CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Fridays are all inspiring. Not quite. Fridays are all warming. No. Fridays are awesome! Welcome to Friday, October 17.
I`m Carl Azuz with your commercial free newscast from CNN.
Hurricane Gonzalo is churning in the North Atlantic Ocean. Yesterday, it grew to category four strength on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures
a hurricane`s sustained wind speed. Category four brings winds of 130 to 156 miles per hour. It can cause catastrophic damage.
Last night forecasters predicted Gonzalo would brush by the island of Bermuda. But they weren`t sure of its path, so a direct hit is possible.
Bermuda is under a hurricane warning, damaging winds, heavy rains and flooding are expected. Gonzalo already hit the Virgin Islands Monday, but
it was weaker then and caused mostly outages and property damage.
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GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY: but I can`t foresee your case where we should re- introduce large ground combat forces into Iraq. But again, war is discovery, ISIL is a national security threat. If we get to that point,
I`ll make the recommendation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: General Martin Dempsey is the chairman of the joint chiefs of stuff. He`s the top U.S. military advisor to the president.
And he`s talking about a controversial point in the U.S.-led war against ISIL or ISIS. The Islamic State terrorist group. President Obama has
repeatedly said, no U.S. boots on the ground, meaning he won`t send U.S. troops in the direct contact with ISIS, though hundreds are in Iraq now
advising and helping others fight ISIS.
But several experts are saying, U.S. troops may be what`s needed to ultimately defeat the terrorists.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Massive explosions in northwestern Syria. Activists say, these are tunnels full of explosives being detonated by militants.
As clashes broke out between the regime and opposition forces. Just the latest in escalating violence across Syria and Iraq.
Around the besieged city of Kobani on the Syria-Turkey border, 21 coalition airstrikes, the largest number of strikes since operation began. Finally,
stepping up attacks against ISIS positioned to protect the town. But the White House still cautioning airstrikes can only have so much impact in
Kobani.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That impact is constrained by the fact that there are forces on the ground that can follow up on these
airstrikes to end that siege.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pentagon officials say don`t expect the change in strategy. They long warned U.S. air power could only do so much.
CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I also want to emphasize that no one is under any allusions - under any allusions that airstrikes alone will
destroy ISIL.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Iraq`s Anbar province, the Western approach to Baghdad, may be running out of time. ISIS has surrounded and is preparing
to attack al-Assad airbase, one if Iraq`s largest, according to security sources.
If they succeed, ISIS will have a new cache of weapons.
It comes as General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs holds the largest meeting of the coalition today. 22 nations sending their military
chiefs to Washington to review the war against ISIS.
The U.S. has used Apache helicopters and AC-130 gunships at lower altitude to virtually strive (ph) ISIS forces. But ISIS continues to regroup and
train for battle, raising the question once again, is there a solution?
LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.) CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It is looking more and more like Chairman Dempsey is going to have to go back to the president and
ask the president to authorize the introduction of U.S. combat, forces in Iraq.
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AZUZ: Your teachers might remember today`s date from 1989. Especially if they lived in California at the time. The San Francisco Bay area was
violently jolted by its worst earthquake in more than 80 years. It hit just after 5:00 p.m. local time. Before the start of Game Three of the
World Series.
Those who were watching on TV just saw this. The Oakland Days and San Francisco Giants wouldn`t actually play that game until ten days later.
A slip in the St. Andrea`s fault had shaken the ground. It lasted 15 seconds, its magnitude 6.9. It killed dozens of people, injured thousands
and damaged or destroyed property all over the region.
That includes the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. Part of its top deck just collapsed. Building technology has improved since then, and it`s a
good thing.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: October 17, 1989. It`s as if the entire bay area has been beaten. 10 billion in damages. It could have been so much worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I define a major big one as $100 billion. We are expecting residential damage of 100,000 buildings, commercial building
damages and the tens of thousands. You could be looking at deaths on the order of 1800 to over 3,000.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The epicenter of the 1989 earthquake was 60 miles south of the Bay. And registered 6.9. 30 times less powerful than the
1906 quake centered inside San Francisco.
It wasn`t the big one. For just northern California, seismologists say, there`s a more than 60 percent chance that there will be an earthquake of
6.7 or higher in the next 23 years.
DAVID SCHWARTZ, PALEOSEISMOLOGIST: The Hayward is really our biggest concern.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Hayward Fault.
SCHWARTZ: It`s geographically in the center of the region. And it`s the most heavily populated. 2 million people sit directly on top of the
Hayward Fault.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stress from moving geological plates along faults cause earthquakes, and the Hayward is due for a big one.
SCHWARTZ: The Hayward had an earthquake in 1868. It moves on average every 150 to 60 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In other words, it produces a big tumbler (ph) about every century and a half. 1868 plus 150 is 2018.
SCHWARTZ: We are basically right there. And that`s an average. IT could wait 20-30 years, it could happen tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And because it could happen tomorrow, the Bay Area has been preparing since 1989.
SCHWARTZ: We`ve done a lot. It really started the retrofitting going in this area.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bridges have been retrofitted or replaced, utilities reinforced. There`s now a San Francisco law requiring owners strengthen
housing built on landfill with garages on the first floor.
And San Francisco`s high pressured water system is being upgraded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do I think we`ll see the big one in the Bay Area in my lifetime? I hope not. I fear we will. And I hope it`s ten, 20 years
from now, because we will have accomplished a lot more.
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AZUZ: We are starting in the south and working all the way northwest to the far east. It will all make sense.
Hebron Middle School in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, welcome to the roll. Good to see the Panthers watching today. Pendleton High School in
Pendleton, Oregon, hello to the Buckaroos (ph). Awesome, mascot. And across the Pacific to Tokyo, Japan, we are shouting out the American school
in Japan. Great to see you.
Soccer is fine with the soccer ball, but it`s even awesomer with a bubble ball. Why? Because bubble ball. You just slipped your upper body into a
giant bubble with handles and then you take a game with sessions, possessions and divisions and add the fun of collisions.
Who said soccer wasn`t a contact sport? Bubble ball is best played like bumper cars. Sure, you can drive the car or the ball, but the fun is in
the bumps.
In bubble ball, everyone catches air, everyone gets a rebounce and everyone has a ball. It`s a great way to deflate and inflate an ego without
actually bursting anyone`s bubble.
I`m Carl Azuz. Hope you are around Monday when we bounce back your way. Have a great weekend.