Keith: What is up, everyone? It is Tuesday,March 14.Happy Pi Day! It is celebrated every year on this day in honor of 3.14, the first three digits of the mathematical number pi, which is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. So make sure you celebrate today, like I am. I am Keith Kocinski, and Channel One News starts right now.
First up today, sad stats came out aboutthe war in Syria.A new report just released from the United Nations Child Agency says last year was the deadliest one yet for children in Syria, adding that their suffering has hit "rock bottom."
This week marks six years since the Syrian civil war started, and the U.N. says the danger for Syrian children is only getting worse. At least 650 children were killed in Syria in 2016, the most since the war began.
Genevieve Boutin: The issue in Syria is that parties to the conflict are clearly not respecting the basic rules of war. They are conducting their operations in a way that is having a devastating impact on children.
Keith: Many died in or around schools. One out of three schools are unusable because of fighting between the Syrian government and rebels. UNICEF reports there has been no decline in attacks on classrooms, playgrounds, parks, homes or hospitals.
Kids are getting hurt while playing near landmines — underground bombs.They are also dying from preventable diseasesand are atrisk for health problems that could last a lifetime from things like stress disorders and loss of limbs.
Nearly 100,000 civilians have died in Syria since the start of the war, and about 1 in 5 of them were kids.
All right, coming up, an endangered species was murdered, but you will probably never guess where it happened.
Keith: There is a hunt underway for poachers — illegal hunters — who killed a rare white rhino just to steal its horn.But this manhunt isn't happening in the wilds of Africa, where poachers are usually found.The scene of this crime is a zoo in Paris, France. It is believed to be the first time something like this has happened.Tom Hanson has the story.
Tom: His name was Vince. The white rhino was only 4 years old. Investigators say he was shot three times in the head, his horn probably sawed off by a chainsaw.
Zoo officials say the attackers forced open the main gate to the zoo and broke through at least two other security barriers without waking up the five people who live there.The zoo has many security cameras, but none of them are in the rhino area. The other two rhinos living in the zoo and wildlife park were left unharmed.
Zoo director Thierry Duguet said the entire zoo is in shock.
Thierry Duguet: This is unimaginable.Unfortunately, this is done in Africa, in places which aren't clearly secured, but not here in Europe.
Tom: Officials say Vince's horn could be worth as much as $40,000 if it reaches the black market.It is believed to be the first time poachers— illegal hunters — have struck a European zoo in search of a rhino horn, something that is often sold in Asia and is a symbol of luxury.
More commonly, poaching happens in the wild, which has led to a crisis for the rhino, as well as the African elephant.A few years ago, I went to southern Kenya to investigate what steps were being taken to protect the wildlife from poachers.
Looks like we are here.
I met up with the Kenya Wildlife Service, the men guarding the elephants and rhinos in this region from criminals that will kill them at any cost. They took me to a kill site, something they see more and more each year.
Oh, that just kind of hit me like a wall! I am literally about to puke.
We saw a young bull elephant that had been shot by a poison arrow — a common tactic to take these gentle giants down.
These tusks are so deeply embedded in the skull of the elephant that a lot of times, when poachers kill the elephant, they just mutilate the face and hack out those tusks. And all for just those ivory tusks. The rest of it is just left to rot.
It is estimated that one African elephant is killed every 15 minutes, and the population is plummeting toward becoming an endangered species.The white rhino is already on the endangered species list, with only an estimated 21,000 remaining in the wild, roaming mainly in South Africa and Uganda.
In order to make these animals less attractive to poachers, conservationists are taking the extreme measure of cutting off their tusks andhorns in a humane way that doesn't hurt the animal.
Mike Toft: I would rather see this little guy upright in two years’ time than in a ditch upside down and bloated, dead from having had his horn poached, so for me, it’s a no-brainer.
Okay,right. We’re ready to wake up.He is looking 100 percent. He’s nice and relaxed.
