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Ferguson Protests; Russia`s Trying To Keep Its Zone of Influence; Maryam Mirzakhani Getting Highest Award in Mathematics; Panama Canal Is 100 Years Old
Aired August 15, 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 our week ending edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz.
First up, the police chief of Ferguson, Missouri says the small town`s a powder keg. Protesters have been photographed lighting up Molotov
cocktails. They`ve set fires, looted stores. Police have thrown tear gas and smoke bombs and fired rubber pellets at protesters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There`s never an excuse for violence against police or for those who would use this tragedy
as a cover for vandalism or looting. There`s also no excuse for police to use excessive force against peaceful protests or to throw protesters in
jail for lawfully exercising their First Amendment rights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: The town has been on edge since a police officer shot and killed 18- year old Michael Brown last Saturday. He`d been accused of stealing cigars from a convenient store. When the officer confronted him, police say Brown
tried to grab the officer`s gun. Witnesses say Brown had his hands in the air and was trying to surrender when he was shot. Some of the protests
like the one on Wednesday night have not been peaceful.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overnight, Ferguson erupted, perhaps the most chaotic protest and police response yet. Angry crowds throwing bottles at law
enforcement and police firing tear gas and flash bangs to disperse them. A TV news crew on the scene runs for cover after a tear gas canister lands
directly in front of them.
UDENTIFIED MALE: There come - they are now firing on to the crowd.
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop them!
UDENTIFIED MALE: They are firing rubber bullets.
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dramatic video shot by a reporter on the ground captures out of chaos. Police advanced on the protesters sending them
running in fear.
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop doing (INAUDIBLE)
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: As officers fire rubber bullets and smoke grenades in this residential neighborhood. At least 18 arrested overnight, including
two journalists detained while police attempted to clear out a local McDonalds.
TIFFANY MITCHELL, EYEWITNESS: He was trying to get away from him. Why did he continue to shoot at him?
PLAGET CRENSHAW, EYEWITNESS: Exactly.
MITCHELL: As they don`t get their party at all. Like why was he killed trying to get away from the officer?
CRENSHAW: And even when he (INAUDIBLE) around and put his arm from the air he was there overkilled. Shot multiple time.
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: Multiple witnesses tell us similar story while police maintain Brown assaulted the officer in his car and tried to take his
weapon.
UDENTIFIED MALE: An officer involved shooting out of Ferguson. 2190 just said that they just had some more shots fired in the area.
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police chief now says the officer suffered injuries to his face during the altercation and was taken to a local hospital.
CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON POLICE DEPARTMENT: He`s very shaken about what happened that day and the aftermath.
CROWD (chanting)
UDENTIFIED FEMALE: Earlier Wednesday, police had asked that all protest be held during the day time, but Wednesday night`s protests continued as
scheduled and police responded with force.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: 280 Russian trucks were headed toward the border with Ukraine yesterday. They hadn`t crossed that border by the time we put this show
together. But officials from several countries were keeping close tabs on them. Russia says the trucks are carrying supplies, food, medicine,
sleeping bags on a humanitarian mission to help civilians in war-torn Ukraine. The Ukraine`s government thinks it might be an attempt by Russia
to smuggle weapons in to help the rebels who are fighting Ukraine`s government. Russia took over Crimea, a part of Ukraine earlier this year.
The U.S. and other international officials are concerned that Russia will try to take over more of its neighboring country.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The renewed focus on Russia`s military started with its annexation of Crimea in southern Ukraine, but you should
really look back six years ago to 2008 when Russia invaded another former Soviet state, Georgia. There`s a view in Russia that that`s when the world
started taking Russia seriously again, because for years Russia had seen itself as being far behind, hopelessly behind the West in military terms,
and that`s a problem that Russia`s leadership wanted to correct.
In recent years Russia started what many military analysts call "a massive rearmament." 730 billion U.S. dollars over ten years. In military terms
we are talking about 100 new warships, 600 new war planes, 100 new helicopters to go along with what remains the largest nuclear arsenal in
the world, larger even than the U.S.
Now, the focus is not on another Cold War necessarily, really, on what Russia calls "the near abroad." Those are the former Soviet republics like
Ukraine, like Georgia that Russia wants to expand, re-assert its influence once again, and it feels it needs in order to do that to expand its
military again.
But you have to put this in a larger context. Today, Russia`s military is about a fifth the size that it was during Soviet times. In terms purely of
soldiers, there were 2 million soldiers in the Soviet Army, there are about 800,000 in the Russian military today, but it has the intention of adding
to those ranks, setting a goal of adding about 400,000 troops to the Russian military. What does this mean for U.S.-Russian military relation?
Will it change the relationship? Very likely, and that is the risk that U.S. officials and the administration and the State Department and
elsewhere are wrestling with today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: From Europe we are headed to the Far East where a particularly prestigious prize has been awarded. Some of you mathletes might have heard
of the Fields` medal. It`s basically the Nobel Prize for mathematics, and for the first time since it was established in 1936, a woman has won it.
37-year old Maryam Mirzakhani who was born in Iran, educated at Harvard and employed by Stanford, was among four people who received the medal in South
Korea this week. As a child, she`d wanted to become a writer, but discovered a passion for math in high school. She says it`s like solving a
puzzle or a detective case. Stanford University says Mirzakhani won the medal for her understanding of the symmetry of curved surfaces.
So, we`ve got this segment called "Roll Call." It`s a chance to have your school announced on CNN STUDENT NEWS. There`s now only one way to submit a
request, and you need to be at least 13 years old. Go to cnnstudentnews.com. Click words says "Roll Call" and leave a comment at
the bottom of our transcript page. We`ll pick three schools from each day`s transcript. You can make one request every day, but spamming will
not help you. Please tell us your school name, city, state and mascot. Good luck.
UDENTIFIED MALE: See if you can I.D. me. When I was completed in 1914, I was a historic fit of engineering. I`m about 40 miles long and filled with
locks. I`m located in Central America and I join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I`m the Panama Canal, a manmade shortcut for ships through the
nation of Panama.
AZUZ: It`s still considered one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the 20th century. The Panama Canal opened on this day
100 years ago. It took more than three decades to build and tens of thousands of people died doing it from diseases like malaria to accidents,
landslides, mudslides. Because the U.S. oversaw its construction, it controlled the Panama Canal from 1914 until 1979. Panama took over
complete control in 1999. Ships sailing from the U.S. East Coast to the West Coast save about 8,000 nautical miles by using the canal. They don`t
have to round the rough waters of Cape Horn in South America. Sailors from Europe to Asia save about 2,000 miles, but travelers have to pay a toll to
use it.
Well, you know, how to get on "Roll Call," now we are going to look at who is there? Tigers are online this Friday. They are on the prowl in
Medford, Oregon, hello to Central Medford High School. Soaring to the southeast, we found some Eagles over Huntsville, Alabama. They are
watching from Columbia High School. And flying northeast, the Eagles of Ellicott City, Maryland are on the wing. Good to see you at Centennial
High School.
Before we go, a literal interpretation of taking the plunge. A Minnesota couple recently scubed it up the chance to get hitched beneath the waves in
shark-invested waters. They weren`t in too much danger, as this wasn`t the wild old Atlantic. It was the Mall of America. And it was reportedly the
second wedding conducted at sea life where couples fishing for something different apparently liked getting hooked. I guess they figured that
traditional weddings are for land lovers. If your feelings are so deep that on open airmony would barely scratch the surface, and you are willing
to dive in to take your spouse`s breath away - well, what are you waiting for? Every diver loves a good wetting. We are hope your weekend is
awesome. Thank you, and join us again on Monday for a new week of CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz.
END
