Cnn Student News 2010年10月21日

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Ancient documents that everyone might be able to see but only four people can actually touch?!? It's coming up on CNN Student News. Hi, everyone. I'm Carl Azuz.

First Up: Pakistan Security

AZUZ: First up, President Obama gets together with some of his national security advisers to talk about Afghanistan and Pakistan. With thousands of American troops in that part of the world, it's obviously an important issue for the president. He holds this meeting every month.

Those two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, share a border. And extremists, terrorists work on both sides of that border. Pakistan has been asking for more help in fighting those extremists. It says it doesn't have enough resources to go after them on its own. Sources say the U.S. is getting ready to answer that request. According to these sources, the U.S. will provide up to $2 billion over the next 5 years to help Pakistan fight the extremists. This is in addition to the billions of dollars the U.S. already gives Pakistan in military aid.

Protests in France

AZUZ: Protests, retirement and gasoline. Might not seem like those things go together. They do right now in France, though. The country is trying to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. The French government says it can't afford the extra two years of retirement payments. But some people aren't too happy about that idea. They've been striking, walking off the job and protesting the plan. French officials say more than a million people have been involved in protests across the country. Part of their plan was to block access to fuel stations. That's where the gasoline comes in. Those protests caused problems for the French transportation industry. Authorities have since broken up the protests at the fuel stations.

Oil Remains in the Gulf

AZUZ: Blowout preventer, top kill, relief well. Six months ago, most of us probably hadn't heard any of those terms. But that was before the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A lot of work has been done in the time since. Yesterday, we looked at some of the efforts to help out the wildlife affected by the spill. Today, Rob Marciano's looking at some of the work that still has to be done.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: We arrived with the Coast Guard. That's the new Admiral Zukunft. Aerial tour, and then we're getting on a boat. I strap in, along with newly-appointed unified area commander Admiral Paul Zukunft, whose workforce has shrunk from almost 48,000 this summer to just 13,000 now.

There's been some criticism from the local communities that BP is peeling back way too much.

ADMIRAL PAUL ZUKUNFT, UNIFIED AREA COMMAND: Right now, we're dealing with hot spots. Prior to that, the entire Gulf of Mexico was a hot spot.

MARCIANO: What's surprising is how many hot spots there still are six months in. Even Mississippi's barrier islands remain littered with oil. The beach response here on Cat Island is much like Florida and Alabama: men and machines still scrambling to clean the sand. It's a similar scene near Grand Isle, Louisiana. In total, over 500 miles of shoreline still have some oil. Examining the wetlands requires a different mode of transport. As we motor west, there are signs of encouragement. We cruise past clean water, clean grass, and even some fishing boats.

Nice to notice a fishing vessel with fishing equipment on it versus booming equipment.

Forty minutes into the marsh, we arrive at one of Louisiana's hardest-hit areas: Bay Jimmy. Here, compression guns are positioned to scare off birds that might try to land in this still very oily wetland.

ZUKUNFT: Last time I was up here was about a month ago. Back then, we had about 600 workers. And we were in there in the real shallow areas trying to vacuum up pockets of oil along this entire stretch. Real time consuming.

MARCIANO: BP's George Carter knows cleaning the marsh is not easy.

GEORGE CARTER, BP BRANCH DIRECTOR, PLAQUEMINES PARISH, LOUISIANA: We've actually cut the grass. We've raked the grass. We've flushed it on a couple of occasions. We've tried some chemicals to remove stuff.

MARCIANO: This area's for experimenting, hoping something will yield clean, healthy grass.

ZUKUNFT: There are patches of new growth that are already starting to come in.

MARCIANO: Yes, it is some grass trying to grow.

ZUKUNFT: As tempting as it is to go in and do something very aggressive, the worst thing you can do right now is tread heavily on this marsh grass. So, really, now, this is a test of patience.

MARCIANO: Talking about patience, we all, we all want it. The people that live here may be out of it.

ZUKUNFT: Well, we're not done yet.

