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COY WIRE: Hello, everyone.
Terrific Tuesday to you.
It's your boy, Coy.
Hope you had a wonderful weekend and a pleasant President's Day
holiday.
I am pumped to be back here with you
to start this week off strong.
We're going to begin with the latest news out of Ukraine.
This week, President Biden made an unexpected visit to Kyiv.
It was his first visit since Russia
launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago.
Here's part of what the president
had to say about this trip.
JOE BIDEN: That dark night one year
ago, the world was literally at the time
bracing for the fall of Kyiv.
One year later, Kyiv stands.
And Ukraine stands.
Democracy stands.
The Americans stand with you and the world stands with you.
COY WIRE: Now, there is a long history of American presidents
visiting war zones.
This trip was unprecedented in modern history,
however, because the American president
traveled to an active war zone without a large US
military presence.
President Biden said his trip was
to reaffirm the, quote, "unwavering
support that the United States holds for Ukraine."
Earlier this month, the United States
said Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
That was an escalation of what they'd said previously.
Russia called the accusation an excuse for Washington
to further the conflict.
During his trip, President Biden also
announced new military assistance
for Ukraine and incoming sanctions against Moscow.
We'll keep you informed on any more updates
from the president's trip, as well as new information
on the ongoing war overseas.
And over the weekend, the secretive nation of North Korea
launched a series of missile tests
off the coast of the Korean Peninsula.
The country says the missiles have enough range
to hit the United States.
But the US has said this weekend's events,
they don't pose any immediate threat
to US personnel or territory.
The tests do, however, highlight the destabilizing impact
of North Korea's illegal missile program.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister
warned of more threats to come unless the United
States halts military drills with South Korea.
More now from Paula Hancocks, CNN International correspondent
based in Seoul, South Korea.
PAULA HANCOCKS: It has been a busy few days
on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea on Saturday launching a significant missile
on Sunday and Monday.
We have seen tit-for-tat retaliation
from both sides, North Korea and also the US and South Korea
on the other side.
So what we saw on Saturday Pyongyang
admitted a day later was an intercontinental
ballistic missile.
Now, these, they claim, can hit mainland United States.
And they are the ones that do concern Washington.
We heard from Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's sister,
that this actually shows that they have
missile reentry technology.
Now, it's very difficult to know if that is, in fact, the case.
But that is what Pyongyang is claiming at this point.
So what we saw on Sunday, then, just one day later,
was a concerted show of force by the US
and South Korean Air Force--
Air Forces.
They flew sorties over the Korean Peninsula,
including at least one B-1 bomber escorted
by South Korean fighter jets.
And then in response to that, we saw this Monday morning
from Pyongyang two launches.
Now, they say that it was a super-large multiple rocket
launcher exercise in retaliation for what
they saw the day before.
So this is really a latest cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation.
But certainly the Saturday launch was the significant one.
But we're not expecting the tensions
or this tit-for-tat retaliation to diminish any time soon
because Pyongyang says it is doing
so because the US and South Korea are carrying
out joint military drills.
And if they continue to do that, then
they will continue to respond.
Now, we know that this week at the Pentagon,
there will be a nuclear tabletop drill
between the US and South Korea.
And then next month, there will be
a larger joint military drill between the two countries.
COY WIRE: Up next, we're traveling to Canada
in search of zombies, but not the type of zombies
you typically think of.
Ever heard of zombie fires?
I had neither until now.
They're essentially fires that were never totally put out
at the end of a fire season.
And they burn underground, threatening to come back
from beneath the surface at any moment
to wreak havoc once more.
We'll hear more now from an international team
of researchers who are on the hunt
for the next fire that could be lurking
beneath the Earth's surface.
- In the remote boreal forests of Canada's Northwest
Territories and Rebecca Scholten,
along with an international team of researchers,
is on the hunt for signs of a rare and destructive
phenomenon.
REBECCA SCHOLTEN: So the first thing
you notice when you get to a site that
has had a zombie fire is that a lot of these trees
have fallen over.
And that is because of the underground burning
that is happening.
- In 2015, this region of boreal forest
was the scene of an overwintering fire,
also known as a zombie fire.
These are rare.
So we don't have any footage of them.
But they can look just like these regular forest
fires except they're back from the dead.
REBECCA SCHOLTEN: So these are fires that are not extinguished
at the end of a fire season.
But instead, they smolder deep into the organic soil layer.
And when the snow comes, the snow
kind of protects them from the adverse winter conditions.
And that makes it possible for them to smolder
all throughout winter.
And when the snow melts and there's dry fuels available
again, these fires come up to the surface
again and start a new flaming forest fire.
- In 2021, Scholten published the first ever scientific study
to detect zombie fires using satellites
and reports from local fire managers as part of her PhD.
For example, in the summer of 2015,
a fire in Southwest Alaska blazed across 26 square miles.
Winter came and snow covered the fire site.
But the following spring, the fire
returned along the old burn scar, evidence, Scholten says,
of a zombie fire.
By burning through the soil and the roots,
zombie fires can be more damaging to the forest
than regular fires, making it harder for them to recover.
But that's not all.
These boreal soils store huge amounts of carbon.
So burning them releases it as carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere.
Zombie fires are rare.
But Scholten found that they are increasing
due to climate change.
REBECCA SCHOLTEN: So I think zombie fire is
a very good poster child for what is happening
to Arctic wildfires in general.
So we see fire regimes are intensifying.
And this has very important impacts on the ecosystems.
That, of course, has an impact on our climate.
And that is why I think everyone in the world
should care about these fires.
COY WIRE: 10-second trivia-- which of these words
comes from a Latin term that described
a wind from the north?
Zephyr, bluster, boreal, or arboreal?
Zephyr was a west wind.
But when you're talking about a north wind,
you're speaking in boreal terms.
- Oh yeah, it's going all the way.
Oh yeah, right above.
Wow.
Look at how bright that is.
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COY WIRE: All right, today's story getting a 10 out of 10,
a shark attack, only this time it's the shark
getting attacked by a dog.
That's right, a big old hammerhead shark.
One boater said it was probably about 12 feet long, just
minding its business in the Bahamas,
until a dog spots the monster cruising beneath the surface.
And, cannonball, the dog jumps into the water
and starts chasing the shark away.
The people on the tour boat were screaming
in disbelief and horror.
The dog is the pet of the caretaker
who manages the private island.
Pardon my sarcasm, little doggy, but some fin tells me you're
one Jaws-atively lucky pup.
The boaters were relieved when the dog safely swam
back to the shore unharmed.
Fun fact for the day, did you know that baby
sharks are called pups?
Learn something new every day.
Shout-out time now, Hudsonville High School in Hudsonville,
Michigan, we see you.
Also shout-out to Mr. Ben Lewis at Brenham Middle
School in Brenham, Texas.
He challenged his students to interview a military veteran,
an immigrant, and an American citizen
over 60 years old to learn about different perspectives
and to gain a better understanding of what
it means to be an American.
He turned the interviews into this book,
proceeds going to help deserving military veterans.
We salute you, Mr. Lewis.
And to all of the students who sent me
a lovely note with all these signatures,
you totally rocked it out.
We'll see you tomorrow, everyone.
I'm Coy Wire.
And we are "CNN 10."
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