CNN Student News Transcript: November 17, 2009Transcript

NASA MISSION CONTROL: Three... two... one... zero. And liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis ona mission to build, resupply and to do research on the international space station.CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: The space shuttle Atlantis taking off, and so isthis edition of CNN Student News. Here to pilot you through today's commercial-freeheadlines, I'm Carl Azuz.

First Up:Obama Town Hall

AZUZ: Dining with dignitaries and town halls about Twitter? Part of President Obama's timein China. Today, he's scheduled to hold official meetings with the country's leader, PresidentHu Jintao. But yesterday, President Obama was in Shanghai, where he took part in a townhall meeting with local university students. During the event, he said that while the twocountries sometimes disagree, they don't necessarily have to be at odds with each other. Healso took questions from the audience. One of them about Twitter. A student asked if Chinese residents should be able to use the site freely. China -- a communist country -- hasroutinely blocked its citizens' access to certain Web sites. President Obama used his answerto talk about censorship and said that he believes when information flows openly, it makes asociety stronger.

GM Results

AZUZ: In America, General Motors says that better results might help it pay back government loans sooner rather than later. But "better" is the key word here. From July,when GM came out of bankruptcy, through the end of September, the company's North American operations lost 651 million dollars. Still, that's better than the $2.1 billion itexpected to lose. GM has received a total of $50 billion dollars from the U.S. governmentsince the end of last year. Some experts ask how much of that money will ever be repaid.

Fast Facts

MATT CHERRY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for some Fast Facts! The Hajj is an annual journey to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Islam requires all Muslims who areable to make the journey at least once in their lives as it's one of the five pillars, or

requirements, of the Muslim faith. The Hajj includes five days of ceremonies and rituals andtakes place two months and ten days after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.More than two million Muslims take part every year.

Hajj H1N1 Concerns

AZUZ: There are some concerns about this year's Hajj and how it might help spread theH1N1 virus. Think about this: millions of people gathered together and the possibilities of acontagious flu. Saudi Arabia says it won't turn anyone away, but it's encouraging othercountries not to let people in high-risk groups -- for example, pregnant women, anyoneunder 12 or over 65 -- make the ritual pilgrimage. It's suggesting that people who do travelto Mecca for the Hajj get the H1N1 vaccine before they come and to wash their handsregularly once they get there.

Detainees in the Heartland?

AZUZ: The town of Thomson is about 150 miles away from Chicago, Illinois. And that is onereason why some people are against a proposal that would move Guantanamo detaineesinto the town's prison. We're talking about dozens of suspected terrorists that are being heldat the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. One U.S. congressman argues thatmoving them to Thomson would turn metro Chicago into "ground zero for terrorist plots."Officials toured the Thomson Correctional Center yesterday. Elaine Quijano talked with someof the town's residents about this idea.(BEGIN VIDEO)ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: At the Maximum SecurityThomson Correctional Center in Northwest Illinois, federal officials from a host of agenciespoured in. Representing the departments of Homeland Security, Defense and Justice, andthe U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the officials got a close-up look at the 1,600 cell jail that couldone day house dozens of Guantanamo terror suspects.Tara Kleckner can see the Thomson Prison from her backyard. She understands the securityconcerns about the increased threat that would come with having terror suspects in herhome town. But she insists the community's 600 residents deserve a chance at the prison jobs that would also come if the detainees are moved here.TARA KLECKNER, THOMSON RESIDENT: If they can boost our economy and give our peoplethe opportunity to prosper and make more money and make a better living for their families,I think the risk is worth it.

QUIJANO: Both the Democratic Senator and governor of Illinois agree.SEN. DICK DURBIN (D) OF ILLINOIS: We have a chance to bring more than 2,000 good-paying jobs with benefits to this region.QUIJANO: Yet Illinois House Republicans, like Congressman Donald Manzullo, who's districtincludes Thomson, warned that bringing terror suspects to U.S. soil would invite a terroristattack.REP. DONALD MANZULLO (R) OF ILLINOIS: That's all we need in northern Illinois, is to beknown as the Gitmo North. The place that replaced Gitmo.QUIJANO: While Thomson resident Randy Stricker likes the idea of jobs, he wonders at whatcost.RANDY STRICKER, THOMSON RESIDENT: Kind of leery a little bit, I guess. It makes younervous. Yeah a little bit.(END VIDEO)

Shoutout

MICHELLE WRIGHT, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Miss Hill's socialstudies classes at Madison County Middle School in Comer, Georgia! If you want a Shoutoutdedicated to your class, have your teacher send us an iReport. How much trash does theaverage American generate in one day? Is it: A) .5 pounds, B) 2.1 pounds, C) 3.3 pounds orD) More than 4 pounds? You've got three seconds -- GO! The average American createsmore than 4 pounds of garbage every day. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Tracking Trash

AZUZ: All right... but once we toss it, where does all that trash go? And I don't mean justsome landfill somewhere. That was a group a group of researchers that wanted to find outexactly where trash goes. So, they're tracking it down, from the time it gets tossed until itreaches its final destination. As Patrick Oppmann explains, the goal of the project is to getpeople thinking about what they throw away.(BEGIN VIDEO)PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST, SEATTLE: The waste of our lives:newspapers, empty milk cartons, plastic bottles. Many people throw out an aluminum sodacan like this and never give it another thought. But if you knew how far this can will travel