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U.S. Proposes a "Temporary Ceasefire" in Gaza in Draft U.N. Resolution; A 5,000-Pound Satellite Expected to Fall to Earth This Week; Pregnant Stingray With No Mate Draws Attention, Crowds from Near and Far. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired February 21, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Good morning friends. I`m Betsy Klein in Washington, filling in for Coy Wire today. I played nine fewer NFL seasons
than Coy. But I`m otherwise qualified to be here. So let`s get to it.
This is CNN 10, and it`s your CNN 10, especially on a #YourWordWednesday. So keep an ear out for your vocabulary word in today`s show.
We start in the Middle East where international communities have proposed multiple ceasefire agreements in Gaza. And that now includes the U.S. The
proposed United nations security council draft resolution is the first time that the U.S. has officially called for a ceasefire in Israel`s war against
Hamas, since it began more than four months ago.
But unlike other efforts, the U.S. is using specific language that gives Israel some wiggle room. How? Well, Algeria proposed a resolution this week
that called for an immediate ceasefire that had found some international support. But the U.S. vetoed that plan, arguing it would harm ongoing
negotiations to free Israeli hostages in Gaza. So instead the U.S. is calling for a ceasefire as soon as practical.
The U.S. draft resolution also calls for the release of all remaining Israeli hostages and warns against an Israeli ground incursion into Rafah,
which is in the Southern Part of the Gaza strip bordering Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled there during Israel`s war
against Hamas.
Let`s turn to CNN`s International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson, to learn more about why the U.S. is putting out this draft resolution now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There were two takeaways here. One is that at a diplomatic level, the United States comes
to the rescue of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That`s certainly how he`ll read the situation despite the very clear pressure being put on him
by the White House with the wording of this resolution.
Why do I say this? Because in essence, the United States is heading off or providing an alternative resolution to the one that Algeria is putting
forward which has wide international support for an immediate ceasefire. The Prime Minister here hasn`t responded, publicly, yet, at least, to the
U.S. version. But the U.S. version is still very, very clear. It says the conditions right now for a military incursion into Rafah would quite
literally result in more civilian deaths, potentially push people across the border, weaken international security and peace, certainly in the
region around here.
So it`s with very high levels of caution and guidance for the Israeli government, but the Prime Minister here is likely to read this as he is
being given more time, because the wording from the United States is not a permanent ceasefire, and it says, when it is practicably possible.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KLEIN: Ten second trivia time.
Which country launched the first satellite called Sputnik One into space?
Was at the United States, China, the Soviet Union, Japan.
If you said the Soviet Union, you are out of this world. On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik One. That satellite
was only about the size of a beach fall and weighed just under 185 pounds.
We head to space next, where a satellite from the European Space Agency is expected to make a fiery reentry today. The agency`s space debris office
said the satellite called ERS-2 weighed just over 5,000 pounds at around 50 miles above the Earth`s surface. The satellite is expected to break apart
and the majority of the fragments will burn up in the atmosphere.
Now, some of those fragments could reach the planet`s surface. But the agency says it won`t contain any harmful substances and it will most likely
fall into the ocean.
We turn now to our Bill Weir, who explains how the astronomical number of manmade objects orbiting the planet has turned some space officials
compunction into action.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We all drop things around the house.
PIERS SELLERS, ASTRONAUT: Guys, I think my spatula has escaped.
WEIR: So when astronaut Piers Sellers dropped a spatula while spreading putty on the space shuttle it was relatable news.
SELLERS: I see it on there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. We`ll take a look.
WEIR (voice-over): But while a spatula in space was still novel in 2006, it seems quaint now, because nearly 70 years after Sputnik the moon holds
tons of human trash. And the final frontier is filthy with rocket fumes and orbiting junk.
Check out this NASA time-lapse. Each dot a manmade object bigger than a softball flying 10 times faster than a bullet. The Website Orbiting now is
tracking over 8,300 satellites, most of them put there by private companies like SpaceX. And over time, they will only add to the hundred million tiny
pieces of manmade debris in orbit.
