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Planned U.S. Troop Withdrawals; Seasonal Affective Disorder; A Discovery Of Antiquities; A New Tool That Could Help Prevent Overfishing. Aired 4-4:10a ET

Aired November 18, 2020 - 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: This is 10 minutes of international news explained, a.k.a. CNN 10. My name is Carl Azuz. We`re happy you`re with us.

The United States military announced on Tuesday that thousands of American troops are coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq.

The American military has been involved in Afghanistan since 2001 when it led an international force to knock the ruling Taliban group out of power.

The Taliban were sheltering Al-Qaida terrorists who were responsible for the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The U.S. military has been involved in Iraq since 2003 when it led an international force to knock Iraqi President Saddam Hussein out of power.

The American government accused him of sheltering terrorists as well, in addition to building illegal weapons of mass destruction though American

forces did not find those weapons after the conflict began.

The numbers of U.S. service men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan have fluctuated. Currently, there are about 4,500 American troops in Afghanistan

and 3,000 in Iraq. The Trump Administration plans to withdraw around 2,000 from Afghanistan and 500 from Iraq in the weeks ahead leaving about 2,500

forces in each country. A senior U.S. defense official says the reduction in forces is consistent with President Trump`s promise to bring troops home

from the two nations.

And the Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense says America is on the verge of defeating the Al-Qaida terrorist group. But critics of the withdraw,

including some Republican lawmakers, say it`s not the right time to reduce U.S. troop numbers in these countries and that the decision would come as

good news to terrorist groups. The withdraw of many American troops is expected to be completed by January 15th of next year.

When you think about it the poet Dylan Thomas is kind of relevant to our next story. Rage, rage against the dying of the light could serve as a

piece of advice from psychologists when it comes to warding off the winter blues.

Seasonal Affective Disorder can coincide with the short winter days and if that time of year gets you down, there are a few pieces of advice in a new

paper published in the "International Journal of Well-Being". One, get outside. A number of studies have shown that people who spend at least two

hours per week in the great outdoors are healthier and happier.

Two, change our mindset. Find things about winter you look forward to. If you`re stuck indoors, it might be a cup of hot chocolate while watching

"It`s A Wonderful Life". Activities you can positively associate with winter can reportedly improve your outlook. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has some more

info and advice when it comes to Seasonal Affective Disorder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: At least 12 million Americans suffer from something known as Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD. Numbers

are probably higher than that. Longer nights, shorter days. All that leads to a chemical imbalance in the brain.

What happens is your serotonin levels are down and melatonin which makes you sleepy, that`s up. Makes sense? Symptoms can be mild or severe. You can

get fatigued, lack of energy, oversleeping, difficulty concentrating and also cravings for food that cause weight gain. That probably sounds

familiar as well.

Diet and exercise can always help. Also, get outside as much as you can. You can also get a specialty designed light box. You just sit there and

stare at it for a while each day or at least put it on your desk. The point is you can get a boost of more natural light. Worse case, some doctors may

recommend anti-depressants or psychotherapy to help you get through this.

Another tidbit, find things that bring you joy. Open up the blinds in your house. Play some of your favorite music and be with your family. Laughter

and togetherness are always great therapy for the winter blues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these military leaders founded a famous city in Egypt? William the Conqueror, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great or

Attila the Hun. It was in the year 332 B.C. that Alexandria, Egypt was founded by Alexander the Great.

And it was sometime around the year 500 B.C. that dozens of coffins were buried around the Egyptian capital of Cairo and they were recently

unearthed in mint condition from a large burial ground. Egyptian authorities say they`re in such good shape because they belonged to people

who were quote, "a little bit rich".

At least one of them contained a mummy which officials are x-raying to try and find out the person`s gender and age at the time of death. The find of

over 100 ancient coffins also contained 40 statues and other artifacts. They`ll be sent to museums throughout Egypt. Announcements of more

discoveries from this area are expected in the weeks ahead.

