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Election in Germany: Angela Merkel Keeps Her Job; Iran Launches New Ballistic Missile; Debate Involving Athletes and U.S. National Anthem
Aired September 25, 2017 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Thanks for watching. It`s kickoff and new week of explaining worldwide news. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.
There`s a chance taking place in Germany`s government. For the first time in almost 60 years, a right wing nationalist party has won seats in the
nation`s parliament. What won`t change? The country`s leader. Chancellor Angela Merkel will keep her job. She was reelected to a fourth term.
But Sunday`s election wasn`t good news for her or her majority alliance in parliament and here`s why. In 2015, more than 1 million migrants and
refugees entered Germany. Not all Germans supported Chancellor Merkel`s decision to welcome them.
And Alternative for Germany, a relatively new political party, made opposition to immigration part of its platform. The party is also opposed
to Islam, saying the religion, quote, does not belong to Germany. It calls Muslims a danger to the country and it opposes same sex marriage.
Last year, a series of terrorist attacks in Germany increased support for Alternative for Germany and it`s projected to have won 13 percent of
Sunday`s nationwide vote. That would make it the third biggest faction in Germany`s parliament.
All the other parties say they will not work with Alternative for Germany to form a coalition, an alliance of different parties working together, and
analysts say it`s not certain how the party will influence German politics, but they`ll be closely watched since Germany has Europe`s largest economy
and significant influence worldwide.
Hurricane Maria has weakened to a category 2 storm, but it`s still spinning in the Atlantic and it could possibly affect the North Carolina coast on
Wednesday morning. From there, it`s expected to head out over the ocean.
Maria has affected millions throughout the Caribbean and much of Puerto Rico, a U.S. island territory where 10 people were killed is still without
power. Recovery in a place whose economy was already in bad shape could take years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here we are more than three days after Hurricane Maria made landfall and parts of Puerto Rico are under more than
2 feet of water. This has been a storm of epic proportions, the worst storm that Puerto Rico has seen in nearly 100 years.
Catastrophic damage to the infrastructure, gas stations under water, hospitals ruined. Communications is nearly non-existent. It was earlier
that I spoke to the governor of the island, Ricardo Rossello, and I asked him about the recovery efforts.
RICARDO ROSSELLO, GOVERNOR OF PUERTO RICO: This was something that we had anticipated, a category five hurricane. This is no slouch. It essentially
wiped out all of the telecommunications. We`re trying to re-establish them. We`re trying to use alternate means so that you can communicate with
your loved ones, and we won`t risk until all of those loved ones in the Diaspora or anywhere in Puerto Rico can find a way to communicate with
those over here.
VALENCIA: The cost of this storm is going to be in the billions. I spoke to the governor and I asked him how much he thought the estimated cost of
the storm would be. He said at least $7 billion to $8 billion for this island to recover.
It was earlier I spoke to a FEMA official and I asked him, how long do you guys think you`re going to be around here? He said, we`re not going to be
around here for weeks, not months. It`s going to be years.
Nick Valencia, CNN, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Iranian television yesterday showed the launch of a new medium range ballistic missile, the
Khoramshahr, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran`s missile program could lead him to scrap the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by
the Obama administration.
State media quoted the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard`s aerospace division as saying, the missile, the Khoramshahr, has a range of 2,000
kilometers or 1,250 miles and is capable of carrying multiple warheads. A missile with such a range could reach Israel, as well as U.S. military
bases in the Middle East.
It`s important to note however that Iran in the past has launched missiles with a greater range. Iranian insists that its missile program is strictly
for defensive purposes and that its missiles are not designed to carry nuclear warheads.
Significantly, its missile program is not covered by the 2015 nuclear deal, which was negotiated with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security
Council, plus Germany.
President Trump, who`s repeatedly threatened to scrap the nuclear deal in the past, has warned that he believes that Iran in the future could fit its
missiles with nuclear warheads.
Responding to the American president, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaking at the U.N. General Assembly said in his words it will be a great
pity of this agreement were to be destroyed by rogue newcomers to world politics.
