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Government Seeking Death Penalty for the Boston Marathon Bomber; Chinese Migrants` Travel Home for the Lunar New Year Family Reunion; Security at the Super Bowl
Aired January 31, 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: Welcome to commercial free CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz. Attorney General Eric Holder says the U.S. government will seek the death penalty against the man accused of the 2013 Boston Marathon terrorist attacks. Officials say Dzokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan are responsible for killing four people and injuring hundreds of others. Tamerlan was later killed in the confrontation with police. Dzokhar is awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to all 30 charges against him. The government`s announcement doesn`t necessarily mean he`ll get the death penalty.
Well, as you can see, I`m back in our studio here at CNN, a few days after a snow and ice storm shut down Atlanta and many of its surface streets and interstates. The effects of that remain all over the road. Abandoned cars` wracks everywhere. I passed this tangled traffic mess on my way into work today. A coworker recorded the video. It stretched the length of several football fields. Yesterday, Georgia`s Governor Nathan Deal apologized to everyone who`d been stranded over the past few days. He took responsibility for Georgia not preparing early enough to avoid these consequences.
It wasn`t just roads, though. Thousands of flights were canceled in the southeast. There is a lot of rescheduling and cleanup under way today.
We don`t have anything like this in the U.S. In fact, only one country in the worlds sees such a massive humid migration on this scale. China during the Lunar New Year. The Year of the Horse starts today. It`s celebrated in several countries. The festival in China lasts until February 14. It will include religious ceremonies, parades, shopping, horse raisers. And above and beyond all of that, time with family. It`s central to the Lunar New Year. One news writer put it like this: it`s like everyone in the country has a family reunion all at the same time. And China`s not only the world`s most populated country with 1.3 billion people, it`s a large country as well, the fourth largest in the world. To show you what traveling is like, when 7 million people are doing that each day leading up to the festival, one of our reporters tagged along.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Zhou Xia`s (ph) journey from Beijing begins at night.
ZHOU XIA, MIGRANT WORKER: I`m feeling great now, because I`m going home, she says. And I often only go home once a year.
MCKENZIE: Like millions of migrant workers in China, she`s rushing to catch a train home before the New Year. And we are rushing with her.
So, they say every journey starts with the single step, and this is very true. We are heading around the thousand kilometers away to Anhui province the part of a great migration of people in China.
Zhou works two jobs as a maid, and her husband is a foreman. Together, they earn around $1200 a month. It`s enough to keep them far from home. Chinese will take a staggering 3.4 billion trips over the month-long spring festival period. It`s the largest annual migration on the planet. And it makes for a tight squeeze.
"I bet you, you`ve never experienced anything like this before," laughs Zhou.
Trying to get on this train. Jampacked, because everyone has the stuff they are taking home to their relatives, and there are so many people here, and we all have to squeeze on the same train.
This year, online sales to Anhui sold out in seconds. So, Zhou got tickets to the first stop, hoping the conductor wouldn`t throw them off. With standing room ticket, we march past the sleeper carriage to our spot outside the washrooms for the next ten hours.
"I don`t mind sitting here," she says. Because I miss my children so much. I want to go home. They are my children, and it`s not like we are separated for a month or two. It`s for an entire year.
But this isn`t so much a vacation for Zhou. It`s a pilgrimage home. And for the multitude of migrants heading back, the overnight journey is often crowded, frequently uncomfortable and definitely tedious.
But it`s the destination that counts.
"Every year when I get near home, I feel so happy," says Zhou. "But the thought of going back is so hard. I feel so sad and every time I cry."
But for now, Zhou has three precious weeks in her village to forget about her work. To spend time with her son that she`s putting through college and to just be a mother. A family separated by necessity, but brought together by tradition. David McKenzie, CNN, Mowham (ph) Village, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time for the "Shoutout." What number is represented by these Roman numerals - XLVIII? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it - 14, 36, 37 or 48? You`ve got three seconds, go!
In Roman numerals, XL is 40 and VIII is eight. So, Super Bowl XLVIII will be Super Bowl 48. That`s your answer and that`s your shoutout.
AZUZ: A few more numbers associated with Super Bowl XLVIII, 1.25 billion - the number of chicken wings eaten nationwide on game day. 4 million, what it costs to air 30 second advertisement during the game. And 79,000, the capacity of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
That`s what law enforcement officials are focusing on, keeping everyone there safe. There haven`t been any specific terrorist threats concerning the Super Bowl. But police are watching everything from the transportation systems that will bring people to the game, to the tourists` sites they`ll visit while they are in the area.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HARNETT, FORMER NYPD INTELLIGENCE COMMANDER: I would say arguably this is the biggest security challenge the city has ever faced.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ed Harnett, a former NYPD intelligence commander, has overseen some of the most high profile, high security moments in New York City`s history. But he says, the NYPD`s latest mission securing Super Bowl Boulevard of 13 blocks stretched in the middle of Manhattan, could be even tougher. Harnett thinks of it as New Year`s Eve going on for days with all the same challenges. Those challenges magnified now, Harnett says, following threats made on the Olympic Games in Sochi.
HARNETT: If you call before 911, a lot of these so called chatter was about a big event that would probably happen in Europe. And actually the event sadly happened here. I think law enforcement officials are mindful of that.
FIELD: A hundred law enforcement agencies are bringing in man power and resources to keep Super Bowl XLVIII safe. On Monday, the taskforce deployed officers to New Jersey home less than 20 miles away from MetLife Stadium where the game will played.
One man was arrested after a bomb squad found homemade explosive devices and guns. Now, officials say they found no link to terrorism or the Super Bowl.
(on camera): There`s been a lot of planning, there`s been a lot of preparation but what`s still keeping you up at night?
LT. COL. ED CETNAR, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE: Nothing.
FIELD: Lieutenant Colonel Ed Cetnar of the New Jersey State Police took us inside the Super Bowl`s Command Center in a secret location, where a vast network of cameras are monitored around the clock.
CETNAR: In my career, in 27 years, this is the largest event that the New Jersey state police is undertaking. And the Super Bowl is - it`s not a holiday, but it`s an American tradition that this is huge.
FIELD: Super Bowl XLVIII has its own unique challenges. There will be events in both New Jersey and New York.
There are four nearby airports where air traffic will have to stop at times. Several event venues sit close to water. For that reason, authority studied that 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, which launched from the water.
CETNAR: And we`ve been looking at our vulnerability sites and making sure that when the 80,000 folks come in to celebrate the Super Bowl, every contingency is covered.
FIELD: Alexandra Field, CNN, east Rutherford, New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: This Friday`s "Roll Call" has a bit of a boxing theme to it. Why? Because I`m feeling punchy. And NASCAR no (ph) hailing from James North Dakota, the blue jays are in the ring. They are representing Jamestown High School.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bison. The bison of Buffalo Grove High School are contenders in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. And roaring in from Charlotte, North Carolina, the Lyons of Hickory Grove Christian School. Lions are always the mane event. Great to see you, some of you are recently here at CNN Center.
Well, it`s been said there is a first time for everything. Like when a polar bear cub first lays eyes and paws on snow. I can hear the resounding - Oh, all the way from here. This cub was born in November along with two others, but he is the only one of his siblings who survived. Staff at the Toronto Zoo raised him indoors and nursed him by hand, which is why he might look a little bewildered at what`s supposed to be his native habitat. He`ll learn to bear it soon enough. For humans, snow can be polarizing, but once that little guy learns to love it and walk in it, his cub run (ph) over. Hope the last day of the month is a great one. We`ll see in February.
END