WEIR (on camera): So behind us is the National Air and Space Museum. Did they have an exhibit on space junk? Is it time we started paying attention?
RON LOPEZ, PRESIDENT OF ASTROSCALE U.S.: There`s been discussion about it and it is time that we pay attention to the issue.
WEIR (voice-over): Ron Lopez heads the American branch of Astroscale, a Japanese entry into the growing field of orbital debris removal.
LOPEZ: The interesting metric is that over the next ten years, were going to launch three times as much into space as we have launched since Sputnik,
since the beginning of the space age. Three times as much in just the next ten years.
WEIR (voice-over): While they`re a long way from flying garbage trucks. Astroscale just launched a second test mission and funded only by private
investment recently proved that they can use magnets to catch and potentially extend the lives of dying satellites.
In 2018, a team from the U.K. proved that space junk can be snared with a net, which helps with traffic control up there, but does nothing to stop
dead satellites from burning into countless pieces of metal, throwing off remnants that can stay in our skies for years.
WEIR: The launches are almost a weekly or daily occurrence. Is that having an effect on the stratosphere?
TROY THORNBERRY, RESEARCH PHYSICIST, NOAA CHEMICAL SCIENCES LABORATORY: Yes. So as we see this increase in space traffic, we see significantly
increased initiatives. And something we`ve been talking about is adding a lot of material to the stratosphere that was never there before.
All of the sort of the mass of material that we put into space doesn`t all just stay there. And when it`s deorbited, it basically acts in the same way
that a meteoroid does.
WEIR (voice-over): With special high-flying jets, a team from NOAA recently discovered that 10% of the particles in the stratosphere contain
bits of rocket and satellite metal. And in the next few decades, it could be 50 percent, matching the amount created naturally by meteorites.
Scientists worry that this could eventually alter earth`s climate.
So this summer, Japan and NASA aim to launch the world`s first biodegradable satellite made mostly from wood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KLEIN: And now, let`s dive into a story that as Coy would say deserves a 10 out of 10. CNN`s Jeanne Moos gets to the bottom of an underwater
investigation bubbling up in the stingray tank at a North Carolina aquarium. This one will surely hook you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: How could a stingray named Charlotte end up pregnant when no male stingray has ever been her tank?
The $64,000 question. Who`s the daddy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We think Charlotte is her own daddy.
MOOS: Staff at the aquarium in shark lab by team ECCO in North Carolina are so bonded with Charlotte. She lets them caress her. When they found a
lump, they feared it was cancer and ultrasound proved otherwise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`s a baby.
MOOS: Several babies, but how?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has always been a single ray.
MOOS (on camera): She needs ray tinder.
(Voice-over): The most likely explanation, something called parthenogenesis. I`ve been calling it, do it yourself reproductive.
Sort of a virgin birth. The female`s egg becomes an embryo without fertilization. But there`s another far less likely theory. Two male sharks
that were placed in the tank. This is Mo and this is Larry named after, You Know Who.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter what you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How dare you strike a mother with an incident in his arms.
MOOS: The staff found bites on Charlotte and male sharks tend to bite during mating. But experts at the Georgia aquarium and elsewhere say a
shark stingray hookup would be anatomically impossible. The aquarium plans to do DNA testing when the babies are born. The aquarium may not yet know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How`d that baby get here.
MOOS: But if immaculate conception is the best theory.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we`re telling everyone don`t drink the water from this tank.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KLEIN: Thanks to Ms. Giles` Social Studies class in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for submitting our #YourWordWednesday winner. Compunction, a now
meaning distress over an anticipated action or result. Nice job. And thank you for helping make us smarter today.
OK, we made it to the end of the show. But I couldn`t leave you guys without some special school shoutouts. We see you Heather Taddonio`s class
at Evergreen Community Charter School in Asheville, North Carolina. Go Wolf Pack. And special recognition goes to E.L. Haynes Public Charter School
right here in our nation`s capital, Washington D.C.
Thanks for joining me today as I filled in for Coy. You all are what makes this show so special. You are CNN 10.
END