Tom: Saving these animals has becomea high-profile cause, with even Prince William warning that wild rhinos could face extinction in our lifetimes.
Tom Hanson, Channel One News.
Keith: Wow, still can't believe that happened. But there could be some good news for the elephants and the rhinos. One of the biggest buyers of ivory is China, which has promised to stop allowing the trade of ivory this year.
All right, after the break, we are speaking the international language of sports.
Keith: Welcome back. So March Madness is here, and we are just a couple days away from the men's first-round bracket match-ups, and Azia, you have a story about a pair on the sideline calling games for one of the teams in the tournament, right?
Azia: Yeah. They are not playing the game, but they are playing a big role in getting the sport out to fans overseas. Check it out.
It is a familiar scene: a sold-out game at Ohio's University of Dayton Arena, the band, the cheerleaders, the face-painted Flyer fans.But courtside,you will also find something unexpected:a pair of student sportscasters calling the action for fans halfway around the world.
Xueyin Shi: I think U. ofD. wants to introduce our basketball to more people, not only in United States but back inChina, so I just feel, like, really excited.
Azia: XueyinShi and Yiqing Zhou are among the university's first foreign-language broadcasters.
Yiqing Zhou: I felt very excited, and then —
Shi: But also nervous, right?
Zhou: Yeah, very nervous.
Azia: Up to 1,000 fans from abroad tune in.Yuanzhou Lin, a Dayton alum, listens on his smartphone from Beijing, China.
Yuanzhou Lin: I spent five years in Dayton. It’s unbelievable, like, I still can listen to the game and watch the game when I go back to China.
Azia: Poised and prepared as they are, Xueyinand Yiqing are not broadcast or communications majors — they are graduate students studying electrical engineering.
Shi: It's like working with components, like lasers.
Michael LaPlaca: I like their chemistry. They just have an it factor.
Azia: Dayton's assistant athletics director, Michael LaPlaca, recruited the two.
LaPlaca: So I reached out to one of our professors, and he helped with the translation. Not just for the knowledge of it, but how do they call a game? You know, are they excited at the right points?
Azia: Listeners abroad can't see the games; only the audio is streamed, and it is not always clear.
Lin: I listen to the game. It's hard to — the signal is not stable.
Azia: Still, LaPlaca considers the program, now in its second season, a success.
LaPlaca: I think just having that access and that connectivity to the game of basketball, which is just such a shared language — you can't beat it.
Azia: The broadcasters were inspired by Yao Ming joining the NBA. He was the first Chinese athlete to become an NBA all-star, played for eight seasons with the Houston Rockets starting in 2002. He is also credited for bringing basketball to a generation of Chinese fans.
Zhou: Yao Ming play inAmerica very, very good, and I think,“Maybe Ican come to U.S. to broaden my horizon and to practice my English.”
Azia: Between practicing English and broadcasting in Mandarin, Xueyinand Yiqing discovered something else in Dayton: a shared love for college basketball.
Zhou: College basketball game is much more passion than an NBA game, and sometimes just one game — that's everything.
Shi: I love basketball much, yeah. I think we will be the Flyer fans forever.
Keith: Really cool story.You know, I have done some play-by-play on the sideline, and it is not that easy, so I have gotto give those guys props — especially doing those post-game interviews in a second language. Not too easy.
Azia: Yeah,absolutely, and I have heard other schoolshave also done something similar for football games, like the University of Illinois, so — pretty cool.
Keith: Yeah, well, Azia, thank you for that story.Now, before we go, we wanted to share with you a new feature on ChannelOne.com: 360 videos!
Azia: Yes. We are so excited — we have got a really cool look at what it is like to sleep over at the famous American Museum of Natural Historyfor a real-life Night at the Museum, like the movie.
Keith: I will definitely check those out. Well, that is it for us. We are going to wrap it up for today. Have a great day, and we will see you right back here tomorrow.
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