CNN Student News - October 31, 2017

cnn 10

Charges are Announced Against Americans Connected to President Trump; Halloween by the Numbers; The U.S. Navy Makes a Rescue at Sea

Aired October 31, 2017 - 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: I`m Carl Azuz for cnn 10.

An American businessman, lawyer and campaign worker named Paul Manafort has been formally charged with a number of crimes. It`s significant because

Manafort also temporarily worked as campaign chairman for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Here`s what this is all about. Yesterday, a special counsel for the U.S. Justice Department announced that Manafort and a business partner of his

named Rick Gates have been charged with conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder or hide money, making false statements and

failing to report that they had foreign bank accounts.

Starting in 2006, Manafort had worked on a number of projects in Eastern Europe, which included helping former Ukrainian President Viktor

Yanukovych. He was ousted in 2014.

But a report came out last year that Manafort had secretly been paid millions of dollars by Yanukovych`s political party, which was friendly to

Russia. Manafort denied receiving secret payments. But when the report came out, he and Gates were working on the Trump election campaign.

Manafort was its top official for a couple of months and he resigned days after the accusation was made.

Gates also eventually left the campaign. Both of them pleaded not guilty to the charges announced yesterday. Those charges are not related to the

Trump campaign and the White House says all this has nothing to do with the president.

But separately, another announcement was made yesterday involving a man named George Papadopoulos. He also worked on the Trump campaign as a

foreign policy adviser.

And according to "The Hill", an American political publication, U.S. investigators say Papadopoulos repeatedly tried to set up a meeting between

Donald Trump or members of his campaign and members of Russian President Vladimir Putin`s office. The meetings did not take place, but

investigators said yesterday that Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with officials connected to Russia`s

government.

The White House says Papadopoulos had a limited volunteer role and that his lying had nothing to do with the campaign.

Meantime, the special investigation continues into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Russia has denied

meddling and President Trump says his campaign did not collude with Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Bit of a morbid, random fact for you on Halloween. Madame Tussauds was a real person. Here name was Marie Tussaud. She was a French woman

who learned wax modeling and inherited a wax museum from another artist. But during the French revolution, Tussaud was in prison and forced to make

masks of famous people who`d been executed. She survived and decades later, she settled in London, U.K., continuing her work on wax models and

living to old age.

Now, that`s how we wax random!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: So, like speaking of Halloween, the National Retail Federation estimates that Americans will have spent $9.1 billion on this year`s

holiday, works out to more than $86 per person. That would mean a new record for spending on costumes candy, decorations and cards and it takes

into account the fact that roughly 45 percent of Americans don`t participate in Halloween events.

So, those who do are spending more on average than they did last year, which set the previous record. The federation`s annual survey indicates

that among those who planned to take part, 48 percent of adults, also a record figure, we`ll put on a custom. What people spend is influenced by

the economy and for those who likes to scary movies, what they watch maybe influence by science.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAMY ZABARAH, cnn TECH, MULTIPLATFORM EDITOR: What scares you?

It could be spiders, clowns, roller coasters. For me, it`s flying in airplanes. But even though our triggers may be different, the effects are

mostly the same.

So, why is it when October rolls around, people are excited, foaming at the mouth, practically begging to be scared out of their minds?

When something really scares you, certain neurochemicals get released in your brain. Some of those like dopamine or endorphins also get released

when you`re happy or excited.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to have some laughs.

ZABARAH: And in a strange way, researchers say fear can also be a form of stress relief.

If you`re feeling down, succumbing to the horror of the gruesome hunted house can activate your body`s fight or flight response, making you forget

about all the terrors of your real life, or just a movie.

FRANK PALLOTTA, cnn MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Hey, do you guys say something about movies?

So, movie theaters have been struggling lately to get people to actually go to the movies. But one genre that has had a really big year is horror.

Why? Because a film in a theater with a screaming audience is a much different experience than watching it home alone.

