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Egypt`s Deposed President Morsy Preparing to Stand Trial; Janet Yellen Nominated for Fed Chair; Debt Ceiling Fight

Aired October 10, 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: Africa, Asia, South America, get ready to go global because we`re about to visit them all. I`m Carl Azuz. This is CNN STUDENT NEWS.

First, we`re heading to North Africa, where Egypt`s former president is preparing to stand trial. Last year, Mohammed Morsy became Egypt`s first democratically elected president. This year, he was thrown out of office by Egypt`s military. Now, he and other members of his Muslim Brotherhood Party are facing charges of committing and inciting violence.

The unrest in Egypt is affecting that country`s relationship with the United States. Yesterday, the U.S. announced that it is suspending a significant amount of the military aid that it sends to Egypt.

Next, we`re hopping over to Syria. That country`s civil war has not ended, but an international team says that it`s making progress in efforts to destroy Syria`s chemical weapons. Inspectors saw some chemical weapons equipment destroyed this week. They say Syrian authorities have been cooperative.

The United Nations says the inspectors are working in a dangerous environment. The lead inspector called for temporary cease-fires in the fighting so that they can do their work.

Last stop: South America. Teachers in the nation of Brazil had been demanding pay raises for months. This week, they took to the streets. Thousands of people marched in protest in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo. The event started off as peaceful demonstrations, but once the sun went down, violence broke out. Some people in the crowd threw fire bombs. Officers responded with tear gas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if you can ID me. I`m a U.S. government organization that was created in 1913. I was established to help make America`s financial system more stable. I`m the country`s central bank. I am the Federal Reserve, or Fed, and I influence the amount of credit and money in the American economy.

AZUZ: Ben Bernanke is the head of the Federal Reserve. His term as chairman ends in January. Yesterday, the president announced his pick to take Bernanke`s place. The pick is the current vice chairman, Janet Yellen. She has support, but some critics are worried that she`ll follow the same policies as Ben Bernanke. It`s the U.S. Senate`s job to decide whether to confirm the president`s nominee. If the Senate does confirm her, this nominee would make history.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oprah Winfrey. Hillary Clinton. On the list of the world`s most powerful women. Time to add Janet Yellen?

Ever heard the name Janet Yellen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I have not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, this is the first time, yes, never heard of her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first woman nominated to run the Fed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s going to run the what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Fed. Short for Federal Reserve. The agency oversees all U.S. banks, ensuring the money supply is stable. It`s one of the most powerful jobs on the planet.

Do you know what the Fed does?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don`t they regulate interest rates?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Money. Control of money.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They control interest rates and stuff like that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do know that. There are two functions. First is to maximize employment, and the second is to control inflation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, how do you know that? Are you American?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where are you from?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Holland.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For 19 years, the Fed was run by the famously inscrutable Alan Greenspan.

ALAN GREENSPAN, FED CHAIRMAN: Increased uncertainty can induce a higher discount of those returns.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then came Ben Bernanke, the Great Recession, cheap money, and a more user-friendly Fed.

BEN BERNANKE, FED CHAIRMAN: The economic recovery has continued at a moderate pace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the president has to fill those shoes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Janet.

JANET YELLEN, FED CHAIRMAN NOMINEE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yellen has degrees from Brown and Yale, taught at Harvard, and got tenure at Berkeley. Her son is an economist. Her husband has a Nobel prize in economic theory. The 67-year-old has been on the Fed for more than a decade. She`s been a trailblazer for women in her field.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the highest levels of central banking, there are very few women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She ran the San Francisco Fed, where she was known for standing in the lunch line with her office staff, and for her work on jobs and wages. She recently said unemployment is not just statistics to me. That`s why so many Democrats like her, but she`s also seen as a pretty safe choice on Wall Street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: All right. Have you noticed effects of the partial U.S. government shutdown? On our blog, Solon (ph) writes, "I haven`t noticed any shutdown at all, except that my parents are complaining about it." Sarah thinks it`s affecting some people more than others. "I haven`t been able to access some government websites due to the shutdown." From Carson, "My mom is self-employed, and my dad is a state employee. It`s not really affecting us." Louis says, "I was planning to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains over the weekend, but with the national parks out of service, I couldn`t go."

