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Floods Gush Through Nigerian Zoo, Sweeping Snakes and Crocodiles Into Neighborhoods; How Discarded Electronics are Being Recycled for Gold; A Runaway Penguin Spent Two Weeks Missing at Sea. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired September 17, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Welcome to CNN 10. I want to start today`s show with a big shout-out to all the teachers out there
finding ways to keep your students informed and inspired. Thanks for making me and my team part of your day.
Hey, Mr. Rothwell, love your creativity on TikTok. You and all your students at Bridgetown in Cincinnati, Ohio, bringing that energy, rise up.
Let`s start today with the latest from Nigeria. First, over a million people have been impacted by severe floods in northeastern Nigeria. Parts
of the region are seeing chest-high water levels with people, crops, and livestock devastated.
Nigeria`s Borno state has been hit the hardest by floods, worsened by the collapse of a dam there. Its capital city, Maiduguri, is seeing the worst
flooding there in 30 years. The heavy surge of water inundated half the city, damaging buildings, infrastructure, and severely damaging the city`s
zoo.
Officials say weeks of flooding across Nigeria have led to hundreds of deaths and hundreds of thousands of people being displaced. Floods are not
uncommon in northern Nigeria, but scientists say human-caused climate change is heating the planet, and they expect extreme rainfall events to
increase in frequency and intensity across almost all of Africa. This affected region of northeast Nigeria is a significant one.
Maiduguri has been a hub for humanitarian operations for years, while Borno state has been at the center of a 15-year armed rebellion by terrorist
group Boko Haram. Millions were already displaced there by that fighting, making those populations already living in camps particularly vulnerable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Delivering food in the most desperate of ways. It takes a good arm to throw supplies to people trapped on balconies and
rooftops in flood-soaked Maiduguri. Floods have affected up to one million people, with many residents still trapped in their houses after heavy rains
caused a dam to overflow.
Thousands of others managed to flee the flood zone, trudging through waist- deep water and climbing aboard army trucks, but after escaping one life- threatening situation, they are now faced with another.
EMMANUEL BIGENIMANA, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: Many, many people, I`m talking about over 200,000, 300,000 displaced people who are overcrowded in several
IDP camps, and also on the streets.
HOLMES: Children scrape the bottom of a pot of rice at one displacement camp where thousands of evacuees are being held. Food and water already in
short supply, and people say the cost of goods has shot up since the central market flooded and local crops were destroyed. Some families say
they were given a tent and little else.
YAGAMBO MALUM-KACHALLA, DISPLACED PERSON (through translator): I must go out and find some food for my family to eat. I have no money, and my elder
brother also has no money. I don`t even know where he is now. He must have gone out scavenging.
HOLMES: The Maiduguri Zoo also flooded, killing more than 80% of the animals, although crocodiles, snakes and even an ostrich were washed into
communities. Miserable conditions all round that could get worse, especially for those in temporary shelters where threats like hunger and
disease are also likely waiting.
Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Pop quiz hot shot. During what Olympics were medals first made using precious metals recycled from used electronics? 2012 London, 2016 Rio, 2020
Tokyo or 2024 Paris?
The Tokyo Olympics are your answer here. Almost 80,000 tons of discarded devices collected from the public were used to extract precious medals for
the winner`s medals.
Olympics organizers aren`t the first to recycle heaps of devices to extract precious medals. All over the world, mobile phones, digital cameras,
handheld games, laptops and more are dismantled and melted down to extract gold, platinum and rare earth medals.
In Afghanistan, workers are doing this tedious job of stripping electronics for precious metals with little technology to assist them. In one of the
least developed countries in the world, the work offers a profitable salary, but workers fear the future of the trade may be short-lived, as
precious metals are increasingly swapped out for cheaper ones in newer electronics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In a workshop filled with TVs, computers and cell phones, these electronics are only as useful as what`s found
inside them. Workers break them apart using pliers or their bare hands, searching for gold in their circuit boards. Once the metal is extracted,
the micrograms are accumulated and stripped with acid.
It`s a job both tedious and risky. Those in wealthier nations often rely on technology with better safeguards for the same process.
SAYED WALI AGHA, WORKSHOP OWNER: It takes a long time to dismantle everything. We don`t have the necessary machinery and we don`t have much
equipment. We don`t have much acid, which we bring in from Pakistan. So we can`t extract anything except the gold, not even the silver.
NEWTON: The men make a typical salary for Afghanistan, around $166 a month in this workshop, the owner says. But while profitable for some, the future
of the trade is bleak. According to workers, more and more electronics are being produced with cheaper metals, slowly diminishing the amount of gold
to be extracted from new items.
MOHAMMAD YASEEN, GOLD SMELTER: Japanese electronic products are decreasing day by day on the markets. And Chinese electronic products that are
increasing on the markets contain less or no gold, which is why the quantity of gold is decreasing.
NEWTON: The trade was revived alongside the Taliban`s return to power in 2021, when the acid used to strip the gold became available again, workers
say. Soaring gold prices have also contributed to the industry`s rebirth. But just as fast as it`s been revived, the recycling of gold from
electronics in Afghanistan could come to a halt.
AGHA: The sector is not expected to grow. The new electronic devices are more durable, and they don`t contain gold. I don`t think this business will
develop any further and will disappear.
NEWTON: For now, men work meticulously on the floor of the workshop, maskless and gloveless, to make a living for themselves and their families.
But while Afghanistan`s gold industry thrives, the trade of recycling it may not for much longer.
Paula Newton, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Our story today getting a 10 out of 10, a miracle penguin. A six- year-old Cape penguin named Pen was born in captivity. And during her first swim in the ocean, Pen became lost at sea for two weeks. Being born in
captivity lowered her survival odds in the wild, but the persistent penguin overcame the odds and a typhoon before zoo staff finally found her swimming
on a beach.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A runaway zoo penguin has been found safe in Japan after being missing for nearly two weeks. The six-year-old Cape penguin
named Pen escaped through a hole in her enclosure and paddled 45 kilometers in open waters. With no boats operating during a recent typhoon, Pen
avoided collisions and fishing nets. She was later spotted swimming near a beach unharmed in what her keeper called a miraculous survival.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right, superstars, it is shout-out time now. And send in a round of high fives and a lot of love to Energy Institute High School in Houston,
Texas. Rise up.
Remember, tomorrow is #YourWordWednesday. Your word can make it into the show and boost our vocabulary. Submit your vocab word and definition in the
comment section of my most recent post @coywire on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok.
Put your school name, city, state, and teacher`s name so we can show you some love. Can`t wait. See you tomorrow, everyone, right here on CNN 10.
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