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U.S. Secretary of Defense Stepping Down; Violent Protests in Ferguson, Missouri over Non-Guilty Jury Verdict; Earthquakes in U.S.; Cyber Security Rules

Aired November 25, 2014 - 04:00:00   ET


CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to Tuesday`s edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. This is our last show before the Thanksgiving holiday.

First up, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is resigning.


CHUCK HAGEL, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It`s been the greatest privilege of my life. The greatest privilege of my life to lead and most important

to serve, to serve with the men and women of the Defense Department and support their families.


AZUZ: And President Obama said the lives of U.S. service men and women have always been at the center of Hagel`s service. The president also

called Hagel exemplary and says his decision to resign didn`t come easily, but several sources told CNN that the president forced Hagel out. A

senator who recently spoke to Hagel said he was frustrated with the Obama administration. One reason being a lack of strategy for dealing with ISIS

terrorist group. The White House said disagreement over Syria had nothing to do with Hagel`s resignation.

The Defense Secretary is a cabinet position. It oversees the U.S. military. Hagel will stay on until the next Defense Secretary is

confirmed. That has to be done with the advice and consent of the Senate.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The verdict from a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri: 28-year old police officer Darren Wilson will not be charged in the

shooting death of 18-year old Michael Brown. The grand jury`s decision came about 3.5 months after Officer Wilson shot Brown who was unarmed.

There was a confrontation between them on August 9. Some witnesses and those who supported Brown said he was trying to surrender when Officer

Wilson shot him. Police and those who supported Wilson said Brown assaulted the officer and that Wilson fired in self-defense.

The country prosecutor said that after a full and impartial examination of all of the evidence which only the grand jury saw, it found no probable

cause to charge Officer Wilson with wrongdoing.

The verdict was not what many demonstrators wanted to hear. In the hours that followed, the protest turned violent. Stores were vandalized. Police

cars were damaged to set on fire. Police were using tear gas and smoke bombs. Teachers, you can find the latest events from Ferguson at cnn.com.


AZUZ: Let`s start out west today in the beehive state of Utah. We`ve got a request from Central Davis Junior High School. It`s in the city of

Layton, and it`s where the cubs are watching CNN STUDENT NEWS. To La Grange, Texas for the leopards. They are lying at La Grange High School.

Good to see you. And then Kronenwetter, Wisconsin. We`ve got the wild cats of Northland Lutheran High School. Please keep your requests coming

at cnnstudentnews.com

Next story, earthquakes. We told you yesterday about the strong one that shook part of Japan last weekend. In the northwest corner of Nevada

there`ve been more than 50 tremors over the past week. Thousands in recent months. Now, they are relatively small and they are in a relatively remote

part of the state. But seismologists are concerned over these earthquake swarms.


DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I`m in Hayward, California, just east of San Francisco, and danger lurks right beneath my feet.

There`s a major fault right beneath this parking lot, and it`s due to go. It could happen in the next ten years, it could happen next year. It could

happen right now. You never know when earthquakes are going to occur.

And that`s part of the reason why many are alarmed over earthquake swarms.

An earthquake swarm is a concentration of earthquakes in a short period of time.

One area that has experienced this phenomenon, is in a remote desert that links Oregon, Nevada and California. There`ve also been swarms in other

parts of the country that you wouldn`t normally associate with earthquakes. Places like Kansas and Oklahoma, some have suggested that fracking is to

blame, that`s the method to extract oil and natural gas from the ground, but there`s no universal agreement on that.

They`ve certainly rattled some nerves and they (INAUDIBLE) the question whether or not a bigger quake might be coming.

DAVID SCHWARTZ USGS: Any time you are in area and you begin to have earthquakes, the thought is am I going to have something? And the reality

is, we don`t know.

SIMON: The bottom line is, earthquake swarms are getting a ton of attention, most of these quakes, of course, are harmless, but if you live

in an area that is prone to them, it`s a good reminder to have an earthquake plan ready and some emergency supplies on hand.


