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U.S. and North Korea Talks From June Might Be Breaking Down; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo`s Trip to North Korea Cancelled; Death Toll Estimates Have Increased for Puerto Rico; The Old Farmer`s Almanac Versus The Farmer`s Almanac Regarding Winter Forecast; Texas Horned Lizard Becoming Endangered; Bees Attack Hot Dog Stand in New York`s Time Square

Aired August 30, 2018 - 04:00   ET

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

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Kicking off 10 minutes of world news explained. I`m Carl Azuz. It`s great to have you watching this Thursday. History was

made over the summer when the sitting leaders of the United States and North Korea met face to face in the Asian island country of Singapore.

There were questions before hand about whether the meeting would actually happen and there are questions now about what happens next. The two

countries have been rivals since the Korean War broke out in 1950. But on June 12th, almost seven decades later, U.S. President Donald Trump and

North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un sat together, dined together, laughed together and made a promise to work together.

They both signed a statement that said North Korea would commit to eliminating nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and that the U.S.

would provide guarantees to North Korea`s security. Leaders from around the world from the European Union to Russia to the United Nations said the

summit was a positive step toward peace. But critics said there weren`t a lot of details laid out about how the promises would be fulfilled and since

then tensions have welled up at times between the two countries. Most recently U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to travel to the

North Korean capitol of Pyongyang last Friday but the trip was called off. With President Trump saying he felt significant progress wasn`t being made

toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN REPORTER: The situation we have right now is essentially what could be the biggest threat to this new and fragile diplomatic

relationship between the North Koreans and the United States that we have seen since June 12th. When President Trump and North Korean Leader Kim

Jong-un signed that very positive but very vaguely worded statement in Singapore, pledging to work towards the complete denuclearization of the

Korean Peninsula. A lot of analysts express concern at that time. It was so vague that both sides might walk away thinking that they`d agreed to

something and the other side might have a completely different view.

And that`s what we see playing out. The Washington Post first reported the existence of this letter written to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo written

by Kim Jong-chul, his North Korean nuclear negotiating counterpart. A letter that led President Trump and Secretary Pompeo to believe that if

Pompeo would have gone to Pyongyang this week as planned he might have walked away not only empty handed but potentially turned this acrimonious

relationship into an even more tense situation. Sources are telling CNN that the essence of the message delivered in this letter was that the North

Korean`s feel the U.S. is simply not ready to meet their expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty.

The North Koreans want a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War. They view it as a security guarantee. A guarantee that Kim Jong-un will stay in

power and they want that peace treaty at the beginning of the denuclearization process. Where as the United States, many in the Trump

Administration feel that a peace treaty is the kind of concession that should come near the end, after North Korea has already given up a

substantial share of it`s nuclear arsenal. Sources also telling CNN that from the North Korean side at least, they believe that denuclearization are

once again at stake and could fall apart. And sources saying if those talks did fall apart, well North Korea has no reason to continue this pause

in nuclear and missile testing that began late last year and that their nuclear and missile activities could very well resume.

But they would resume with a very different set of circumstances than when diplomacy began. The Maximum Pressure Campaign believed to really be no

longer in effect, President Trump hinted as such and now that North Korea and China have the best relationship that they`ve had in years. And even

the U.S. ally South Korea is still moving forward plans for their President Moon Jae-in to travel to Pyongyang next month for a summit with Kim Jong-

un. Could the U.S. risk being sidelined in a process that it was at the center of just a short time ago? It will all rest on the next steps that

will be taken to try to salvage these very fragile denuclearization talks. Will Ripley, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: From North Korea, we`re taking you to the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Eleven months after Hurricane Maria made a direct hit there

as a massive Category 4 storm, officials on the island are still trying to figure out exactly how deadly it was. The commission to study from George

Washington University and after it`s researchers gave their findings on storm related deaths, Puerto Rico`s government raised it`s official death

toll from Hurricane Maria to 2,975 people. The previous toll that the island`s government released in December of last year was 64 deaths.

