CNN Student News 받아적기 (11.21)

The "Super Committee".
The reason that it's been given that nickname of super committe, if you will, is many believe that this committee has super powers. They basically can bypass a lot of procedural hurdles of that legislation often runs up against as it tries to make its way through the House and Senate.

Why was it created?
The super committee was created during the debt ceiling debacle over the summer.
It was created to basically do what Congress could not do during the debt ceiling negotiations which was find bigger deficit savings in order to help the country stabilize its debt.

Who is on the "Super committee"?
There are 12 members on this committe, 12 law makers, evenly split between the House and Senate, Democrate and Republican. They are all appointed by the leaders of each chamber. They bring a range of experience, a range of backgrounds, and a range of political motivations, if you will.

When are its recommendations due?
The deadline is tight. The committee has until November 23rd right before Thanksgiving to reach an agreement. It does not have to be unanimous within the Committe. It has to be a majority of the members on the committee that has to reach an agreement.  And then it's sent to the Congress to both chambers, the House and the Senate and Congress has to vote on it by December 23rd.

Okay, so we are talking about Congress' and Super committee. You heard our reporter say that it has until this wedensday to recommend a plan to cut more than a trilian dollars over the next 10 years. But, the committee members needed at least 48 hours to look over any plan before they vote on it. So, really the deadline is more like Today. And as of Sunday, No deal. Assisatants to the super Committe members were saying that the only announcement the committee would be likely to make was that they failed to reach an agreement. So what happens if they don't reach the deadline. Automatic government budget cuts across the board starting in 2013, including cuts to the U.S. millitary that defense secretary said could cause serious problems for America's millitary.

Something to keep in mind. Congress created these deadlines, so Congress can change them, too, or decide to get rid of them altogether. Right now, that's what some lawmakers are suggesting that Congress should do.

Tahrir square was a rallying point for protesters during Egypt's political revolution earlier this year. Same thing's going on there right now; more protests.There was an uprising, you might remember that happened in the spring, and that drove Egypt's president from the office.There are plans for a new constitution and elections but some Egyptions are angry about how long all this is taking since the initail uprising. They are worried that Egypt's millitary which is running the Egypt's government right now already might have claimed too much power in Egypt's new government.
Protesters were back in the square over the weekend fighting with army and police forces. Some people died in the violence. More than a thousand were wounded. Millitary officials say they want to transefer the government over to civilians. Elections for parliament are scheduled to start next week.


In the neigboring country of Libya. Many people are celebrating the arrest of this man. His name is Saif al-Islam Gadhafi.  He is the son of the former Libayan ruler, Moammar Gadhafi. He had been hiding for months. He was captured over the weekend after a gun battle in the Libyan desert. He didn't have a high level job in his father's government but experts say he had the most influence in Moammar Gadhafi's inner circle. And they thought he was the most likely person to take over control after his father.
The Gadhafi governmnet has been accused of brutally attacking citizens during Libya's civil war. The international Court wants to put him on trial for crimes against humanity including murder but Libyan officials also want to put him on a trial in Libya. They want it to happen in their court system. So we don't know yet how this is all going to play out.



The idea of collecting that light after it makes 8 minutes journey isn't new. You've probably heard of solar panels. But Aidan Dwyer came up with a unique idea for how to collect sunlight and his design was inspired by nature. What started out as a science fair project is now getting international attention.

Check this out.

Interview:
Our yard isn't that big. My parents always wanted solar panels. So oneday, I was just walking through the woods on a winter hiking trip, and I notice that the tree branches, how they collect sunlight, they are like go up into the air. And I thought like, maybe if we put solar panels on the ends of the branches, it would collect a lot of sunlight.
My project is about how I'd build a solar panel tree design and based on the Fibonacci sequence. And it collected in more sunlight than a common flat panel array. And it doesn't collect dirt, rain and snow as much as the flat panels. I think it looks a lot nicer.

My project generated a lot of reactions from people around the world. Many people were excited about the idea. Others had great suggestions to make my research better. The internet allows people to share ideas but people would be people, Media would be media.
And the lesson that I learned is that sometimes the internet is not a substitute for scientific peer review. Some of the comments were encouraging me and some of them were just, they were giving me the ideas to expand my research but some, I felt like, didn't understand my project because I try to measure how, to see if the tree design could collect more sunlight, not more open voltage.

I'm using suggetions from different sources to improve the design. My current project is a large scale Fibonacci array, which has been adopted by a familly of chipmucks as a hangout. But most importantly, I'm sharing my ideas on solar panels with others to build a better tommorrow.


Before we go, over the past 12 years, Peter Larson has spent almost three hundred nights camping out, but not in a tent. Peter sleeps outside in a cardboard box braving frigid Minesota evenings. And it's not some kind of endurance challenge. Peter's sleepouts to raise money for those who are less fortunate and who might be sleeping in boxes themselves without a choice.
So far the high school senior has raised nearly $400,000. This year, Peter is planning his longest sleepout yet; 7 weeks. Spending nearly a two months out in the cold is a fundraisng idea that's really thinking outside the box.
We wish Peter the best of luck with his efforts, and we hope to see you back here tommorrow for our last show of the week!