CARL AZUZ,
CNN 10 ANCHOR: Great to have you watching CNN 10. We are 10 minutes of world
news explained and I am your host, Carl Azuz.
It's been
a destructive week for parts of the U.S. Midwest and Southeast. For days,
severe thunderstorms have roared through the region, spinning off tornadoes and
causing damage in Iowa, Virginia, and the states in between. At least three
people have been killed in these storms, thousand have lost power.
In Tennessee,
a woman at a convenience store captured this video of heavy wind and rain
blasting the earth outside. Homes and businesses were damaged. The National
Weather Service said it got more than 20 reports of tornadoes or suspected
tornadoes in seven states, including Tennessee and Illinois.
The city
of Ottawa was where at least two people died. Dozens of homes nearby were
destroyed and a glass manufacturing plant in the area was damaged.
Illinois
Governor Bruce Rauner said, quote, "We've got to count our blessings. This
could have been way worse."
Tornadoes
can form at any time of the year, but they're most common in the spring.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
JENNIFER
GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Tornadoes are so powerful, they can flatten homes to
their foundation, they could peel asphalt right off of a highway, and it can
toss around 18-wheelers like they're small toys.
SUBTITLE:
Tornadoes: 101.
GRAY:
Tornadoes can be the most deadly and destructive weather phenomenon on Earth.
In fact, about a thousand tornadoes occur every year in the U.S. That's more
than anywhere else on the planet.
Some of
the strongest tornadoes can pack winds of 300 miles per hour or more. It can be
as small as a couple of hundred of yards wide, all the way to two and a half
miles wide, and their path of destruction can be a couple of hundred yards or
extend out fifty miles or more.
When
conditions are just right, you'll get warm moist air coming in from the Gulf of
Mexico. That will collide with dry, cooler air from the North. When these air
masses collide, it creates a lift in the atmosphere, and when you get those
winds rotating and increasing speed with height, that will create a horizontal
column of air that's spinning, then you get a downdraft from a thunderstorm and
that will cool that column of air all the way down to the ground and then you
have a tornado.
(END
VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN
VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ
(voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
When
officials say they're concerned about H7N9, what are they discussing?
A virus, a
location, an asteroid or a plastic?
H7N9 is a
strain of a virus that's also known as avian influenza.
(END VIDEO
CLIP)
AZUZ: Or
bird flu for short.
Though
this virus mainly affects birds, hence the name, certain strains of it have
mutated to sicken people. The Asian country of China is now going through its
fifth epidemic of H7N9 since 2013. The World Health Organization says 460
people there have had confirmed bird flu infections since last October.
Scientists
say this year's outbreak seems worse than previous ones and dozens of people
have died.
Bird flu
symptoms are like those of the regular flu, fever, coughing, sore throat. The
virus can be treated with certain medications.
Despite
this outbreak in China, health officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control say there's not much risk to the general public right now. But because
this disease has the potential to spread, they're raising warning flags and may
ramp up production of emergency vaccine.
China has
shut down a number of live poultry markets to prevent bird flu from spreading.
Other strains that have affected only birds have been reported recently in the
Middle East and especially Europe.
You
probably won't be surprised by the fact that slavery is illegal in every
country on Earth. What is surprising is that tens of millions of people are
enslaved anyway because the slave trade is worth billions to the criminals who
run it. But worldwide, adults and students are raising their voices and raising
money to fight slavery. Some young people are doing this by putting one foot in
front of the other.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED
FEMALE: Ready, set --
(MUSIC)
ALEXANDRA
FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of these teenagers are athletes,
runners, and swimmers used to competition but few of these are faced a
challenge like this. For 24 hours, teams of eight from Hong Kong-based schools
will run continuous relay laps, a bold mission to raise awareness of modern-day
slavery and money to fight human trafficking.
CRICKET
RICHTER, TEAM LEADER, HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: It's really like
important for each other, for all of us to motivate one another.
BAILEE
BROWN, RUNNER, HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: And just keeping the main idea
in mind that we are doing this for a good cause. And this is 24 hours, compared
to our entire lives which most people go through.
FIELD: The
Global Slavery Index estimates there are 48.5 million enslaved people across
the world and that two thirds of them are in Asia. For the seventh year, the
nonprofit running to stop traffic is putting on this race entirely organized by
high school students.