I`m Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Tokyo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: There were 13 National Football League games played yesterday across America and one in London U.K. And a lot of attention centered in events
before the games. What would the athletes do during the national anthem?
The debate over this flared up last year when Colin Kaepernick, who was then a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, refused to stand for
the anthem, saying, quote, I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.
Some people supported Kaepernick and some athletes followed his lead. Critics called his protest disrespectful and most athletes continued the
tradition of standing for the anthem. But the debate over this continues in the NFL`s new season.
And over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, quote: If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or
other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our great American flag or country, and should stand for the national anthem.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that players exercise their right to free speech off the field, but that there should be a role
that they stand for the anthem.
But NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called the president`s comments divisive and said they showed a lack of respect for the NFL, the game and players
and the good they do in their communities.
So, what happened on the field? There were a number of different responses yesterday. Players were seen kneeling and locking arms together, or
standing and locking arms together. Some stood with their hands over their hearts and others didn`t take the field at all until after the anthem was
played.
Jumping in the pool for our next sports report, in competitive swimming, the butterfly stroke is the one that requires the most upper body strength.
And even if the swimmer already has that, it`s still challenging to learn. So, imagine what that was like for Abbas Karimi, a swimmer who is born
without arms but who`s making headlines for winning championships.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REPORTER: From the deck, Abbas Karimi hangs on to the wall like any other swimmer, waiting for instruction from his master swim coach, Dennis Baker.
DENNIS BAKER, SWIM COACH: Dolphin kick, back to here, do a flip turn.
The team immediately fell in love with him.
REPORTER: It`s easy to see why.
ABBAS KARIMI, SWIMMER: Swimming is like a way of my life.
REPORTER: The 20-year-old swimmer was born without arms in war torn Kabul, Afghanistan.
KARIMI: Always bombs exploding and lots of people are dying.
REPORTER: Despite ongoing instability, he led an active life, wrestling at a young age until he jumped into the pool for the very first time.
KARIMI: First they say that you can`t swim without arms. I was scared of water.
REPORTER: A watching lifeguard encouraged him to keep swimming.
KARIMI: Day by day, I train by myself.
REPORTER: Until one day, he left his lifejacket behind and caught the eye of an Afghan swim coach.
KARIMI: He noticed that I can be something in swimming. And he taught me a couple of techniques.
REPORTER: He swam in the country`s first Paralympic swim meet and took home gold.
KARIMI: When I`m swimming, it`s showing myself and showing other people who I am.
REPORTER: But he was, an adolescent with a visible disability. He knew he needed a better life and he wasn`t going to find it in the Middle East.
KARIMI: They disrespected disabled people and they just see disabled people as a hopeless thing, you know, that can`t do anything, you know?
Useless.
REPORTER: With the help of his older brother, he made the toughest decision of his life, leave his family behind. He flew to Iran and fled to
Turkey illegally as a refugee, a dangerous journey to United Nations headquarters.
KARIMI: But I did it just because to save my life.
REPORTER: Now, Karimi is preparing for the biggest competition yet, Para Swimming World Championships in Mexico City.
KARIMI: I`m exciting. I`m nervous, and I was stressing (ph), but I`m training hard and it will pay off.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: 1989, that was the year this show launched. It was called "CNN NEWSROOM" then. It was also when this iconic device was released, or at
least the smaller version of it.
This is a giant Nintendo Game Boy. In fact, it`s the Guinness World Record holder for the biggest Game Boy, measuring two feet wide, more than two and
a half feet tall and almost eight inches deep. You got to use your whole hand to press a button and it`s actually run by a regular sized Game Boy.
The man who built the Game Boy, the big Game Boy, made a big Game Boy out of playing off his childhood pastime. He got from A to B to LCD, by
spending a month building it 8-bit by bit or block by block, setting a record which undoubtedly Tetris worth all the effort.
I`m Carl Azuz and my batteries have run down. We hope you`ll press "start" again tomorrow.
END
