CNN Student News - September 15 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz at the CNN Center. Welcome to the show.

First up, it`s been almost half a century since a storm this strong threatened southeastern China. Its name is Typhoon Meranti. It grew from the equivalent of a category one hurricane, to a category five in just a days time. It was labeled a "super typhoon". At one point, Merenti had sustained wind speeds of 190 miles per hour.

And after roaring across southern Taiwan early today, it was targeting China`s mainland with tremendous winds and torrential rain.

The storm weakened a bit after hitting Taiwan. It was the equivalent of a category four hurricane then. The forecasters said it stayed at typhoon or hurricane strength for at least 12 hours, and authorities in China deployed emergency response plans and warned sailors that waves as high as 42 feet could be expected in the South China Sea.

Population density is greater in southeastern China and the ground is relatively flat. So, storm surges and inland flooding posed a greater threat as Meranti approach.

From southern China to the southern hemisphere, just like Brazil made history hosting the region`s first ever Olympic Games, it`s not hosting the region`s first ever Paralympics. They started on the 7th and run through this Sunday, and one of the U.S. competitors has a legacy of running track. 

But at age 20, he was diagnosed with a condition that hindered the muscle and nerves in his right leg. It was through faith, fitness and a fierce drive to compete that he got back on the track. We caught up with him before he traveled to Rio de Janeiro.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JARRYD WALLACE, U.S. PARALYMPIAN: My name is Jarryd Wallace. I`m 26 years old and I`m on track and field of United States Paralympic Team, specialized in 100 meter and 4x100 meter relay. 

We`re getting our kind of final training sessions in leading into Paralympic Games. So, we`re kind of finalizing little kinks and working on a block starts, working on power and explosiveness in the waiting room, and making sure that my body is ready.

Slept 12 hours two days and I slept eight last night.

I had a great season so far this season. I`m undefeated in 100 meters and, you know, we`re really excited to get down to Rio and execute some good races.

Paralympics kind of fell on my lap. I was a track runner my entire my life. My mom was an All-American athlete (ph) at the University of Georgia in the `80s, and as a kid, I grow up running and doing fun runs and 5Ks, and when I got into high school, I got a lot more competitive with it, and
realize, this is something you know maybe I can do it in college. 

You know, I ultimately ended up having a running injury that I needed to have surgery for and that surgery, you know, we had complications. I spent two and a half years. I had ten reconstructive surgeries, trying to save my leg. I wasn`t really at a point where, you know, amputation was an 
option, and it was like no, like we have to save my left. 

I had reconstructive surgery after reconstructive surgery and constantly being in pain and addicted to pain medication, kind of got to a place where 

I realized, you know, maybe amputation is a good option. And it was pretty quick recovery, six weeks in a day that I was walking pain free and in prosthetic for the first time in 12 weeks that I started running in my first running prosthesis.

I haven`t found something that I can`t do with the prosthetic that I couldn`t do when I had two legs. 

The sport is new. It`s like six years, I`ve been part of the Paralympic community for about five years and I`ve really refallen in love with track and field again. One of the things that if you really take time to sit down and look at, watch the Paralympics and look at the stories behind the athletes, you will not only be inspired but you really will be motivated to get off and do something. 

There really is no disability at the end of the day. You know, maybe someone is in the wheel chair and they do have a physical impairment, but their ability goes way beyond their disability. 

I don`t view myself as a disabled person. It was a long journey mentally and physically. But, you know, I`m so blessed to be able to run again and use a prosthesis to, you know, really push the barriers of mobility.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Next story, it`s the biggest business takeover so far this year. It involves two companies -- Bayer, a massive German pharmaceutical company known partly for producing the drug aspirin, and Monsanto, a massive American agricultural biotechnology company. It`s the world`s biggest seller of seeds and producer of genetically modified crops. 

Bayer is planning to buy Monsanto for $66 billion. Why? For one thing, Bayer would benefit from Monsanto`s technology in agriculture and seeds. 

It would broaden the German company`s reach in the U.S. market and it would reportedly make Bayer more competitive with its rivals who are merging with other companies themselves. 

This deal would create a huge combined company that would do business in pharmaceutical drugs, health products and pesticides. But it`s not certain if the deal will go through. Though the two companies have agreed to it, it must first be approved by regulators around the world who work to insure that no one company has too much control over a specific market.

To quote a "USA Today" article on self-driving cars, the road has recently developed potholes. The Apple technology company has reportedly shut down parts of its project to self-driving cars. Google and Tesla brand cars with self-driving technology have seen accidents. But companies are pressing forward in developing driverless vehicles, in the hopes of making traveling safer, and we`re about to show how that`s playing out on the road.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My hands are hovering on the wheel, and my foot is hovering on the break, but I am not doing anything.

