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The United States` Concern about the Security at Winter Olympics in Russia; An Unmanned Spacecraft Rosetta Back On Its Mission; One World Trade Center`s Construction in New York; "Shoes for Souls" Organized by 13-year old McClain Hermes; Bao Bao - Panda Born in Captivity
Aired January 22, 2014 - 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: Hi. I`m Carl Azuz. Happy to bring you ten minutes of commercial-free current events. This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. First up today, security in Sochi. The 2014 Winter Olympics begin there on February 7th, Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country will do everything possible to keep the game safe and to protect visitors to Sochi.
40,000 Russian police and security forces will be guarding the events. International officials are concerned about possible terrorism. Islamic militants have threatened to attack the games. And Russian police have handed out fliers of a woman they say may now be in Sochi and may be planning an attack.
In Dagestan, a Russian republic about 400 miles east of Sochi, police have been hunting suspected militants. Over the past few days, they say they`ve killed several people with suspected ties to terrorists.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is putting at least one warship and several transport aircraft on standby in case an attack happens. It`s making plans to get Americans out if Russia asks for help.
Our next story today began in 2004. That`s when the European Space Agency launched an unmanned spacecraft named Rosetta. Its mission, which cost about $1.7 billion find a comet, land on it, send back loads of info about what that`s like. But it`s been sleeping for a couple of years now. A planned part of its journey. And mission control in Germany was on pins and needles during Rosetta`s wakeup call.
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INDRA PETERSONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cheers ring out in mission control as European spacecraft Rosetta signals from 500 million miles away that it`s awake after its two and a half year hibernation. The reason for the deep sleep, just like humans, the spacecraft needed to recharge its batteries.
ANDREA ACCOMAZZO, ROSETTA SPACECRAFT OPERATIONS MANAGER: Now we got it back. Now it`s up to us to drive it to the comet.
PETERSONS: For nearly ten years, Rosetta has been chasing a comet through space, hoping to one day land on its surface for scientific research and capturing some incredible images along the way, like this one of the surface of Mars and this showing the Moon rising over the Pacific Ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wake up.
PETERSONS: Scientists beamed a wakeup call to Rosetta early Monday then waited and waited for word that the intergalactic Rip Van Winkle was again up and running.
Finally, a tweet from space, simply, "Hello, World."
ACCOMAZZO: I think it`s been the longest hour of my life.
PETERSONS: The stage is now set for what promises to be a historic spaceflight event.
MARK MCCAUGHREAN, ESA SENIOR SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR: This is just the beginning. You know, without today, without the wakeup, we wouldn`t have a mission at all.
PETERSONS: Rosetta will now scout the comet for the perfect place to land before sending a probe to touchdown on the comet`s surface in November. The probe, a type of portable laboratory, will map, drill, and analyze samples as it travels with the comet on a trip around the Sun, beaming its results back to earth.
MCCAUGHREAN: We know that that`s going to be a great adventure ride for everybody and return some fantastic science about the origins of our own solar system, and potentially, the origins of life on this planet.
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AZUZ: Well, as far as folks in the North and Eastern U.S. are concerned, life is cold. The National Weather Service says this part of the country is in the icebox. Three to nine inches of snow was expected yesterday from the Virginias to Massachusetts. The Federal government told many of its Washington, D.C. employees stay home. There is a major impact at airports, too, with thousands of flights canceled.
But in Ohio, there is a state of emergency. More than ten percent of people who live there use propane tanks or heating oil to keep their homes warm. And the icy weather coincides with a rare shortage of both. The state of emergency will allow trucks that carry the fuel to work longer hours.
Out west, a very different kind of emergency in California. A drought. The worst ever recorded there has dried up lakes and reservoirs, worsened wildfires and killed off crops.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time for the "Shoutout." How high is One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the U.S.? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it, 1,492 feet, 1,776 feet, 1,865 feet or 1, 980 feet. You`ve got three seconds, go!
Counting its spire, One World Trade Center is 1,776 feet tall, matching the year the American colonies declared independence.
AZUZ: Previous record holder, the Willis Tower in Chicago, it measure 1451 feet, and it`s still the tallest, if you only count completed buildings. One World Trade isn`t there yet. It`s scheduled to be finished later this year, but it`s not just about height. We can tell you that what it has on the inside is also intended to impress.
