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CROWD: We are Spartans (ph) from (inaudible) Junior High. Roseville, California. Take it away, Carl!
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CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: I will. Big thanks for an awesome introduction to our Halloween edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS.
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We`ll have more of your impressive pumpkin prowess later on, but we start today with the Affordable Care Act, which is usually known as Obamacare.
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The site where people can sign up went live at the beginning of October.
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But the launch didn`t go smoothly. One person described the experience of using the site as miserably frustrating.
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And that was the person who is charge of it.
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Kathleen Sebelius is the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary.
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Her department is responsible for different parts of Obamacare.
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That includes the enrollment Web site and the problems that have come with it.
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KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HHS SECRETARY: I`m as frustrated and angry as anyone.
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With the flawed launch of healthcare.gov.
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So, let me say directly to these Americans.
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You deserve better.
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I apologize.
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AZUZ: Secretary Sebelius faced hours of questions during that Congressional hearing yesterday.
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Democrats and Republicans in Congress talked about the problems with the Obamacare Web site.
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But that isn`t the only controversy surrounding the new law.
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There is a big debate about the health insurance plans that Americans already have.
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Most Americans who have health insurance, get it through their employers or government programs like Medicare.
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But more than 15 million Americans have individual health care coverage.
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When this law was proposed, President Obama and his administration said many times, that Americans could keep their health care plans.
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But people who work in the insurance industry, say most of those Americans with individual plans will see changes or even cancellations.
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ANNOUNCER: Just the facts:
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the Cold War was a historic period that started after World War II.
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The main opponents were the United States and the former Soviet Union, although other countries were involved as well.
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The Cold War included spying between countries, but it never developed into a direct military conflict.
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But it was over by 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.
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AZUZ: One of the biggest symbols of the Cold War was in Germany, the Berlin Wall.
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It split the city and the country in half.
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Separating communist East Germany from Democratic West Germany.
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The wall came down in 1989, and Germany reunited the next year.
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Now, Germany says it`s the victim of Cold War tactics: spying. And German officials want answers.
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DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: NSA field station, Berlin Teufelsberg, a relic of U.S. espionage in the forests around Berlin.
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Now, a (inaudible) for graffiti artists and backdrop for some of the best kite flying in the German capital.
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From this vantage point, right on top of the tiny island that was West Berlin, every -- which direction you looked, was East, the Eastern Block.
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This was one of the most important surveillance posts of the Cold War.
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Now, if the allegations made in Germany`s "Der Spiegel" magazine are true, the United States has used an even more conspicuous location from which to gather intelligence.
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Though this time, on its friends.
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That`s its own embassy roof, a stone from government cultures.
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Germany`s interior minister has promised to expel any U.S. diplomats proven complicit in spying operations.
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Including alleged eavesdropping on the chancellor`s personal mobile phone.
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Germans are especially sensitive to the dangers of state surveillance, and the destructive nature of the society, which spies on itself.
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The federal commission for the Stasi records, the secret police force of the former East Germany understands, perhaps, better than most, why intelligence gathering needs controls.
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DAGMAR HOVELSTADT, FEDERAL COMMISSION FOR THE STASI RECORDS: We have a very direct historical link to what it means if the state doesn`t respect the boundaries of privacy and the rights of its own citizens.
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So, the shadow of the past kind of lingers always when something as seemly not so dramatic to an American like a wiretapping of a cell phone happens.
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MAGNAY: Delegates from the European parliament are already in D.C. demanding an explanation.
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Germany`s top intelligence officers are set to follow.
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Trying to establish a mechanism whereby intelligence agencies operate within acceptable international frameworks,
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while it`s holding to account counterparts who`ve reportedly failed to keep faith with the allies.
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Diana Magnay, CNN, Berlin.
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ANNOUNCER: It`s time for "The Shoutout."
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Who was the captain of the Queen Anne`s Revenge?
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If you think you know it, then shout it out!
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Was it Edward Teach, John Paul Jones, Francis Drake or Jack Sparrow?
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You`ve got three seconds, go.
