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CNN 10
Somalia Mourns the Victims of a Terrorist Attack; Firefighters Make Progress in California; Scientists Celebrate Space History; Old Money Becomes Soil
Aired October 17, 2017 - 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: The Horn of Africa, the easternmost part of the continent, is where we start today`s edition of CNN 10. Thank you for
watching. I`m Carl Azuz, from CNN International newsroom in Atlanta, Georgia.
Somalia is a nation that extends out between the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. It`s just a little smaller than Texas. And for years,
Somalia has been considered a failed state because of tremendous problems brought on by war, natural disasters, famine and terrorism.
Al Shabaab is the name of an Islamic militant group that`s been fighting the Somali government for more than 10 years. Al Shabaab no longer
controls the capital, Mogadishu, but it`s been responsible for a number of deadly car bomb attacks in the city. That`s why it`s the main suspect in
an assault that happened over the weekend.
Two car bombs went off near a popular hotel in the heart of Mogadishu. The initial blast killed at least 300 people, making it Somalia`s deadliest
attack in years. Hundreds of others were hospitalized and more than 30 of them were too badly injured to be treated in Somalia. They had to be
airlifted to Turkey for medical care.
Somalia`s president blamed al Shabaab for what he called a heinous act, though the terrorist group didn`t initially say it was responsible. It
usually does.
Some Somalis have turned out to publicly demonstrate against the group. The nation is observing three days of mourning for the victims.
In the U.S. state of California, the good news from the frontlines in the ongoing battle against wildfires is that the two largest fires are about 60
percent contained. That means they are now mostly surrounded by fire lines that prevent them from spreading. But this is one of the greatest
tragedies the state has ever faced, according to its governor.
Forty-one people have been killed, making this year`s wildfires the deadliest in state history, more than 200 people are still missing, more
than 5,700 buildings have burned and more than 217,000 acres have been scorched. It`s taken thousands of firefighters from across the country and
as far away as Australia to try to get a handle on these.
The wind, which has been a major problem, in spreading the fires, has died down in many places and there is rain in the forecast for later this week.
But for many homes, it`s too late.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUBTITLE: People are returning to destroyed homes as wildfires ravage Northern California.
PENNY WRIGHT, HOUSE BURNED DOWN: All your life savings and work, for all the years, it`s gone. We lived here 10 years, I never thought that Santa
Rosa would have fire like this and we would lose everything.
MONICA BRAVO, SANTA ROSA, CA: You know how many of you came to my house and -- shared a moment (ph), shared our beautiful view and our beautiful
sky. But this is it. We`re trying to find a way to reach out (INAUDIBLE)
ERNIE CHAPMAN, SANTA ROSA, CA: Went to bed about 12:00 and my one dog, she`s really alert to things. She started barking and just running, we
need to check on stuff because it`s really windy. I went out, wind is blowing, ashes coming down. Just grab my keys, my truck and my dogs and
took off.
I`m just glad to be here. Glad to have my dogs. You know, you can replace the stuff, but life -- life is most important. So --
SUBTITLE: Firefighters are battling strong winds while trying to contain the flames.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fires are still out there. They are still actively growing. Resources still continue to be limited. We have folks on the
fire line starting their third shift right now that have not been relieved because there`s folks not available to come in with so many fires in the
area.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
In terms of volume, which of these space objects is believed to be the smallest?
Aldebaran, mercury, the moon, or a neutron star?
Though their mass is incredibly dense, neutron stars are estimated to measure only around 12 miles in diameter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Scientists worldwide are excited over a recent discovery that was just announced on Monday. It took place in a galaxy not far, far away.
It`s illustrated in this animation.
Researchers say it involved two neutron stars, relatively small stars, with diameters that might be the size of a city, but they`re believed to be
incredibly dense, with masses that are bigger than that of our sun.
What astronomers saw was a bright blue burst, believed to be when the two stars that faded to a deep red color. And though the observation was made
on August 17th, researches say the collision actually happened 130 million years ago, that it took that long for the event`s light and gravitational
waves to reach Earth.
So, why all the excitement? Well, this isn`t seen often. Collisions like this are calculated to occur less than a hundred times every million years.
So, scientists say it`s the discovery of a lifetime and that it`s created new theories and mysteries about the universe.
From dead stars to dead money. According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, about $1.53 trillion worth of U.S. bills are in circulation right now. But
regardless of when exactly they were printed, these bills at some point have to come out of circulation and some of them are used to enrich the
soil.
That`s today`s "Great Big Story".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REPORTER: Money, it`s everywhere.
SUBTITLE: A new life for mangled millions.
REPORTER: But what happens when your bills get old and need to be replaced by new ones? That means old cash needs to be destroyed, a lot of cash.
This is not however the story of money growing on trees, but of trees growing out of money. Well, more like vegetables.
We are here at the Federal Reserve Bank in New Orleans and this is where we shred millions of dollars.
DEAN WOITHA, LEAD BUSINESS ANALYST, NEW ORLEANS FED: My name is Dean Woitha. I`m the lead business analyst for cash services here at the New
Orleans Fed. We are the nation`s bank.
Our job is to make sure that we have a supply of currency. Also part of that is to ensure that we remove, unfit, old dirty currency from
circulation. So, here on average, we shred about $6 million in dirty money every day.
This could be for any number of reasons. It could be because the note has rips in it, holes in it, tears in it. It could have tape on it. It could
have graffiti written all over it.
We don`t want that note going back into circulation. If it has any of those qualities, it will be shredded.
What we used to do is take all of these currency shreds, and they would just wind up as waste going to a landfill. Now, through a lot of work and
effort, we finally figure out a way where we can take these shreds and ultimately recycle them.
REPORTER: So, all that green leaves the Fed and heads to a compost facility, where it turns into something quite useful.
JOHNATHAN CHRISTIAN STROUD, DIRCTOR, WOOD MATERIALS LLC: What you`re looking at right now is $24 million. But the soil that it creates will be
priceless.
My name is Johnathan Christian. We turn cash into soil. It is definitely one of our secret ingredients. It`s little in content but it`s huge in
what it provides.
Currency that`s deemed unfit is brought to our facility at Wood Materials. From there, we go through a set of composting process where we convert that
into a healthy soil.
Our composts is use primarily by urban farmers in the greater New Orleans area.
REPORTER: One of these farmers is Simond Menasche.
SIMOND MENASCHE, FOUNDER & DIRECTOR, GROW ON: And this is a million dollar farm. We are making fresh local food accessible in New Orleans. We`re
growing veggies, herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers.
The vegetables we grow here are made out of compost and cash. It is very fulfilling to be growing using a material that would otherwise go to waste.
One man`s thrash is another man`s treasure.
REPORTER: And that`s the story of how we grow tomatoes out of cash.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Regardless of how you may feel about fidget spinners, there`s a trick that only six humans can do with them. Because that`s the number of
people currently aboard the International Space Station where fidget spinners float. It`s all fun and games in orbit. The micro gravity
environment there reduces friction and allows the spinners to spin on and on.
And it`s not just the plastic that`s doing all the spinning here. The astronauts are able to take themselves for a spin and it apparently has no
bearing when they go to get their bearings after bearing a spin like a spinner and somehow holding down their dinner.
You can see why the gadgets and the astronauts have fans and we`re grateful you took CNN 10 for a spin. I`m Carl Azuz.
END
