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CNN 10
7 Killed, 16 Wounded in Multiple Bombings in Iraq; Face Recognition Technology
Aired May 07, 2013 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: I`m Carl Azuz. This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We`re going to start today`s program in a country we haven`t really reported on for a while -- Iraq.
The U.S. military mission in that Middle Eastern nation ended more than a year ago, but the violence -- not over. Last month more than 700 Iraqis, mostly civilians died from violence. That`s more than any other month since June of 2008. Yesterday at least seven people were killed and 16 others wounded by multiple bombings in Baghdad and Mosul.
The body of alleged Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is at a funeral home in Massachusetts. But the funeral director says, he can`t find a cemetery willing to bury Tsarnaev.
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PETER STEFAN, FUNERAL DIRECTOR: I think a lot of people don`t understand, and it`s an emotional problem, obviously, but it settles down and people think about it, they do know that we have to bury (inaudible), that`s what`s this country does.
At this point, any outcome would be better than nothing. We do have to bury the person regards what he did as I said earlier, this country would bury the dead, funeral directors had done this for years , they continued to do it. And there aren`t too many options, when there`s no problem, it`s very easy with the cemetery, but this is a big problem, but somebody has to step in and say, look, we`re going to have to do something here. And we have to. I would go as far as I can go with it.
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AZUZ: There are some concerns about possible protests like this, at the cemetery where the body would be buried. And this kind of thing has come in the past. Lee Harvey Oswald is buried in the Dallas area, the same city were he assassinated President John Kennedy. And after Oklahoma city bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed, his ashes were claimed and scattered in an unknown place. The governor of Massachusetts says Tsarnaev`s family should be the ones to decide what happens to his body.
Technology can play a big role in tracking criminal or terrorism suspects. Tom Foreman looks at how this works and how it`s improving.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When the FBI released these photos during the search for the Boston suspects, there was hope that computers might help as they do on shows like CSI, comparing facial features with existing data and coming up with a name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Harry.
FOREMAN: But even though pictures of both brothers were in public databases, the computers that searched that data missed them, and came up empty.
The government has been working on facial identification software since the 1960s, and companies like Facebook and Apple use similar technology to tag people in photos. But security analysts widely admit this technology is not good enough to spot a suspect in the crowd. At Carnegie Melon, Mario Savvides runs the CyLab Biometric Center.
MARIOS SAVVIDES, DIRECTOR, CMU CYLAB BIOMETRICS CENTER: While the toughest problems is low resolution, when you look at images collected from (inaudible) TV footage, the faces are way too small.
FOREMAN: His team is developing next generation software to change poor and partial images into much clearer pictures. They are creating programs that can reliably match images of people to their true identities, despite low light, movement, odd positions.
SAVVIDES: Off-angle is a big challenge. How do you match an off- angle image that`s say 50 degrees, 60 degrees, 45 degrees off angle to a face that`s just a frontal sort of, you know, passport-type photo.
FOREMAN: They`re even transforming flat pictures into 3D, look at what their lab did with a single photo of me. In less than an hour it was turned into a series of images showing how I might look from above, from the left, from the right. Savvides believes such programs can and will substantially improve the reliability of facial recognition and lead police to suspects much faster.
SAVVIDES: And ultimately, hopefully save life, because that`s our aim, that`s our goal, that`s everything we do here.
FOREMAN: For now, the FBI is installing its latest version of facial identification software to work with security cameras coast to coast as part of the billion-dollar program called "next generation identification." Still, in Boston, it wasn`t technology, but human investigators who triumphed. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this legit? The U.S. Constitution requires states to have a sales tax.
No, not true. The Constitution talks about taxes, but it doesn`t require a sales tax. Some states don`t have one at all.
