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Joshua Wong Shouts "I love Hong Kong" as More Than 40 Leading Democracy Leaders Handed Lengthy Prison Terms in Mass Trial; Hundreds of Thousands Without Power as Bomb Cyclone Slams Washington State, British Columbia; Plastic Waste Chokes Off Power in Eastern DR Congo; Rocket Record: USC Students Set Amateur Mark For Highest Altitude Above Earth. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired November 21, 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. Happy Friday Eve. I have a random thought for you to start this Thursday, November 21st.
Why in the world is the plural of goose, geese, but the plural of moose isn`t meese? And why is the plural of mouse, mice, but the plural of house
is not hice?
I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. Let`s get this show on the road.
We start today with news of 45 people who were sentenced to prison after being convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion, which is an attempt to
overthrow or undermine the power and authority of an established system or institution, especially a government or political system.
This has all taken place in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People`s Republic of China. The 45 defendants,
which include well-known lawmakers, activists, unionists, and journalists, received sentences ranging from 50 months to 10 years.
They included Hong Kong`s best-known pro-democracy figures, including Joshua Wong, a former student leader who became the poster child for the
movement. Wong reportedly shouted, I love Hong Kong, before he was escorted out of the dock after his sentencing. This is the single biggest blow to
the city of Hong Kong since the Chinese government issued a national security law four years ago, which was in response to anti-government
protests that took over the city for months in 2019.
CNN`s Ivan Watson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Forty-five defendants who`ve all been convicted. The combined jail sentences that were issued
today amount to more than 240 years in prison, more than two centuries that have now been handed down to these 45 defendants, the majority of whom pled
guilty to the charges against them in an effort to try to reduce the sentences. They were convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion.
The judges said that had this scheme been carried out to the very end, quote, "the adverse consequences would be far reaching and no less serious
than overthrowing the government." The scheme that is being discussed was an unofficial primary election conducted by these opposition politicians
and activists in July of 2020, and that is part of what the prosecutors alleged was a scheme to effectively bring down the government here. So all
of these defendants were arrested en masse in January of 2021, and most of them have been behind bars ever since then.
The critics, which include Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, they say this is part of a broader crackdown on democratic freedoms that
the city used to enjoy. Hong Kong used to witness large, mostly peaceful street protests and demonstrations and airing of political different views
and criticisms that is no longer tolerated in the city. If somebody tries to put up a sign, they will very quickly be spirited away by law
enforcement.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: We now go to the West Coast of the United States and parts of British Columbia and Canada, which are dealing with a bomb cyclone. What`s a bomb
cyclone? Also called a bombogenesis, it`s the rapid intensification of a cyclone in a short period of time, and it can happen during powerful
storms.
The folks are also dealing with the effects of an atmospheric river. At the same time, these two phenomena are combining to bring hurricane force winds
and heavy rain. A storm of this magnitude only occurs in this region about once in a decade and can cause major flooding. It can dump feet of snow and
lead to power outages. To explain what an atmospheric river is and how events like this happen, here`s our Derek Van Dam.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Atmospheric rivers are long, concentrated regions in the atmosphere that can transport moisture thousands of miles.
They usually carry water vapor from the tropics to the mid-latitudes and can trigger extreme precipitation events around the world.
For example, the Pineapple Express atmospheric river carries moisture from the tropics near Hawaii to the U.S. and Canada`s west coast. Atmospheric
rivers can lead to extreme rainfall, flooding, and mudslides. These rivers in the sky can transport the equivalent of as much as 25 times the amount
of water that flows through the actual Mississippi River. Most are weaker systems that offer beneficial rain and snow, but the stronger atmospheric
river events across the western U.S. can lead to over a billion dollars a year in flood damage.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten second trivia.
About how many plastic straws do Americans use each day?
20,000, 100,000, 1 million, or 500 million?
The correct answer is 500 million.
That`s how many drinking straws Americans use each day according to the National Park Service and EarthDay.org. Just to give you an idea, 500
million straws daily could fill up 125 school buses each day.
We all know that trash and waste can pile up, and littering, well, that can just yuck a place up. We`re going to go check out a place where garbage has
gotten so out of hand, there`s so much of it in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, that there are mounds of it floating in a lake, blocking a dam
that creates electricity for the region. Now there are power outages, local businesses are being impacted.
CNN`s Victoria Rubadiri explains why and how this is happening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sea of garbage atop a lake on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and Rwanda. It`s unsightly and a problem with a ripple effect for families and businesses alike. Plastic bottles, gas cans and other trash collect at
the bottom and on the surface of the water, clogging this hydroelectric dam and keeping water from properly entering its channels.
Limiting the amount of pressure and speed needed for this electric company`s machines to power the region.
LJOVY MULEMANGABO, DIRECTOR, DR CONGO`S NATIONAL ELECTRIC COMPANY SNEL (through translator): We are forced to shut down the machines and start
removing the waste, clearing the grates. And when we stop the machines, power outages also occur.
RUBADIRI (voice-over): Waste management issues, intensified by heavy rainfall, cause people`s abandoned trash to end up in the lake. Those
mounds of garbage can have drastic consequences.
MULEMANGABO (through translator): If they leave the waste lying in a street, in the gutters, it ends up in the Rwizi Dam. And this creates a lot
of difficulties for us.
RUBADIRI (voice-over): As power outages plague the region small businesses suffer, these welders feel the pressure as production slows, confused and
frustrated by the sporadic electricity in their workshop.
ALEX MBILIZI, METALWORKER (through translator): People tell us the power is out because of plastic bottles, but we don`t know what to do about these
bottles. If only there were a way to clear out these bottles so we could have electricity.
RUBADIRI (voice-over): Officials say there could be a way. If individual homes pick up waste, authorities say waste companies could then collect it
and bring it to a disposal site. But for now, it`s only an idea, one that may prove crucial in tackling the region`s pollution problem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today`s story, getting a 10 out of 10, some rocket building college students from the University of Southern California just broke an
international amateur record. Their Aftershock 2 went soaring up out of the Earth`s atmosphere, higher than any other amateur built rocket before.
CNN`s Jeremy Roth takes us to see the moment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY ROTH, CNN REPORTER: Watch a student-built rocket reach dizzying heights and, according to its creators, break a world record in the
process. The rocket, named the Aftershock 2, was designed and built by the student-run USC Rocket Propulsion Lab at the USC Viterbi School of
Engineering.
The group took their creation to a testing site in Black Rock Desert, Nevada, where they let it rip, sending the student-built rocket, soaring at
Mach 5.5 speed, past the so-called Karman line, the boundary separating Earth`s atmosphere from space. According to the school, the rocket reached
a staggering 470,000 feet of altitude, smashing the previous international amateur record by a whopping 90,000 feet, which would mean the Aftershock 2
soared further into space than any non-governmental and non-commercial group has ever flown before.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: All right, rock stars. Our shout-out today goes to some of our friends in Los Angeles, California, who absolutely rock it. Ms. Rabina`s
class at King Middle School in the City of Angels. Keep shining bright, everyone.
Thanks to all of you for spending some time with us today. You are more powerful than you know.
I`m Coy Wire. I`ll see you right back here tomorrow on CNN 10.
END
