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New Wave of Corona Virus Cases Wells Up in India; U.S. Government Recognizes Armenian Genocide; Ride Aboard the Hyperloop. Aired 4-4:10a ET

Aired April 27, 2021 - 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: Hi I`m Carl Azuz delivering your Tuesday edition of CNN 10. It`s always good to see you. The south Asian country of India

is our first stop today. It`s experiencing a new wave of corona virus infections and it`s a big one. India is the second most populated nation

on the planet. It`s roughly a third the size of the United States but it has four times the number of people, more than 1.3 billion live in India.

Health experts say the country`s first wave of corona virus infections peaked last September, October. At that time, India was reporting about

100,000 positive tests per day. The numbers dipped during the winter but this month they skyrocketed.

India has recorded more than 300,000 new cases each day for most of the last week. That`s an international record. In the capital of New Delhi,

there`s a lockdown and a shortage of oxygen supplies. The gas is used to help people who are critically sick and having trouble breathing but New

Delhi doesn`t product its own oxygen, so it`s asked the country`s government to send help which it has promised to provide. Other nations

like the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Singapore and Russia are offering oxygen or other medical supplies. So is Pakistan and

that`s significant because even though it shares a border with India, the two nations are bitter rivals.

Despite India`s spike in corona virus cases, the country`s medical officials are telling people not to panic. A large percentage of those who

test positive for COVID have no symptoms but if people with mild cases rush to hospitals anyway, which some of them have. It puts pressure on medical

centers and makes it harder for them to focus on those who are at higher risk from severe cases. One expert says people who have mild or no

symptoms should treat themselves at home.

10 Second Trivia. Which of these empire dissolved the most recently? Ottoman Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, King Dynasty or Russian Empire. Of

these options only the Ottoman Empire lasted until 1922.

In 1914, the Ottoman Empire was home to about 2 million Armenians, an ancient group of people who lived in the region. By 1922, the number of

Armenians in what had become Turkey had fallen to 400,000. What happened to them? Armenians say it was genocide. That during World War I, the

Ottoman Empire murdered or forced hundreds of thousands of Armenians to flee and there is photographic evidence that large numbers of Armenians

were killed. Turkey strongly opposes the use of the world genocide. It`s government says Turkish and Armenian lives were lost during World War I and

that the number of Armenians who died is closer to 300,000. The term genocide has divided Turkey and Armenia. It`s also a word that American

leaders have hesitated to use.

The last one who referred to the genocide of Armenians was former President Ronald Reagan in 1981. But this month, President Joe Biden officially

recognized the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey rejected his statement and said it would worsen the nations

relationship but that country`s leader also said he aims to open a new door with the U.S. this June.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For many Armenians recognizing the brutality endured by their ancestors is a crucial test in righting a

historic wrong. But modern day Turkey that rose from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire has long maintained the killings were not systematic, were

smaller in number and do not meet the legal definition of genocide. In fact, the word genocide and the legal framework around it only entered the

mainstream after World War II. The word was coined by a Polish lawyer to describe the Nazi systematic attempt to eradicate Jews in Europe, what we

now call the holocaust.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: Turkey has softened it`s position over the years with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2014, issuing a first ever statement calling

the event of 1915 a shared pain, and offering condolences to the decedents of the killed. Turkey still argues the events need to be put in historical

context but hundreds of thousands of people from other groups also lost their lives in rampant killings. Some of which were carried out by

Armenians. The historical debate has long been overshadowed by politics, in recognition of the Armenian genocide.

For years, Turkey`s allies in the west had side-stepped the label of genocide in order to keep (inaudible) in the fold. As Turkey`s ties with

the west became rockier than ever, a slew of genocide recognition bills have been passed in European capitals. Turkey`s rivals like Russia and

Syria, also jumped in to recognize the genocide label. One of the remaining holdouts has been the United States. But with U.S.-Turkish

relations strained to new lows over the last two years, momentum has been building in Washington to recognize the events has a genocide.

During his term, President Obama shied away from using the term genocide choosing to call it Mets Yeghern, an Armenian term meaning the "Great

Calamity". In 2019, both the Senate and the House passed a resolution to recognize the Armenian genocide but President Trump refused to call the

event a genocide. Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Though R&D is moving ahead on the Hyperloop, an extremely high speed form of magnetic rail transportation, it`s still unknown if it will make

financial sense to build hyper loop passenger networks. They may not be able to carry as many passengers as current trains and there are concerns

about catastrophic accidents if something goes wrong. So what`s going right?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: November 8th, 2020, just outside Las Vegas, Nevada, Virgin Hyperloop passed another milestone in its ambitious journey to

revolutionize the way we move. It carried out it`s first passenger ride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one. Launch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Josh Giegel, CEO and co-founder of Virgin Hyperloop and Sara Luchian, the Director of Passenger Experience were the first to

test it out. And what was that experience like for you?

JOSH GIEGEL, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF VIRGIN HYPERLOOP: Oh, it was absolutely incredible. It was phenomenal to be sitting in a vehicle we designed,

built, we made safe and once we started going down the pod. We felt a nice gentle acceleration and then we got -- it was a pretty short test but we

got to the end and all we wanted to do was go back again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Virgin Hyperloop is harnessing magnetic levitation technology and wants to take it to the next level.

GIEGEL: Well what we want to do is be the first new mode of mass transportation over 100 years. So we`re not a plane. We`re not a car.

We`re not a boat. What we are is a pod moving inside of a tube at the speed of an aircraft for a fraction of the energy consumption. Basically

taking you directly from where you are to where you want to be without stopping at every place along the way, as smooth, electrically,

sustainability, autonomously. It`s this idea that being able to move ten times faster than, you know, a car and doing that for a fraction of the

emissions. Being able to connect, being able to move so many people being able to save so many, I`ll say tons of emissions is that -- is really going

to open up a lot of opportunities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the pandemic altered the course of your planning or the execution of your pilot project? What impacts has it had for you?

GIEGEL: The thing that I think is maybe a little bit of a silver lining, if we could say that about the -- the pandemic is that it`s really

accelerated the talk about sustainability. We`ve seen a world with less congestion. We`ve seen a world of less pollution. We`ve also felt this

absolute human desire to be connected to each other. So we want to see each other, we want things faster and this is the opportunity for us to

rethink what it is we`re doing about the future. Make some changes instead of building back the past, we can actually build back the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: The fight to decide the one true Josh. 10 out of 10. Last year, this dude named Josh challenged other dudes named Josh to a battle royale.

Whoever won would get to keep his name, the others would have to change theirs. Well scores of Josh`s showed up with so much interest that the

event raised money for a food bank and a children`s hospital and after a giant fight, with pool noodles. A four year old nicknamed "Little Josh"

came out the victor. Oh my "Josh".

Now you might have thought we were just "Joshing" you until you saw that "josh pit" but "josh" you wait. When a battle results in that many Josh`s

getting their "Josh" desserts, "Joshtice" has been served. That is hard to say.

I`m Carl Azuz serving up puns for CNN 10. We`re also happy to be serving the students and teachers of Butler Area Senior High School. It`s located

in Butler, Pennsylvania. YouTube.com/CNN10 is the place to request a shout out.

END