(END VIDEO)

Blog Promo

AZUZ: We're not done either. On our blog, From A to Z, you guys had a ton to say when the oil spill first happened. Six months later, what lessons do you think we've learned from the spill? That's the question. Log on, share your ideas. CNNStudentNews.com.

Almighty Debt Promo

AZUZ: That website is also where you can find our free parent and teacher guide for "Almighty Debt." This special program explores how one church is helping its parishioners survive the financial crisis. It airs tonight, CNN, 9 p.m. ET.

Shoutout

TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Mrs. Birdsall's 7th grade social studies class at Kingsway Middle School in Woolwich Township, New Jersey! Which body of water is surrounded by Israel, Jordan and the West Bank? Is it the: A) Black Sea, B) Caspian Sea, C) Red Sea or D) Dead Sea?You've got three seconds -- GO! That would be the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on Earth. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Antiquities Online

AZUZ: That name, Dead Sea, goes back around 2,000 years, and so do the Dead Sea Scrolls, religious documents discovered in 1947. These things are kept under a tight watch. They are priceless. Only four people can actually touch them. Scientists can only spend limited amounts of time studying them. But soon, everyone -- including you and me -- might be able to see the scrolls. Kevin Flower explains how the 21st century is offering access to the first century.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

KEVIN FLOWER, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF AND CORRESPONDENT: Text from an ancient manuscript revealed, 21st century technology brought to bear on a wonder of the first century: the Dead Sea Scrolls. Israel's Antiquities Authority has teamed up with internet search giant Google to digitize all 30,000 fragments of the scrolls, one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made. They are hoping the results will be clear to both experts and novices alike.

PNINA SHOR, ISRAEL'S ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY: Here, actually, with regular photography, you can barely read. But you saw that with the multi-spectral imaging, whatever goes beyond the infra, all of this was completely clear.

FLOWER: Discovered in a cave by a nomadic shepherd in 1947, the scrolls contain the first known copy of the Hebrew Bible and shed light on the relationship between early Christian and Jewish religious traditions. For decades, they've been accessible only to scholars. But after testing the latest in spectral and infrared imaging technology, scientists are ready to scan the whole collection and make it available on a searchable and public website. Google, with its high-powered search and translation services, will help catalog the mass of material. But the internet heavyweight says the project is not for profit and not exclusive. The project will cost $3.5 million, but one scholar of the scrolls has no concern about corporate involvement and says it's the possibility of new discoveries that matters.

RACHEL ELIOR, PROFESSOR, HEBREW UNIVERSITY: Any new line is a treasure; any new letter is a treasure. Because sometimes, for one line or for one word, you may gain new understanding of things which, before, were not correctly read or understood.

FLOWER: There are 30,000 fragments of the scrolls to be scanned and catalogued. Organizers won't say how long the entire project will take, but the first images could be online within months. And before long, unraveling the mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be a click, or several thousand clicks, away. Kevin Flower, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEO)

Candy Sales Soar

AZUZ: Cool stuff. Well, from scrolls to sweets. Candy sales go up around Halloween. That's my "Captain Obvious" headline of the day. You probably could have figured that one out on your own. But what's interesting here is how much those sales are going up. The National Retail Federation is predicting nearly $2 billion in candy sales this season. That's seven percent higher than last year's Halloween. That same organization says around 30 percent of Americans might spend less money on candy and costumes this Halloween because of concerns about the U.S. economy.

Before We Go

AZUZ: Before we go, we've got a "fish out of water" story for you. Except this one is in the water, and it's just not a fish. It's a cat! Mulle is a swimming sensation. She paddled up to some fishermen in Denmark. They're the ones who shot this video. According to her owner, Mulle wandered down to the water with some neighbors and then went missing. We've always heard that cats don't like the water.

Goodbye AZUZ: Guess Mulle thinks that theory is all washed up. Or maybe she was feline-g like trying to take a little dip. We're just glad someone could whisker back to dry land. Three puns for the price of one is purr-fect. Back tomorrow to close out the week. For CNN Student News, I'm Carl Azuz.