CNN Student News - October 19, 2017

cnn 10

Clashes in Northern Iraq Pose An International Dilemma; Significant Discovery is Made Beneath Jerusalem`s Western Wall; Dow Hits a Record High

Aired October 19, 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: Your objective 10-minute update of world news starts now. I`m Carl Azuz, and this is cnn 10.

First story we`re explaining today involves trouble in Northern Iraq, between two groups that were allied with each other in the fight against ISIS. Kirkuk is an important city in the region that`s rich in oil. When ISIS swept to power in 2014, Iraqi forces abandoned Kirkuk and it came under the control of the Kurds, an ethnic group in the area that`s helped the Iraqi government and the U.S. battle ISIS terrorists.

So, what`s happening there now?

In late September, the Kurds held a controversial referendum. They voted for independence. And they claimed Kirkuk as part of their own territory.

That`s something the Iraqi government did not accept. And earlier this week, it sent troops to take over the city and some other Kurdish held territory in the region.

In the confrontation between the Kurds and the Iraqi military around Kirkuk, Kurdish officials say at least 16 Kurdish fighters were killed and dozens were wounded. The United Nations estimates that more than 61,000 people were forced to leave their homes in the area.

The instability between the Kurds and the Iraqi government is an international dilemma. Just as there are a number of reasons why many Kurds want to be independent, there are a number of reasons why Iraq and several other countries don`t want them to be.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: Who are the Kurds?

BECKY ANDERSON, cnn INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They are an ethnic group spread across the Middle East. They got their own language, their own culture and history. There are about 35 million to 30 million of them. The majority are Sunni Muslims, leaving in Kurdish regions in Iran, in Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

The Kurds were largely nomadic until the end of the World War I, which saw the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. As borders were redrawn across the Arab world, there were calls for an independent Kurdistan. But those never materialized, and Kurds became increasingly marginalized in their own countries.

In 1988, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons on Iraqi Kurds who opposed his regime. Tens of thousands of civilians and the Kurdish rebels were killed. Iraq granted Kurds autonomy in 2005 after the fall of Saddam. In recent years, Kurdish fighters known as Peshmerga have also been on the frontlines in the fight against ISIS, in Iraq and in Syria.

Military might has brought with it greater political leverage but an independent Kurdish state will likely not happen anytime soon, regional powers like Turkey and Iran are a definitive no, both having fought Kurdish separatists over the years and even Western global powers aren`t that keen.

They worried about the instability such a move could spark.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

Which of these historical sites in Jerusalem is the oldest?

Western Wall, Dome of the Rock, Church of Saint Anne, or Church of the Holy Sepulchre?

Of these options, the Western or Wailing Wall which was likely built around the second or first century B.C. is the oldest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: Archaeologists have uncovered remains of a theater-like structure beneath Jerusalem`s Western Wall.

Thought to be from the Roman period, the ruins have been hidden for 1,700 years.

The discovery confirms historical writings about a theater near the Temple Mount and brings archaeologists closer to the understanding what Jerusalem was like during its time as a Roman colony.

The theater contained approximately 200 seats. However, excavators believe it was never used.

The remains show construction was abandoned before the building was completed.

But Israel Antiquities Authority say solving the "mystery of Jerusalem`s los theater" is the "real drama".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: At the end of the day, in the U.S. stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has never closed higher than 23,000 points, at least not before yesterday. That`s when it reached a new record, closing at 23,157 points. It gained 160 points during the day.

What does this mean? For one thing, it means stocks are up. The Dow was an average of 30 significant stocks. Companies like Apple, Home Depot, McDonald`s, Nike and Walmart are all in it.

When the Dow is up, it`s a sign the U.S. stock markets up. And when the stock markets up, it`s one indicator of good health in the U.S. economy.

Though the Federal Reserve says wages, another economic indicator, are not doing as well.

The Dow has set a string of records this year. It hit 22,000 for the first time in August. It can be influenced by uncertainty about the future and events in the news, from natural disasters, to legislation by Congress.

Our next story, especially if you are an artist, you`re probably very familiar with the works of Johannes Vermeer and Claude Monet. How about Han van Meegeren and John Myatt? It`s true, they`re also artists, but they achieved world recognition by forging art, fraudulently copying it and passing it off as original masterworks. While that is illegal, there is a way in which a world class art forger could make a lawful living and its today`s "Great Big Story".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAM LOWE, DIRECTOR, FACTUM FOUNDATION: Main difficulties of working with any vulnerable or fragile work of cultural heritage is the respect you have to have for that object.

Technology is at the point right now where we can record the surface of an object down to fractions of a millimeter. And it`s true, this kind of understanding that allows you to communicate across time and across cultures.

SUBTITLE: Fake art for the future.

LOWE: The task of heritage protection and preservation is a real challenge.

The mission of factum foundation is to record cultural heritage, so in the event that there`s a disaster or an accident, we have the data to know what was there exactly as it is.

We`re pioneering a number of methods to return that information into the physical world. We`re doing CNC milling, we`re doing 3D printing, but we`re trying to go beyond that.

A facsimile of the Borgherini Chapel. The facsimile of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. An exact facsimile of Veronese`s Wedding at Cana.

The biggest project that`s going on at the moment is an exact facsimile of the Tomb of Seti I, which will be given to the people of Egypt as soon as it`s finished.

Two hundred years ago, the concern was not one of preservation. The concern was one of Indiana Jones and discovery and excitement and cultural acquisitions. The tombs in the Valley of the Kings lasted successfully for 3,000, 3,500 years. But since they`ve been visited, they start to decline and decay rapidly.

I think the facsimile is opening up a whole new level of possibility for display, preservation, conservation, restoration, communication, dissemination of what`s important about these objects. If only we can preserve it like it is, and document it and hand it on to future generations, then there`s hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Irene Sewell is a former ballroom dancer, a current runner and an employee at a physical therapy office. All that may factor in to the Guinness World Record she just set.

While dancing, she learned to move quickly and precisely at high heels, while running, she got in shape for a marathon. And because she just ran a marathon in high heels, here record finish of seven hours, 28 minutes documented in this Facebook video, physical therapy may help her recover.

Because even though she earned the record, she still knows the agony of de- feet. It`s no small feat that she put her best foot forward and step across that finish line after staying on her toes the whole race. Of

course, she may need time to heel, but with two minutes to spare, she was a shoe-in for the record.

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

END