This is wild.

Uber has completely disrupted the way we get from point A to point B. And here in Pittsburgh, they`re about to revolutionize that experience. 

They`re getting rid of the driver.

After 18 months of testing, Uber is allowing loyal customers in the Steel City to opt-in into ordering one of the handful of self-driving cars. Why Pittsburgh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really feel that Pittsburgh driving is harder than most cities, like it`s not a standard grid layout, like the traffic patterns in Pittsburgh are pretty aggressive, and we just have extreme weather conditions. If we can reason (ph) about all those different things in Pittsburgh, then we`re feeling pretty confident we can take that learning to the next city.

CRANE: During the pilot program, riders will be accompanied by a safety driver to assist the vehicle in tricky situations. 

Are you my safety driver? 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure am.

CRANE: Are you going to drive me safe, Philip? Is this baby going to drive us safe? OK, good.

And someone is sitting in shotgun to take notes along the way.

This feels completely normal, the whole thing, from calling it, sitting back here, someone is usually in the driver seat. They are right now. I would have no idea that this care was driving itself, other than it saying Uber self-driving.

It`s all controlled by 20 cameras, seven lasers and 360 degree radar coverage. All that data looks like this, a map you can see in the back seat. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re taking all that data and fusing it together to be like this thing that we`re seeing in space, that`s a person. That thing we`re seeing in space is a bicyclist. The ultimate goal is for one of these cars to pull up by itself, you get in, you tell it where you want to go and it brings you there safely with no problem.

CRANE: How far away are we from that point right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, that`s going to take us years.

CRANE: That`s because the system isn`t perfect yet. And in order for people to feel safe, it needs to be. 

According to research from the Boston Consulting Group, only 48 percent of Americans are willing to try a self-driving car, and it`s not just passengers on the fence. It`s also some Uber drivers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would personally never get into a driverless car. It`s terrifying. My son (ph) brakes all the time. My (INAUDIBLE) stops working. What if that car stops working? There`s a fear of riding on car that doesn`t have a driver.

CRANE: Would you be scared to get at one?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Certainly.

CRANE: Do you think that people`s concerns are unfounded?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I definitely have, I`m definitely sympathetic to it, right? Like you definitely seen accidents involving other competitors running their vehicles. We take it extremely seriously. So, we are working on this very hard to make sure this is a completely safe experience 
to everyone involved.

CRANE: For now, Uber is sticking to Pittsburgh, with no immediate plans for expansion. But this is a big move for the long road ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the future that people have been saying is going to happen for over 60 years at this point, and like we now reach that point that we can pull it off. Like we fundamentally change the world, like this is a story we tell our grandchildren that we`re the ones who did this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Casey, Illinois, is a small town with a lot of big things going for it. Take the Guinness world record-holder for a largest rocking chair, 56 1/2 feet tall. The most prodigious pitchfork, 61 feet long. The greatest golf tee stands at more than 30 feet high. The massive-esque mailbox, 33 feet high. The wildest wind chimes, 49 feet high. And the craziest clogs, they weigh more than 1,500 pounds each and measure more than 11 feet, pun intended.

It was all built by a man named Jim Bolin as a way to attract tourists to his town of Casey. 

So, how could we pun on all of this? I`d say the chair is truly a giant`s recliner. The golf tee makes sense in the largest club. The mailbox probably came with the biggest bill. The clogs are a tremendous feat. Building the wind chime was anything but a breeze and the pitchfork has 
everyone saying, hay.

I`m Carl Azuz. Thank you for making CNN STUDENT NEWS bigger than ever.

CNN Student News September 14, 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hi. I`m Carl Azuz, for CNN STUDENT NEWS. We`re glad you`re here.

We`re starting today with a glimmer of hope in a civil war. The Middle Eastern nation of Syria has been torn apart since 2011. The United Nations estimates that 400,000 Syrians have been killed. 

But earlier this week, a ceasefire organized by Russia and the U.S. officially begun. It calls for a stop to the fighting between Syrian government forces and the rebels fighting them. It does not apply to the terrorists fighting in Syria.

And while the ceasefire didn`t stop all of the violence immediately, a relative calm had settled over the country on Tuesday. Officials hoped this will allow aid groups to get food and supplies to hundreds of thousands of Syrians who desperately need it. But some organizations were waiting on guarantees of security before setting out. Previous ceasefires in Syria did not last long.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: The struggle for a ceasefire in Syria.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you need for a successful ceasefire? 

Well, sadly, there is no wave of the magic wand, but in essence, you need three factors to be present. You need trust, which is in extraordinarily scarce supply in Syria right now. You need a clear delineation of areas of control by the armed groups and armed actors. And you also need leverage 
to enforce the ceasefire.

