[Rajpal:] Welcome back. I'm Monita Rajpal in Hong Kong and you're watching News Stream. These are your world headlines. Much of the United States will observe a moment of silence today to honor the children and adults gunned down a week ago in Newtown, Connecticut. The tragedy has prompted growing calls for the reform of gun laws. The U.S. gun lobby the National Rifle Association will hold a news conference today. CNN of course will bring you both events as they happen. NATO's secretary-general accuses Syrian government forces of launching Scud type missiles. He called it the act of a desperate regime. Meanwhile, the United Nations warns Syria's civil war is turning into a sectarian battle with the sharpest divide between Alawites and Sunni Muslims. At least 32 people have been killed in southeastern Kenya after a rival community there fought with arrows and machetes. The violence took place in the Tana River district according to the Kenyan Red Cross which said it was a confrontation between the Pokomo and Orma tribes. Dozens were injured in the fighting. British Prime Minister David Cameron has made an unannounced visit to troops in Afghanistan. It comes just one day after Mr. Cameron said the reduction in British forces in the country would accelerate. At British headquarters in Helmand Province, Camp Bastion, Mr. Cameron joined at a carol service and played table football with soldiers. Britain has the second largest force in Afghanistan after the United States. December 21st marks the end of a major cycle on the Mayan calendar, but to some it also marks the end of days, the Apocalypse. Don't ask us why. And according to the many of the doomsday all the doomsayers, it should have happened over two hours ago. So it happens the world is not going to end today. And over the last few days, we have been looking into the science that debunks a variety of theories on the Earth's purported demise. Planetary collisions, polar shifts, and the list goes on. Well, today, we'll tell you another reason why the so-called doomsday is just another day.
[David Morrison, Nasa Atrobiologist:] We know these things because of the NASA Space Guard survey, there is a real long-term concern about possible impacts and that's why for the last almost 20 years we have been scanning the skies specifically looking for asteroids near Earth asteroids and have a catalog of about 10,000 of them now with determined orbits. And I always mention to people that one result of that is there has not been a single object found that's on a collision course with Earth.
[Don Yeomans, Nasa Asteroid Scientist:] The Earth is actually being hit by meteors in a daily basis. I mean, basketball sized objects come in a couple of times a day. They don't do any damage, because they burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. Volkswagon sized objects come in every couple of weeks, but in order for an object to come through the Earth's atmosphere and cause ground damage it has to be about 40 meters in diameter or larger. And those types of objects don't occur about every 500 years. And we know of no objects that are really of concern to Earth either this December or for the next several years.
[Rajpal:] So killer asteroid or not, we know today is not the end of the world, but thousands of people have flocked to the Mayan ruins in Chichen Itza in Mexico. Nick Parker is one of them. He joins us now live. Nick, I'm still here and so are you.
[Nick Parker, Journalist:] It would certain appear that we are, yes indeed. You know, and so are thousands of other people that have flocked, as you say, to Chichen Itza this morning. We were here at first light and it was quite a special moment. There were hundreds of people queuing up inside the hall that sells tickets. And I think we have some video. And you see people just pouring in at about sort of 5:00 in the morning. The site opened especially early for this special day. And you had tourists and some might say New Age people pouring in to take a look at the famous, iconic temple of Chichen Itza at first light. A lot of people gathered and sat down just to take a look at it. So it was really quite a special moment this morning. They're expecting about 25,000 people to come today which is more than five times as much as they normally get. They've had to bus in extra security and there's road blocks coming into the area to kind of streamline the number of people and visitors that they're getting here. A lot of people are coming by somewhat perhaps tantalized by this idea of the end of the world. So we wanted to take a look at perhaps where it all began that particular myth.
[Parker:] At dusk, a Mayan mass begins in the Mexican city of Merida. The ancient ceremony honors the dead. Vladio Cancher is a priest. His people's calendar ends in a matter of days. "It's considered the closure of the great cycle of Mayan time," he says, "but of course the next cycle begins the following day. For the Mayans, it's not the end of the world." Doomsday scenes from movies like 2012 have helped create a different myth. So where does it come from? The Mayan civilization began in several countries from around 2,000 BC. The story behind the infamous date begins in ancient sites like Chichen Itza where Mayans created calendars.
[Alfredo Barrera, Mexican Government Archaeologist:] The Mayas were astronomers. When they go into the tower of the upper part, they can make observations. They relate the astronomical records with the [inaudible] with the economy.
[Parker:] Temples are designed to channel sunlight. And the number of panels corresponds to years. When academics translated inscriptions in the 19th Century, they discovered that Mayans counted 394 year cycles, known as backtuns. And many say the significant 13th backtun expires this winter solstice, December 21st. Other says, it actually ends on the 23rd. This carving, made in 700 AD, ignited furious debate. Monument six, as its known, was discovered at the site of Tortuguero, and predicts a major event at the end of this 13th backtun.
[Barrera:] We don't have prophesy or descriptions related with the finish of the wall or prophesies. It only a mention of a date. But it doesn't mention more about because the sketching is not complete.
