CNN STUDENT NEWS - April 9, 2018
a massive crack in the earth in Kenya
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hey. I`m Carl Azuz, kicking
off a new week of explaining world news on CNN 10. We hope your weekend was
amazing.
And we`re starting this Monday with a follow-up on a
story we brought you last week. We reported that U.S. President Donald Trump
was sending a number of National Guard soldiers to the border between America
and Mexico. Now, we know that number, the president wants to deploy between
2,000 and 4,000 guardsmen there. And the order from Defense Secretary James
Mattis is for up to 4,000 National Guard personnel to go and they`re scheduled
to be there through the end of September.
President Trump says this will help seal off America`s
southern border, providing better security and safety for Americans. Critics of
previous deployments like this say they were costly and limited in terms of how
effective they were. The border between the U.S. and Mexico is 1,954 miles long.
It runs from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico and while most of that
border, more than 1,200 miles of it, runs along the U.S. state of Texas, the
barriers that are currently there cover 100 miles.
The National Guard has been deployed along the border
before. Six thousand soldiers were sent by former President George W. Bush,
beginning in 2006.
Twelve hundred soldiers were sent by former President
Barack Obama beginning in 2010. And this year, President Trump is planning to
deploy guardsmen to the border until his proposed wall is completed.
President Bush signed what was called the Secure Fence
Act back in 2006. What that did was authorized more barriers and surveillance
equipment at the border. Ten years after that, in 2016, there are around 700
miles of fence along the border. It`s different heights at different places,
the tallest parts being 18 feet off the ground.
As far as apprehensions at the border are concerned,
the government says almost 304,000 people were arrested or detained for
illegally crossing the border in the 2017 fiscal year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Arizona, we are
told that National Guard planners are working over the weekend in advance of
the deployment of 150 personnel sometime during next week. Exactly where they
will be stationed, we do not know and exactly when they will be deployed, we
also do not yet know. Over in Texas, of course, the deployment has already
begun.
Now, is this even necessary? Well, opponents will point
to the stat back in 2000, 1.6 million people were apprehended on the southwest
border and that has fallen to around 300,000 a year. Proponents will say, yes,
but this march is up on March 2017, and March was up on February and they will say
that more families and more individuals are crossing the border and that is why
the Department of Homeland Security is calling what`s happening on this border
right now a crisis.
Nick Watt, CNN, Nogales,
Arizona.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: The issue of immigration also factors into our
next story from the Central European nation of Hungary. It held a general
election Sunday that`s expected to give the nation`s incumbent leader, Prime
Minister Viktor Orban another term. He and his political party had campaigned
on anti-immigration platform. They`ve had enough support in the government to
make major changes to Hungary`s laws, increasing governmental control over the
media, the bank, the high court and outside organizations.
Hungary is part of the European Union, a political and
economic partnership of 28 European countries, but E.U. leaders are concerned
that Hungary`s democracy is being weakened by its increasingly powerful
government.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hungarian
politics may not be on your radar, but this E.U. country is starting to drift
away from the West, and back into Russia`s sphere of influence.
This is Hungary`s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Back in
1989, he was calling for Soviet troops to leave the country.
Fast forward, almost 30 years, and here he is, one of
Russian President Vladimir Putin`s closest allies.
So, how did Orban go from pro-Western activist to
Russian ally?
Orban, like Putin, has consolidated control of the
country`s media. And Orban, like Putin, has cracked down on nongovernmental
organizations.
Russia`s influence can be seen in other ways, too.
Back in 2014, Moscow made a $10.8 billion to Hungary.
Ostensibly, it was to fund the expansion of Hungary`s only nuclear Soviet era
power plant.
But critics said it would only increase Hungary`s
dependence on Russia. The deal was finally given the go-ahead by the E.U. this
year. Orban`s government stands by its record and denies any Russian influence.
ZOLTAN KOVACS, GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: There`s not
one element of our policies and not one element of our decisions that can
suggest to you that we are closer to Russia and Mr. Putin in any way that any
Western European country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: It`s one thing to patch up a crack in the wall,
the floor, or the driveway. But what do you do about this?
The crack in the earth is more than 50 feet wide in
some places and 50 feet deep, and it reportedly followed heavy rains and some
ground vibration last month in the Eastern African country of Kenya.
Scientists say this is evidence of plate tectonics,
the theory that giant chunks of the earth`s crust and upper mantle are slowly
shifting and breaking in some places. One area where two such plates are
thought to meet is the East African Reef, and that`s near where there is going
on.
So, does this mean that part of the African continent
will eventually break off? Maybe. But it`s probably nothing for us to worry
about.
If this is part of a breakup between the East African
Reef and the rest of the continent, scientists say it won`t be complete for
tens of millions of years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
Which of these world capitals has the highest
population?
New Delhi, India, Cairo, Egypt, Manila, Philippines,
or Moscow, Russia?
These nations are ranked in order from the highest
population to the lowest, according to the CIA world fact book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: With more than 25.7 million people, New Delhi
isn`t just one of the world`s most populated cities, it`s also one of the most
polluted, and its leaders have tried everything from banning trucks at certain
times to shooting water mist cannons to get pollutants out of the air.
The man in our "Tomorrow`s Hero" report has
a more conventional solution, a giant air filter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANGAD DARYANI, INVENTOR: Growing up, I had asthma, and
I was -- I used a lot of breathing problems. In India, I have seen there`s a --
it`s one of the fastest growing economies in the world, which means there`s
thousands of cars added to the street every single day.
And with the increasing cars, there`s high levels of
air pollution in the city.
Hi. My name is Angad Daryani and I`m 19 years old.
My invention is a large scale air purification system
for developing countries like India and China.
I wanted to build something that could actually impact
thousands of people in the city who are facing these breathing problems.
What I`ve actually been working on is a 20-foot tower
that captures all the solid dust particle that`s rising because of the construction
and the economic growth in the city and also the solid carbon particles that
humans breathe every single day, which are emitted from trucks and car exhaust pipes.
So, there`s two things that we want to separate. One
is dust and other heavy solid particles in the air. And second is microscopic
carbon particles. So, if there was a surge (ph) again, it automatically starts
stabilizing.
There`s five phases in the tower that all do different
specific task and it`s very highly controlled, each phase, so that it`s
automatically adopting to its surroundings and temperature in the air, and
accounting for the external details while carrying out the cleansing process
internally.
There`s something that`s very special about this
project, is that there`s no solid replaceable filter used anywhere in the
entire project. So, at the bottom of the tower, you have dust and carbon
separated in two separate tanks that can be cleaned every week or every two
weeks based on how much dust and carbon it captures every single day.
If this tower performs the way that we want it to
perform, we will see an overall improvement in the quality of air in the city
and also the quality of health of people suffering from breathing problems and other
respiratory diseases.
My eventual dream is to build companies that solve
problems like this and cleaning the planet of the waste that we humans have
caused for hundreds of years. As overly ambitious as it sounds, that`s a dream
and that`s what I`m working towards every single day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: With the weather turning warmer, a lot of
Americans are anticipating or dreading cutting their law every week. But you
don`t need a mower, you need a goat. Now, you might expect to see them in a
major city like Atlanta, Georgia, but near the Mercedes Benz Stadium, 41
ruminants were recently brought in, along with a couple of dogs that guard them
to keep a roadside trim with that just mowed look.
Are they quieter than lawn mowers? Usually. What do
you call them? Billy. Could they be used in other places? They cud.
What do they drink for refreshment? Milk. And will
they ever replace lawn mowers? Ibex they will in some places.
I think we`ve tried just about every other goat pun
and that`s all the ruminant we have on today`s show.
I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.
END