In terms of the delineation, well, the situation on the ground in Syria is extraordinarily confused and you have a number of very strange bedfellows sharing frontlines. But that complicates things when you have international actors like the U.S. and Russia seeking to work together to target those actors on the ground that they have identified as hostile, mainly Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and ISIS. 

But what happens when you have more mainstream oppositions in those very same territorial footprints? Well, then you need the mainstream opposition to agree to give up some of that territorial hold and withdraw. Now, that is not something any armed group anywhere in the group is particularly
with, in order to enforce that. That`s where the leverage comes in.

But given how many years the conflict in Syria has been, allowed to roll on with so little sense of any kind of peace coming over the horizon, leverage isn`t something that really anyone in the international community has a selfless end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: The U.S. Census Bureau says wages in America are up. After years of stagnation, when Americans` incomes did not increase, the median household income rose to $56,516 last year. That was a little more than a 5 percent increase over the year before and it was the first increase in median 
income since 2007. Americans with the lowest income saw the greatest increase. Those with the 10 percent of income saw the least.

Census officials say an increase in employment is the main reason for the median pay rise. But $56,500 is not the highest median income America has seen. That was in 1999 when the median household income was almost $58,000.

Of course, when asked about their incomes, our parents usually include some insight about how money doesn`t grow on trees. They`re right. Sometimes, it`s created by lenders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eighty-point-nine trillion dollars, that`s about as big as it get, isn`t it? It`s all the money that`s out there in circulation in the entire world.

But, of course, it all depends on your definition of money. The $80 trillion figure actually accounts for all of the bank notes, coins and money deposited in bank accounts. 

But if you expand your definition of money maybe to include, say, currencies, gold supplies, the amount of money that`s invested in financial products -- well, the amount rises to over a quadrillion dollars. And, by the way, guys, that`s a million billions.

So, the big question is, where does all this money actually come from? Well, central banks are responsible for minting new coins and printing new bank notes, to replace the ones that get worn out or perhaps get lost down the back of the sofa. But they can also inject new money into the economy.

Since the financial crisis, central banks right around the world have been embarking on massive programs of quantitative easing. This is essentially printing new money to try and ease the threat of the global recession. But as the Bank of England points out, most money isn`t actually made by 
central banks at all. Instead, cash is created by commercial banks and it never actually gets printed.

So, here`s how it works: whenever a bank gives you a loan, say, to buy a car, it doesn`t actually hand over a pile of cash for that purchase. 

Instead, it transfers the money electronically into your bank account. The lender only really needs to have a small amount of money on its books to back up that loan. So, effectively, it`s creating new money in the system.

About 97 percent of all money in developed economies is created just like that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Next today, a controversy involving the Dakota Access Pipeline. It`s an oil pipeline. It`d be almost 1,200 miles starting along the U.S. border with Canada and running southeast through South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. 

The pipeline`s developer says it would add thousands of construction jobs and bring millions of dollars to state and local governments. But protesters, including members of the Standing Rock Sioux, a Native American tribe, say the pipeline would destroy sacred site, including burial grounds 
and that it could pollute drinking water if the pipe breaks.

The Standing Rock Sioux tried to legally stop the pipe`s construction, but late last week, a federal judge ruled against the tribe, saying it had already been given a chance to identify important sites. 

But after that ruling, the U.S. federal government put a pause on construction, at least temporarily, while the tribe`s views are considered. 

Some of the protests have been violent. The company building the pipeline says it still plans to move forward when that`s allowed. The protesters say they won`t leave and that they`re committed to stopping the project.

(MUSIC)

AZUZ: Brad Ludden is a professional kayaker. He`s been on the "Outside Magazine". He`s won two world free style medals. 

But there are more than 3,000 people who know him best for a nonprofit charity he founded called First Descents. It gives free outdoor adventures to young adults with cancer.

We caught with some folks whose lives are moving forward with each forward stroke.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m Rocky. I`ve done some live water but not since treatment. So, I`m a little nervous but also excited to get back in the boat.

When my doctor, you have a 50/50 chance, I was like, holy crap, like I`m 21 and I could die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let`s go boating.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so full of energy and a month later, I was husking (ph) myself. All that was vibrant was dimmed for so long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome guys.

BRAD LUDDEN, CNN HERO: Being a young adult, to have that type of betrayal in your body, that`s a really challenging thing to cope with.

Left hand stays right on the side of the boat. Go to finish. Whoa! That was beautiful.

We`re taking everyone out of their element. We`re taking them out of cancer and putting them through legitimate challenge.

Keep that bow up. Keep it up. Yes, buddy!

Nice work.

It really begins to restore a lot of the doubt inflicted through their diagnoses. 

