APRIL 17, 2018
Survivors of an Alleged Chemical Attack in Syria Share Their Memories;
Researchers Envision a Dream-Recording Machine;
A Positive Athlete Remembers His Mother
CARL
AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: This is CNN 10 and I`m Carl Azuz at CNN Center. We`re
happy to see you this Tuesday.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons or OPCW is an
independent organization. Its goals include getting rid of the chemical weapons
that some countries have made and helping protect people from them. And on the
same day that the U.S., the U.K. and France launched airstrikes against
the Syrian government, for its alleged use of the chemical weapons in the town
of Douma, investigators from the OPCW arrived in the Syrian capital and
they`ve been waiting to get access to Douma.
The attack on April 7th killed 75 people. The World Health Organization says
500 others were treated with symptoms that a chemical weapons attack would
cause. The United Nations bans the use of chemical weapons of war, but the OPCW
says it`s seen more than 390 accusations of chemical weapons use in Syria
since 2014.
Western leaders blamed the Syrian government for using them in Douma. Syria and
its ally Russia have strongly denied it. And the OPCW team is trying to
find out what the truth is. The U.S. is considered that Russia might have
tampered with evidence at the site of the alleged attack and the U.K. has
accused Russia and Syria of keeping OPCW inspectors from entering Douma.
While they waited hope to get access to the site, CNN`s Arwa Damon recently
spoke to survivors of the alleged attack. Their story shows how even
those who live carry the scars of war in their memory.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And there`s definitely
something that stinks.
(voice-over): These backpacks belong to Malas (ph) and Betha (ph), 7-year- old
twins from Douma.
They`re a little shy and hesitant.
They smelled something Malas (ph) says.
Their mother, Imoor (ph), tells us they remember everything vividly.
They were hiding in a basement when the alleged chemical weapons attack in
Douma took place. They could barely breathe. She felt her body go limp.
She clawed her way up, dragging her daughters but then the other strikes
began.
We were between two deaths, she remembers, either from chemical strikes or the
others on the rooftop.
(on camera): The smell is still quite strong because I think that they weren`t
able to wash yet.
Look, that`s the toy that her daughter hid away to try to keep her safe and she
would tell the toy, you know, you might -- you might suffocate but at least
you`ll be safe from the bombing. That is how -- that`s how the kids` minds
work.
Yesterday, they were digging a tunnel for the ants so that the ants wouldn`t
suffocate, just in case something happened.
(voice-over): In another tent, we meet a boy with a jagged scar running across
his abdomen from shrapnel. His uncle, who doesn`t want to be identified,
was among the worst affected in the family in the chemical strike.
He says a blood sample was taken the day before. This new camp is inhabited
with those who survived the siege of Douma. Its relentless, months-long
bombing that drove families underground so that something as simple as feeling
the sun on their skin was a luxury.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
"We are such stuff/As dreams are made on, and our little life/Is rounded
with a sleep" is from what Shakespeare play?
The Tempest, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet or As You Like It?
These are the words of Prospero in Shakespeare`s play The Tempest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Will we one day wake to a world where we can rewatch our dreams on a
video recorder, or is that just a pipe dream?
There are a number of scientists working on technology that could answer those
questions. At the University of Texas at Austin, researchers are using a
device to measure nerve impulses while people sleep. Electrodes on their arms,
legs, chin and lips are trying to detect how people are moving and what
they`re saying in their dreams.
A separate study at Japan`s Kyoto University is using a type of MRI to look at
brain activity as people wake up and then try to reconstruct the images they
saw in dreams.
And another group at Northwestern University is using electrodes on brain
surgery patients to detect the activity of specific brain cells. A researcher
there says this could determine the subject of dreams like a mom or a
dad.
Put all this information together, one scientist says, and you might be able to
see a type of replay of your dreams. A machine to do this does not exist.
Researchers say that could be decades away and if something like it is
invented, there are some ethical concerns about it.
Could dreams be hacked somehow to get private information about someone?
Researchers say most people have four to six dreams per night, but forget 90
percent them. Scientists do not agree about the function dreams have or how
important they are.
The dreams of an American student and football player named Khoury Bethley go
beyond the touchdowns he scores. He`s working to fulfill the dreams his mother
had for him and to keep the promise he made her. Khoury is an example of a
positive athlete, a young person who`s making a difference or persevering
on and off the field. CNN.com/PositiveAthlete is where you can go to nominate
someone for our new series.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KHOURY BETHLEY, POSITIVE ATHLETE: I`m Khoury Bethley. I go to Don Lugo High
School. I`m going to the University of Hawaii to play football and I have
this tattoo. It represents my mom and when she passed away. And that`s why I
play for her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was probably the worst (INAUDIBLE) that hurt my life. It
was a thing you don`t prepare for or thing you don`t know what to tell
your kids.
BETHLEY: I lost my mom to brain cancer at age 6. She`d come home and then start
feeling sick, until she`d come -- she`d go back to the hospital and then
she`s ended up losing all her memory and everything and she just passed away.
That`s why I play for her, her and my family and just want to make it so I can
take care f my family and just to live out what she wanted us to do, just
get our education.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: General ed first and then you can get the bachelors
degrees after that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, right now, we`re currently about 36 percent of our
students qualified to go to colleges, including Khoury. He`s been a great
role model in letting students know that despite your circumstances, you need
to keep going forward and finish with college so that you can make a good
life for yourself.
BETHLEY: I made a pledge to my mom before she passed away that I`d get my
degree my college and graduate and get my diploma.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s a very humble young man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to take a moment to introduce all of our seniors,
number six, Khoury Bethley
SUBTITLE: Steve Bethley remarried. They lovingly called their new extended
family "Brown Brady Brunch".
BETHLEY: She always was like my angel. She`s watching down on me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: In the northern hemisphere, it`s officially been spring since March 20,
but the first part of April has brought blizzard conditions to the northern
plains and the Upper Midwest.
The cold and the snow have set records in several states including Michigan
where meteorologist Garry Frank of affiliate WXMI reached a limit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUBTITLE: This Michigan meteorologist is sick of hearing complaints about his
cold weather reports.
GARRY FRANK, WXMI METEOROLOGIST: It`s going to be fine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`ll be fine.
FRANK: It`ll be fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
FRANK: It could be worse, has been worse.
Well, because you guys are dragging me down. You guys keep -- every time I get
done with the seven-day, you guys are like "Ugh! Gosh!"
Four-thirty,
5:30, 6:30! And then you expect me to be chipper for five straight hours. It`s
miserable!
I want you guys to say, wow, that`s great news. It`s going to be 60 on Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But then you said it`s going to snow on again!
FRANK: Well, what do you want me to do? Lie to you? I`ll put 70 every day next
ime. God!
Here`s some wind. Here`s some temperature. Twenties, feels like 19, or feels
like 70. I don`t know.
Here`s a 60, I don`t know if that`s good enough for you guys. Get excited.
Maybe I`ll disappoint you with the seven-day here in a few minutes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he done? That was terrifying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Well, the weather outside is frightful and I guess he didn`t want to
weather anymore criticism. That kind of thing could give anyone an icy demeanor.
Thankfully, he got the meteorologist of his report across and even with his
burning frustration, the weather itself still manage to ensure it was a
cold ending.
I`m Carl Azuz and that`s CNN 10.