AZUZ: Another deadline has come and gone, no deal it: we are talking about negotiations between the Middle Eastern nation of Iran and the U.S.

and some other world powers. Here`s the issue: Iran has a nuclear program. The nation says it`s strictly for peaceful purposes like nuclear

power. The U.S. and other Western nations believe Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Direct negotiations over this issue have been going on

for more than a year. They involve Iran, on one side, and on the other, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus


Western nations have put economic sanctions, economic penalties on Iran over its nuclear program. Iran wants those lifted. Western countries want

Iran`s nuclear capability limited, a big sticking point who makes the first move. The deadline for a deal was supposed to be tonight. It`s been

extended to next March.

Keep different passwords for different sites. Don`t link your social media and email accounts, back up your important files off line.

All of these were things that experts recommend to stay safer online, to keep personal info personal and if you ever log on to an unsecured WiFi

network, you could be letting a hacker know everything he or she needs to still from you.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A breezy fall day in Central Park, and like many others my colleague Jose Palieri (ph) is taking a break.

He finds a convenient place to stop and browse the Internet. But he`s about to fall into a cyber-trap. Kaylab Hoff (ph) is an expert in online

intrusions with all the skills of your typical hacker. He`s created an unsecured public Wi-Fi network. Jose is our next victim.

Right on queue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Central Park Wi-Fi is not the only one that`s not locked down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s his first mistake, and it`s a big one. Do not connect to open Wi-Fi networks. Jose checks his email ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what we are seeing right here, someone is logging into Yahoo.com.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then he decides to go shopping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Winter is coming, (INAUDIBLE) myself a new coat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Something just popped up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. So, it looks like somebody is logging into their Amazon account, their email address is displayed right here, password

is displayed right here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like so many of us Jose is using the same password for email and Amazon, another mistake. Now, we have all this information.

Let`s see how far a hacker might take it using just my everyday cell phone.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I`m in, I`ve gotten into our victim`s Amazon account. I have the American Express card already in there. He saved it,

there you go. I just made a purchase on his Amazon account.

Jose will have no idea he`s been hacked until he sees his bill. Kaylab now has access to his email account, his Amazon account and his credit card.

For everyone involved, a walk in the park.


Founding father Ben Franklin wasn`t a fan of our national symbol. In a letter to his daughter he called the bald eagle a bird of bad moral

character. What would he have preferred? Well, Ben Franklin liked the turkey. He called it more respectable and courageous despite being a

little silly. Now, that`s random.

But a dove tails nicely into our five facts about Thanksgiving report: one, it`s America`s second favorite holiday. Christmas is first, turkeys

are often on the menu for both, so bad news for them.

Two, they probably weren`t at the table at the first Thanksgiving. That more likely included geese, ducks and beer. History ties them to a third

point. The first Thanksgiving was probably in 1621 when English colonists and Native Americans shared a harvest feast.

Four, Thanksgiving wasn`t an official holiday in the U.S. until the Civil War. On October 3 1863, President Lincoln declared the national holiday.

That was on a Thursday, and it`s stock.

Five, Thanksgiving traditionally kicks of the Christmas shopping season. President Franklin Roosevelt tried to move it to the third Thursday in

November to extend shopping season and stimulate the economy. Some states didn`t like that, so in 1942, Thanksgiving was moved to its permanent home

on the Fourth Thursday in November.

Now that we`ve set the table, it`s time to dig in. This is how the pros do it. I don`t mean your uncle Ralphie. I mean competitive eaters like Joey

Chestnut. At last weekend`s turkey eating contests, Chestnut stuffed his face with more than 9 pounds of turkey meat in less than ten minutes. It

was an entire bird minus the bones. It was a record, it won Chestnut $5,000 and probably a really good nap. He must have been a triptofanatic

to bear the burden, just staying awake would be turkey to victorkey (ph), and as far as the winning statokey, well, he just kind of wing it. We are

giving thanks for you this Thanksgiving. And while that gobbles up all our time, there`s just none leftover. Don`t get your feathers ruffled. CNN

STUDENT NEWS trots back December 1 with more stories and pawns all cooked up. I`m Carl Azuz.