerful earthquake struck there last week, its epicenter in the central part of the country. It killed at least 281 people, most of them in a historic city named Amatrice. Many people are still missing. More than 2,000 are huddling in camps because entire villages in the area were flattened.

Along with volcanic eruptions and avalanches, deadly earthquakes are relatively common in Italy. In addition to the toll they take on human life, they destroyed heritage as well. The historic buildings that attract tourists are particularly vulnerable in large part because of their age and antique construction.

In his prayers on Sunday, Pope Francis said that the quick way in which authorities, volunteers and civil staff were responding shows how important working together is in overcoming these events.

Fred Pleitgen is there with the firsthand look at how and why the Italians` response is so fast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: Italian response to natural disasters.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The catastrophic earthquake in Central Italy had a devastating effect on many of the towns here in this region, and it`s really the thing that makes these towns so beautiful that caused this earthquake to have an even worse impact. These towns are ancient. Many of the buildings are more than a thousand years old. They were built before there were even bricks.

They`re made of stone and they`re made of mud. And when the earthquake hit and it was a magnitude 6.2, these buildings just fell together and crumbled.

The response of this disaster was very quick. The Italians very quickly mobilized over a thousand agencies to get over here as fast as possible, including the military, very fire department, the police, the civil protection force and, of course, local authorities as well. They moved in very fast. They moved in heavy equipment very fast and they moved in important assets like for instance sniffer dogs that are key in the first couple of hours to try and to find people who may have survived the initial shocks of these earthquake.

The Italians have the very mountainous countries. There`s a lot of hills. There`s a lot of big mountain ranges. And so, the rescue crews here have a lot of experience in getting up into remote areas like this one. They know how to build bridges. They know for instance how to maneuver very difficult terrain.

The rescue response is probably very different than it would be in the United States. In the U.S., in the initial stages, you would have state authorities, you would have the local police, you have the local fire departments. It would take much longer for the federal authorities, for instance, with the National Guard to move in.

Here, that response is a lot quicker because Italy, of course, is a much smaller country, but also, their disaster plans fall from mobilizing the army for instance much quicker.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: It was 11 years ago today that Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Its effects were devastating. In Waveland, Mississippi, what`s been called ground zero for the storm, more than 90 percent of homes were destroyed.

Louisiana and Mississippi bore the brunt of the damage. The U.S. government estimates that Katrina was the costliest hurricane in American history. It was responsible for $108 billion in damage.

And though it was not America`s deadliest storm, Katrina still killed more than 1,800 people across five states and it displaced more than one million. At one point, 10,000 people took shelter in the New Orleans Superdome. The football stadium itself was damaged in the storm.

But for those from the surrounding area, these were desperate times.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

NARRATOR: Katrina formed on Wednesday, August 24th, 2005.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Here`s the storm, as it moves on up.

NARRATOR: It was just a tropical storm at first, off the coast of Florida, but the next day, it strengthened to a category one hurricane.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: Yesterday, I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Louisiana. And this morning, I signed a disaster declaration for the state of Mississippi.

NARRATOR: By Saturday, Katrina had doubled in size and was now a category three storm, a major hurricane.

And on Sunday morning, August 28th, Katrina had strengthened to a category four, with New Orleans right in its path.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every person is hereby ordered to immediately evacuate the city of New Orleans.

NARRATOR: That same day, the National Weather Service issued one of its strongest warnings ever. Persons, pets and livestock exposed to the winds will face certain death if struck.

Roads jammed as thousands tried to make it out of the city, but the storm veered and New Orleans was spared a direct hit.

Everything seemed OK until later that night when water started toppling over the levees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When is this thing supposed to stop?

NARRATOR: By 7:00 a.m. in the next morning, the city is flooded. But New Orleans isn`t alone. Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, are slammed by Katrina`s front right quadrant.

REPORTER: Who was at your house with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife.

REPORTER: Where is she now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t find her body. She`s gone.

