Hello and bueno Sarah from Cortina,
Italy, everyone. Happy Thursday
everyone. Happy Friday eve. Uh, I
learned a new Italian phrase today. Mama
mia kono. Oh my goodness, how good. Real
good. I'm Koi Wire. Hope you're having
an awesome day. Let's get you your news.
This week marks the start of a very
special time for one of the world's
largest religions. On Tuesday evening,
many Muslims around the world kicked off
Ramadan, the holiest month of the
Islamic calendar. So, Ramadan Mubarak or
blessed Ramadan to all of you who
celebrate. During this holy month, more
than 2 billion Muslims around the world
will fast from sunrise to sunset each
day, abstaining from food and water as
an act of worship and self-discipline.
The Ramadan fast is one of the five
pillars of Islam, and it's broken each
evening with a communal meal known as
ifar, where family and friends come
together to eat and pray. Ramadan
doesn't fall on the same day every year.
Rather, it follows the sighting of a new
crescent moon during the ninth month of
the Islamic calendar. This sometimes
means that different countries around
the world will observe its start on
different days. And if you're feeling
like this week has been chock full of
holidays, you are not imagining things
this year. Ramadan shared the calendar
with not one but two other major events.
The Lunar New Year, which we told you
about earlier this week, and Fat
Tuesday, which marks the end of Marty
Gro and ushers in the Christian season
of Lent. Now to some golden moments from
here at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
Norwegian skier Johannes Huslat Claybo
had already become the most successful
winter Olympian of all time earlier this
week. But he was not done. The
powerhouse added another gold medal to
his resume, winning the men's cross
country team sprint. It's his fifth gold
medal of these games alone and the 10th
of his career. There simply Norway could
match that. And in the skies over
Cortina, it is a bird. It's a plane. No,
it's a pair of gravitydefying gold
medals for team China. Zu Mena defended
her 2022 aerial skiing gold medal,
becoming the first athlete ever to win
multiple golds in an aerial event. And
snowboarder Su Ying Ming clinched gold
in men's slope style on his 22nd
birthday. Talk about a perfect present.
But maybe the biggest headline of the
day, a golden comeback for Team USA's
Michaela Shiffford. She conquered the
women's slalom in sensational style to
take home her first Olympic gold medal
in eight years. First medal of any kind
rather after winning gold at just 18
years old in the 2014 games. Shiffron
missed the podium the last two games.
Now she's found her way back to the top,
showing why she is winningest alpine
skier of all time. Speaking of golden
moments, I got the chance to catch up
with Shiffron's teammate Breezy Johnson.
Johnson not only won her first career
gold medal at these games, she also got
engaged. But reaching this surreal stage
of her career was far from a breeze.
Here's what she told me about how she's
handled all the adversity along the way.
Downhill skiing is often called the most
dangerous event at the Winter Games. If
fear had a voice at the top of the
course, what would you say back to it?
>> I always say that fear has to come with
you. You can't kick it out of the car.
You just put it in the back seat. ski
racing careers, they're full of
highlights. They're also full of
setbacks. You missed the Beijing
Olympics due to an injury. What has
adversity taught you uh that maybe
winning never could?
>> Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because
yeah, people are people are often
jealous of of the the amazing moments,
the the wins at the Olympics, the World
Championships, but rarely are people
jealous of the path that it took to get
you there. I think you really have to
find joy and meaning in those hard
moments. You know, being brave enough to
try at something that many people just
aren't willing to take the risk to do to
fail at is um what I find meaning in and
um you know it it keeps me going in
those tough moments and uh is to me the
real accomplishment.
>> Pakqua is hot. Which city is China's
largest by population and a major global
financial center? Changdu, Beijing,
Shanghai, or Chenzhin.
If you said Shanghai, ding ding, you're
correct. With a population of about 24
to 25 million people, it is also home to
the world's longest metro system. China
saw an increase in new marriages last
year after introducing incentives to
encourage couples to wed. It's all part
of Beijing's plan to reverse its
declining birth rate a decade after the
government ended its one child policy.
CNN's Simone McCarthy explains the
reasons behind the uptick.
China changed one rule and saw a major
rise in marriages last year. Marriage
registries across the country, including
the one behind me here in Beijing, have
seen a lot of bookings. China's
government is pushing hard to encourage
more young people to get married as
Beijing tries to reverse a declining
birth rate that could hurt its economy.
