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Massive Explosion Rocks Beirut; Bolivia Cancels School Country-Wide Due to Coronavirus; A Look at World War II Code Breaking.

Aired August 06, 2020 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHRIS JAMES, CNN 10 HOST: On Tuesday, the city of Beirut in Lebanon was rocked by a massive explosion. It was so powerful it registered as an

earthquake and was felt over 150 miles away. I`m Chris James filling in for Carl Azuz and I want to get you up to speed on what`s happening in Beirut.

The initial explosion looked like a mushroom cloud going up into the air. The state news agency originally said it was a fireworks warehouse but it

was later announced that the explosion took place at a warehouse holding confiscated ammonium nitrate an incredibly combustible material.

It`s been reported that it was holding over 2,700 tons of it. The Beirut blast caused staggering and tragic destruction killing over 100 with

thousands more injured. The explosion left devastation stretching for miles.

Beirut`s governor announced that over 300,000 residents can`t sleep in their own homes. Countries from all over the world have offered help and

services. This is all coming on the heels of a country still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and its health resources work already stretched thin.

The Lebanese Prime Minister announced that Wednesday would be a day of mourning for the country. We`re sending our love and thoughts to the people

of Lebanon as they grapple with this enormous tragedy.

If you`re watching this right now, that means you have a working internet plan or at the very least you`re using your phone`s data. For students in

other countries that`s not always the case. Take Bolivia for example.

The South American country has many parts of it that are still quite rural and often lack internet connections.

In fact, most students don`t have access to online learning. And now with coronavirus cases rising, the country has decided to outright cancel school

for the whole year. But where does that leave the students? CNN`s Patrick Oppmann investigates.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Riding from town to town in rural Bolivia, one teacher tried to keep his students from falling behind. His

students were at a rare advantage as most in rural areas were unable to continue classes when schools closed during the pandemic.

Now the gap in access will affect students across the country as education ends for the rest of the year.

YERKO NUNEZ, BOLIVIAN MINISTER OF THE PRESIDENCY (through translator): The school year I cancelled because the vast majority of rural areas do not

have internet. The children do not have internet. The fiber optic system unfortunately only reaches the city.

OPPMANN: Usually in school from February to November sum 2 million students in Bolivia now can`t attend class in person or online. Officials

say they were left with no other choice.

Reopening schools presented a heath risk as Bolivia`s new daily coronavirus cases continues to climb but virtual learning would leave tens of thousands

behind.

VICTOR HUGO CARDENAS, BOLIVIAN EDUCATION MINISTER (through translator): It`s not a good outlook but we understand that and we`re making changes in

the immediate future to leave the next government with a base for educational transformation.

OPPMANN: (Inaudible) reports only 40 percent of Bolivian students are able to take classes online as the pandemic adds pressure to increase internet

and computer access around the highland nation. But as other countries find creative solutions, some residents feel Bolivia is giving up too easily.

MARIA CARDOZO, LOCAL RESIDENT (through translator): The children haven`t learned anything and it`s terrible for the teachers to work virtually. But

the cancelation is worse because it`s a total loss for the students. I don`t think its right.

OPPMANN: As the coronavirus pandemic deepens across Latin America, so too does its impact on learning as Bolivia students face a near future without

education. Patrick Oppmann, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES: Time for ten second trivia. Who was the first U.S. president to serve in the Navy? John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman or Gerald

Ford?

J.F.K., he was the first of an eventual six presidents to serve in the U.S. Navy.

J.F.K. started his naval career all the way back in 1941. He was one of many young men that were being shipped away to fight in World War II across

Europe and the Pacific. Meanwhile, women were taking up the war effort back at home.

When we think back to this time it`s easy to just assume all women were like the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter working hard to make supplies

and machinery. But there is a whole group of women that had to stay silent about their actual roles for so long. One of these women is 99-year-old

Judy Parsons and she was a codebreaker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY PARSONS, CODEBREAKER FOR THE U.S. NAVY DURING WORLD WAR II: We were told we would be hung at the gallows. They really laid it on thick that we

were not to talk. I never told my husband. I never told anybody. My name is Judy Parsons and I was in World War II as a codebreaker.