ZABARAH: Humans are social creatures, and we like to do things together.

PALLOTTA: No, we don`t.

ZABARAH: When you see something horrifying with other people, that shared experience makes you feel closer to them. In fact, psychologists have

observed the phenomenon called emotional contagion. That means your reactions can be intensified by the reactions of others.

So, if you`re watching a scary movie and you hear your friends screaming next to you, your own fears might be amplified.

PALLOTTA: Nope, I`m done. Nope, nope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Up next, a rescue at sea. In early May, two amateur sailors and their dogs left their home in Honolulu, Hawaii. They brought along extra

food and provisions in their 50-foot boat, just in case the trip took longer than the two and a half weeks they planned. Almost half a year

later, they were adrift and almost without hope when they were picked by the U.S. Navy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, cnn SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a warship approaches dry land, two civilians onboard embraced. These

American women and their two dogs, euphoric and grateful after the U.S. Navy rescued them from a month`s long odyssey across the Pacific Ocean.

JENNIFER APPEL, RESCUED AT SEA: Had they not been able to locate us, we would have been dead within 24 hours.

WATSON: Last spring, Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava first set out from Hawaii with their dogs aboard a 50-foot sailboat the Sea Nymph.

APPEL: We left on May 3rd, thinking that we`re going to have a nice swift 18-day journey down to Tahiti.

WATSON: But soon after departure, they say storms badly damaged the mast and the engine, as well as their radio and satellite communications.

APPEL: They are dependent on the antenna. And when the antenna went out, everything went out.

WATSON (on camera): Do you know anything about this stuff?

TASHA FUIAVA, RESCUED AT SEA: Honestly, I started this trip without knowing anything about sailing.

WATSON (voice-over): The Sea Nymph ended up drifting very far off course. Several times, the women said passing ships ignored their calls for help,

as did U.S. authorities stationed on Wake Island. That missed opportunity led to despair.

APPEL: I cried all afternoon.

WATSON (on camera): That day?

APPEL: Yes. And the dogs licked our faces and give us hope.

WATSON: This is Valentine and this is Zeus. They`re both rescues and they look pretty good considering they just spent five months adrift at sea.

(voice-over): On October 25th, the U.S. Navy Ship Ashland got a distress call relayed from a passing Taiwanese fishing boat, urging them to rescue

the Sea Nymph. This was the joyous scene when Navy sailors first approached the stricken sailboat.

Instead of sailing to Tahiti, the Sea Nymph had drifted to this location thousands of miles from Hawaii. Thanks to a water desalination unit,

months of stored food and a bible, the passenger survived an ordeal that`s left career naval officers in awe.

CMDR. PATRICK GERMAN, U.S. NAVY: They are amazing tough women who endured a lot and my hats off to them. No kidding.

WATSON: Though out of danger, the women`s odyssey is far from over.

(on camera): Do you have a home to go back to Hawaii?

APPEL: No. The boat was our home and everything that we own is on there.

WATSON (voice-over): The travelers had to abandon the Sea Nymph in the Pacific as they embark on the next leg of their incredible journey.

Ivan Watson, cnn, White Beach Naval Beach, Okinawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Under the canopy of things you don`t see everyday -- it`s amazing how calm these people are crossing the street, considering they`re right

next to a bunch of stampeding T-Rexes. This recently took place in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Organizers say it started out as a joke,

but two years in, they hope it will become an annual tradition.

This time around, it involved 25 runners and Tyrannosaurus Rex costumes who ran around in sweet Tyrannosaurus Rex costumes.

It might have been a stampediment to traffic, but there were no T-Rex reported. Maybe next year, they`ll have bicycles to bipedal, donning a

Tyrannosaurus costume, even if it leaves some of them dinosaur, would make for a great pair of podcast and help everyone work up a carnivorous

appetite.

I`m Carl Azuz for cnn 10 and we`ll roar-turn tomorrow.

END