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CNN 10

Protests in Turkey; Middle Eastern Coronavirus Spreads to Europe

Aired June 04, 2013 - 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: Discussing donations, fighting fires and parking without people - all that`s coming up. But we start this Tuesday edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS with new developments and two stories we`ve told you about recently. First, the nation of Turkey. Yesterday, we reported on protests there, the largest demonstrations against Turkey`s government in years. Yesterday, they were still going, this started in Istanbul, but the fighting between protesters and police forces has spread to other cities like the capital, Ankara. The big focus of these protests is Turkey`s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has run the country`s government for ten years. A local journalist described him as the most powerful and popular politician Turkey has seen in generations, but some Turks disagree with Erdogan`s controlling leadership style. The journalists said he thinks people are protesting because they want their voices heard. For now, the protesters show no signs of backing down and Prime Minister Erdogan shows no signs of giving into their demands. The other story we are following up on is about a virus that first showed up in the Middle East. Now, it`s spread to Italy. It`s called the Middle East respiratory symptom Coronavirus or MERS-CoV for short. The general director of the World Health Organization says it`s a threat to the entire world. So far, 53 known infections have been reported, but of those 53 cases, the patients in 30 of them have died. Over the weekend, three new cases were reported in Italy, it`s first time the virus has shown up in that country.

Health officials said all three patients are in stable condition, one thing they all had in common, they had either travel to the Middle East recently or been in contact with someone who had. In fact, that`s been the case for all the reported cases of MERS-CoV so far. That`s one of the few things that health officials do know about this virus. How it spreads, still a mystery. In order to prevent infections, scientists need as much information as they can, and the World Health Organization is asking the entire world to pull its resources together to study this virus.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just the facts: cystic fibrosis is a disease that can affect a person`s lungs and digestive system. Symptoms can appear in newborn babies or may not show up until adulthood. Cystic fibrosis is life threatening. That can be treated, but there is no cure.

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AZUZ: Sarah Murnaghan was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was a baby. Now, Sarah is ten, and her hope is that she`ll get a new set of lungs. That would have to come from an organ donor. You might have seen a notice about organ donation at the DMV. People can sign up to be an organ donor when they renew or get their license. Some organs can be donated while you`re alive, others like lungs are donated after the donor has died. Every day around 80 Americans get a life-saving organ transplant, and every day nearly 20 Americans die while waiting for an organ donations. Right now there are around 1700 people on the waiting list for lungs. Sarah is at the top of the list for pediatric lungs, adult lungs are a lot more available, but getting those can be challenging for different reasons. Susan Candiotti explains why in this report on Sarah.

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SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN ANCHOR: Sarah Murnaghan`s lungs are getting weaker and weaker. The ten-year old with cystic fibrosis is now in intensive care. Wise beyond her years, Sarah knows she needs a transplant, and is in a battle for her life.

SARAH MURNAGHAN, NEEDS LUNG TRANSPLANT: No, I`m never gonna quit! Never! Never!

CANDIOTTI: Sarah`s parents also are not quitting. Frustrated because Friday the federal government refused to intervene.

JANET MURNAGHAN, SARAH`S MOTHER: Somebody needs to stand up and say, this is right, this is a human issue, this is not politics, this is a human issue.

CANDIOTTI: Even though Sarah`s at the top of the child`s transplant list in her region and has been waiting for 18 months, federal guidelines disqualify her for an adult lung until she is 12, unless every other adult on the waiting list turns down a donor lung. In an email obtained by CNN, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Sarah`s parents, she is not authorized to intervene. But is ordering a transplant policy review, adding "I know this is not the answer you were hoping to receive, my prayers are with you."

JANET MURNAGHAN: She`s, I`m so sorry, I know this isn`t what you wanted to hear. It is in her legal authority, we`re going to let your kid die over red tape?

CANDIOTTI: It`s a battle Sarah shares with other children, comparing her lungs disease with CF to a boat filling with sand.

SARAH MURNAGHAN: "You close your eyes and pretend that you`re on a boat. But sand sinks your boat. But we`re gonna be OK."

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Tell me what you think her chances are now, given that the Secretary didn`t step in.

SARAH MURNAGHAN: If you directly donate your loved one`s lungs to Sarah, the law cannot change that. And Sarah will use them and create a positive wonderful life and legacy for your loved one. I`m praying that somebody sees this story and is in a position to save my baby.

CANDIOTTI (voice over): For now, Sarah says life is all about possibilities. Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

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AZUZ: Very powerful story. And in California more than 2,000 firefighters are working to get a massive blaze under control. This is happening around 65 miles outside of Los Angeles. It`s called the powerhouse fire, it broke out last Thursday near a hydroelectric plant. Since then winds have helped spread the flames, and the wildfire has burned at least 25,000 acres. And acres roughly the size as a football field, so imagine 25,000 of them, that`s how big an area we`re talking about. Yesterday, officials said it was around 40 percent contained. Around the 1000 homes were threatened by the fire. Nearly 3,000 people were affected, told to leave their homes to get away from the danger. Experts predict that the powerhouse fire may not be fully contained until early next week.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s "Shoutout" goes out to Mr. Kunis` U.S. history classes at Aviano Middle High School in Aviano, Italy.

The world "garage" comes from what language? You know what to do. Is it Latin, Hindi, Greek or French? You`ve got three seconds, go.

"Garage" comes from a French word that means "to shelter." That`s your answer and that`s your "Shoutout."

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AZUZ: How many times have you left your car in a parking garage and then come back later and have that split second - oh no, where did I park feeling? What if you didn`t have to ever remember where you parked? In fact, what you never had to park at all? Jack Tapper explains how a new type of garage handles autos with automation.

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JACK TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think this is scary? What about letting a robot park your car? The family who brought you some of the fastest rollercoasters in the world is now brining you this: the robot garage. Now, don`t get too excited, a robot won`t be behind the wheel. Rather, the garage does the parking. Take a look at how it works: First, you pull in and park on a large steel track, next punch your code into a panel. The battery-powered robot then slides under the tray and lifts your vehicle two inches above the floor, moving it to an open parking space and in a touch worthy of Inspector Gadget spins your car around and parks it.

President and founder of Boomerang Chris Mulvihill came up with the idea.

CHRIS MULVIHILL, BOOMERANG PRESIDENT: You don`t have to remember where you parked. You don`t have to worry about the (inaudible).

TAPPER: Now, what you might be worried about is, what happens if the robot breaks down?

MULVIHILL: A very low level technician can come in and simply turn the button off and push it into an empty space.

TAPPER: That`s right, move it aside and the other robots keep working.

Similar technology has done well overseas, but robotic garages in the U.S. have only had moderate success, Mulvihill says, until now. Even better robots eliminate the need for humans to walk through empty garages alone.

MARK PATTERSON, BOOMERANG CHAIRMAN AND CEO: Many bad things have happened in parking garages, but the patron never has to be in the garage in an unsafe environment.

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AZUZ: Remember everything your parents taught you about good table manners? These guys are about to throw all that out the window, that`s what you got to do to keep up in the world of professional eating. These competitors are cramming their crawls with the deli delicacy, pastrami, the winner packed away 25 half sandwiches in ten minutes. Hopefully, he packs some anti-acids, too. Some of our "Before We Go" segments are fluffy, but this one had some real meat to it. In fact, they shouldn`t even call it a competition, they should call it a meat meat. We`ll meet you again for tomorrow`s digestive CNN STUDENT NEWS. We hope you`ll choose to join us. Have a great day.

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