[Parker:] He blames online speculation and ignorant writing for the doomsday belief. But the date is certainly open to interpretation. Santiago Pando lives outside Mexico City and is a filmmaker. "There is a big sun which is going to align with the other suns in other galaxies," he says. "This means there will be an enormous quantity of light and this will give us a wider view of reality." Many in Mayan countries will mark the day as a celebration as others around the world fear something more sinister. And I think that's really the point to emphasize here, the thousands of people that are expected here today are not going to be sort of doom watchers, but I think people that are coming here to celebrate and perhaps mark this highly significant merriment in the Mayan calendar.
[Rajpal:] I kind of like the idea of ending one chapter and starting something new. Nick, that was a really great piece. Thank you so much for joining us here on News Stream. Nick Parker there live for us from Chichen Itza. Well, it is officially winter for those of us here in the northern hemisphere. Mari Ramos is at the world weather center with that and many, especially in the U.S., are feeling it Mari.
[Mari Ramos, Cnn Weather Correspondent:] That's right. They certainly are feeling it. You know, I want to mention a couple of things. It is of course the solstice has a lot to do with this whole Mayan calendar thing. You know, the Mayans would watch the skies and they knew that this was the time between December 21 and December 23 when the sun would reach a certain point in the sky and that it would mark a new also they mentioned the shortest daylight hours of the year. And that's what we have right now in the northern hemisphere for today. I want to just talk to you a little bit about Cancun, the closest observation center that we could find to where Nick was reporting. 21 degrees. The wind at 9 kilometers per hour. Later today, we're expecting that wind to pick up maybe as high as 30 or 40 kilometers per hour, that's pretty significant. And they're not only having celebrations of this end of an era or beginning of an era as you said Monita, there in Mexico, this is a picture from earlier this morning in Pical, in the Pical [pH] ruins in Guatemala in Central America and another beautiful crystal clear night here as well. If anything, a little bit on the chilly side. This surprised me a little bit, this is in Spain also celebrating the end of an era or the beginning of the new calendar there for the Mayan culture. And the solstice of course having a lot to do with this, and this is one of the most famous places in the world, Stonehenge, where there were hundreds and hundreds of people on this crystal clear, but chilly morning today there in the UK. But anyway, let's talk a little bit about the solstice today just happened around 11:12 GMT. So it's been a few hours already. The Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, the Southern Hemisphere tilted toward the sun, and because of that, that's when we have the sun's rays go right over the Tropic of Capricorn, that's what marks the solstice, that's what we were marking today, shortest day of the year in the north, longest day of the year for you guys in the Southern Hemisphere. Get the start of your summer. Very quickly, though, that same weather system that you mentioned across the U.S. is also affecting northern parts of Mexico and even now to the south. That's this cloud that you see right here. And that's what's going to bring that's bringing the strong winds across this area including the Yucatan Peninsula. Across the U.S. it's been quite a mess. Let's go ahead and roll the pictures, because there's a lot going on here. This is pretty tragic stuff. This is in Iowa, in the U.S. state of Iowa. At least three people were killed in this car accident here. There were 30 cars that piled up in near zero visibility. Extremely dangerous conditions when you get this kind of weather, blowing snow, pour visibility. And today, the weather there has improved, but authorities are still asking people that if you don't need to go out, you know, what, don't go out because the roadways are still extremely dangerous. Come back over to the weather map over here. These are the winter storm warnings that we still have across the U.S. They are still very windy weather across the south. Big travel delays expected all up and down the eastern third of the U.S. The reason for that is because this weather system is still marching toward the east. And with that we're going to see big travel delays on this one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, right before, of course, Christmas. Very quickly, I want to jump all the way to the other side of the world, Asia. Let's go ahead and look at some of the pictures that we have for you. This is from China. You know what, here, the winter season is also taking quite a toll across the region. We can see right over here quite a bit of snowfall. We are expecting more snow across central and northern parts of China. To the east, I think you'll start to see a little bit drier weather. With that, we're going to take a look at your city by city forecast. Monita, so much to talk about. There's one more thing I want to tell you about Asia. For you guys in the Philippines, I've been getting a lot of questions on this tropical cyclone in the making that is forming to the east of you. It's much too early to tell whether or not it's going to affect you directly. Right now it's still to the east of Guam. You can see it right here. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center is saying low possibility of development. We will of course watch it. But you know what, too early to make any kind of a specific forecast for you this far ahead. With my last 30 seconds, we head to Europe. Look at the pictures from Romania. Still so much snowfall happening across the region here. We're still expecting even more snow as we head through the next 24 to 48 hours. This is just one example. Again, those cars getting stuck on the road, seems to be happening everywhere in the world when you start getting these big snowstorms. So please be extra careful when you drive. Check the weather. But I like to tell people, Monita is, be weather aware snow, rain, whatever it is. You know, even the sun sometimes can cause problems. So stay safe. Back to you.
[Rajpal:] Good advice indeed, Mari, be weather aware. Thank you very much for that. Mari Ramos at the world weather center. Just ahead, we've got the latest news from the NBA, including which team stole the Thunder's thunder. Alex Thomas will be here to explain all in just a moment.