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After Decades of Brutal Rule, Bashar al-Assad`s Regime has Been Toppled; Human Biology in Space; New Orleans Banning Shiny Balloons and Confetti. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired December 10, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to the show. I`m Coy. This is CNN 10.
Let`s get our energy up and start this Tuesday, December [10]th, with a shout out to all the teachers out there. Let`s give a fist bump, high five,
handshake, or big old hug to anyone out there working hard to uplift, inform, and inspire us. Just want you to know that you are appreciated.
All right, let`s get you your 10 minutes of news. We start first in Syria, where the brutal regime of dictator Bashar al-Assad has fallen. Syrians
celebrated in the streets after rebel forces took control of cities there, pulling off a rapid and stunning march to power over the weekend.
Assad is known for harsh rule over Syria, taking power after his father died in 2000 after he ruled for decades. Civil war began after the Assad
regime`s brutal crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy movements in 2011, killing and jailing thousands in the first few months alone. The civil war
ravaged the country.
The extremist group ISIS flourished in the instability, sparking an international proxy war and refugee crisis that displaced millions from
their homes. The conflict in Syria has been deadly, but remained dormant over the past several years as key allies propped up the Assad regime.
Rebels and Assad`s forces clashed, with neither making dramatic changes in the control of the country before a 2020 ceasefire agreement. Then, just
days ago, the rebels took advantage of an opportunity to advance on a weakened government, whose key allies are now dealing with other conflicts.
The new rebel coalition launched a surprise attack and took control of Syria`s largest city, Aleppo, before moving on to Homs and then the
capital, Damascus. CNN`s Nic Robertson shows us how geopolitical circumstances led to the momentous events happening now in Syria and where
its former dictator has fled.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Bashar al-Assad inherited his father`s totalitarian regime, and left it and his
country in ruins. A thuggish police state in a brutal repression turned war, where hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and more than
half the population fled their homes.
RAMI KHOURI, MIDDLE EAST ANALYST: He`ll be remembered as one of the most violent rulers in response to the uprisings that started in late 2010 in
the Arab world.
ROBERTSON: Bashar al-Assad never expected to take over from his father. His older brother Bassel was the heir apparent. Instead Bashar trained as
an ophthalmologist in London. Former Assad family insiders say he didn`t have the right stuff to run Syria.
ABDEL HALIM KHADDAM, FORMER SYRIAN VICE PRESIDENT (through translator): His brother Bassel bullied him as a child. His father never gave him as
much attention as Bassel.
ROBERTSON: When President Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, Syria`s elite pushed Bashar into the presidency, keeping 30 years of their own wealth,
power, position and influence intact.
RIFAAT ASSAD, BASHAR AL-ASSAD`S UNCLE (through translator): Hafez was a leader. The head of the entire regime, while Bashar never came close to
that.
ROBERTSON: At first, the new president agreed to modest reforms and released hundreds of political prisoners. But that brief moment of
optimism, dubbed the Damascus Spring, ended abruptly.
Protests demanding change spread across Syria in early 2011. The regime cracked down turning peaceful protest into slaughter. The U.N. found what
it called massive evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity. Responsibility at the highest level of government including the head of
state.
The chaos spawned countless local militias and opposition forces. In the mayhem, the ultraviolent Islamist group ISIS gained a temporary foothold
spewing its nihilistic terror over the border into Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi forces confronted and ultimately crushed them but didn`t challenge Assad`s
brutal authority. Russia, too, joined the fight.
Assad and his allies Hezbollah from Lebanon, an Iranian militia, were losing ground, committing more forces than any other country with barbaric
internationally condemned ground and air assaults. Russia turned the tide in Assad`s favor. But when Russia`s forces went to war in Ukraine in 2022,
the clock on Assad`s rule began ticking down. By late 2024, his other main allies, Iran and Hezbollah, were bloodied by over a year long war with
Israel. Assad`s fortunes plummeted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten second trivia.
What planet in our solar system takes the longest to complete a rotation, creating the longest day?
Mars, Jupiter, Venus, or Neptune?
Answer is Venus, where one day is 5,832 hours long.
To space news now, where more and more people will be traveling as commercial space missions only continue to advance, with many future
missions planned for new frontiers like Mars, scientists are focusing their research on the effects of space on human biology, and especially on how it
ages the human body.
CNN`s Nick Valencia gives us a look at the self-contained experiments scientists are monitoring in space.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the spirit of exploration, outer space may hold the answer to some of humanity`s greatest
questions. What causes aging and can the process be altered?
Human tissue samples called organoids are now in orbit at the International Space Station, and identical samples are back on Earth at Oxford
University`s Space Innovation Lab.
This experiment will allow researchers to compare and analyze data from both samples to study the aging process and the impact of microgravity on
it.
Inside the International Space Station, a box containing human tissue samples serves as a controlled environment.
GHADA ALSALEH, SPACE INNOVATION LAB, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: The box have a small computer and all the detection material that we need to get the
measurements we wanted, and we can actually control that and see all the data coming all the time.
VALENCIA: Researchers don`t require assistance from the astronauts aboard the space station, as they can automatically gather the information from
their laboratory on Earth.
ALSALEH: You could be able to measure a few things without interacting with anyone.
VALENCIA: Over the years, astronauts have suffered from muscle loss, joint and bone issues, and problems with their immune system. Researchers found
that this is similar to an age-related disease.
ALSALEH: And this leads us to ask the question, if space might provide us with an accelerating aging model, and if it is the case, that means we can
actually be able to study aging very fast, because this has happened in a very short time, while aging on Earth needed different years.
VALENCIA: With future missions planned to send humans to Mars and beyond, the impact of space travel on aging will become a key issue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Now to New Orleans, a city that truly knows the meaning of celebration, right? So it may come as a surprise to hear that the city
council there just banned the release of confetti and mylar balloons and any balloon coated in conductive material. It turns out those festive items
have been creating quite the hassle for the city and its residents for years, when the metallic balloons are released and come into contact with
power lines.
It happened over the summer and caused a widespread power outage. Even worse, the power outage caused the city`s water pumps to be tripped
offline, and when power abruptly came back on, a plant employee was seriously injured. Safe water supply was disrupted for residents. Nearly
the entire city was under a boil water advisory for days.
In years past, mylar confetti cannons launched near power lines also caused power outages, so the city council`s ordinance could be a welcome move for
people in New Orleans.
Today we are giving our 10 out of 10 to Merriam-Webster for rounding up some of the standout words of 2024. Top of their list for word of the year
is polarization, used widely in media this year, and, ironically, a word both sides can agree on in this election year.
The nine-word list also included totality for the solar eclipse that traversed North America in April, demure after TikToker Jools Lebron
mindfully went viral, and fortnight for all those Swifties out there.
Now it`s time to get your words ready, your unique vocabulary word helping us write tomorrow`s show. Follow me @coywire on Instagram, Snapchat,
TikTok. Put your vocabulary word and definition in the comment section on my most recent posts, and we`re going to choose a winner to put into
tomorrow`s show. Put your school, city, and state name in there too so we can get you a shout out.
Today`s shout out goes to the Coyotes at Williston High School in Williston, North Dakota. Rise up. Thank you for spending part of your day
with me right here on CNN 10.
END