There`ve been extreme differences in the estimates of deaths by the directly or indirectly caused by the storm and Puerto Rico`s governor says

the new estimate could change as time passes. It`s not a concrete list of names of people who died. There are several reasons why death toll

estimates are significant. One, families of people who died in the aftermath of the storm are eligible to have some of their funeral expenses

reimbursed by the U.S. government. Experts say that more disaster aid often comes in for places with higher death tolls and knowing how people

died as the result of a hurricane can help authorities plan for how to deal with storms in the future.

10 Second Trivia. Which U.S. founding father was so interested in weather that he noted that Philadelphia`s temperature on July 4th, 1776 was 76

degrees? Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, or Madison. For decades Thomas Jefferson kept records on weather sharing and comparing them with other

observers in the U.S. Northeast.

For the U.S., several winter weather forecasts are in but they disagree over what the country can expect. Now stick with us because one is from

the Old Farmer`s Almanac and another is from the Farmer`s Almanac. Confused? First, the Old Farmer`s Almanac, it was founded in 1792 and it

uses a secret formula that examines sunspots and solar activity as well as weather patterns and the atmosphere. The Old Farmer`s Almanac says

Americans can expect a warmer than average winter. Everywhere expect the Southeast which should see a colder than normal season.

The Old Farmer`s Almanac says it`s predictions are traditionally 80 percent accurate. Next though, the Farmer`s Almanac, it`s been around since 1818

so it`s not quite as old as the Old Farmer`s Almanac. And the newer one also uses a secret formula based on mathematics, astronomy, sunspots, tides

and the Earth`s position. The Farmer`s Almanac says this winter will be colder than normal from the Continental Divide through the Appalachians and

that the Midwest, the Northeast and the Southeast can expect teeth chattering temperatures starting in mid-February. The Farmer`s Almanac

says it`s fans claim it`s predictions are 80 to 85 percent accurate.

So one thing we`ll predict is that one of these Almanac`s is going to see a drop in accuracy this season. As far as the National Weather Service goes,

it says above normal temperatures are likely at least through the fall but the Southeast is a curve ball as it`s temperatures could go in any

direction. So which one of these is going to be right? Knowing at this point would be a bit like predicting the weather.

Today`s feature is on an animal that`s not particularly large but has a number of unique defenses against predators. It has horns that are like

daggers. It can inflate itself by gulping air. It can quickly flatten and submerge itself in sand and it can deter larger animals using it`s eyes.

But the Horned Toad or Lizard still faces dangers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the Texas Horned Lizard. A species which happens to be the official state reptile. And you know what they say,

don`t mess with Texas. The Texas Horned Lizard is aptly named because of it`s numerous horns. The most prominent horns are the two central ones

located at both the center and rear of the skull. Frequently preyed upon by other animals, it`s distinct coloration allows it to camouflage itself

amongst vegetation. But when hunted by creatures such as snakes, coyotes, and hawks, they can either inflate to a larger size or flatten in order to

blend in with the ground.

However their best and more unique defense against prey is their ability to shoot a stream of blood from it`s eyelid directly into the enemy`s eyes.

The Texas Horned Lizard`s population has dropped dramatically in recent years due to the states rapid urbanization. Leaving the with a shrinking

habitat. This is the Texas Horned Lizard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ: Work crews are used to cleaning up New York City`s Time Square particularly after New Years, but this is a clean up called best suited to

a beekeeper. A swarm of more than 40,000 bees descended on a hot dog stand Tuesday. Luckily the New York Police Department has beekeepers on staff.

Hey, they`ve got to be ready for anything and 45 minutes later the bees were on their way to a new hive. The beekeepers/police officers says the

insects left their rooftop hive on a nearby building because it got overcrowded on a hot and humid day.

He was careful when cleaning them up because he didn`t want to be a "buzz kill". It`s too bad they didn`t sell wings at the hot dog stand. The

swarm might not have made so many customers want to take flight and "thoraxed" business for the day. Still the fact that the "NYBD" has a

beekeeper on staff is the "bees knees". I`m Carl Azuz and we`ll "beeee" back tomorrow.

END