You see people really start to open up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the time that I have and I`m trying to make the most of it.

LUDDEN: They start to find their voice again amongst friends.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Getting back on track and I can finally put something like that behind me.

LUDDEN: With each passing day, they take on those challenges on and off the river with a bit more confidence. You see that look of accomplishment and pride. You can`t give that to someone. It`s something they have to go earn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, paddle, paddle! Whoo!

LUDDEN: By the end, it`s been a complete transformation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: All week long, we`re hitting the road with some new Guinness world record holders, like this. Buckle up, y`all. 

This menacing monstrosity of motorized mayhem just crushed the world record for longest monster truck. At 32 feet, it`s almost the length of a school bus. At 15,000 pounds, it`s the weight of four cars. It`s pushed by 750 horsepower and it sits 12, but it gets less than a mile per gallon, so it`s less fuel efficient and more fuel deficient.

It`s less of a butte and more of a brute. But it`s every bit a wrecker as it is a record. It`s the big wheel wonder that brings the thunder. So, while it can be measured, it can`t be caged. So, instead of a garage, they use a ga-rage!

I`m Carl Azuz, one of the driving forces behind CNN STUDENT NEWS.

CNN Student News - September 13, 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Here to deliver your Tuesday edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz. Good to see you today.

We`re starting our international events coverage with news from the United Kingdom. David Cameron, who was Britain`s leader three months ago, has resigned altogether from the British government. It`s another step in a series of dramatic events that the country has seen over the summer.

Cameron became leader of his nation`s Conservative Party in 2005, and he became British prime minister, the head of the government in 2010. Before his party`s second consecutive election win last year, Cameron made a promise that he`d allow Britons to vote on whether they like to remain part
of the European Union.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What is the E.U.?

The European Union is a group of countries that work together to create a single market, to allow goods, capital, services and people to move between the member states, as long as they follow the rules and they pay the entry fee.

But we`re getting ahead of ourselves. To start this story, we need to go right back to the end of World War II. After six years of fighting, Europe was decimated. Economies were collapsing and mistrust was rife as old enemies face the prospect of recreating trade ties.

France and previous occupiers Germany faced the difficult task of creating a unity for profit. So, they started talking, mainly about steel and coal.

In 1951, a total of six countries, France, Belgium, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands reached their first accord by uniting the

steel and coal industries, creating the European Coal and Steel Community, or the ECSC. They later introduce the European Economic Community, the EEC, in 1958. These two organizations are seen as the origin of the modern European Union, that wouldn`t adopt its new name until 1993.

More than six decades later, the European Union now represents more than half a billion people across 28 countries and with a common currency, the euro, which generates an estimated 14 trillion euros in GDP per year. The premise: countries who are economically linked are less likely to have
conflicts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: But that wasn`t always the case. Some E.U. countries didn`t agree with all the rules they had to follow to remain part of the union, and

Britain became the strongest example. On June 23rd, Britons voted almost 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the European Union. It was known as the

Brexit. The British exit from the E.U. and it was characterized as the single most momentous day in British politics since World War II.

Two major issues included immigration and the British economy. Those who wanted to remain part of the E.U. said most migrants who came to Briton were there to work and that they paid their way in taxes. Those who wanted to leave the E.U. said the union didn`t give Britain enough control over
the migrants coming in, and that those who moved to Britain were putting pressure on housing, welfare and wages.

On the economy, those who wanted to remain said leaving would be an economic disaster because 45 percent of Britain`s exports go to the European Union. Those who wanted to leave said Britain could do better business without European Union rules, and that Britain`s trade deals could be renegotiated with the E.U.

When Britain`s voted to leave, David Cameron immediately stepped down from this position as prime minister. International stock markets initially took a dive but they recovered in the weeks that followed. And the conservative party`s Theresa May eventually became the new British prime
minister.

The country has not officially left the European Union yet. It`s currently working on the complicated negotiations that all take.

Events concerning North Korea are next Tuesday. The communist nation is located between China who`s considered its only ally and South Korea, a rival since fighting ended in the Korean War in 1953. That country, South Korea, it`s getting ready for a worse case scenario concerning North Korea.

The North claimed last week it had tested a nuclear warhead. If that`s true, experts say it`s probably North Korea`s most powerful weapons test ever, and as far as the international community is concerned, these tests are illegal. The United Nations recently put additional sanctions, penalties in place that ban anyone from selling airplane fuel, rocket fuel and small weapons to North Korea. But that hasn`t stopped the country from developing its nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: CNN`s Will Ripley is one of the few journalists to have made repeat visits inside North Korea.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The vast majority of these people didn`t participate in the political process. Only the ruling elite were standing underneath the supreme leader.

