Elections in Egypt; Extremely Hot Weather in Australia; FCC`s Net Neutrality Principle Struck Down by Federal Court; Google and Home Androids
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee says the terrorist attack on Americans in Libya could have been prevented. Here`s the background on that. September 11th, 2012, the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked and burned. Four Americans were killed, including an ambassador named Chris Stevens. A bipartisan Senate committee just released a report that says there were warnings that security at the American compound was weakening, and then Americans were at risk. It blames the U.S. State Department and the CIA for not doing enough to protect Americans there. But it also said there was no specific threat that an attack was going to happen. The Obama administration initially said the attack was a reaction to an anti-Muslim film made in the U.S. It later reclassified the incident as a terrorist attack. In response to the Senate report, the State Department says it`s taken steps to increase security for American diplomats overseas, and that it`s working to minimize the risk they face. On Libya`s eastern border, Egypt, the country had a revolution in 2011 when its longtime leader Hosni Mubarak resigned after widespread riots. Since then, though, Egypt has struggled to get back on its feet politically. The military took control last summer, and the new constitution that Egyptians are currently voting on, would give the military more power. Are the elections fair?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A long, long line outside this polling station as Egyptians vote in a constitutional referendum. But more is at stake than just a new social contract. The interim government`s legitimacy, too, is on the line. The country is voting for the first time since last July, when the military ousted former Muslim brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi from the presidency. Since then, a bitterly divided Egypt has seen hundreds die in clashes between security forces and Morsi supporters. It`s a crucial vote. A strong "yes" turnout would translate into support for General Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, the man behind the coup and his interim government.</s>KHALED DAWOUD, CONSTITUTION PARTY SPOKESMAN: Right now the new regime is seeking popular support and they get high turnouts, they get bigger numbers supporting the draft constitution. I think they can claim from now onwards that they do have reasonable popular support good enough to make them go on with the rest of the roadmap.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those voting weren`t shy to show their love for Egypt` stop general and a constitution. "Egypt`s Muslims and Christians alongside the army are one hand, and we`ll never part," says this lawyer. "Egyptians vote today to show they`re completely against the former regime, and they welcome the roadmap," says this student. Dissenting voices on the other hand have been quashed through intimidation and arrest.</s>DAWOUD: The scary part is that opposition is no longer tolerated, I mean even for a political party.</s>AZUZ: To the Southern Hemisphere now where folks are in the midst of summer, and it`s a doozy in a parts of Australia. We are talking temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius, that`s 104 degrees Fahrenheit. It`s spiking to 115 in some places. Might be OK if you are at the pool, but on the court of the Australian Open, that`s taking place in Melbourne on Australia`s southeast coast, water bottles are melting, tennis players are getting burned feet. One Canadian fainted during his opening match. The dangers of this hot, dry conditions are extending to where there is no tennis court or players in site.</s>AMELIA MULCAHY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A five day record-breaking heat wave has left the southeast of Australia (inaudible). Scorching temperatures as high as 46 degrees Celsius have been forecast for the next few days, too. Putting emergency services on high load. In South Australia, more than 26,000 lightning strikes were records, sparking dozens of blazes that are still raging today. A fire in Brokli (ph), an hour out of Adelaide, destroyed a home and left a woman in hospital with serious burns. Support aircraft from around the country have been sent to help fight the fires, hot, dry and windy conditions are a big concern.</s>GREG NETTLESON, COUNTRY FIRE SERVICE: We`re going to an escalating pattern, with increased winds over the next couple of days. And for us safety is absolutely critical.</s>MULCAHY: In major cities, Pat Levine (ph) told to (inaudible) blackouts as the sustained use of air conditioners put the strain on power companies. A change is expected to come through over the weekend and temperatures are predicted to drop by almost 20 degrees, but for now everyone`s trying to keep cold the best way they can.