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AZUZ: One benefit to online shopping besides perusing public places in pajamas is that sometimes you`re not charges sales tax, but through a bill called the Market Place Fairness Act, the government is thinking about changing that. It`s not certain the bill will pass, but if it does, some states could require all Internet retailers to collect sales taxes. Currently, businesses that have a store in your state, already do. So, shop at Target or Macy`s.com and you`ll probably pay tax. It`s when people order from Ebay or Amazon, for instance, that they are not always charged sales tax. Some lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, support the bill. So does the president. And states with sales taxes would benefit because they`d be getting the money. Supporters say the goal besides increasing tax revenue is to level the playing field. They think online only sellers, which may not collect taxes have an unfair advantage over the store down the street from you, which does.
But most shoppers don`t like the idea. In a recent poll by Quinnipiac University, 56 percent oppose the bill, 37 percent support it. Many of those who aren`t charged Texas now on stuff they buy, don`t want to be. And opponents of the bill say it will hurt many small online businesses because their prices will appear higher with taxes adding (ph).
One thing that no one seems to dispute, it`s a taxing debate.
Ha-ha, get it? All right, now the Fortune 500, it`s an annual list of the 500 biggest U.S. companies. This year`s list is out, so let`s see who`s on it.
These are the top ten: Wal-Mart is number one, followed by three oil companies. You see Apple there and a few car companies. Some interest info about the Fortune 500: since 1955, the number one company every year has been either Wal-Mart, Exxon or General Motors. They`re all on the top ten this year. If you put all of the Fortune 500 together, and consider it a country, it would have the world`s second largest economy behind the U.S. How about the people who run these companies? All the CEO on this year`s list, David Murdock from Dole Foods, he`s 90. The youngest, Facebook`s Mark Zuckerberg, at 28 years old.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s "Shoutout" goes out to Ms. Shaughnessy`s social studies classes at Baltimore Talent Development High School in Baltimore, Maryland.
What do a person`s lacrimal glands produce? You know what to do. So, is it adrenaline, tears, sweat or plasma? You`ve got three seconds, go! Your lacrimal glands produce tears. But what happens if you cry in space? Well, the answer to that comes from an astronaut on an International Space Station.
CHRIS HADFIELD, ASTRONAUT: I can`t cry on command, but I`m going to take some water, drinking water, put it in my eye just as if it was crying. Let`s see what happens. So nice and stable for you here. Here we go. So, just as if I started crying, my eyes are full of tears. But you can see, it just forms a ball on my eye. In fact, I can put more water in. And so, if you keep crying, you just sort of put a bigger and bigger ball of water in your eye. Until eventually it crosses across your nose and gets into your other eye or evaporates or maybe spreads over your cheek. Or you grab a towel to dry it up.
So yes, I`ve gotten things on my eye, your eyes will definitely cry in space, but the big difference is, tears don`t fall.
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AZUZ: Well no tears on National Teacher Day, it`s today. We`re giving you the chance to tell us about your favorite teachers all this week. Some of you were doing that with I-Reports.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Miriam (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this is Ka (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we`d like to honor our science teacher Mr. (inaudible) for student appreciation week.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s fun and energetic and always hacking jokes around the classroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We will (inaudible) you, Mr. Amon is most likely to help us see the road with new eyes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, CNN STUDENT NEWS.
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AZUZ: Others are writing on our Facebook page, like Rachel who gave a shoutout to Mrs. Cherry for breaking down history, and helping her students to keep up with the news.
Or Eaton, who said he appreciates Mr. Cline because he knows how to mix education and humor. Keep those comments on I-Report`s coming. Teachers, we appreciate you and your feedback. If you head to the resources box on our homepage, you can share your thoughts on today`s show.
For this last story today, we`re definitely calling shot bun. Not everyday, that a hot dog shaped car pools in near drive way, but this wiener mobile is here for one special woman, Pearl Cantrell. 105 years old, she recently shared her secret -- bacon. She said she eats it for every meal. The Oscar Mayer company heard that and headed right over, drove her around town in the Wiener mobile and hooked her up with a bountiful bundle of bacon to boot. Looks like Ms. Cantrell is set to pig out. You guys can choose (ph) one over for a while, we`ll be backing up more for tomorrow show. See you then.
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