SUBTITLE: We ask him questions about North Korea`s recent nuclear test, which is potentially the most powerful to date.

Did North Korea`s nuclear test catch you by surprise?

RIPLEY: North Korea`s latest nuclear test really didn`t take me by surprise because we`ve known for quite some time based on satellite imagery and North Korea`s own propaganda that they were ready to conduct another nuclear tests when they got the order. The only question was, when? This
is test number five and we believe and many analysts believe that North Korea may actually already be ready for test number six and possibly number seven as well.

SUBTITLE: Why did North Korea conduct its fifth nuclear test?

RIPLEY: There are several reasons why North Korea will conduct this nuclear test. For one, Kim Jong-un, the leader, wants to project power both to his own audience at home but also internationally. They want to advertise their weapons capabilities because North Korea has been known to
sell its weapons technology once it`s perfected and he wants leverage internationally. He wants to be recognized by the United States, the

United Nations and others as a nuclear state, something that the U.S. President Obama says won`t happen.

SUBTITLE: How will American allies in the region respond to North Korea`s nuclear test?

RIPLEY: Here in Tokyo, where I`ve lived for the last three and a half years, the threat from North Korea is very real. We know that North Korean missiles in theory have the capability of striking anywhere here. They can strike anywhere in the Korean peninsula. They can strike U.S. military
assets in Guam, and they are even potentially missiles that could strike the mainland United States, although their accuracy is in question.

And so, people here worry about North Korea and the danger especially in light of this increased nuclear and missile development.

SUBTITLE: How will the international community respond to North Korea?

RIPLEY: We`ve seen time and time again how the international community responds to these provocative acts by North Korea. They strongly condemn.

They call for newer and stronger sanctions. And yet, none of these have really had any effect on slowing Kim Jong-un and his regime from developing these weapons at a really rapid pace, faster than many analysts had predicted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is on a new mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one -- and lift off OSIRIS REx.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Simply put, it will try to fly into an asteroid, pick up some dusts and fly back home. The mission costs nearly $1 billion. It`s not the first of its kind. A Japanese spacecraft brought back some asteroid dusts in 2010. But it is the first for NASA, and Rachel Crane explains exactly how they hope to accomplish it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They`re sending a robotic spacecraft to catch up with a speeding asteroid and then bring pieces of that asteroid back to earth.

SUBTITLE: NASA is chasing an asteroid.

Origins Spectra Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security Regolith Explorer.

CRANE: The name of the missions is a mouthful. So, that`s why NASA is going with OSIRIS Rex.

The probe`s target is an asteroid named Bennu, which is on NASA`s watchlist of potentially hazardous asteroids, meaning that there`s a chance of it colliding with earth. NASA says that the odds of that happening are about 1 in 2,500. And it wouldn`t happen for more than 150 years. It will take
two years for the OSIRIS REx to catch up with Bennu. When it does, the probe won`t land on the asteroid but instead it will study and observe

Bennu from above for several months, taking pictures, mapping it and maundering its movement.

In 2020 is when the real magic happens. That`s when OSIRIS REx will reach out its 11-foot long robotic arm and make contact with the asteroid. NASA

is hoping to collect about two ounces of these asteroid samples by studying the return samples, NASA hopes to gain insight into the role asteroids played in bringing the building blocks of life to Earth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: The 2016 Summer Olympics taught us that the highest high-jumping height a human hopped to was 7 feet and 9 3/4 inches. But it`s the Guinness

Records that taught us about the height by the highest jumping llama -- three feet, eight and a half inches. The ruminant that rose above the bar is from the United Kingdom. His name is Kaspa and his owner says the lionhearted llama learned to leap by watching dogs do it.

Leaping llamas. It seems soaring is no burden for that beast of burden. His competition will have to all pack up their bags since Kaspa claimed his own super-llamative, leaving no ruminant for doubt in setting a high bar.

I`m Carl Azuz for CNN STUDENT NEWS.

CNN Student News - September 12, 2016

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This just in, you are looking at, obviously, a very disturbing live shot there. That is the World Trade Center and we have

unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another one just hit the building. Wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no words.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appears that something hit the Pentagon on the outside of the fifth corridor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a report now that a large plane crashed this morning, north to the Somerset County Airport, which is in western Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Specifically, it was in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, that the fourth hijacked airplane crashed that day after three other airliners hit the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

On Friday, CNN STUDENT NEWS reported on the memories of some young people who lost their fathers on September 11th, 2001. Today, we`re looking back at the events themselves and the recovery of a nation in the years that followed. We`ll start with the timeline of the worst act of terrorism ever committed on U.S. soil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ (voiceover): It all started at 8:45 on a clear Tuesday morning. We had a live camera up on what looked like a smoking slash across one of the

World Trade Center towers. A passenger plane had flown into it, and I remember some of us here at CNN thinking this was some sort of freak event.