The Egyptian government hopes finds like this will attract more tourists to the country where political instability, terrorism and now the coronavirus

pandemic had hurt that industry. The issue of over fishing is our next topic. It`s taking fish out of the oceans faster than they can replenish

their numbers naturally.

Environmentalists say this can damage the entire marine ecosystem. There are several reasons this happens. With a growing global population, there`s

a growing demand for seafood. The commercial fishing industry is expanding and many people rely on it for their livelihoods but environmentalists say

there are more commercial fishermen and women than the world needs.

Some people fish illegally or don`t report everything they catch and critics say governments contribute to over fishing by paying commercial

fishermen to help with their businesses. There are rules in place around the world that aim to prevent over fishing.

One main way this is done is by putting limits on what people can catch. Some fishermen oppose this saying regulations make their jobs harder and

limits make it harder for them to earn a living. But for those who support over fishing regulations, there`s a new tool available that can help them

keep track of their catch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyday, thousands of fishing trollers take to our seas, releasing miles and miles of nets to catch fish. But over the last

few decades, it`s led to over fishing dramatically depleting the seas of vital fish stocks. Now, smart technology offers hope to tackle over fishing

and illegal catches.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to find a way to harvest the fish sustainably.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In (inaudible) Ocean Laboratory in Trondheim, Norway that cutting edge technology is being developed. An indoor pool that

simulates an ocean basin. Laser scanners that analyze fish stocks and 3D visualization techniques that reproduce the seabed are being used to lead

the fight against over fishing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We want to, first of all, make sure we have a way of finding out how much fish is in the ocean. How much do we harvest within

sustainable limits.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 34.2 percent of the fish stocks were over fished in 2017.

Centech Ocean believes it`s catch scanner technology can address that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a laser and a 3D camera system and artificial intelligence to do the analysis. (inaudible) fish, like this plastic fish

and you send it through the scanner. Then it builds up a 3D image and a color image at the same time and this is used by artificial intelligence

(inaudible) species. This then allows us to narrow exactly how much fish we are fishing so that we can adjust the quotas appropriately.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These new smart devices will be tested by some of Europe`s fishing industry. If successful, the hope is for a widespread

adoption.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s really important to understand that these -- some of these technologies can be very expensive to put onboard fishing vessels.

So in order to the fishers to want to have them aboard, they need to see the benefit of this. We`ll be better able to assess the stocks in general.

We`ll be able to set regulation that are realistic and -- and we`ll be able to have a better understanding of how sustainable we really are.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This larger research project, known as "Smart Fish H 2020" is being funded by the European Union in an effort to modernize

industry and eliminate over fishing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What we want to see happen is that the EU chooses to install these technologies onboard fishing vessels. That is the main goal

of this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With the global fish demand expected to increase in the years to come, the adoption of smart tech could be crucial to

safeguarding the ocean`s fish stocks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Before astronauts on the latest space mission have arrived at the International Space Station and there was a stowaway with them. The force

was too strong to leave "Baby Yoda" behind even though he didn`t buy a $55 million seat. Is there a purpose for a plush doll on trip that`s not to a

galaxy far, far away? Possibly. Aboard the launch vehicle, a floating Yoda could show them that this is the way to know when they`ve left the pull of

gravity.

So he does have a kind of "Jabba". Even if it`s just "Bobbafetting" around space until they "Lando 2" back on Earth. No one`s going to look at him and

say, "Yoda" man but he`s not flying "Hans Solo" and he won`t cause any "general" grievances while he`s up there. So the astronauts seem pretty

"Stoked" to have him while they "Skywalker" around this winter.

I`m Carl Azuz. "JedI", I`m out of time so I`ll see you "Vader". I want to give a shout out to Valley View High School. It`s in Germantown, Ohio for

subscribing and leaving a comment on our You Tube channel. May the force be with you too if you do the same.

END