REPORTER: Tuesday, August 30th, Katrina has weakened into a heavy storm over Tennessee. But New Orleans continues to flood from breaks in its levees. Hundreds of thousands are suddenly homeless, and it would be weeks before the waters finally went down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Commercial airline flights are resuming between the U.S. and Cuba. Why is that significant?

Because it`s the first time in 55 years that has happened. The relationship between the two countries froze during the Cold War.

Since 1960, the U.S. had embargoes, restrictions on Cuba that prevented Americans from doing business or traveling there. One reason, Cuba`s government took over U.S.-owned property in 1960. Another, Cuba was supported by the Soviet Union, America`s rival during the Cold War. But that support collapsed when the Soviet Union did in the early 1990s.

And in 2014, President Obama announced he was working toward normalizing relations with Cuba.

It was a controversial decision. Many supporters agreed with the U.S. president that decades of isolating Cuba hadn`t worked to change the country. But many opponents of the decision said Cuba`s government should have improved its human rights record, its treatment of people before the U.S. move to improve relations.

In any case, twenty daily flights are planned between U.S. airports and the Cuban capital of Havana. There`s expected to be more demand than supply.

Many of those who will travel there will be likely be visiting family and friends. And though Americans can`t officially go there as tourists, that would require approval from Congress, there are other ways they`ll be able to board the plane bound for Cuban soil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: U.S. reestablishes direct flights to Cuba.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After more than 50 years, the United States and Cuba are reestablishing direct flights service. So, what do you need to know before travelling to the only communist-run country in the Western Hemisphere?

Probably a lot because travelling Cuba is unlike just about any other country in the world. For starters, there remains a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba, and it remains illegal for Americans to visit as tourists. But there are 12 authorized categories of travel.

So, when you go to the airport in the U.S., before they let you on the flight to Cuba, you will need to sign an affidavit stating that your trip to Cuba is meant to improve U.S.-Cuban relations and you`re not just coming for the beaches.

When you get to Cuba, you`ll probably find that U.S. cell phones and credit cards don`t work, at least not quite. So, be prepared to be off the grid somewhat and bring a lot of cash.

Because of the increase in visitors in Cuba, there`s a lot of strained on Cuba`s aging infrastructure. And hotel rooms are booked for months in advance, so are rental cars.

The good news, though, that Cubans are increasingly renting out their homes and their classic cars, which as it turns out is a great way for Americans to experience a side of Cuba that up until now was just out of reach.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Our last story today, when he was just a two-month baby in Dallas, Texas, he already weighed more than 200 pounds. So, officially, he`d well outgrown this inflatable kiddie pool, but come on. Who in the world would take it away?

An African elephant calf at a Dallas zoo played in the pool for the first time last month. Temperatures were in the high 90s then, so it wasn`t only fun, it was a way for him to cool down. He was named Abaju, which means "amazing" and "extraordinary" and somehow more fitting than something like say Phelps.

The little calf trumpeted his enthusiasm. He put on quite a trunk show and though he`ll pachyderm on more pounds than that pool can handle, they`ll move him to a pond when he`s up to the tusk. In that way, he`ll stay in the swim.

I`m Carl Azuz with some ele-fantastic puns for CNN STUDENT NEWS. We`ll see you tomorrow.

CNN Student News August 26, 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hello to our viewers around the world and welcome to Fridays are awesome. This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. This is our tenth show of the academic year.

And now, it`s time to talk politics. There`s this little thing that`s been going on, you might have heard something about it. It`s called the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

With no incumbent running, President Obama has reached his two-term limit, American voters will choose a new leader on Tuesday, November 8th. That`s 74 days from now.

But they don`t directly elect their president. The group that chooses American leaders is the Electoral College and we`ll be explaining that in- depth next week.

So, who are the candidates for president? For the Democrats, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received the party`s nomination over the summer. For the Republicans, businessman and television personality, Donald Trump, received the party`s nomination.

The latest CNN/ORC poll which was conducted in late July indicated that Mrs. Clinton had an eight-point lead over Mr. Trump, 45 percent to 37 percent. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson had 9 percent, Green Party candidate Jill Stein had 5 percent.