Then a second plane flew into the other tower. That was at 9:03 am, and at that point, there was this deepening dread in everyone. Something was wrong in a way we`d never seen before. Airports, bridges, tunnels in New York and New Jersey shut down.

Within 30 minutes, President George W. Bush said we were under an apparent terrorist attack. And minutes after that, every airport in the country was closed. That had never happened before.

It wasn`t over, though. At 9:43 am, a third passenger jet crashed into the Pentagon. Dark smoke rolled up from that part of that huge building. All eyes and many cameras were on that and the two burning towers in New York. And as all of us watched at 10:05, one of those towers gave way where it was smoking, the top part crushing down on the rest of it, and sending up debris and boiling gray clouds.

Five minutes later, part of the Pentagon collapsed, and a fourth hijacked jet crashed in a rural part of Pennsylvania. The White House, the United Nations, the State and Justice Departments, the World Bank, all evacuated. America-bound Atlantic flights were rerouted to Canada.

And the second Trade Center tower came down at 10:28.

So many closings, evacuations, shutdowns. Except for emergency response teams -- the heroes of 9/11 -- the country virtually stopped what it was doing and gathered around TV screens. The president appeared just after 1:00 p.m., and asked Americans to pray. And there wasn`t much else we
could do.

The destruction was more or less done around 10:30. It was less than two hours from the first crash. But the change it inflicted was immeasurable.

More Americans were killed on September 11, 2001, than on the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

And when President Bush addressed the nation that night at 8:30, his tone was one of sympathy, resolve and warning to anyone who`d planned or supported the attacks.

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

AZUZ: In the difficult days that followed, we learned that the Al Qaeda terrorist group, led by Osama bin Laden, was responsible for all of this.

And America`s attention and anger turned to Afghanistan, whose Taliban leaders were giving Al Qaida a safe place to live and operate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Looking back, yesterday on the fifteenth anniversary of the attacks, there were memorial ceremonies and displays all over America. Three of the most powerful were in the three places where the planes crashed.

One in New York City where American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 were flown into the World Trade Center Towers, ultimately killing 2,753 people.

Another memorial in the nation`s capital, at the Pentagon. The headquarters of the U.S. Department of the Defense, 184 people were killed in the attack, involving American Airlines Flight 77.

And near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 40 lives were lost in the crash of United Airlines Flight 93, apparently after passengers and crew tried to get control of the aircraft back from the terrorists.

Looking on, out of the ashes of the Twin Towers, a new building has risen. One World Trade Center opened in October of 2014, about eight years after its construction officially begun. The footprint of the $4 billion skyscraper was designed to be identical to the footprint of the Twin Towers and its antenna stretches up to 1,776 feet, as symbolic height representing the year that the U.S. declared independence.

One World Trade is now the tallest building in the U.S., and it`s part of a complex of towers that bear the World Trade Center name. The idea goes back decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): New Yorkers have been talking about building a World Trade Center for 20 years, before ground was broken on Manhattan`s Lower West Side of August 5th, 1966. Older buildings had to be demolished.

The North Tower started going up in 1968, the South Tower five months later. The first tenants moved in in 1970, even before construction finished on the upper floors. Ribbon cutting was in 1973.

The towers were full of innovations. At 110 stories, they were the tallest buildings in the world, at least for a little while. Each floor was about an acre of open space, their weight distributed between a central core and steel columns in the building`s outer skin.

High-speed express elevators and sky lobbies on the 44th and 78th floors made getting to the top quick and efficient. The complex even had its own zip code, 10048.

Iconic additions to Manhattan`s skyline, the World Trade Center never stopped attracting attention. But as the years went by, the towers, symbols of a city, a country and a way of life, also became a focal point for hatred.

In February 1993, a van packed with explosive was detonated in a package garage under the North Tower. Six people died, and about a thousand were hurt. The Islamic extremists behind the attack were rounded up, tried as criminals, convicted and sent to prison.

But the international terrorists who inspired them kept plotting, and struck on that crystal clear morning in 2001.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: It took eight months for bodies to be recovered and for a million tons of twisted steel and concrete to be cleared away.

Plans for a new and even taller skyscraper were revealed quickly, and changed repeatedly to make it stronger and safer. The new One World Trade

Center will have a reinforced center core, extra fireproofing, biochemical filters and even green technology.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Looking ahead, September 11th is now known as Patriot Day. The president orders flags to be flown at half-staff at all government

buildings and asked Americans to observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time when the first plane was crashed in the 9/11 attacks.

This date is also a national day of service, when Americans are encouraged to take part in charity work or selfless deeds. It was inspired largely by the work of first responders like Stephen Siller. You`ll hear about him in our final report today.

