CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Fridays are awesome. Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. There are signs of the possible solution in Washington not over the government shutdown, we`re talking about a proposal on the U.S debt ceiling. On Thursday, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives said they would propose raising the debt ceiling temporarily. Investors seemed happy about that, the Dow Jones industrial average took a big jump yesterday on optimism about a possible deal. But there are a few things to keep in mind. First, this is a proposal. It would have to be passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the president. Second, it`s temporary. It would run through November 22nd, and third, it only covers the debt ceiling. And it it`s passed, the partial government shutdown could keep going.
Republican leaders were scheduled to meet with President Obama at the White House yesterday. Teachers, please keep an eye on cnn.com for the latest details.
Today is October 11th. That means it`s the International Day of the Girl. The United Nations established that in 2011, and this year`s theme is innovating for girls` education. The goal of International Day of the Girl is to recognize girls` rights and the challenges that they face around the world. For example, in developing countries, one out of every five girls who enroll in elementary school, never finish. Globally, only 30 percent of middle and high school aged girls are enrolled in school. And by 2015, it`s estimated that 64 percent of the people around the world who are illiterate will be female.
Experts say, access to education has wide-ranging benefits: girls who get more education are shown to have healthier families, and increased education leads to higher wages for girls and more participation in their country`s labor force.
Malala Yousafzai knows all about the benefits of girls having access to education. It`s her personal cause and one that led to her being attacked by the Taliban in her home country of Pakistan. She`s recovered from her injuries and now her voice and call for equal education are stronger than ever.
Malala is also inspiring others like Julia Fine, a high school senior. Malala was scheduled to do an interview with CNN`s Christiane Amanpour that will air this Sunday at 7 P.M. Eastern. Julia won the chance to be in the audience. Her essay about how Malala`s bravery inspired her to get involved in activism was chosen by Malala as the winning entry in the contest we told you about a few weeks ago.
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ANNOUNCER: It`s time for "The Shoutout." The world`s busiest port is on what continent? If you think you know it, then shout it out.
Is it Asia? Europe? North America? Or South America? You`ve got three seconds, go.
The port in Shanghai, China is the world`s busiest. In fact, most of the top ten busiest ports are in Asia. That`s your answer and that`s your shoutout.
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AZUZ: The world waits upon day they go down to the sea in ships. Well, it`s like this: so many of the things we use every day, from phones to shoes to cars, they`ve traveled the major shipping lanes of the world to get wherever you are. Think giant cruise ships, but instead of pools and restaurants, they are stock with thousands of multicolored boxes of cargo that float on ships across the sea, and then head to your area on the cars of trains and wheels of trucker trailers. That could be a new boat docked at some of Asia`s busiest ports in the day ahead, and it has one major feature that separates it from every other boat in the sea: it`s bigger. Like 1.5 times longer than the Titanic bigger.
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ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: From the world`s biggest shipping container company comes the world`s biggest ship. This is the maiden voyage of the Maersk McKinney Moeller. It`s a monster. From where I`m standing here, next to the bout (ph) to the propellers of the far end, is 400 meters, and when this ship is fully laden, it`s 20 stories high, and Maersk is taking a big bet that big is indeed beautiful.
She`s so big she can`t get through the Panama Canal, and so deep that she can`t get into most ports in the Americas. But that`s not her job. This vessel was built to carry 18,000 containers exclusively on the Europe-Asia route, and to do it much more cheaply than its rivals.
Apart from the overall size of this vessel, Maersk says this is the real game changer. This is one of two 43,000 horsepower engines, which drive twin propellers, but they drive those propellers at a much slower rate, which means it cuts the fuel bill by about a third, and it`s also (ph) that these engines pump out about half the level of emissions that normal engines do.
It means that she`s slightly slower than her smaller rivals, but the payoff is worth it, says Maersk.