Polls can change as we get closer to Election Day, and they can be affected by presidential debates which start on September 26th.

Now, we`re taking a look back at how the conventions of the two major parties played out last month.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I humbly --

HILLARY CLINTOIN (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is with humility --

TRUMP: -- and gratefully --

CLINTON: -- and boundless confidence --

TRUMP: -- accept --

CLINTON: -- your nomination --

TRUMP: -- for the presidency --

CLINTON: -- of the United States.

SUBTITLE: Two weeks of convention moments in 150 seconds.

There was dancing and chanting.

AUDIENCE: Not a clue! Not a clue! Not a clue!

Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!

SUBTITLE: Both nominees made grand entrances, but the rooms were far from unified.

AUDIENCE: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: God bless the United States of America.

SUBTITLE: We heard from the spouses --

MELANIA TRUMP, WIFE OF DONALD TRUMP: If you want someone to fight for you and your country, I can assure you, he`s the guy.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, HUSBAND OF HILLARY CLINTON: And she is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known.

SUBTITLE: Trump enlisted "America`s mayor".

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NYC MAYOR: Vote for Donald Trump for safer America and for an America headed in a different direction. Greatness!

SUBTITLE: While Clinton had the president.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, nobody, more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.

SUBTITLE: The running mates brought the folksiness.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He`s a man known for a large personality, a colorful style and lots of charisma. And so, I guess he was just looking for some balance on the ticket.

SUBTITLE: With Kaine going after Trump.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We`re going to destroy ISIS so fast, believe me. There`s nothing suspicious in my tax returns, believe me.

SUBTITLE: And the daughters made the final introductions.

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: And this is the moment and Donald Trump is the person to make America great again.

CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY CLINTON: I know with all my heart that my mother will make us proud as our next president.

SUBTITLE: When the candidates finally appeared, they went head-to-head.

DONALD TRUMP: I am your voice!

HILLARY CLINTON: Don`t let anyone tell you that our country is weak. We`re not.

DONALD TRUMP: I will restore law and order to our country.

HILLARY CLINTON: Really? I alone can fix it?

DONALD TRUMP: My message is that things have to change and they have to change right now!

HILLARY CLINTON: Americans don`t say, "I alone can fix it". We say, "We`ll fix it together."

SUBTITLE: And, of course, balloons!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Researchers think they might have identified a rocky planet like ours that`s relatively close by in the universe. It`s called Proxima B.

It apparently orbits the nearest star to our sun. That would make it a little over four light years away from our solar system. And scientists say it`s in what`s called the habitable zone where they believe water could exist.

Proxima B is thought to be a third bigger than Earth. It orbits its star much faster, in 11 days instead of a year.

There`s a lot that`s unknown though. Scientists aren`t sure if it has an atmosphere. That can make a huge difference in its temperature range and the radiation it gets from its star. It`s also unknown if it has a magnetic field to protect it. Researchers are hoping to send a robot there in the next couple centuries.

All this month, we`ve been covering stories related to the U.S. National Park Service on the 100th anniversary of its founding. From the tallest peak in North America, Alaska`s Denali, which used to be named Mt. McKinley, to the lowest point in North America, California`s Death Valley, which is 282 feet below sea level, national parks represent at range of superlatives.

The one we`re taking you today stretches over Southern Florida. It`s America`s largest subtropical wilderness, but there are environment concerns about its future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: We traveled down to the Florida Everglades with U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to see an ecosystem that`s under attack.

SALLY JEWELL, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR: If you live in South Florida, your life will be impacted by what`s happening here in the

Everglades. You may not have clean drinking water. You may be drinking bottled water, not expecting to do it.

REPORTER: In the 1920s, Floridians built a road that cut through the Everglades. They had no idea they were creating an environmental disaster.

They thought they were just building a road, but they were also constructing a dam.

JEWELL: We stopped the flow of the river of grass from the Florida headwaters, the Everglades headwaters down to Florida Bay. So, that`s had a lot of consequences we really are understanding now. It`s kind of embarrassing frankly when we allow something like this to happen.