And we`ll continue with our current events coverage tomorrow on CNN STUDENT NEWS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANK SILLER, CEO & CHAIRMAN, TUNNEL TO TOWERS: We believe that he was in the South Tower. He was never recovered. There`s another, you know, another great person that -- that died that day.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a near perfect September morning. Firefighter Stephen Siller just finished his overnight shift with Squad One, the elite unit trained to rescue other firefighters. Stephen was headed to play gulf with his three brothers.

SILLER: We were pumped up because we`re four brothers getting together to play golf. Everybody very busy. Stephen already with five kids. And, you know, heard on the scanner what had happened and he turned his truck around.

BERMAN: The golf date would never happen. Stephen, who had dreamed of being a firefighter since he was a teen, turned his truck toward the Twin

Towers, but could get only as far as the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. It was blocked. But that didn`t stop him.

SILLER: Came to a screeching halt, got out calmly, put his gear on, and started running through the tunnel. And that tunnel is nearly two miles long.

BERMAN: That heroic run, loaded down with more than 60 pounds of gear, became the driving force of the foundation created by his family in Stephen`s honor.

SILLER: Want his kids to know that his dad was a hero. We didn`t have any great lofty goals, you know, starting the foundation, but when a friend of his came up with the idea of running through the tunnel like he did, I was said, oh, my God, please -- it was - you just know the right thing when you
hear it.

BERMAN: The race, called Tunnel to Towers, is part of the nationally recognized Stephen Siller Foundation. It has raised more than $70 million.

SILLER: The whole day is just a great celebration of everybody`s life that was lost that day.

CNN Student News - September 8, 2016

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hey. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN STUDENT NEWS. Welcome to our viewers worldwide.

This show`s date is Thursday, September 8. That puts it exactly two months before the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Here are the candidates: businessman and TV personality Donald Trump is running on the Republican ticket. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running on the Democratic ticket. Businessman and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson represents the Libertarian Party. Retired medical doctor, Jill Stein, represents the Green Party.

There are three presidential debates scheduled starting later this month. They`ll include Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, but at this point, you`re unlikely to see Mr. Johnson or Dr. Stein included. Why? The Commission on Presidential Debates which sponsors and produces the events requires candidates to poll at 15 percent or higher to participate.

According to the latest CNN/ORC poll conducted early this month, Donald Trump has the lead with the support of 45 percent of likely voters.

Hillary Clinton had the support of 43 percent. Gary Johnson had 7 percent, and Jill Stein had 2 percent.

We`ll have a lot more coverage in the days ahead, and you`ll find additional info about the candidates and the election in the extra credit resources section of CNNStudentNews.com.

OK, next story. Air pollution, it`s well-documented that it can cause lung problems. But can it hurt the human brain. Researchers at Lancaster

University in the United Kingdom say yes. They took a look at brain samples from dozens of people who live in polluted areas and they say they found the same kind of particles in the brain that are found in polluted air. They say these particles are toxic. They believe the particles entered the brain when people breathe in polluted air, and they think these pollution particles could increase people`s risk of developing Alzheimer`s disease.

But there is room for doubt. For one thing, similar particles are produced naturally in the brain and an expert from University College London says any correlation between pollution particles and Alzheimer`s disease is weak. Scientists agree that more research needs to be done on this.

Still, experts in several major cities are taking steps to help lower levels of air pollution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE0

ANDREW GRIEVE, SENIOR AIR QUALITY ANALYST, KINGS`S COLLEGE LONDON: Although you don`t feel it day to day, it`s a cumulative effect. Everyone is exposed to it, from your first breath to your last breath, you know, little kids, older people, people who respiratory conditions.

But also, if you reduce it just a little bit, because you`re affecting the whole population, they can have a huge effect, beneficial effect.

REPORTER: In January of 2016, London took just over one week to reach its own annual limits of nitrogen dioxide. That`s a toxic gas which comes from vehicle exhaust.

RUTH CALDERWOOD, CITY OF LONDON CORPORATION: We see drivers who are parked with their engines idling as an unnecessary source of local pollution. So, what we do is we go out, speak to drivers, ask them if they can turn their engines off. We have evidence that it does make a difference here locally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Hi. We`re doing some volunteer work this morning on air quality on the city.

REPORTER: Switching off engines may seem like a small action. But experts have tracked an improvement in pollution levels on the days when air quality wardens are actually active.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, thank you for turning it off.

REPORTER: Andrew Grieve suffered from asthma as a child. Now, he`s a scientist who analyzes air quality and one of his jobs has been building city air that`s enough which helps people navigate pollution hot spots.

