Return to Transcripts main page
CNN 10
Greece`s Debt Crisis; Daylight Savings Time
Aired November 04, 2011 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: It`s Friday, and that is awesome. So is the fact that most of us are going to get an extra hour of sleep this weekend. Can`t wait for that.
Today, we`re going to explain why that tradition started. I`m Carl Azuz, and this is CNN Student News.
First up, Greece`s debt crisis overshadows just about everything else at the G-20 economic conference. World leaders are meeting in France to talk about global financial issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): President Obama, who`s at the G-20 meeting, says the most important thing they need to do is to resolve Europe`s financial problems. Greece`s debt is a big part of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: There`s a deal that would give Greece a financial bailout, but it comes with rules about cutting government spending. That`s made a lot of Greek citizens angry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): The country`s prime minister, George Papandreou, shocked a lot of people earlier this week when he said he wanted his citizens to vote on whether they wanted the bailout. Yesterday he seemed to change his mind and said the vote may not be necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Seventeen European countries, including Greece, all use the same currency: it`s the euro. And if one of those economies takes a big hit, it could have a seriously negative effect on all the others. Max Foster explains, it was a very different story when the currency was first introduced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAX FOSTER, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): It was heralded as a tool that would change the status quo of the global economy, a challenger to the dominance of the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A majority of E.U.`s politicians agree that a single currency, to be called the euro, will benefit trade, guard against inflation and eliminate exchange rate risks.
FOSTER (voice-over): But in the face of monetary unity, those divisions (ph), with protests stretching from Spain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
FOSTER (voice-over): . to Germany.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
JIM BITTERMAN, CNN REPORTER: Across Europe, according to one survey, consumers are more negative than positive about the coming of the euro. Many worry that businesses will take advantage of odd exchange rates to round off prices upward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the euro be a benefit or a loss for everybody?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s a big step towards union, and union, most of the time, means peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Countries that are economically worse off we`ll end up paying for, and then before you know it, there will be another war.
FOSTER (voice-over): European leaders were on the hard sell, painting the euro as an economic and even social savior.
WOLFGANG ISCHINGER, GERMAN DIPLOMAT: In the long run, such a project will, in fact, contribute to the kinds of things that our citizens are looking for: security, the absence of crime, the absence of drugs, prosperity, jobs, trade, investment.
FORMER ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER ROMANO PRODI: The euro is the beginning of a stronger European Union. We shall be the best in the world, the best in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Next up, a milestone for China`s space program. Last month, the country launched a laboratory module into orbit. And on Tuesday, China sent up an unmanned spacecraft.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Yesterday, the two came together. China`s government says the successful docking is another step on the way to building a space station. For now, the module and spaceship will be used to run some experiments. Then the ship will come back to earth, while the module stays in space.
China plans to try another docking test, one with an astronaut on board. That`ll happen sometime next year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): On this day in history, back in 1922, British archeologist Howard Carter and his crew discovered the entrance to King Tut`s tomb.
In 1979, Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. More than 60 Americans were taken hostage and held for more than 14 months.
And three years ago, in 2008, Barack Obama won the U.S. presidential election, becoming the first African-American elected to the Oval Office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: If you`ve been watching our show over the past month or so, you`ve probably heard of Occupy Wall Street. This protest movement doesn`t have a specific leader or demands, but a lot of the protests seem to target the U.S. financial industry.
In New York City, it`s been going on for more than 40 days. But the protests are happening in other parts of the U.S. as well. For the most part, they`ve been peaceful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): That hasn`t always been the case in California. What you`re seeing is video from Oakland. Protesters there have been fighting with police officers. Yesterday, some protesters started throwing rocks at the police, who then used tear gas to try to break up the scene.
Members of the Occupy movement are blaming the violence on a radical group among the protesters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: In the U.S., Daylight Saving Time is coming to an end this weekend. It means for most of us, it`s going to get darker an hour earlier. But why do we have Daylight Saving Time? How did all that get started? Reynolds Wolf takes a look back at why we fall back early Sunday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN REPORTER: This is not a complex issue. Daylight saving is basically self-explanatory. It`s saving daylight.
Originally, daylight saving was one of the things where it was originally for agrarian societies. It was to use the -- get the most use out of as much daylight as you possibly could. It was certainly helpful with farmers, certainly helpful with fisherman.
But then later, in later years, it actually began -- daylight savings was actually practiced for the sole purpose of really saving energy.
We`ve been following Daylight Saving Time in the United States for quite a while. It really first became official back during World War I for the sake of growing extra food for troops overseas.
It was brought back for World War II, but recently it was the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that was the real difference maker, that made it more of a formal type of exercise that has been basically followed by every state in the United States, with a few exceptions, that being, of course Arizona, Hawaii, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and the American Samoas.
Internationally, it`s kind of a hodgepodge around the globe. If you took a look at the planet, and you were to light up places that were experiencing daylight saving, you`d see really just a hop, skip and a jump from one continent to the other.
It`s kind of varied, wherever you happen to do. There`s some places, I can tell you, in Africa, where there are many spots where they don`t practice it. There are many places, obviously, in parts of Asia. Europe, though, practices it for the most part.
OK. Now we`re getting to the nitty-gritty stuff. This is the stuff that drives people crazy. To me, it`s daylight saving. It`s a verb. It`s something we`re doing. We`re saving daylight. Savings is a noun. That`s something that you have at the bank. Obviously, we`re using the verb.
It`s very possible that, at some point, we may indeed get rid of Daylight Saving Time. But for the time being, it is certainly here, and it`s something we`ve got to deal with, for better or for worse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the facts: Veterans` Day is celebrate every year on November 11th. That`s because it`s the date that an armistice went into effect, ending World War I. In fact, Veterans` Day was originally called Armistice Day.
In the U.S., it became a federal holiday in 1938. And the name was changed to Veterans` Day in 1954. The holiday honors all of the men and women who have ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Veterans` Day is a week away. We`re getting started early, because we want you to be part of our coverage. We want to hear why you think it`s important to honor America`s veterans, and how you and your class are planning to do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): A couple ways to tell us -- and they are both at our website, cnnstudentnews.com, you can comment on our blog or if you`re at least 13, you can send us an iReport. Find out how to do that in the Spotlight section, cnnstudentnews.com.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Trent Glaze is a high school senior. This past Friday, his school`s football team played its last game of the season. They didn`t win, but they did get to run one special play.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): After the clock hit zero, the teams lined back up, and Trent took a handoff all the way to the end zone. He`s been a wheelchair for 10 years because of muscular dystrophy, so this was the first time that Trent was able to be part of a play. His coach says Trent has always been an inspiration.
TOM MCCURDY, FAIRFIELD UNION FOOTBALL COACH: Hopefully, our young people, our players will take his drive, his heart and run with it, you know, for the years to come.
TRENT GLAZE, FAIRFIELD UNION STUDENT: It`s emotional. I mean, I still get butterflies thinking about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: And finally today, a vending machine that offers snacks high in protein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Fact, they`re pretty much all protein, because this machine dispenses meat -- steaks, pork chops, sausages -- it`s called the Smart Butcher.
The store owner who installed it says it sells about 10 to 20 different meats a day. The prices are pretty good, too. Guys at the local deli might feel a little threatened. Now you don`t have to visit them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Thanks to this machine, you can "vend" for yourself. It is the first of its kind in Alabama, and residents say they never "sausage" a thing before. They seem to like it. So I hope it doesn`t get removed, because that would be a cold cut.
Those are great puns, no matter how you slice it. Just glad I didn`t butcher any of them. Remember to set your clocks back this weekend, and we`ll "meat" again Monday for more CNN Student News.
END
