CNN 10｜Cable sabotage, deforestation crackdown, flying taxis

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR:  We start today in Europe, where Swedish police are investigating a suspected case of sabotage of an undersea telecoms cable that took place last week. It's the third time the Finnish telecom cable was damaged, this time in Sweden's economic zone after being completely severed in November and December of last year.

Undersea cables are the invisible force behind almost all of our communications around the world. Everything from bank transfers to streaming, and even this episode you're watching right now, are all possible because of a vast network of internet cables that lie under the sea.

We've come to rely on this vital infrastructure in our everyday lives, unaware they exist at times. That's because companies spread data across multiple cables, so that if one goes down, customers won't be cut off. It's an important practice given how vulnerable the cables can be to a host of factors like hurricanes, earthquakes, and accidental or intentional damage from fishing nets or ship anchors.

Within the last few months, multiple undersea cables in the Baltic Sea in Europe have been disrupted. NATO officials have launched an operation sending warships tasked with preventing these suspected intentional attacks in the Baltic Sea, while improving coordination with border guards from the affected nations. CNN's Nic Robertson shows us how these cables work and just how vulnerable they can be.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You might think that the internet comes from up there in the sky in the cloud. The reality is it lies deep below the ocean, and it's all possible because of a global network of internet cables under the sea. This map shows the hundreds that crisscross the ocean, connecting countries with each other.

According to NATO, 1.3 million kilometers of cables carry 10 trillion dollars' worth of financial transactions daily. So how do they actually work? Well, modern undersea data cables like this one, use fiber optic technology.

The fibers are wrapped in layers and layers of protection before they're laid on the seabed by ships. They lay directly on the seafloor, however closer to the shore they are typically buried under the seabed. The process can take years as it involves a lot of planning to determine the best path for each line.

WIRE: Deforestation has been a major threat to the Amazon rainforest for decades, driven by factors like growing infrastructure development, ranching and mining. In Brazil, the Environmental Protection Agency recently led a raid to combat deforestation there, stopping illegal loggers, closing their sawmills and fining those involved millions of dollars.

Our Stefano Pozzebon shows us how the operation carried out its goal to curb illegal logging in the protected and indigenous lands that see some of the country's highest deforestation rates.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This is Operation Maravalha, which takes its name for a kind of sawdust. Environmental agents in Brazil have kicked off a major campaign to tackle deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The government told "Reuters" that the operation should be the largest of its kind in five years, as they granted the agency rare access to this timber raid you are seeing now.

Officials say more than 5,000 truckloads of illegal timber were seized in the last few weeks, and most of it comes from some of the most heavily logged regions in the Amazon rainforest. Since taking back the presidency in 2023, the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has promised to tackle deforestation, which was surging under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. And Lula has made progress.

Deforestation in the Amazon fell to its lowest level in six years, plunging 66% year on year in July of 2023. On the other hand, critics point out Lula's investment in fossil fuels, which include his recent push for offshore oil drilling near the Amazon River, which is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Brazil has also announced its intention to join OPEC+, a group of oil exporting nations, which signals the country's evolution into a key oil producer.

WIRE: Today's story getting a 10 out of 10, flying taxis of the not-so- distant future. A U.K.-based company is working to launch a new mode of urban transport in cities across the world by the year 2030. It says these flying machines will be safe, low noise, zero emission, and nimble enough to fly through city airspace, and that they won't cost much more than traditional taxis, Ubers, or Lyfts.

Our Max Foster visited the Hangar in Bristol, where these flying rides are being tested out.


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