This is algae that`s on top of the root?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Growing on top of the root.

JEWELL: OK. So, this is what we get when we don`t take care of Florida Bay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The organic soil is just gone and that`s the consequence of draining the system, having agriculture there.

REPORTER: Now, the government is working to raise the road over the wetlands to let the fresh water flow before it`s too late.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The salinity in this basin was twice as salty as ocean water.

JEWELL: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really.

JEWELL: Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there aren`t any sea grasses in this coastal system that can handle salinities that are double down ocean water. So, the sea grass community just dies.

JEWELL: Just been looking at some maps of what happens if we don`t restore the Everglades at a time of climate change to salt water intrusion in South Florida and it`s pretty extreme.

REPORTER: We`re seeing the effects firsthand on this trip of this lack of water flow. We saw the green grass, the first stop and now, this is just brown and dead.

JEWELL: Right.

REPORTER: But why should people care about this grass.

JEWELL: First, it`s an indication of a health of an ecosystem out of balance. We should care about that. Second, people come to Florida because it`s an incredible place to recreate.

The National Park Service is a science organization. It`s a place where we want to invite people to enjoy this spectacular place, but it`s also a place of research where we understand what`s happening. So, we now understand how important that river of grass was.

Sea grass die off like this, people really should care about, because it`s about our natural heritage, it`s about our national heritage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: The high school coach who recently organized a cross country run with shelter dogs said afterward he wasn`t sure who was more excited, the students or the dogs. The practice run was a mile and a half and most of the animals had no trouble with it.

After this YouTube video went viral, some of the dogs got adopted and other cross country teams started asking how they could do this with their local shelter dogs.

Turn to mundane run into some mutt-dane fun. Of course, with four legs, the animals couldn`t paw-ticipate in a meet. They`d be dog-squalified.

They`d have to scratch. But at least the practice didn`t leave them dog- tired.

Man, whenever we go to the dogs, are puns are awful! We hope your weekend isn`t and that we`ll see you Monday on CNN STUDENT NEWS.

CNN Student News Auguest 25, 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Breaking news from Italy leads off today`s show.
I`m Carl Azuz. We`re glad to have you watching.

The mayor of Amatrice, which is located in central Italy, says his town is no more. When a powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck early Wednesday, Amatrice was at the epicenter. That`s the point in the earth`s surface directly above where the earthquake occurred. The town`s clock tower, its time stopped at the moment the earthquake hit, was one of the only structures still standing. Rescue efforts have been going on around the clock.

Volunteers have been using their bare hands to dig through rubble. There are several Italian villages that were affected. They`re in remote mountainous areas that can be hard to reach.

Italy`s prime minister says the quake killed at least 120 people, but warned that toll could increase. The quake was felt as far away as Rome, 100 miles from the epicenter. And dozens of aftershocks have been reported. Pope Francis asked people to pray for those affected.

Earthquakes are entirely unpredictable. There are warning systems that can save some lives, but only under certain conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you`re in an epicenter of an earthquake, you`re going to get no warning. There`s no time for that.

The warning depends on the distance you are to the earthquake epicenter.

SUBTITLE: Earthquake early warning system.

MYERS: An early warning system for earthquakes is expensive and also complex. Part of the problem is we don`t have a system that can predict the earth is going to move. Our warming system is based on the fact that the earth is already moving and then if you`re farther away from that epicenter, we can give you some time to prepare. Some minor time but some time.

Unlike a tornado warning where Doppler Radar can see the rotation and issue a warning before the tornado, an earthquake warning happens when the earthquake is already shaking. Another limitation is how close the sensor is to the epicenter. If the sensor is 10 miles away from the epicenter, it takes five seconds to get to that sensor. So, the more sensors we get, the better the lead time we`ll get as well.

If we get 10 seconds notice of an earthquake that`s happening, especially a big one, you can open up the elevators on the nearest floor. You can stop trains. You can stop all those things that are moving before the shaking gets there.

This entire system works because of the speed of light, or the speed of the warning going down the line, is 186,000 miles per second. The earth as it`s wiggling and shaking along is going at 2 miles per second.