On FaceBook, Taylor responded, "I had to do research for an English paper and couldn`t look at a certain website. It was down due to the shutdown." John says, "Apart from two national parks near us, we`re not seeing any major effects." Jacob writes, "My uncle works for NASA, programming satellites, and he`s without a job. Fortunately, my dad works for the VA and has an essential job."

Donia (ph) had a lighter take. "Alcatraz is shut down. At first, people couldn`t get out, now they can`t get in."

You may or may not have noticed the effects of the shutdown, but the debt ceiling, the other big fight happening in Washington, that could be different. U.S. Treasury secretary says that in one week, the government will hit the debt ceiling and won`t have enough money to pay all of its bills. If that happens, it could have a wide impact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you do not pay the mortgage on your house one month, you know the impact goes beyond your front door. It affects your dealings with the bank, your credit ratings, maybe even your standing in the community. That`s what some economic analysts fear will happen if the U.S. goes into default, and in fact, a domino effect will be kicked off that will touch places all around the globe.

How would that work? On the day the United States doesn`t have enough money to pay all of its debts, that first domino falls, and difficult choices must be made. Do you spend the money you have on supporting existing programs that people are counting on, like Social Security and the military and the Agriculture Department, or do you focus more on paying the interest you owe to the people who have already loaned the country money to keep operating? Either way, there are consequences that follow, because when those dominos fall, consumer confidence can fall also, because now people who were counting on that government money aren`t getting it. Businesses out there who were counting on those consumers can`t anymore. Plus, if they had government contracts, they`re not getting those, and all of that makes the stock market nervous, and that kicks it back to the next level of dominos. Now, businesses are saying we can`t add jobs, we can`t even support the jobs we have in this environment. Investors say we`re not putting more money into businesses when things are this shaky. That means your 401(k) and all of your savings become worth less, and if there`s anyone (ph) in the world who will still loan money to the United States, they`re going to say, the risk is too high, we`re going to charge much more interest, and that can make it keep rippling all around the world, affecting people everywhere.

People can argue about whether or not this will all happen or if there are stop-gap measures, or how fast it might happen, but they all agree on this: It`s a lot easier to push these dominoes over than it is to set them up again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: It`s time for the final four, the last four U.S. states to be added to our roll call map. That includes Massachusetts and the Patriots from Revere High School. The Redmond High Panthers are helping us put Oregon on the roll call map. Back to New England, where the Winnesquan (ph) bears, I hope I said that right, they become our first New Hampshire school. The 50th state is the first state, it`s Delaware, the Buccaneers from Milford High.

In less than two months, you have helped us announce schools from all 50 states in our roll call. Awesome. There are different ways for teachers and students ages 13 and older to request a roll call mention. Here is one. If you are already on FaceBook, go to Facebook.com/cnnstudentnews, and tell us your school name, mascot, city and state. We`ll also post info in the days ahead about how we pick roll call schools. So if you`re on FaceBook, like our page, and keep an eye out for the behind the scenes content.

Heard of family style restaurants before, but this dog and these chickens are not in the same family. Dog versus bird does not sound like a fair fight, but three against one evens up the odds a little bit, and it actually looks like the dog can`t catch a break. Anytime he shoos one or two chickens away, there is still someone chowing (ph) down. It can be frustrating to lose your lunch, but at least he`s not playing ruff. Maybe that`s why the chickens made him the target of their fowl play. After all, it does seem like he was henpicked (sic). They could offer to compensate him for his lost meal, but the payment would just be chicken scratch.

Doggone it, we are out of time. We`ll be beak tomorrow with more CNN STUDENT NEWS. See you then.

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