Cheaper fuel costs, of course, means cheaper freight, and Maersk says to actually ship one of these containers from Asia to Europe or Europe to Asia is about half as much as (inaudible)
Maersk has 20 on order, and near $2 billion on its future. Right now, though, it is struggling to feel these mammoths as the sluggish global economy slows world trade. Without a pickup in trade big profits may be elusive.
Not everything on this ship is big, though. If I want to steer the world`s biggest vessel, I`ve got a joystick to do that. And here it is. Andrew Sevens, CNN for the Maersk McKinney Moeller, Hong Kong.
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AZUZ: CNN heroes: ordinary people who make a difference in their communities. A top ten were just announced. And the winner will be named in an all-star tribute in December.
If you`re 13 or older, you can go to cnn/heroes link of the resources box of our home page to find out how to vote for the CNN hero of the year.
Meantime, here`s a look at the top ten.
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AZUZ: From Statesville, North Carolina, Dale Beatty, after losing his legs in the Iraq war, he was embraced by his hometown, and then he decided to pay it forward. Today, he`s modified or help provide homes for more than two dozen disabled veterans.
From Berkeley, California, Dr. Laura Stachel uses solar power to help health care workers to deliver babies safely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s very, very nice.
AZUZ: Since 2009, her solar suitcases help save lives in more than 20 countries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Isn`t that beautiful?
AZUZ: From Trenton, New Jersey, Danielle Gletow, she`s a fairy godmother for foster children across the U.S.
Since 2009, she`s made thousands of their wishes come true.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you, class?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Hi!
AZUZ: From Nairobi, Kenya, Kakenya Ntaiya, she made great sacrifices to get an education. Now, she`s opened the first primary school for girls in her village, so she`s educating and inspiring more than 150 young women.
TAWANDA JONES : Come on! Go on ....
AZUZ: From Camden, New Yersey, Tawanda Jones. In one of the poor cities in the country, her drill team provides discipline and inspiration to children of all ages. 4,000 of her students have graduated from high school, a 100 percent success rate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys ready?
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: Yeah!
AZUZ: From East Moline, Illinois, Chad Pregracke. He`s made it his life`s work to keep America`s rivers clean. Since 1998, hi steam has removed more than 7 million pounds of garbage from 22 ways across the country.
From West Palm Beach, Florida, Estella Pyfrom, a 76-year old grandmother poured her retirement saving into a mobile computer lab. Now, she`s bringing technology and tutoring to more than 2,000 low income children and adults.
RICHARD NARES: There you go? All right.
AZUZ: From San Diego, California, Richard Nares. He lost his son to leukemia, but now he`s helping low income children get to their cancer treatment, giving the more than 2,503 rides a year.
From the Yaounde, Cameron, Dr. George Bwelle. Nearly every weekend, he travels into the jungle bringing surgery to those in need. Since 2008, his team has helped 32,000 people for free.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are heirloom tomatoes over here:
AZUZ: And from Charlotte, North Carolina, Robin Emmons. Since 2008, she`s grown more than 26,000 pounds of fresh produce for undeserved residents in her community.
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AZUZ: Covered all 50 states in the roll call. So, we`re totally winning it with today`s schools. First in flight, the Falcons, from Brown Deer High School in Brown Deer Wisconsin. How about some more Falcons? We`ve got the ones from Summit Academy in Draper, Utah and on the International Day of the Girl. The Hewitt School in New York City, a girls` school makes the roll call.
Running a marathon isn`t easy. But if it`s a half marathon and you run it with twice as many legs, that`s a set up for this story. A dog is a chocolate lab named Boogie. He didn`t register for the race, he`d wandered away from home and then wandered up to the runners at the starting line. When they took off, so did he. And Boogy made it all 13.1 miles down the course, eventually earning a medal for his efforts. More importantly here, he was eventually reunited with his owners, which means there is a happy ending to his tail. We`ve crossed the finish line for today, so it`s time for us to boogie. If you`re off on Columbus Day, enjoy the long weekend. For everyone else we will be on the air, we`ll see you write here on Monday for a new week of CNN STUDENT NEWS. Bye now.