Thank you for taking ten minutes for commercial free current events. This is CNN STUDENT NEWS.
I`m Carl Azuz, and I`m glad to see you.
We are kicking off the second week of our 2014-2015 coverage. And we are starting in
Iraq. There was a battle going on as we put this show together. On one side, a terrorist
group named ISIS that`s trying to take control of Iraq, on the other - Kurdish forces representing
a group of people who live in northern Iraq. They are supported by U.S. military air strikes,
and at the center of this battle, a dam near the Iraqi city of
Mosul. It`s Iraq`s largest hydroelectric dam, it`s on the Tigris River, and it`s strategically
important because ISIS extremists took control of it earlier this month. If the dam would
have failed, experts say it could cause catastrophic flooding all the way to the Iraqi capital
of Baghdad.
We are going to spin the globe now to take you to South Korea. That`s where Pope Francis,
the leader of the Roman Catholic Church spent the weekend. It was the papal visit to South
Korea in a quarter of a century. Roman Catholicism is the world`s largest denomination of Christianity.
But that`s not the case among South Koreans. Most Christians there are protestant. The
pope did speak to thousands of the country`s young Catholics, though, he held a mass for
Asian Youth Day and encouraged the faithful to live a simple and humble life. Pope Francis
also held a mass to address peace and reconciliation. The Korean Peninsula is divided. The armistice
that ended the fighting in 1953 never officially ended the Korean War. And North Korea fired
missiles into the ocean just before the pope arrived on the peninsula. So, the pope`s prayers
included peaceful relations between North and South Koreans.
Breaking away from his prepared speech on Friday, he delighted the young crowd.
Are you ready to say yes? Are you ready?
This is why Pope Francis came to South Korea. Only about ten percent of the population is
Catholic, but the church is growing fast. And across Asia, the congregation is young.
Surrounding himself with Asian youth, there was, of course, the inevitable selfie, which
the Pontiff didn`t seem to mind. His transport from the airport, a Kia hatchback, it had
to be South Korean. The next day, another Kia, modified into a Pope Mobil, though the
open top end and the wind proved a tricky combination.
May the Lord welcome the dead into his peace .
He offered words of sympathy and hope for the parents of schoolchildren killed in South
Korea`s recent ferry sinking and for those who survived.
Pope Francis is making speeches in English on this trip for the first time. Officials
say he`s been practicing so he can reach more people. He called for peace and reunification
for the two Koreas.
From the Far East, we are jumping over to the central U.S. where St. Louis, Missouri
suburb was under curfew last night.
Things in Ferguson have been unstable for more than a week now. On August 9, a white
police officer shot and killed an unarmed African American man, but we don`t know exactly
what happened right before that. It looks like there was some sort of scuffle between
the officer and 18-year old Michael Brown. Witnesses say Brown was trying to surrender
to police when he was shot. Police say Brown struggled with the officer and reached for
his gun.
Protests began after the shooting, some of them have involved violence, looting, the
burning of a convenient store. Last night`s curfew was scheduled from midnight to 5 a.m.
It wasn`t the first one in recent days, but it had the same goal, aimed at helping restore
calm to the troubled city.
Time for "The Shoutout." Cambria, Magneto and Papyrus are all examples of what? If you
think you know it, shout it out. Are they all plants, wheels, fonts or engine components?
You`ve got three seconds, go!
Individually, the words all mean something different, but you can find them together
on the list of fonts. That`s your answer and that`s your shoutout.
It would have been easier if we`d gone with Aerial or Times New Roman. Harder if we`d
gone with Chavez Pro. That recently invented font is how some supporters are remembering
former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The controversial leader, a self-declared socialist
died of cancer in early 2013. On what would have been his 60th birthday, a new type of
tribute was introduced.
A new font, Chavez pro was unveiled during birthday celebrations. The font mimics the
commandante`s clear, bold block handwriting style. It`s a neat idea. If you`re shooting
for the history books, you may not be able to get your face on a coin or dollar, but
you might be able to get your handwriting in a typeface. We thought we tried out a few
fonts of our own: the Secret Service might have something to say about Barack Obama oblique.
