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CNN 10
Syrian Foreign Minister Addresses U.N.; What Is a Stump Speech?
Aired October 02, 2012 - 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. Today, we are going deep into space and deep beneath the ocean waves. And, of course, we`ll have a couple of stops on land for you as well. Hope you are ready. Because CNN STUDENT NEWS starts right now.
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AZUZ: We are starting today in New York City, the United Nations General Assembly wrapped up its general debate yesterday. One of the big subjects at the U.N. over the past week was the civil war in Syria. A lot of world leaders who gave speeches during the assembly, spoke out against the violence in Syria. Yesterday, Syria`s foreign minister had his turn to address the U.N. And he did not hold back. He called for an end to the violence as well, but he also defended how the Syrian government has handled the crisis. He said calls for Syria`s president to step down are a blatant interference in Syria`s internal affairs and he accused some of Syria`s neighbors of arming, funding and training terrorist groups inside Syria. Throughout the 18 months of the civil war, the Syrian government has blamed the violence in the country on terrorists.
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JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I`m Jonathan Mann with another political "Jargon Buster." Politicians give them all the time, but what exactly is a stump speech? The term dates back to the 1800s, perhaps even earlier. Politicians running for office would stand atop a tree stump, so they could be seen better by people coming to hear them speak. Just like today, candidates traveled from town to town giving the same basic speech about their political views and what they plan to do if elected. It became known as stumping. Stump speech.
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AZUZ: You`re almost certain to hear some of themes from this year`s stump speeches on Wednesday night. That`s when President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney face off in their first presidential debate. It`s happening in Colorado at the University of Denver. About half of this debate will focus on the U.S. economy. The candidates will also face questions about health care and about the role of the government. Wednesday is the first of three debates between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. They`ll face off again on October 16th, and then the final debate between them is on October 22nd.
So, how do the candidates get ready for this debates? It`s a lot like cramming for a test. They might take a couple of days away from campaigning to put all their focus on this event. The candidates will hull up with their debate prep teams to go over the material. They might even hold a mock debate with someone playing the role of their political opponent, in order to practice how Wednesday night will go.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See, if you can I.D. me. I`m as long as a school bus and I weigh more than 24000 pounds. I was launched in 1990, but I didn`t start working correctly until 1993. I`m at orbit about 350 miles above the Earth, and I`ve changed our view of the Universe.
I`m the Hubble Space Telescope. The first and most sophisticated telescope ever placed in space.
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AZUZ: 20 years, 930,000 observations. The Hubble telescope has snapped pictures of planets, stars and galaxies. Now, it`s giving us the chance to boldly go where no man or telescope had ever gone before.
What you are looking at right here is the deepest image ever taken at the sky. It`s the farthest, which means it`s also believed to be some of the earliest reaches of the Universe. The picture was created by combining ten years of photographs that the Hubble telescope took of the same patch of sky. We are going to start a little farther away here and then zoom all the way into that newest image. Scientists estimate that the universe is about 13.7 billion years old. This new photo reportedly shows galaxies from 13.2 million years ago. They can estimate how old the galaxies are by their color. Bright blue light indicates younger galaxies, dark red indicates older ones. So just how far are these farthest reaches of the universe said to be? Well, you can see all the zeroes. 80 sextillion 240 quintillion miles. So we can just say, it`s far.
We`re going to get our heads out of the clouds for this next report. But we are going to be deep into our toes in the water. That`s because we are headed to the great barrier reef off the coast of Australia. Don`t need to go in person, just like the farthest reaches of space, we can visit it virtually, thanks to technology. Phil Han explains how.
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PHIL HAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Get ready to explore the great barrier reef, the best part - you don`t even need to get wet. Scientists have teamed up with Google to offer high definition underwater panoramas of the reef to anyone with access to the Web. Tens of thousands of images have been stitched together to create the virtual dive in the hopes it will bring attention to how climate change is affecting the 2300 kilometer long reef. Google users will be able to log on to take a dive, the lead scientists behind the project says it could even bring some unexpected surprises.
OVE HOEGH-GULDBERG, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND: What they found was, four new species records of corals for the great barrier reef, and a brand new species of Pygmy seahorse.
HAN: A specially designed camera explore depths between 30 and 100 meters. A region that makes up 93 percent of the reef. The 360 degree panorama show in crystal clear quality the brimming sea life in corals.
People will even be able to help scientists with a study by measuring the size of the coral and the number of fish in the area. If it`s a success, the project could be expanded to other parts of the world. Phil Han, CNN, London.
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AZUZ: Today, Adam Greenberg will step up to the plate for the Miami Marlons. Might not sound like a big deal, but if you flash back to July, 2005, Greenberg was playing for the Chicago Cubs then. He`d just gotten called up from the minors for a game against the Marlons. Adam`s first pitch in the Major League game, and he gets hit in the head with the ball. Had to live in severe pain. It was considered a plate appearance, not an official at-bat. Adam was diagnosed with positional vertigo, he was dizzy for months, he had blurred vision, never played for the Cubs again, and struggled when he came back to play in the minor leagues. Matt Listin is a Cubs fan and a filmmaker. He started the campaign to get Adam that Major League at bat he missed out on. Eventually, the Marlons, the team that knocked Adam out of that game seven years ago, agreed. They signed Adam to a one day contract. That day is today. Adam talked with Fredricka Whitfield, ahead of "Time" about this second chance.
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ADAM GREENBERG, FORMER CHICAGO CUBS PLAYER: It is a chance for me to really realize my dream as I had my whole life, as a child wanting to play Major League Baseball, and obviously, what happened seven years ago, did and that dream was kind of shadowed. And I did never get to enjoy being a major leaguer, so, with the - with obviously the help of Mat Listin and this One at Bat (ph) campaign, you know he`s enabled me to kind of get back and now truly, realize the dream and I`m honestly just saying, I`m soaking it in and loving every second of it.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I wonder, Adam, how are you going to be at bat, Marlons, Tuesday and not have tears in your eyes. I mean how are you going to be able to concentrate on that moment. Will you be thinking about what happened years ago or will you be thinking about, you know, your fitness, your training, your readiness. Can you tell me what you might be feeling?
GREENBERG: Yeah, here is the one thing that I want to make very clear: this campaign and this at bat is a success already. So the result of what happens on Tuesday, it`s one at bat, but obviously, it`s resonated with so many people showing the power of the human spirit, the power of perseverance, and just staying positive and not letting yourself stay down. But it`s not - you can`t do it alone. You need support. And I didn`t ask for it, certainly. I didn`t know Matt from a hole in a wall, he wasn`t a friend of mine, or a relative, and agent - nothing. He`s just a genuinely nice guy and passionate baseball fan and passionate person, so all of those emotions, I`m getting to kind of relive and talk about it and share it right now.
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AZUZ: Excellent stuff. Before we go, I`ve done a little lion dancing in my day, but I don`t remember it looking like this: Oh, it`s lion dancing -- that`s going to make more sense. And it makes for some impressive stuff - look at that. This is a contest in China, teams dress up like lions and do complicated moves across these tall stakes These guys might be moving across a little too quickly.
But - but he holds on and at the end of the day, only one competitor can take home the crown as the new Lion King. You win some you lose some, it`s the circle of life. Do you think that story should have been at the start in today show? After all, it is the main event.
It`s time for us to go, we`ll be back tomorrow, no lying about it. And I hope that those of you on Twitter who were disappointed that we only have one fun yesterday, are a little happier with that one. Have a great one!
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