They race
along Hong Kong's Victoria Peak and partner with runners in Kuala Lumpur,
Singapore and South Korea. Together, the Asia relays race raised more than
US$700,000 since 2010.
KESHAV
MENON, BUSINESS DIRECTOR, 24 HOUR RACE: And slowly, I started to go back to my
home roots. And when I found out more about the problem of slavery in India,
how it manifests in many different forms, I felt really bad because I thought
that I'm living in such a privileged area in Hong Kong. I was to go back and I
am not really able to do some change. I slowly got more interested in the 24
Hour Race itself.
FIELD: At
5 o'clock on a Sunday morning, the finish line feels far.
RICHTER:
Very, very tired. Four hours to go. A few of us have injuries and some of us
are starting to get sick.
ALIX
AGUZIN, RUNNER, HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL: When you get a cramp and you
are running and you feel like you can't go on anymore, just think about what
they're going through, and then keep ongoing for them when you can't go on for
yourself. You want to give up, just go on for the cause that you have.
FIELD: The
fuel for these runners, fighting for so many others.
Alexandra
Field, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END
VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Now,
taking a look at self-driving cars. The pros and cons are clear. Potentially
fewer accidents but significantly higher costs. Freeing up passengers during
commutes, but a potential loss in human driving skills. When you take a look at
self-driving race cars, though, one question that comes up might be why? Isn't
racing a sport for human drivers and crews?
According
to Diverge.com, showing that self-driving cars can safely rocket themselves
around a race track might make the general public feel better about
self-driving cars on the street.
One
company developing them is having a wild ride.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
SAMUEL
BURKE, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: This is the world's first self-driving
race car called Robocar and when they're out on the track, they won't have any
drivers. There's no cockpit. All of the cars will be exactly the same, same
specs. The only difference will be the team behind them and the different
algorithms they're creating.
What makes
this self-driving race car different from the typical race car that has a
driver seat?
DENIS
SVERDLOV, ROBORACE CEO: I would say everything. It looks like a plane with
wheels. And it's super efficient in terms of aerodynamics and it's super fast.
Professional drivers cannot take the G-force which is going to be created in
this type of cars.
And it's
super powerful. So, we created special motors for these cars, so it's almost
500 horsepower per wheel. So, it's a beast.
And,
software engineer needs to find a way how to manage this car.
BURKE: Do
you think that the common man in the street who makes minimum wage is going to
be able to relate to this? Or this kind of a sport for rich guys?
SVERDLOV:
The future in any case is going to be driverless. So, we'll see those cars,
like on the roads, very soon. Much sooner than we can expect. And, of course,
it will touch every day life and we'll see (INAUDIBLE) very, very quick.
BURKE:
When I talked to the people creating self-driving cars, they always say it's
not to be cool. The real perk is to try and eliminate car accidents. But one of
your prototypes had a car accident recently in Argentina. So, doesn't this
defeat the purpose?
SVERDLOV:
I think it's opposite. Of course, it's plot (ph) from where all the teams are
(INAUDIBLE). When you crash, what you get, you get a lot of data. You can
listen why did it happen, how to avoid it in the future. And there is no risk
for why. So, this knowledge you can reuse in real road cars. So, it means that
our real road cars will become safer.
BURKE: So,
how much did it cost you?
SVERDLOV:
To me?
BURKE:
Yes.
SVERDLOV:
Around one million pound to make this car.
BURKE: So,
a little more than a million dollars. Worth it?
SVERDLOV:
Yes, for sure.
(END
VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: So,
robots aren't just getting faster, they're getting more athletic y'all. This is
Handle. Why the name? Because it can pick up and handle stuff. It can also
travel up to nine miles per hour. It can balance, spin, it can go down stairs
and its vertical leap is 48 inches. When he unveiled it, the CEO of the
Google-owned company Boston Dynamics said he thinks this could cause
nightmares. Guess that depends on whether the 6-foot 6-inch robot is chasing
you.
It has
excellent handling and it's a home on a range of 15 miles which techies will
get a charge out of. But it could cost a battery of concerns for movie fans
who've seen what can happen when robots get their wires crossed, go on a power
trip and cause dismalfunction. It's almost too much to handle.
This is
CNN 10.
