Relations Between Afghanistan, United States and Taliban; Effects of Hurricane Dorian; DNA Test on a Famous Lake
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: This is CNN 10. A 10 minute objective explanation of news events and I`m Carl Azuz. Happy to be starting a new week with you. First story takes us to Afghanistan, a nation in south Asia that`s been racked by war for decades and who`s future, even now, is unclear. U.S. President Donald Trump has called off peace talks with the Taliban and to explain why that`s significant we`re taking a look at the three major players, the Taliban, the United States and the Afghan government. First the Taliban, it`s an Islamic militant group that used to rule Afghanistan. After taking control in 1996, the Taliban established its strict interpretation of Islamic law in the country and it allowed terrorist groups like Al-Qaida to live and operate there. The United States faced off with the Taliban in 2001 after Al-Qaida carried out the September 11th attacks on America, the U.S. demanded that the Taliban turn over Al-Qaida and its leader. The Taliban refused and the U.S. led a group of countries to remove the Taliban from power. That happened quickly, but Afghanistan has remained unstable and thousands of American troops have been stationed there ever since though their number has increased and decreased over the years, today there are about 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan. The country held its first democratic elections in 2004 and it`s had a couple more since but the Afghan government is fragile. The Taliban never went away and they`ve continued their violent attacks throughout the country including one the killed an American soldier last Thursday. Before that happened, the U.S. government was scheduled to hold secret peace negotiations with the Taliban. Talks that some officials indicated could lead to U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan. After the bombing though, President Trump called off the meeting though both the U.S. and Afghan governments have left the door open for more negotiations. On the ground in Afghanistan, a CNN team was allowed to enter Taliban controlled territory earlier this year. They found that the militant group hasn`t changed much. The Taliban is still very strict and it`s still wants to be cut off from the rest of the world.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We wanted to see what life is like under the Taliban. We traveled to Afghanistan and managed to spend two days in Taliban territory. We kind of often do this when we`re working together. We start off with, OK, what`s the dream and let`s break it down and try to do it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible)</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was an assignment where they said, listen we`ve decided to allow you into these areas. We will answer your questions. We don`t like you. We don`t love you being here but we recognize that in this moment in time it is political expedient for us to do - - to do this. We were obviously wearing the full facial veil, the niqab. On the one hand it allows me to be invisible, on the other hand it inhibits the way you interact with people. They don`t want us to walk outside because I`m a woman. And we weren`t just wearing it for security reasons, that was of course a part of it, but we were wearing it because we were required to wear it and that was something our host very much wanted to make sure that we understood. We worked very closely with an Afghan filmmaker Anaji Bulacrashi. He was really the one with the stellar reputation that allowed him to bring myself and Selma (ph) into Taliban territory. I fundamentally believe that this story could not have been done by a man. No one would ask your name. No one would really ask where you were from because you were (inaudible) with an Afghan man and it would be rude, in a sense, to that Afghan man to ask personal questions about who you were or where you were from.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was interesting though as women to be in those women`s quarters and have that, you know, that distance that the men have to create. They were so polite and they - - and they wanted to keep speaking to us. They brought us out the best food they have. The best bedding they had. It was just really kind to see that very familial part of Afghanistan.</s>AZUZ: Hundreds of thousands of people in far eastern Canada are waiting for the power to come back on. And cities along the U.S. eastern seaboard are busy cleaning up all because of Hurricane Dorian. It made landfall at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina Friday morning as a Category 1 storm and what was left of it after a little weakening rolled into Nova Scotia over the weekend. It`s still bringing rough surf to the Canadian province and threatening Newfoundland. Dorian has been blamed for five deaths in the U.S. but its impact on the Bahamas may not be known for a while. At least 43 people were killed there and as many as 70,000 were left homeless. A cruise line offered Bahamians a free evacuation to Florida. Some had literally nothing to go home to.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Washington Smith (ph), "Smitty" to his friends, no longer recognizes his back yard or the island where he`s lived all his life. Hurricane Dorian stalled out over the eastern end of Grand Bahama Island ravaging everything and everyone in its path. Dorian punched holes in concrete, tore houses from their foundations and flung Smitty`s (ph) 6,000 pound humvee through a wall. The damage to Smitty`s (ph) home defies description. A wall of water crashed over this part of the island. Smitty (ph) and this teenage daughter survived. Many others did not. This is the hole that Hurricane Dorian punched in the house of Washington Smith (ph), I should say one of the holes. Tore off his roof. Sent boards with nails flying at over 100 miles an hour through his house. Everywhere you go you see - - you see damage. You see how the shrapnel shredded the ceiling, be careful of this. You see a nail sticking out a board that came flying through and then the most frightening thing you see where the water rose to, all along here. Came up, up, higher and higher until here. This is over 20 feet high and it stayed this high for 50 hours he said that it was 50 hours of pure torture. Little aid has reached this area and many places the only road in is blocked or underwater. As they wait for government assistance, some residence like Marilyn Ling (ph) in the town of High Rock have taken it upon themselves to organize a relief effort. Distributing supplies donated by friends and family. Staying busy, she tells us, keeps her from reliving the horror of the storm.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no words to - - to say how bad. Maybe one in 10 houses standing.</s>AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Geography edition. Which of these bodies of water is located the farthest north? Caspian Sea, Lake Michigan, Loch Ness or Lake Baikal? Located in the Scottish Highlands, Loch Ness is the northern most location on this list. But is it the most monstrous? The legend of the Loch Ness Monster has endured for centuries and starting last summer a new study was carried out that took 250 DNA samples from the lake. So what did scientists find? Evidence that around 3,000 species live in Loch Ness and that included a bunch of DNA from eels. Is Nessie an eel? We don`t "eely" know. Scientists couldn`t say whether what they found was from one giant eel or a bunch of small ones but they did say they were fairly sure there is probably not a giant, scaly reptile paddling around the lake because they found no reptile DNA. Fans of "Nessie" may not be too "pleasiasourd" with these results. But researchers say there may still be a monster in Loch Ness, they just didn`t find it. Here`s a court case that`s for the birds. Maurice (ph) the rooster crows at dawn. A couple that owns a vacation home nearby want to sleep in. They accuse Maurice (ph) of noise pollution and requested that he be put inside at night so he doesn`t crow in the morning. The rooster`s owner says the complaining couple would not negotiate. Well a court in France decided in favor of Maurice (ph) and fined the complaining neighbors $1,100 in damages. Could they appeal? I don`t know they might be too "chicken". They cried uncle but the rooster didn`t "careuncle". They could take their house to market but the crowing could effect its "Mauricesale". They can "talk a doodle doo" about it but they "pecked" to fight it lost so "waddlest" is there to do but cry in your corn flakes, at dawn. I`m Carl "Aroost" for CNN. END