Return to Transcripts main page
CNN 10
Calls Grow for South Korea`s President to Resign After Martial Law Chaos; Georgia is Being Rocked By Growing Protests; Why It`s Hard to Avoid Ultraprocessed Foods. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired December 05, 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, sunshine. I`m Coy Wire. Thanks for being here with us today. It`s Thursday, December 5th. Happy Friday Eve. Let`s
smell the flowers and cool the soup and let`s lock in for the next 10 minutes of news.
We start with world news out of South Korea, where President Yoon Suk Yeol is under mounting pressure to resign after plunging the country into
political chaos and uncertainty. Yoon declared martial law late Tuesday night, accusing the country`s main opposition Democratic Party, which has a
majority in parliament, of sympathizing with North Korean and anti-state activities. Under martial law, all political and civilian activities stop,
like rallies, protests, even legislative functions, while the military is granted temporary rule during an emergency.
In South Korea, the president has the constitutional ability to declare martial law, but it was a risky move for embattled President Yoon. His
popularity plummeted since he took office in 2022 after a number of scandals, and with the opposition gaining a majority, he`s been in a
stalemate in the legislature, unable to deliver on campaign promises to cut taxes and ease business regulations.
After the surprise decree, Yoon faced an immediate backlash from lawmakers and citizens alike. People took to the streets in protest. Furious
lawmakers forced their way past soldiers stationed to block entry into parliament. 190 lawmakers, a majority, voted to strike down the decree, and
within hours, President Yoon caved, reversing the martial law decree in a statement and withdrawing troops deployed to carry out the order.
The fallout from Yoon`s decree has been swift. The president`s chief of staff and more than 10 senior secretaries have submitted their
resignations. And while the president himself has not resigned, the National Assembly began the impeachment motion against the president in the
event he does not step down.
Now questions remain around the future of Yoon`s presidency, his party`s rule, and what happens next in one of the world`s major economies and a
major United States ally.
Next to Eastern Europe, where days of protests have rocked the country of Georgia, we`re going to get a glimpse of the scenes unfolding in the
nation`s capital, Tbilisi. The government has put a pause on the former Soviet country`s widely popular bid to join the European Union.
Protesters have been met with a violent police crackdown. CNN`s Lynda Kinkade explains why tensions have been rising in the fight over the
country`s future, and whether it will forge closer ties with Russia or Europe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Facing down a row of riot police, a protester in Georgia defiantly waves a European Union flag.
Powerful symbol of what`s galvanized thousands of protesters in Tbilisi to rally nightly since Thursday, when the government said it was suspending
talks to join the EU for four years.
Night after night, demonstrators have set off fireworks near parliament, clashing with police who`ve responded with tear gas and water cannons.
Protesters say the future of the country is at stake. Polls show more than 80% of Georgians support joining the E.U., a long-time goal of the country
that`s enshrined in its constitution.
MARIAM TSKITISHVILI, PROTESTER: It`s just the fact that my country deserves to be free from the Russian regime that has haunted us for many centuries,
and I believe that we need to get into Europe. It`s truly what we`ve wanted for many, many centuries.
KINKADE (voice-over): But that path has become less clear lately. Critics say the country`s ruling Georgian dream party has become increasingly
authoritarian, and in recent years, has moved away from the West, deepening ties with Russia, which the party denies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten-second trivia.
Which pasta name translates to little worms in English?
Linguine, Udon, Vermicelli, or Fusili?
If you said vermicelli, you are correct. It comes from the Latin word vermi, which means worm.
Many of us face an almost daily dilemma craving salty, sweet, or savory ultra-processed snacks over healthy ones, even though we know processed
foods aren`t good for our health. Guilty.
So what is an ultra-processed food? They`re foods that have been significantly changed from their original state by the addition of
artificial flavors and colors, preservatives, sweeteners, emulsifiers, you get it.
CNN`s Meg Tirrell caught up with researchers trying to unravel why ultra- processed foods lead to a lengthy list of issues like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and why it`s so hard to stop eating them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sam Srisatta has been living in this hospital room at the National Institutes of Health for two
weeks.
(On camera): Do you have, like, wearables on? Like, tracking everything?
SAM SRISATTA, PARTICIPANT IN NIH STUDY: Yes. So I do have a couple of these sensors.