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JASON SANCHEZ, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: After a decade of planning and construction, One World Trade Center is getting ready to open for business by the end of this year. But before it opens, CNN Money got a sneak peak at what the tallest building in North America will look like from the inside.
Workers are still building out the lobby, but there are already some distinctive nods to the original World Trade Center complex.
JORDAN BAROWITZ, EXTERNAL AFFAIRS DIRECTOR, THE DURST ORGANIZATION: Its beautiful white marble is from the same quarry as the marble that was in the lobby of the original Twin Towers.
SANCHEZ: And the entrance is starting to take shape.
BAROWITZ: As you can see, the floors are in, the walls are in, the ceilings are in. Behind me is a glass wall that protects - protects the lobby and these slabs bring (ph) natural light in.
SANCHEZ: Up on the 63 floor, we saw what finished office space will look like for some of the building`s tenants.
BAROWITZ: This is our marketing center and it gives perspective tenants a sense of what the building will look like when it`s built out and occupied.
SANCHEZ: Barowitz says, 55 percent of the office space has already been leased, anchored by media company Conde Nast. But the floors with the best views aren`t for rent. The developers of One World Trade Center saving the top three floors for an observation deck, complete with food, drinks and a small theater.
BAROWITZ: We are on the 102 floor of One World Trade Center. It`s the highest occupied floor in the building. It would be the observation deck, open to the public. This is floor has a 360 degree unobstructed views of the entire metropolitan region.
SANCHEZ: The building is by no means finished. In fact, there is still some heavy construction going on in some areas. But much of One World Trade Center has started to take form, and it isn`t hard to imagine what the finished building will look like when it opens later this year.
Jason Sanchez, CNN Money, New York.
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AZUZ: You might have heard us talk about CNN`s "Impact Your World" before. Usually, it`s to give ideas of how to help people in need during a war or a natural disaster, for example. But "Impact Your World" also recognizes folks who are making a positive impact on our world and McClain Hermes is definitely one of those people.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meet 13-year old McClain Hermes, fierce competitive swimmer. But behind that smile lies a deeper story. McClain is legally blind. Her vision began to fail when she was eight, and doctors say, in a few years she won`t be able to see at all.
MCCLAIN HERMES: I`m not naggy (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But this seventh grader from Georgia doesn`t want your sympathy.
MCCLAIN HERMES: Can you give me that black and white shoe?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She wants your old shoes. In 2009, her father showed her an article about footwear soles being recycled.
MATT HERMES, MCCLAIN`S FATHER: They were giving people, you know, $5 discount or something on a new pair of shoes, if they turned in shoes.
MCCLAIN HERMES: And so, we decided and set up recycling. We collect them and give them to people that needed them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Shoes for the Souls" was born.
MATT HERMES: Seven.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say around 10,000 pairs of shoes have been collected over the past four years.
MCCLAIN HERMES: You got this!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, McClain is making a special delivery to an Atlanta homeless shelter. McClain challenges all teams to make a difference.
MCCLAIN HERMES: If you have a dream and you think it`s unrealistic, just keep on doing it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: It`s Worldwide Wednesday on the CNN STUDENT NEWS "Roll Call." And here are some of the schools watching from across the globe. Hello to the Taejeon Christian International School. The Dragons are online in Daejeon, South Korea. I hope I pronounced that right.
How about the students at Ecole Voyageur, shouting out to our viewers in Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada. And we`re wrapping up Worldwide Wednesday in Uganda. Hello to everyone at City View High School in Kampala.
Pandas. They are cute and all, but you don`t want to try to cuddle an adult one. For some who have, hasn`t always worked out so well. That`s not the case with Bao. She`s just five months old, and she just made her public debut at the National Zoo. Bao means "Precious" or "Treasure" in Mandarin Chinese and you can see why. She is one of more than 300 pandas living in captivity, and she spent most of her party sleeping. So you can`t really say it was pandamonium. Yeah, I know. It`s an obvious pun. It`s like we are pandering. Initially, I wanted to panda idea, but love for these little creatures is pandamic. And we just hope you can bear it. You know, we were going to have fun with that. CNN STUDENT NEWS returns tomorrow. Hope to see you then.
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