Last year, Chinese officials made a
major change. For the first time, people
can get married anywhere in the country.
That means couples living in major
cities don't have to return to their
hometowns and can even choose any
destination for their marriage.
>> We are working in Beijing. It's really
convenient. We don't have to go back to
our hometown. Right here where we work,
we able to complete all the procedures.
>> And there are signs that's paying off.
China last year recorded 6.76 million
marriages. That's 650,000
more than the previous year when
marriages hit a record low. Now,
marriages have generally declined over
the past decade, and the 2025 numbers
are still less than just a couple years
ago. Young people typically say that
economic strain as well as wanting to
focus on their career and independence
are reasons to delay or avoid getting
married altogether.
>> A lot of stress because of things like
work and family. But getting married,
that's something two people, if they're
meant to be or like each other, they'll
surely get married.
Next up, Lego to a competition that had
elementary and middle school teams
stacking up solutions and clicking
robots into motion using Legos. And we
were there as everything came together
piece by piece. Check it out.
>> 3 2 1 go.
>> It's the moment these young engineers
have worked for.
>> Try one more time. Months of
calculations, coding, and collaboration
prepared teams of elementary and middle
school students to compete at the annual
first Lego League state championship at
the Georgia Institute of Technology.
This is like their Super Bowl of
robotics. It's a lot tied into STEM,
science, techn technology, engineering,
and math cuz your students are doing
some problem solving and innovating.
They have to come up with some unique
ways to try to solve that problem. Each
team carefully created robots out of
Legos that compete in intricate and
timed missions inspired by this year's
archaeological theme, Unearthed.
>> What we do is we program our robot to do
all the missions on the table. And then
if the more missions you do, the more
points you get. And we're excited for
the judging room cuz we got a few tricks
up our sleeve.
>> In the judging room, teams explain their
designs and coding decisions with
creative presentations. This year is our
largest state championship we've ever
had. We went from 24 teams to 60 teams.
>> What might look like simple Lego bricks
are actually the building blocks for
engineering and leadership training.
>> These are specialized robotics kits that
are allowing the students to really dive
deeply into some of those important
skills that we see are are going to be
needed in the workforce today like
coding, mechanical engineering. Um but
more importantly, arguably than that is
what we call core values. teaching that
teamwork, teaching leadership. You'll
see a student or a team that's really
struggling. Another team will come up
and they'll help them.
>> Every team is unique.
>> Our robot is named R67
because we thought it was really funny.
>> We have spunky pieces
>> rocking custom outfits, team names, and
catchphrases while they present their
projects.
>> I love that robotics allows them to
explore things that they never thought
possible, to grow, to make mistakes.
They've made so many mistakes and we
love it. We celebrate every mistake and
that's what it's about is learning how
to persevere and how to continue and how
to grow.
>> These students not only build robots and
code, they also are tasked with creating
solutions for real world problems.
>> We were talking about mobility issues
and people have hand tremors and stuff
and how those people don't always feel
like they can follow their dreams of
being an archaeologist and they said,
"Well, why don't we solve that problem?"
And so they've actually done a ton of
research and they've developed a glove
that actually we've proven reduces
tremor.
>> For some teams, this state championship
is just the next step. The top
performers will move on to the
international competitions. The points
may stack up on the board, but the
skills they stack up for life.
Definitely the ability to like kind of
communicate with others and like
cooperation and be able to like go out
and present ideas to others and to like
connect with others. It feels like a
superpower. Honestly, being able to
learn something like this so young, it's
it's a gift.
>> Today's story getting a 10 out of 10.
Londoners combining two of my very
favorite things, competition and food.
Feast your eyes on the annual pancake
race. In full costume, they sprint
through London. Frying pans in hand,
stopping only to flip a flapjack and
then keep on running. It marks Shrove
Tuesday, also known as pancake day.
Marking the last indulgent harrah before
Lent begins. Some spectators come for
the competition, others just for the
carbs. Winners go home with trophies and
frying pans, presumably also full of
pride and pancakes. Hey, what's a panda
used to make pancakes? A panda, duh.
Time for some two shout outs today.
First one's going to Jainsville,
Wisconsin. Miss Nelson at Craig High
School. Thank you for following us on
our CNN 10 Instagram. And this one goes
to Miss Manil at Grant Middle School in
Fairview Heights, Illinois. Rise up and
Mama Mia Cabono. See you tomorrow from
Cortina Quina. I'm Koi Wire and we are
CNN 10.