CNN news 2013-06-05 加文本

cnn news 2013-06-05

CARL AZUZ, cnn ANCHOR: It`s the end of the month, the end of the week and the start of the new day of cnn STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz. First up, three suspicious letters, one was sent to President Obama, the other two were sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and to an organization he founded. Initial tests on those two letters indicated they were tainted with a poison called ricin. As of yesterday afternoon, officials hadn`t said whether ricin was found on the letter addressed to the White House, although they did say the letters were similar. Ricin seriously dangerous. Even a tiny amount of it can kill someone in two days or less by shutting down respiratory or circulatory systems. There is no known antidote for it.

You might remember a month or so ago, letters tainted with ricin were sent to the president and other officials. Authorities don`t think there is a connection between that and the new letter sent to President Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s "Shoutout" goes out to Ms. Dunn`s (ph) morning meeting group at Tech Prep Academy in Washington, D.C. Now, where will you find Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates? Are they on the Iberian Peninsula, Strait of Messina, Arabian Peninsula or Horn of Africa? You got 3 seconds, go.

Those are three of the countries that make up the Arabian Peninsula. That`s your answer and that is your Shoutout.

AZUZ: Health officials say that region seems to be the starting point for a dangerous new virus. In order to fight diseases, scientists need information. Right now, they don`t know where this virus started, they don`t know how it`s spread. Mary Snow explains what is known about what`s becoming a medical mystery.

MARY SNOW, cnn CORRESPONDENT: Hollywood movies like "Contagion" are sobering reminders of the real threat of deadly viruses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So there`s no treatment protocol and no vaccine at this time.

SNOW: Reports of a new strain of the coronavirus overseas is nowhere near the movie version of an outbreak. So far, there are no reported cases in the United States. Its name, the Middle East Respiratory System Coronavirus. The World Health Organization is calling it a threat to the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a grave concern to us here internationally at WHO because there are so many unknowns around the virus which so far has killed 55 percent of the confirmed cases.

SNOW: Cases have been linked from the Middle East to the UK, Germany, France and Tunisia. So far, 27 people have died, with the largest number in Saudi Arabia.

Should people be concerned about this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People should always be concerned whenever there is an emerging infectious disease, because we don`t really know, we don`t have ways in which we can predict and project, and appropriately prepare for some of these.

SNOW: Ian Lipkin (ph) is leading a team of scientists at Columbia University to investigate the virus, which is in the same family as SARS and the common cold. Symptoms include fever and severe respiratory problems. Patients have also developed pneumonia and kidney failure.

Officials have found some clusters of cases where the disease has been transmitted between family members or in a health care setting. Researchers are looking at whether it was initially passed from animals to humans.

Health officials don`t know much about how the virus spreads, but at this point, travel warnings have not been issued.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t think we should be concerned in terms of travel to the Middle East or to - to anywhere in the world right now, but to just be aware of it. Most of the cases and illnesses have been associated with the elderly and those with preexisting or severe underlying medical conditions.

SNOW: The World Health Organization is so concerned about this virus because there`s no known treatment and no way to make a vaccine, not just yet. Doctors are currently working on that. In the cases that have been found in eight countries, all have been linked to the Middle East. Mary Snow, cnn, New York.

AZUZ: All right, you know those terms of agreement when you sign up for a website? Facebook has one that says you will not post content that is hate speech. Now, the company is increasing its efforts to get rid of hate speech. It`s a response to a campaign by women`s groups. The campaign targeted Facebook pages that celebrated or joked about violence against women. Facebook says it`s tried to find a balance between cracking down on hateful content and allowing for freedom of expression. But a new company post says in recent days, it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like. The company says it`s going to update its guidelines for identifying hate speech, and hold users more accountable for content considered cruel or insensitive.

Some Facebook users thanked the company. Others said the changes don`t go far enough. Some users wondered if Facebook would keep up the increased efforts long-term. What about freedom of speech? That`s not really an issue here. Facebook is a private site. You might be able to post what you want, but Facebook is free to take it down and cancel your account.