UNKNOWN MALE: Not many civilians know it but a large number of Navy jobs are now open to women.

PARSONS: In the spring of `43 I went off and joined the waves. We were shuffled into the chapel and sat there and someone came in and said, "Does

anybody know German?" And I said, "Well, I took two years in high school." And so that was it. They shuffled me down into the OP-20-G they called it

which was the German submarine traffic.

CMDR. DAVID KOHNEN, HISTORIAN: OP-20-G at Nebraska Avenue in Washington D.C. that`s where most of the codebreaking took place after 1943 on German

codes and ciphers.

PARSONS: It was strictly cryptanalysts trying to decode the enigma machine.

UNKNOWN MALE: An enigma is the most difficult problem in the world.

UNKNOWN MALE: No, an enigma isn`t difficult it`s impossible.

UNKNOWN MALE: Everyone thinks an enigma is unbreakable.

KOHNEN: Bletchley Park of course has entered the realm of myth and popular memory but in fact after 1943 most of that work was really being done at

Nebraska Avenue by waves like Judy. In many respects we should consider Nebraska Avenue the U.S. Navy`s Bletchley Park.

With the start of the Second World War, the British were able to develop a machine called the bombe.

PARSONS: We just called it the machine room.

KOHNEN: What it was able to do is process information encrypted in enigma.

PARSONS: I went into the crib room because the cribs were the clues to decipher the code. But we had to get about a line of type to get something

to put in the machine.

KOHNEN: The bombe machine would basically check each of the different variations and it would spit out individual letters in the context of a

message and it`s like Wheel of Fortune at that point.

PARSONS: And then they would send these slips of paper back to us in the crib room.

KOHNEN: And you start to analyze the letter and then construct the message. And eventually you`re able to sort of decipher what the message

actually says.

PARSONS: If it worked you broke the code for the day, if it didn`t work we`d wait for the next one to come because the machine spat out a lot of

the slips of paper.

KOHNEN: Judy was one of the analytics who was correlating information and then that information would be conveyed down to main Navy (ph) in downtown

Washington D.C. They would then plot the information in the submarine tracking room to locate and eventually target the individual submarine.

So, it was part of a bigger sort of machine that the U.S. Navy created and you were a part of that.

PARSONS: Looking back on it I wonder how we all had the patience to do it but we did it.

KOHNEN: Throughout the world throngs of people hailed the end of the war in Europe.

PARSONS: After the war, the Navy thanked us profusely and sent us home and was back to the kitchen. It was kind of a bloat in my pride to not be able

to talk about it because everybody assumed I was a secretary. I would love to have said I had such a good job you wouldn`t believe. But I couldn`t say

that.

KOHNEN: The work that you did helped win the war. It`s actually a great privilege for a historian like myself and so I really appreciate you are

taking the time to talk with me today.

PARSONS: Oh, it`s my pleasure. I enjoy talking about it. There`s just nobody to talk about it with. It was an interesting time to be alive I`ll

say that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES: You all remember a grumpy cat, right, the cat that launched hundreds of memes with its one of a kind face. Well, get this. There`s a

new sour puss in town, judgy (ph) cat.

Judgy (ph) cat who`s real name is Rodger (ph) took quite a sassy photo when he was out up for adoption through the Arizona Humane Society. He really

perfected his side eye and even had a bit of attitude to boot and thus judgy (ph) cat was born but don`t worry, Rodger (ph) has already found a

forever home where he can judge his days away.

What a perfect way to end our show today. OK, that pun was awful. Guys, thanks so much for letting me spend the week with you. CNN 10 will be off

for a couple days and Carl Azuz will return with new episodes and better puns on August 12. Be sure to check back in for some exciting new content.

For CNN I`m Chris James. Thanks again.

END