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President Shinzo Abe Trying to Bring Japanese Economy out of Stagnation; L.A. Pounded by Rain and Tornado; Importance of Sleep

CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: CNN STUDENT NEWS is launching its last week of 2014. Thanks for taking ten minutes for commercial free current event.

First up, this December 15, an election in Japan. Its economy isn`t doing well. We told you it fell to a recession this year, which means instead of

growing, it`s shrinking. But Japanese voters still seem to have faith in President Shinzo Abe to turn that around. Even though when election wasn`t

required until 2016, Japan`s leader has the authority to hold snap elections earlier. And Sunday`s vote looks like it gave Abe`s political

party even more seats in Japan`s parliament.

President Abe`s reforms have been controversial. He`s increased government spending and tended to help stimulate the economy, but he`s also increased

sales taxes, which has hurt small businesses and their customers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, what does this mean? It means that the Prime Minister will have four more years to institute his plan of

economic reforms known as Abenomics. Flooding the market with cash, encouraging corporations to create more jobs and increasing government

spending. All of this in attempt to revive the Japanese economy after nearly two decades of stagnation. So far, the policy has been a mixed bag:

there was a very unpopular sales tax increase earlier this year that helped push Japan into a surprise recession. The Yen is at a seven year low, and

in this country, the rely is on imports when the Yen is weak, a lot of things at the grocery store are much more expensive, so it`s really hurting

Japanese consumers and small and midsize businesses and many voters are expressing apathy as one reason that the voter turnout in the snap election

was so low, but the prime minister says, this is a mandate from the Japanese people to stay the course and keep pushing ahead with Abenomics,

and hopefully, he says, give the Japanese people the economic revival that he promised when he was first elected two years ago. And apparently now

reelected for another four years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Democrats and Republicans in Congress have decided how the U.S. government will spend money through next summer. Five things to know about

the newest spending bill.

One, it`s not law yet. The House passed the bill on Thursday. The Senate passed it on Saturday. The president is expected to sign it into law very

soon.

Two, it`s a compromise. It`s either some government rules for businesses, many Democrats didn`t like that. It doesn`t slow down President Obama`s

executive action on immigration. Many Republicans wanted that.

Three, it`s big, $1.1 trillion big, 1603 pages big, the money will fund most of the federal government`s operation through next September.

Four, what`s in it? In addition to funding Social Security, interest on the national debt and foreign aid, $5 billion will go toward fighting ISIS

terrorists in Iraq and Syria, 2.7 billion will go toward fighting the Ebola virus.

Five, it makes some changes. Your lunch is one of them. Schools won`t have to provide as many whole grains in their meals, and they won`t have to

reduce salt any more than they already have.

Hear that? It`s the roll calling. Let`s answer it, see who is watching. Framingham High School is in Massachusetts, it`s the home of the fliers and

there are a loft over Framingham. In Ohio, the birthplace of aviation, we`ve got the tigers watching today at the Toledo Islamic Academy. That`s

in Sylvania. And in the Palm Meadow State, that`s South Carolina, that`s where you`ll find the town of Bluffton and the Mustangs galloping through

Bluffton Middle School.

In California, forecasters are calling for rain this week. The steady kind. The kind that can help with the state`s historic drought. What hit

late last week was more destructive. Too much rain in too little time flooded parts of the state. A river of moist air brought the massive storm

east from Hawaii. It`s stretched over three states. It caused trees to fall, which killed two people in Oregon and it brought this, a tornado, a

rare sight in Los Angeles. The National Weather Service said it was an EF0, a relatively weak twister with winds between 65 and 85 miles per hour.

It was just one part of this storm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two inches of rain in just three hours pelting southern California. In the heart of the city, a swift water rescue on the

Los Angeles River.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go, here we go. They`ve got to pull around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the rising and rapidly moving current, first responders pulled two people clinging to trees to safety, including this

woman.

Other parts of the Los Angeles area left ravaged by recent wildfires, also getting doused with more water than the banked scarred land could handle.

Crews began working to clean up the mud and debris enveloping these homes and blocking some streets, even as the rain was still falling.

In Camarillo Springs, an area that was charred by wildfire in 2013, the downpour was far more punishing, sending mud and tons of rocks cascading

down on these homes.