TIRRELL (voice-over): He`s not sick. He`s a participant in a clinical trial, one of the first of its kind, measuring his movement, his blood, his
gut microbiome, even the air he breathes, all to try to better understand how our health is affected by ultra-processed foods.
(on camera): Oh, I think your food is coming in.
And we saw the kind of food he got and -- eggs and spinach and yogurt. But we don`t know. That could be processed. It could be unprocessed. That`s
part of the trial.
(Voice-over): Ultra-processed foods contain additives and ingredients you wouldn`t find in your own kitchen. They were shown in the previous NIH
study to drive overeating and weight gain, according to researcher Dr. Kevin Hall.
(On camera): Are ultra-processed foods just junk foods? DR.
KEVIN HALL, SENIOR INVESTIGATOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: What we often think of as junk foods probably captures a big chunk of the ultra-
processed foods in a kind of a category. But there`s a lot of things that people would be surprised are in the ultra-processed foods category and
could potentially be healthy for you.
So things like whole-grain breads that you might buy from the supermarket. Most of those are considered ultra-processed because of some of the
additives and preservatives that are in there, as well as how they`re manufactured. But there`s a lot of debate about whether or not all ultra-
processed foods are bad for you.
TIRRELL (voice-over): And that`s what this trial is trying to find out.
HALL: What are the mechanisms? What is it about this category of foods that is driving people to overconsume calories?
TIRRELL: Dr. Hall`s team has two ideas about what might be causing people to overeat some ultra-processed foods. Their energy density or how many
calories are in each gram of food, and their hyper-palatability, when foods contain just the right combinations of salt, sugar, fat, and carbs to make
us not want to stop eating them.
(On camera): This is where they prepare all of the food. And they don`t just prepare it; they weigh it before it goes up and when it comes back
after the participant has eaten.
(Voice-over): Each day participants in the trial are offered a total of 6,000 calories and researchers measure how much they choose to eat. The
trial is a month long and each week has a different diet, minimally processed or different kinds of ultra-processed.
Sam was in an ultra-processed week during our visit but one with foods Dr. Hall doesn`t expect will drive him to overeat.
TIRRELL (on camera): How is that ultra-processed?
SARA TURNER, DIETITIAN, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: It`s all based on the ingredients. So the eggs that we used in that omelet, the egg whites
were a liquid-egg product. So it has ingredients in it that make it ultra- processed. It`s not just eggs.
Our yogurts, the pancake syrup that was in the yogurt, those all have ultra-processed ingredients in terms of added flavors, added sweeteners.
TIRRELL (voice-over): The next day Sam would switch to meals that were more energy dense and hyper-palatable, the ones expected to lead to overeating.
TURNER: So you can see that these are all foods that are ultra- processed. And you can see that the volume compared to this is quite different as
well.
TIRRELL (on camera): Wow, that is really illustrative. I mean, just looking, you need two trays of food for this one and one tray of food for
this next diet when you`re getting the same number -- you`re offering, at least, the same number of calories.
TURNER: Correct, yes.
TIRRELL (voice-over): Once a week, Sam spends a full day sealed in this metabolic chamber.
(On camera): Do you know what they`re measuring in there?
SRISATTA: I think they`re measuring how much O2 I consume and how much carbon dioxide I release.
TIRRELL (voice-over): The air he breathes in and out can tell researchers how many calories he`s burning and whether they`re coming from carbs or
fat, all to help understand what ultra-processed foods really do to our bodies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today`s story, getting a 10 out of 10, a scooter, a kid`s bike, and a high-speed police chase. A police officer was hopping fences, running
through yards, even scaling trash cans to leap up and over obstacles, all to chase that guy, a dude who stole a motorized scooter. In a wild turn of
events, the officer came across a kid`s bike and he took off in hot pursuit.
Those people on their porch were wondering, what the heck is going on? Valiant effort, not going to get her done though. Another officer with a
bit of a bigger set of wheels made the arrest. The peddling cop must have been wheelie, wheelie tired.
Bad choices, bad decisions, bad consequences. It can be quite the vicious cycle.
Our shout out today goes to my friends at Hialeah, Florida. The Patriots at American Senior High School rise up. Thank you for making us part of your
day.
Fun fact, famed aviator Amelia Earhart began her final attempt to journey around the globe in Hialeah, the more you know.
Thanks to all of you who`ve subscribed, liked, commented on our CNN 10 YouTube channel for your shout out requests. I`ll see you tomorrow. Fri-
yay.
I`m Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.
END