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if you can I.D. me. I`m a company that provides a service, an electronic one. If you want to get on the Internet, you`ll need me. Some of my well-known examples include AOL, Comcast and Verizon. I`m an Internet service provider, or ISP. For a fee, I`ll help you get online.</s>AZUZ: Once you pay that fee, usually a monthly one, your ISP lets you go wherever you want online. The Federal Communications Commission, part of the U.S. government, had a rule that said, ISPs cannot discriminate against Web content. That means, they can`t make some sites fast to encourage you to use them and some slow to keep you off them. The concept is called net neutrality. But a federal court has struck down the FCC rule. It said the FCC didn`t have the authority to make it. The FCC can rewrite its rules in the future. And for now, your Internet experience isn`t likely to change. But some are concerned how it could.</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Net neutrality means that every side on the Internet should be equally accessible, no matter whether you`re going to Amazon or YouTube or Facebook, your Internet Service Provider is supposed to offer you free and equal access to all those sites. But Tuesday`s ruling changes that. Let`s see these video streaming services, like YouTube and Netflix as an example. Some that sites like YouTube could cut a deal with your Internet Service Provider to allow you to access it faster and to slow access to other streaming sites like Netflix. But that`s just one possibility. Net neutrality advocates say that these ruling could also allow Internet Service Providers to slow everything, and then charge you extra to allow faster access to a particular site, like Amazon. If you don`t like the sound of all this, well, that`s some bad news for you. These net neutrality rules have never applied to mobile devices. Mobile Internet Providers in the U.S. do not have to provide free and equal access to everything on the Net. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.</s>AZUZ: Sticking with the Internet theme here. Internet Company Google is getting more powerful by the day. Its latest purchase could give a great access to your home. Nest is a brand of smart thermostat. It learns when and how you want your temperature adjusted. Google just bought that company, in addition to a rapidly growing list of others. Why?</s>DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Google bought Nest, a company that makes thermostats and smoke detectors.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For more than $3 billion.</s>GOLDMAN: So, why is Google interested in buying a company like that? Well, Google is trying to take over your connected life. Google in 2011 created android at home, a platform that allows all of your connected devices to talk to one another. So, that means that your connected oven- running android can talk to your smoke detector, also running android. So, that when you have your oven at 500 degrees, it doesn`t just automatically set your smoke alarm off. They are talking to one another. What Google is trying to do is to make all of the different things that you own .</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alarm clocks, thermostats, dishwashers, et cetera.</s>GOLDMAN: To talk to one another. This isn`t the first time that Google has gotten into something that seemingly is beyond the scope of search. They are involved in space mining, weather balloons, Google Glass, they are involved in robotics now and they are even involved in driverless cars. But all of these things are part of Google trying to foresee where tech is going. The interesting thing with all of this is Google has to keep privacy in mind. Now, if Google really knows everything about you, well, then it has to do a really good job of protecting that information. Google has got to play it safe here, but if they play it smart, this is potentially a billion or a multiple billion dollar opportunity for them.</s>AZUZ: Some of unique mascots take their place in today`s "Roll Call." We`ve got the Battle Mountain Long Horns, which sounds awesome. They are viewing us Battle Mountain, Nevada. Over in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, check out the Sandpits (ph). They are tuning in from Clyde Boyd Middle School. Last but not least, we are saying hello to the Quakers. Salem High School in Salem, Ohio. Thank you all for watching. It`s hard to be the buzzer beater before we go. But this young man named Easton did it. A four court shot, it was captured on camera and posted on YouTube, and as you can see by the score, it won the game. But the story gets better. Later on, Easton was reenacting how he did it for a local news group. On his first try - bam! Three more points posted on the news and a YouTube. For the 13-year old he`s got to be one of the most famous 8-graders in Minnesota. News of this has been a bit of a globe trotter. It spread north, south, east and west. Of court, his accomplishment has netted a lot of attention, but two full court shots, the person who recorded them both times must have been a basket case. I`m Carl Azuz. And I`ll take a shot at more puns tomorrow. END