CAPT. MIKE LINDBERRY, VENTURA COUNTY FIRE DEPT.: They have a lot of rock to move here. It`s almost like a quarry. It`s just amazing to look at.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The damage so intense, officials deem ten homes uninhabitable. But remarkably, no reports of injuries.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Time for "The Shoutout." Health experts recommend that teenagers should get at least how many hours of sleep every night? Wake up! Is it

five, six, seven and a half or nine hours? You`ve got three seconds, go!

To function their best, experts say teenagers need at least nine hours of sleep every night. That`s your answer and that`s your "Shoutout."

But you don`t. A number of surveys have found that a relatively small percentage of teenagers, between 13 and 15 percent, are getting eight and a

half to nine hours of sleep every night. Most get less. That`s not good for your grades, your athletic performance, how you look and feel. So,

what`s keeping all of us up at night? Dhani Jones helps us the light.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DHANI JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Since their introduction, electric lights have helped up live, work and play in what used to be the dark. But is all

of this light a good thing? Or is it actually causing us to lose sleep? And to be less productive? We`d have to be more productive, we should

actually turn off the lights.

Before gas lamps and electric lights people used to work according to the sunlight. When the sun was up, people would toil away, but when the sun

set, the work day was pretty much done.

Answer, the light bulb. Before we knew it, lights were hanging from the factory ceilings. And we can work around the clock.

You would think this would mean we could get more work done. But new studies have shown that artificial light actually disrupts something called

the Circadean cycle.

Meaning we`d be getting less sleep. So I talked to a sleep doctor to find out why.

Here we are with Dr. Bazil from New York Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University. You know, doc, what`s, preventing us from getting enough

sleep?

CARL. W. BAZIL, MD, PHD PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY, COLUMBNIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAN CENTER: I think phones are the biggest problem that`s

new. So, your work is right there, your email is right there. People can text you night and day.

Another thing is, your phones and computers emit light, predominantly blue light and we think that light can also interfere with your ability to

sleep.

JONES: And what are some things that happen if you don`t get enough sleep?

BAZIL: The obvious thing that people see are they are drowsy. You know, you are not paying attention as well, a you are not able to perform as

well. But there`s also a lot of information that you need sleep to consolidate memory, to learn things, including motor things. When you talk

about sports and doing complex motor activities.

JONES: So, New Yorkers, you know, there is lights everywhere. So people are up all the time.

So, we are going to go to bright part in testing people.

It`s just a focus test. Sleep test. So you are ready for these tests?

Also, what were the - some of the best tests to your eyes?

BAZIL: All right, something that might be affected is your concentration. We do that with what`s called serial sevens.

JONES: In increment of sevens.

BAZIL: Just have people count backwards from 100 by seven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 100, 93 .

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 86, 79.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 72, 65, 58.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 51.

BAZIL: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 40 .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 44, 37, 30.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 23, 16.

JONES: Nice. Oh my gosh. Nine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god, I`m so slow. BAZIL: You could also have like sort of a facial recognition tests:.

JONES: So, who is this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cameron Diaz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Denzell Washington?

JONES: Yeah, exactly, who is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Julia Roberts.

JONES: Next.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Angelina Jolie.

JONES: Friends.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer Aniston.

JONES: Nice.

So, how much sleep did you get last night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: like an hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seven.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five-six hours.

JONES: You know, what, Dr. Bazil was right. The people that got less sleep had more trouble with their focus test. So, what does this mean?

You want to stay on top of your game? Get some shuteye.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Before we go, an answer to Ilves` great mystery: What does the fox say? This one says give me those bubbles! It`s a phenic fox, the smallest

species of fox. It`s native to North Africa, though this one lives in a zoo in Tucson, Arizona. And he`s pretty serious about going after globules

(Ph). We can`t tell whether he really loves them or really hates them. But one thing is clear: the fox and these bubbles will not share a den.

Every time they flowed on buy, he`ll outfox them. The bantom beasts bubbling bubble breaking battle is bubbling and breaming with charm. He

catches air to catch some air and while I`m sorry to burst your bubble, CNN STUDENT NEWS has come full circle. We hope you`ll just us again tomorrow.

We`ll be back right sphere.

END