Easy access to the president`s handwriting would surely invite forgeries. It`s a bit
hard to read anyway. Our neighbors to the north might enjoy Steven Harper M.S. It`s
immaculate cursive certainly easier on the eyes. If you thought a font fit for a queen
would be even neater, think again. Queen Elizabeth`s distinctive handwriting is even more difficult
to decipher, so Times New Royal is a bust, but I suppose the queen has her face on all
the money anyway.
This year, we are selecting "Roll Call Schools" from our transcript pages at cnnstudentnews.com.
So you`re welcome to make a new request on each day`s transcript until your school is
called. If you are located in Falcon country, say, Paton, Colorado and you are named Falcon
High School, you know what your mascot ought to be. Next mention goes to Northwest High
School in Clarksville, Tennessee. As the request itself stated, let`s go at that Viking Pride.
And I think this is the first time we`ve ever had Cobras as a mascot. They are at Lee Early
College in Centford North Carolina.
You probably haven`t heard of Masdar City. It`s located near the Persian Gulf in the
United Arab Emirates, it`s basically this large scale experiment, a model for the city
of the future. But its cost is $18 billion. Its success is uncertain. As Erin Burnett
found out on the tour of Masdar City, part of the project`s value lies in what could
be.
About 20 miles outside Abu Dhabi, Masdar City is striving to be the greenest city on Earth.
So, I think a city of the future is going to be based on people walking to where they
live, to where they work and to where they play.
And if you aren`t walking, city director Tony Mallows says you can take a magnetically controlled
car wherever you need to go.
Welcome to Masdar City.
This is a little car?
Yeah, this is personal rapid transit. This is how you get around this city. It`s driveless,
it`s electrical and the solar power. It comes when you want it and it takes you anywhere
- you want to go and you leave it alone.
So it`s driveless.
Yes.
Navigating the city`s 2.4 square miles is relatively easy.
This is a dream of what the future could be, but is it really going to happen? I mean is
this going to be anything more than a demo?
It`s a model for open development that is really sustainable because it`s not only environmentally
sustainable, socially and economically.
Fewer than 500 people live here. That falls far short of the original goal of 40,000 by
next year. A goal set at the pick of the economic boom. Right now, about 1200 people work here
every day, in buildings that are specially designed to help produce water and energy
consumption, by as much as 40 percent, according to city officials. With more than 87,000 solar
panels, the city produces its own electricity, of setting 15,000 tons of carbon emissions
a year. City engineers say that`s the equivalent of taking about 3,300 cars off the road in
Abu Dhabi. And walking around the city innovation can be seen everywhere.
So, you are looking at a wind tower, which is a traditional Arabic designed, cool, right?
Yes, absolutely. So, you take a traditional Arabic element on cooling, totally pass of
energy, totally sustainable. And then you use modern technology to make it even more
efficient.
The Masdar Institute is also partnered with MIT to develop new renewable energy sources,
like making jet field from the seed of a weed that grows here, in the desert.
So, this is obviously happening here.
Yes.
In the middle of a desert. Your ambition on what you are trying to prove is much bigger.
Absolutely. I mean globalization is a key issue for the future, not only because cities
are going to attack global warming. We have to understand how to build cities that are
low carbon, and that`s why Masdar City is such an important contribution to globalization
and urbanization.
At a California hotel, room service is about to be automatic. This thing is named Butler.
Get it? When a guest needs something simple, say, a bottle of water and a toothbrush, for
instance, Butler can get the items, roll up to the rooms and make the delivery. The company
that makes the robot won`t say how much it costs, but a hotel rep says it`s not intended
to replace people, just enhance customer service. It`s not the fastest thing you`ve ever seen,
but if you accuse room service of being robotic, remote, emotionless, cold-bloodied indifferent,
dispassionate or just plain inhuman, well, it`s hardly an insult. Just remember, that
guy is a machine. I`m Carl Azuz and CNN STUDENT NEWS delivers more puns and news tomorrow.