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The Queen Anne`s Revenge was captained by Edward Teach, also known as Black Beard the Pirate.
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That`s your answer and that`s your "Shoutout."
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AZUZ: In the early 18 century, Black Beard terrorized the waters along the Virginia and Carolina coasts and out into the Caribbean.
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He was eventually killed in a battle with British troops.
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Black Beard`s legendary treasure has never been found.
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But his ship, which sand off the North Carolina coast, has been a treasure trove for archeologists.
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On Monday, divers recovered five canons from the wreckage.
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The guns weighed 2,000 to 3,000 pounds each, including this 20 canons have now been salvaged from the ship.
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They`ll probably be in the exhibit of artifacts from the Queen Anne`s Revenge.
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So far, there are more than 280,000 items in that exhibit.
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It`s Halloween, and for many retailers, business is boo-o-oming.
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Average spending maybe down a bit from last year, but consumers are still expected to spend about $6.9 billion dollars on all things sweet and scary.
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Here, five things you might not know about the business side of Halloween.
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First up, the average Dracula is expected to spend about $75 on the holiday.
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That includes money for decorations, costumes, candy and having some fun, according to the National Retail Federation.
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All those fixed spider webs and tomb stones add up.
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If you break down decorations alone, retailers estimate that the average person will spend 21 bucks on them.
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That makes Halloween second only to the Christmas season in decorating.
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The candy of choice -- according to a National Confectioners Association Survey, people want to sink their fangs in the chocolate.
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And by a wide margin, 72 percent.
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Chocolate makes up about three quarters of a trick-or- treater`s candy bag, which makes cavities excited, too.
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And second place in the candy market, there is the time honored fall classic, candy corn.
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It`s the sweetest corn. The tricolored confection was invented in the 1880s.
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What is now the Jelly Belly candy company has made it pretty much the same way since 1900.
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Using mostly sugar, corn syrup and marshmallow.
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Here`s and odd fact, though: Some think there is a right way to eat candy corn:
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47 percent of those surveyed said to eat the whole thing at once.
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43 percent said to start with the narrow white end first.
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Only ten percent said to start with the wide yellow part, because who`d want to do that.
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Let`s see. That covers decorations, candy. Now, costumes.
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Consumers will shall out about 2.6 billion on costumes this year.
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Overall, witches and Batman seem to be most in demand for adults, while kids often planned to dress as princesses, animals or Batman.
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So, Batman forever!
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And this is kind of scary! A good chunk of what consumers spend will be on costumes for their pets!
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Retailers expect that humans will spend $330 million to totally humiliate Fito (ph) and Fluffy for their furry photo ops.
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Awkward pet photos or first (inaudible) problems. Either way, it`s frightening.
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We`re doing it out big today. We have a hipping, helping of Halloween "Roll Call."
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The theme for today`s mascots, what else Halloween?
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There are some demons from Greenway High School out in Phoenix, Arizona watching.
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Wouldn`t it be Halloween without ghosts?
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Kaukauna, Wisconsin, is home to the galloping ghosts from Kaukauna High.
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How about Goblins? We have those two. The Harrison Goblins from Harrison, Arkansas.
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And the Blue Devils get a mention.
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Gull Lake High School in Richland, Michigan, spooking of devils will close things out with the Red Devils from Erie High School, Eerie high School in Kansas.
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We asked for your pumpkin creativity, and you delivered -- some Red Sox love from students in Banger High School in Maine.
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We got this carving of Totoro from a Japanese exchange student.
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Little mascot mastery from the Hox (ph) out in Huma.
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Next up, a sugar scull. The I-Reporter said it took her three hours to paint this.
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Time well spent. This wolf designed awesome.
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One group of I-Reporters sent us a picture of their triple pumpkin display, and finally, a carving that`s close to our hearts.
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Thanks to everyone for sending in your I-Reports.
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If you want to brag about them on Twitter, you have our permission to go trick or tweaty.
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We hope you have a very happy and save Halloween. For CNN STUDENT NEWS, I`m Carl Azo-o-oz.
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END