GRIEVE: I`ve got kind of like a pollution map overlaid on the top of map, which is updated every hour. So, here, I plotted the route from Liverpool Street Station to Bank Station. There`s a route here through the backstreets, which is 28 percent less polluted than behind it.

REPORTER: Individual actions are creating localized solutions which benefit everyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: On average, U.S. college graduates in 2016 left school with more than $37,000 in student loan debt. That`s per person. And it was a record up from just over $35,000 in 2015.

It`s also a tough job market for young workers. Americans ages 21 to 24 see an unemployment rate that`s almost twice as high as those older than 24. But some of the industries offering opportunities to young workers don`t require a standard four-year college degree. Many millennials generally define as people born after 1980 are turning to blue collar fields, those associated with manual labor as opposed to office work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELLIE BRIENZA, APPRENTICE ELECTRICIAN: It`s just awesome. I love it, and I wouldn`t trade it for the world.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ellie Brienza says you only become a true electrician when you decorate your hard hat.

And at 22, she is well on her way, today installing a fire alarm system at a Staten Island library.

BRIENZA: Fire alarm, it took me a little while to learn because it`s a lot of technical things and it`s a lot of in and out wiring.

SEBASTIAN: While her friends are all in college, Ellie is starting her fifth year of a fully paid union apprenticeship.

BRIENZA: I already started my life. I already have a career. They`re four years behind me.

SEBASTIAN: You were in high school when the Great Recession hit. Has that in any way inform your decision about what to do with your career?

BRIENZA: Well, I didn`t have a lot of money growing up. So, knowing that I can have a stable job for the rest of my life and good wages, like really good wages, I`m not for $40,000 a year. I`m working for a lot more than that. So, yes, it did affect my decision a lot.

SEBASTIAN: More and more millennials like Ellie are starting to look at careers in blue collar industries, seeking skills and stability. This was the line round the block for a carpenter`s apprenticeship program in New York last month, many camping out overnight.

GARY LABARBERA, PRES., BLDG & CONST. TRADES COUNCIL OF NY: We see literally thousands of people, you know, lining the streets, going around buildings to get an application so that they can have a shot at getting into the apprentice program. And, you know, we see with the amount of work that we have to really, really increasing and we`ll be very robust in New York certainly for the next several years.

SEBASTIAN: It`s a trend that`s happening throughout the U.S.

In the first few years after the Great Recession here in the U.S., the jobs that came back the quickest were the lowest and the highest paid positions.

Since 2013, though, that trend has been reversed. And now, the real growth is happening in the middle.

Despite that shift, Ellie says many are still surprised by her blue collar career choice.

BRIENZA: Oh, it`s -- it`s like, ahh, really? Why?

SEBASTIAN: And what do you say?

BRIENZA: I have a skill. You can`t take that away from me. Nobody will ever take that away from me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: The eastern coast of Kenya on the Indian Ocean was once a tourist attraction. The al-Shabaab terrorist group changed that. Even some of the residents left, as did the aid groups that helped them.

That was something that Umra Omar couldn`t accept. Kenyan by birth, she attended college in the U.S. and was working in Washington, D.C., when she knew it was time to travel home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UMRA OMAR, CNN HERO: It was kind of a sense of responsibility, to come back to where I`m born. Being in the United States, life was getting too comfortable.

Going to cubicle every day.

The respiratory inhalers --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

OMAR: How many did you get?

I made a call to my mom and I was like, I`m coming back. No I don`t have a job but maybe I need to back home for the job to find me.

SUBTITLE: Umra Omar works in remote Kenya to bring healthcare to thousands.

Her team works in areas that are often targeted by terrorist group al- Shabaab.

OMAR: Kidnappings put a dent not only on the terrorism sector but also on the development projects and aid work in the area.

We have about six villages that have absolutely zero access to healthcare.

Being here, being close to home, to be able to fill some of the gaps in access in healthcare, it`s been an I.V. drip for life and purpose. You can see the impact in 0.1 second. I have absolutely zero regrets for taking the leap of faith. I wouldn`t trade it for anything in the world right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: What does it sound like on the largest planet in our solar system? No one knows, but we can give you an idea.

NASA`s Juno spacecraft which was launched five years ago recently did a flyby of Jupiter. It recorded radio signals associated with auroras on

Jupiter and then it shifted these signals into a range where we can listen to them and speed them up.

(JUNO WAVES)

AZUZ: Not quite Vivaldi but there aren`t exactly four seasons on Jupiter, and it`s well-beyond our stratosphere. Could the planet be hiding other sounds, maybe one day we`ll Debussy. More research will get a handle on it and when it comes to even the most egregious theories, data can often Bach
it up.

I`m Carl Azuz orchestrating headlines and puns for CNN STUDENT NEWS.