So, if you`re 30 miles away, your warning could be 15 seconds. It`s 15 seconds that could save your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Now to the Asian country of North Korea. It reportedly fired a ballistic missile from a submarine on Wednesday. It wasn`t the first time the communist country did this, but it was the first time one of its missiles entered the Japanese air defense zone.

One expert says it shows North Korea is making rapid progress in its missile program. The launch was made shortly after the U.S. and South Korea started their yearly military exercise which North Korea strongly opposes.

International officials spoke out against the launch and though it was illegal as far as the United Nations Security Council is concerned, North

Korea has tested more than 30 missiles since dictator Kim Jong-un took power in 2011.

(MUSIC)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: An estimated 17 percent of the world`s population naturally has blue eyes. So, how can it be true that even brown eyes are blue? It seems it all comes down to pigment. Scientists say that the more pigment our eyes have, the darker they appear to be. So, in theory, if you were to remove that pigment, all of us would have eyes that are blue as the sky.

Now, that`s random.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Next today, a U.S. organization has released new guidelines about the amount of added sugar that young people should eat and it recommends far less than they`re actually eating. The American Heart Association works to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. It wants young people to limit their intake of added sugars. So, not the kind that`s naturally in an apple, for example, but the kind of table sugar or fructose that`s added to soft drinks, cookies, cakes and ice cream.

The AHA says that people ages 2 to 18 should have added sugars limited to 25 grams or 100 calories a day. One can of soda far exceed that. The AHA says young people should only eat healthy foods and that a diet high in added sugars is associated with obesity and high cholesterol. Its recommended limit is 50 percent less than what the U.S. government recommends and it`s a guideline only.

Dietitian and doctors say it`s not like kids should never eat a piece of birthday, they just need added sugar in their daily diets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: Where is sugar hiding?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: The thing about added sugar is that it`s going to crop into a lot of foods where you might not expect it. So take ketchup, for example, something we all eat. Look at how much sugar is in that. Four grams of sugar for every tablespoon of ketchup. Simply switching it out for mustard can make a huge difference.

So take something like salad dressing. You make this decision all the time. If you have a sweet salad dressing, like a raspberry vinaigrette, versus a balsamic -- well, the sweet salad dressing can be about five to seven grams of sugar for every two tablespoon serving.

And, finally, pasta sauce. All right, you want a little bit of sauce on your pasta. You can understand that. But if you get up to about a half a cup of pasta sauce, for example, that`s going to be about 12 grams of sugar. That`s more than your daily allowance. That`s as much as a chocolate chip cookie in every single serving.

We`re eating probably at least twice if not three times as much sugar as we should being or could be eating.

We know that sugar is associated with the things you might expect, weight gain, diabetes, increased risk of heart disease and stroke, but I think you might be surprised to learn that it can also affect your immune system. Our human bodies simply didn`t evolve to be able to eat that much sugar.

Now, the average American eats about 140 pounds a year. And our bodies simply don`t know how to handle all that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Well, happy 100th birthday, U.S. National Park Service.

Today in 1916, President Wilson established the NPS. It oversees and maintains hundreds of national parks and monuments. And today, we`re visiting part of the park that was founded on August 1st, 1916, shortly before the NPS was, and decades before Hawaii became a U.S. state.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just imagine, about 500 years ago, lava flooding down through this tube, it`s about a mile long. And for the celebration of the centennial of the park, they`re letting very small, select groups take a tour through here.

Let me introduce you to Ab. Ab is going to show us through the tunnel.

AB KAWAINOHOIKALA`I VALENCIA, TOUR GUIDE, HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK: Welcome to Puapo`o.

ELAM: Puapo`o.

VALENCIA: It`s so delicate in here and it`s so fragile. This place is awesome and I feel like a guest in here. Every time, it`s a new experience.

ELAM: Let`s go.

VALENCIA: (INAUDIBLE) which means follow me.

All of this is scoured out by the lava. And the roof area was the top that crested over.

