CNN Student News - October 24, 2017

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Experts Consider What Will Happen to ISIS in the Wake of its Recent Defeats; International Effort to Save Endangered Vaquitas

Aired October 24, 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: Thank you for giving us 10 minutes to get you up to speed on world events. I`m Carl Azuz for cnn 10.

And we`re starting with the question that government, security experts and military officials are asking worldwide. What are the remaining members of the ISIS terrorist group going to do after a series of defeats in the region they wanted to be their own country?

Earlier this year, they lost control of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. Earlier this month, they lost control of Raqqa, the city in Syria they`ve called their capital. They`ve been defeated and pushed out of other parts of the region. They`ve lost control of territory. The U.S. military estimates that tens of thousands of ISIS terrorists have been killed.

So, where will the survivors? Will they try to regroup in another part of the Middle East or beyond? Experts say they may hide among those who sympathize with them, but that they won`t have a geographical command center to plan attacks from.

Will ISIS try to launch terrorist attacks in other parts of the world? Experts say that`s still a threat as ISIS and terrorists inspire by the group may still try to target civilians. Will ISIS lay low for a while and then try to make a comeback in the years to come? Experts say that`s also possible, though world leaders are likely to be more on guard against ISIS in the future.

One thing that`s certain is that the battle ravaged cities that ISIS has left behind have a long, difficult road ahead if they`re to recover.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, cnn SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This maybe where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is hiding, but probably wishes he wasn`t. Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes pound ISIS`s remnants in the city of Deir ez-Zor, but they aren`t alone in the skies or on the ground here.

Banking hard and keeping out of the Russians` way, a U.S. jet, assisting these U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters to keep the nearby countryside from ISIS, just a day before.

ISIS collapsing, leaving in their wake an almost Cold War standoff.

(on camera): While ISIS may be holding out in a pocket of a town of Deir ez-Zor behind me, over there, surrounded by the Syrian regime. But they`ve been kicked out, too, of this area by American-backed Kurdish SDF forces. Now, they`ve advanced to this river here, which puts them literally meters away from the Syrian regime, who are backed by Russian air power.

We`re told, in fact, these Kurdish American-backed forces have held face- to-face meetings with Russian military officials to be sure they don`t clash around here. Now, in the end game against ISIS, Moscow and

Washington`s forces literally meters away from each other.

(voice-over): Five years in, and Syria is ground to dust. And this is what they`re still fighting over.

It`s unclear who is left inside Deir ez-Zor. Those who fled estimated recently at 10,000 a day, dot the skyline. They try to filter them, but last week, a suicide bomber struck. And yesterday, they found 30 ISIS fighters. They`re followed around by the horror of what they fled, but also suspicion.

A simple question, are the last to flee the most loyal to ISIS or just the least fortunate?

We saw everything in my village, she says. Airstrikes and children and people dying. My relative just last week. The children couldn`t stop crying from fear.

I could only stand there. What could I do? I don`t know if our home is still standing or even who`s bombing us.

Youssef is 10 and doesn`t have any superpower powers here, just dust and bad dreams.

When I hear the shelling, he says, I hide in the ground. The hardest part about living in the desert is I`m not at home.

The stream is endless, like the bombing they flee, and this war, which keeps finding new chapters and adversaries around them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Yes, we`re explaining a $5 million effort to save what`s believed to be the most endangered marine mammal in the world and this is that animal.

It`s called a vaquita porpoise.

Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 30 of these animals left in the wild.

So Vaquita CPR, which stands for conservation, protection and recovery, is using this sea pen to try to capture the porpoises and then move them to captivity. They`re getting help from the U.S. Navy which is loaning four bottlenose dolphins to the rescue effort.

If all goes according to plan, the dolphins will attempt to help find and shepherd the vaquitas into the sea pens. This has never been done before, and it`s not easy because the vaquitas are shy. They tend to avoid boats and people.

Vaquita CPR has captured a vaquita in this operation, which begun over a week ago, but the animal had to be released because researchers thought it was too stress to stay in the pen. Vaquita CPR plans to continue this operation for another couple of weeks, in the hopes of capturing the animals, breeding them in captivity and eventually releasing them back into the wild.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:

Which inventor became famous for his work on an induction coil that`s still used in TVs and electronics?

Charles Babbage, Garrett Morgan, Nikola Tesla or Alessandro Volta?

The Tesla coil which can create high voltage in a low current was invented by Nikola Tesla in 1891.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: The induction motor, machines that use alternating current, Tesla has a lot of credits to its name, not counting the car company named after him. So does Lonnie Johnson. He`s been working on an engine that converts heat into electricity. But especially if you`re under 50 years old, you`re familiar with another invention of his, you probably been drenched by it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: There`s this amazing picture of my co-worker, it`s him reading a Ninja Turtles book laying to his Super Soaker.

When the Super Soaker came out, it was a game changer. The slogan "wetter is better" was essentially a mantra for kids during summer break. So, when I went to Atlanta to interview the guy responsible for all that, I had to show him the photo.

SUBTITLE: The scientist who invented the Super Soaker.

REPORTER: Lonnie Johnson invented the Super Soaker back in 1982. But that is not his only invention.

LONNIE JOHNSON, INVENTOR: Well, I have over a hundred patents.

REPORTER: Everything from the Nerf gun to a thermal energy converter. He also worked on NASA`s Galileo mission to Jupiter and alongside the U.S. military.

JOHNSON: The first Super Soaker actually I made in my shop in my basement. In the evenings when I would come from work, and at the time, I was actually working with the stealth bomber program back when it was highly classified.

And I actually couldn`t tell my wife what I was working on during the daytime. It was that top secret.

REPORTER: The original name for the Super Soaker was the Drencher.

JOHNSON: We ran into a challenge regarding a name because another inventor claimed it. So, we changed the name to Super Soaker just to avoid having to deal with that.

REPORTER: Super Soaker is definitely a way better name.

When he started, Lonnie wasn`t trying to create a toy for kids.

JOHNSON: I was working on a new type of heat pump that would use water as a working fluid instead of Freon. And I was experimenting with some nozzles to that machine (ph) and I shot the stream of water across the bathroom. And I thought, geez, maybe I should put this hard science stuff aside and work on something fun like a water gun.

This still works.

REPORTER: And this brings me back to a previous point, Lonnie Johnson is a super genius scientist. This is his lab and this is what he`s working on now.

JOHNSON: Right now, I`m working on advanced battery technology. My goal is to develop a battery that will store about three times the energy of a lithium ion battery.

REPORTER: In comparison, the Super Soaker might not seem as hard science. But it was still a really, really important invention.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: There are purses that retail for $15. There are purses that retail for $15,000. And then there`s the Mouawad 1001 Nights Diamond Purse.

Now, if you`re thinking diamonds are expensive, think about the fact that this handbag has more than 4,500 of them and it`s made out of 18 carat gold. It holds the Guinness World Record for being the most valuable handbag. It`s priced $3.8 million.

Which would likely leave you very little to put into the purse. Now, if you tote around that kind of money and you don`t clutch it too tightly and you consider it convertible to a handbag, would you care to carry all those carats to the park? I mean, don`t get mad at the messenger here, but it`s such a high price, security is not in the bag. You`d probably want to stuffel (ph) it in the closet, and walled it off to keep it safe.

I`m Carl Azuz and that`s cnn 10.

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