ELAM: To be able to move this much in, the tube must be going pretty bad, right?

VALENCIA: You cannot outrun that kind of lava flow.

If you can imagine, it`s red, red hot into and the lava just melts the upper surface that causes the icicles to form.

These roots are coming from the ceiling of the lava tube, and above is rainforest.

ELAM: It almost looks like some big earthmoving equipment came through here and dug up the bottom of the cave.

VALENCIA: We`re in the area that`s called "The Amphitheater" because there`s a big opening here. In the absence of light, then this place becomes totally and actually black.

So, at this point, if you see above, that`s our exit.

ELAM: Wow.

That`s amazing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: It was almost the second tallest tower of dominoes in the world. And the domino stackers who built it say it was the tallest ever in

America. But at the height of 19 feet, more than 3,200 dominoes in -- oops. Gravity is a formidable enemy.

But their seven hours of work wasn`t a total waste. It might not have set a record officially, but it still looks amazing tumbling down.

Guess if you have a domi-notion to dominate domino records, there is domino way you don`t domino all too well, the towering attempts have their ups and downs.

Domino puns, they all fall flat.

I`m Carl Azuz and we`ll stack more news for you tomorrow.

CNN Student News August 24, 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS, explaining global events to a global audience. My name is Carl Azuz, broadcasting from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

Since 2014, we talked a lot about a terrorist group named ISIS. That stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. And that`s what ISIS wants to create based on its severe interpretation of Islamic law. The group is infamous for mass murdering people who don`t share its beliefs.

In June of 2014, ISIS took control of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq.

Today, it`s ISIS` most significant stronghold outside of Syria. And Iraqi troops and militia are getting ready to try to take it back. U.S. troops are also involved. There are several thousand of them currently in Iraq, and with a major battle looming in the months ahead, smoke fills the sky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: ISIS` battle tactics.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the Qayyarah power station, more about 65 kilometers to the south of Mosul, with the

Iraqi army. That cloud of black smoke you see there, that is actually a fairly common ISIS tactic to try to impair the visibility of coalition aircraft and drones. But it is particularly effective in this area because what they`re burning around here, that is crude oil.

There are oil fields that according to the commander used to move around 100 tankers of crude a day. That is up until the Iraqi security forces moved into this particular area.

Now, to the north and east of Mosul, you have the Kurdish Peshmerga positions. They have had a defensive berm in that area for around the last two years. But in recent weeks, they have moved forward from the southeast towards Mosul, as well as capturing some key villages. And in doing that,
they have come across some now fairly common ISIS tactics as well underground tunnels. The Iraqis themselves have uncovered homemade ISIS

weapons, mortar tubes and mortar themselves, larger than anything the Iraqi say they have at their disposal.

According to the commander of the Nineveh operations, he says that as they moved closer to Mosul, ISIS is using less foreign fighters, more local fighters and they`re not putting up as strong of a resistance, saying that they`re seeing them flee quite more frequently. Is this because ISIS is running out of fighters, or is it because they are trying to build up their resources to defend Mosul? That commanders are unclear about, but they do believe that they will be able to fulfill the prime minister`s goal of liberating Iraq`s second largest city by the end of the year.

Of course, the crucial question at this stage is, even though there is a plan to assault the city, is that plan going to mean winning the fight?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: U.S. President Barack Obama touched down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, yesterday to get a first hand look at the damage caused by the state`s historic floods and the promise the government would help those in need.

The president had previously been criticized by Republicans and some people in Louisiana for not making the trip sooner, for waiting until after his recent vacation on the island of Martha`s Vineyard, Massachusetts. The White House said the president didn`t want to interfere with recovery efforts in first days after the flood.

Thousands of people were rescued, 13 died, more than 60,000 homes were damaged, and many of the victims didn`t have flood insurance. They didn`t

think they needed it because they didn`t live in a floodplain, an area naturally prone to flooding.

More than 106,000 residents and households have registered for help from the federal government. Louisiana`s governor suggested that many Americans didn`t realize how serious this was at first, because this storm didn`t have a name, like a hurricane or a tropical storm. Those are currently the
only kinds of storms that get names in the U.S., even though this one caused damage at hurricane level.

Some scientists are pushing for more types of storms to be named because it raises awareness of potential disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: If you live in Homestead, Florida, in 1992, Andrew is the name you will never forget. Just like in 2005, if you live in New Orleans area, Katrina.

SUBTITLE: What`s in a Hurricane`s Name?

GRAY: The military started naming storms after their wives, their girlfriends, but none of these names were made public.

So, 1950, everything changed. Several storms formed out in the Atlantic about the same time, it created a lot of confusion. So, the U.S. Weather

Bureau said, OK, let`s start naming storms.

And they actually started by using the World War II alphabet, Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy. But this created confusion as well, because every year, the storm names were the same.

It wasn`t until 1979 that we started alternating male and female names. We recycle that list every six years. In the Atlantic Basin, we use English, Spanish and French names.

No storms are named after a particular person. In fact, you can`t request a storm to be named after you. That entire process is handled by the World Meteorological Organization.

A storm name will be retired if it is too costly or deadly and it would be inappropriate to use it in future years. In fact, since 1950, there had been nearly 80 storm names retired.

And what happens if we go through all of the storm names? Well, it happened in 2005. We ended up going to the Greek alphabet.

So, that`s what`s in a name. It took a long time to get here, but just like each individual name, each storm tends to have its own personality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: A week after it broke out in Southern California, fire officials say the state`s dangerous Blue Cut wildfire is now completely contained. That doesn`t mean it`s out. It means that firefighters have fenced it in so to speak and don`t expect it to spread further.

The Blue Cut wildfire was a beast. It destroyed almost 57 square miles in San Bernardino County, more than 100 homes and 200 other buildings were lost. And throughout the state, officials are still battling six other large fires.

These disasters are relatively common in California, especially throughout the summer and the early fall.

(MUSIC)

AZUZ: For today`s "Character Study" segment, it`s been said that all dogs go to heaven, but some of them might not have a place to go before that.

So, in 2007, a woman named Sherri Franklin started a non-profit organization called Muttville. Its focus is on rescuing older dogs and finding them home. So far, Muttville has done that for more than 3,800 animals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: "Dogs that are old very often are the first to be euthanized."

SHERRI FRANKLIN, MUTTVILLE/CNN HERO: Twenty years go, I started dog- walking at my local shelter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ready to get Cherry.

FRANKLIN: I am so ready.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Go get her.

FRANKLIN: I noticed that older dogs just weren`t getting adopted.

Hi, Cherry. Are you ready to come home?

FRANKLIN: Watching these old dogs spend their last weeks in a cold, hard, loud shelter made me realize that we need to get these dogs an opportunity to get to love and to give the love that they still have left.

Let`s get you in, OK?

Hi, everybody.

When an old dog that`s been in a shelter gets to Muttville, it`s like whoo- hoo! They immediately changed.

Oh, thank you.

Every single dog that comes in sees our vet. Some of them we can`t completely fix, but we`re going to give them the best quality of life that we possibly can.

Look at that. Do you feel better?

The adoption process will start right after they get cleaned up and vetted.

They have changed people`s lives with their gratitude, with their tenderness.

He`s adopted. It`s love at first, wasn`t it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it was.

FRANKLIN: When I come home and I get hold one of my sweet older babies, their present with you, they`ve taught me about what is important.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: You don`t need to be a child to love racing toy cars. But until now, you couldn`t really get the view from the hood, at least not a view this awesome. YouTubers called five made movie-makers, strapped a camera on a hot wheels and let it roll. They say it`s powered only by gravity, but this video was not recorded all in one take. There are some cuts in here. The car reportedly fell off the track in the pool for instance.

But, man, what a ride.

It takes a lot of drive to get that car-eative, to track down that much plastic and make it look that vehi-cool, to answer the die-casting call, cars needed the driving force, backyards of space, and expertise in keeping it wheel.

I`m Car-l Azuz and CNN STUDENT NEWS will be back on track tomorrow.