CNN Student News - September 6, 2017

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Thousands of Rohingya Trapped in Myanmar Mountains; President Trump Ends Obama`s Immigration Program

Aired September 6, 2017 - 04:00:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CARL AZUZ, cnn 10 ANCHOR: Hi. Thank you for taking a few minutes to get up to speed on international events. I`m Carl Azuz and this is cnn 10. We feature down the middle explanations of what`s happening worldwide.

Today, that starts in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar. It`s also known as Burma. It shares a border with Bangladesh and that`s where tens of thousands of people are trapped as fighting goes on between Myanmar`s armed forces and a militant group.

Human rights workers in the area say 100,000 Rohingyas, members of a Muslim group in Myanmar, had been forced out of their homes since August 25th.

The Rohingyas are a minority in Myanmar.

The country is mostly Buddhist and it doesn`t allow Rohingyas to become citizens. Myanmar considers them to be Bangladeshi and wants them in neighboring Bangladesh. Bangladesh considers the Rohingyas to be Burmese and wants them in Myanmar.

The border between the two countries is closed, but tens of thousands of Rohingyas have still fled across it while others have been trapped, according to activists, without food, water, or medicine. Activists and other critics of Myanmar`s government say it`s used too much force against the Rohingyas and that it`s burned villages and murdered Rohingya civilians. Myanmar says it`s done nothing illegal. It blames the recent violence and destruction on Rohingya terrorists, saying the militants killed 12 Burmese security officers in a recent attack.

cnn is not able to verify the claims of either the Rohingyas or the Burmese government. Still, a number of international figures are calling for Myanmar to stop all violence against Rohingyas, and some are hoping a Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner named Aung San Suu Kyi will take action.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?

IVAN WATSON, cnn SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Her father was Aung San, a military officer who helped fight for Burma`s independence after being a British colony for about a century. He is revered here as the founding father of independent Burma, now officially known as Myanmar. He was gunned down by political rivals in 1947 when Aung San Suu Kyi was only 2 years old.

For much of the first 40 years of her life, Aung San Suu Kyi lived overseas. It wasn`t until 1988 that she really moved back to Burma. That opened up the launch of her political career.

In 1990, Aung San Suu Kyi led a newly founded party, the National League for Democracy in elections. And by all accounts, her party won.

But then the military rulers of this country, they annulled the results. They placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for much of the next 20 years. In 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. It was part of a transition to a civilian system of government.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her party were allowed to compete in by-elections in 2012, and they won dozens of seats in parliament. Among the electoral victories there was Aung San Suu Kyi herself.

Myanmar`s most popular politician is constitutionally barred from running for the post of president. In 2008, the same military regime that`s held Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for years drafted a constitution that included a clause that blocks any citizen who has a spouse or children holding foreign passports from running for the country`s top post. That effectively means Aung San Suu Kyi cannot run for the post of president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: OK. Next this Wednesday, a change in the U.S. government`s immigration policy. Yesterday, President Donald Trump repealed a program created by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama. It`s known as DACA.

And in the five years since it was enacted, DACA has directly affected almost 800,000 people in the U.S., allowing them to stay in the country legally, they didn`t come to the country legally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: A Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, it was started by President Barack Obama in 2012. It allows young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children to apply for a renewable two-year visa. That allows them to work legally in the U.S. and saves them from deportation.

So, who qualifies?

Those who have been in the U.S. since 2007 and came before they turned 16, and those who are under the age of 31 before June 15, 2012, when DACA went into effect. Applicants must be in school, have a high school diploma, or be a military veteran. And they must have mostly clean criminal record.

It`s important to note, the status doesn`t put participants on the path to legal permanent residency, or citizenship. But it does mean these immigrants can get things like driver`s licensees, credit cards and open bank accounts.

A recent survey found that after being approved for DACA, 5 percent of recipients started their own businesses and 17 percent bought a home for the first time. Some critics say DACA is unconstitutional, because Obama introduced it by executive action and without congressional approval. They also argue that DACA promotes future illegal immigration because it signals that if you come here illegally, there are ways to be able to stay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: The divide over this issue was clear throughout the U.S. yesterday. Supporters of the Trump administration`s decision said current immigration laws must be enforced. But those who opposed the president`s changes joined in public demonstrations across the country and said they were, quote, here to stay.

The government`s repeal of the DACA policy doesn`t take effect immediately. For those whose legal status expires in the next six months, the Trump administration plans to renew it. The idea is to give Congress time to agree on a law concerning young people who entered or were brought to the U.S. illegally.

On Capitol Hill, supporters of the repeal say President Trump is doing the right thing because former President Obama should have gone through Congress in the first place to determine U.S. immigration policy. Opponents say President Trump`s decision could separate families and lead to the deportations of people who have nowhere to go. Several Democratic and Republican lawmakers indicated they were willing to work together to come up with a solution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:

Which of these objects is about the size of a football field?

An Olympic swimming pool, international space station, Nimitz class aircraft carrier or New York`s Central Park?

The International Space Station which can be seen by the naked eye from Earth is about the size of a football field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is back on Earth after a record- breaking space flight.

PEGGY WHITSON, NASA ASTRONAUT: Packaged cider and cocoa. Hot cocoa is one of my favorites.

SUBTITLE: Over the course of her career, Whitson spent 665 days, or roughly 21 months, in space.

That`s more than time in space than ay American or woman ever.

During this last trip, Whitson spent more than nine months one the International Space Station.

At 57, Whitson is also the world`s oldest female astronaut.

And she broke the women`s record for walking in space in 10 spacewalks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see that attached to Peggy Whitson right here. She`ll be using that strap to her as she uses her hands to climb over to the airlock.

WHITSON: Well, I guess I don`t think about the records themselves too much, but it definitely, when I do think about them, I think about all the

people that make it possible.

SUBTITLE: Whitson told NASA that she misses pizza and flushing toilets the most while in space.

Whitson is unsure if she will return to space.

But she thinks she could have spent more time there on this current mission.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Happy birthday, two-two, who live in a zoo. They look like two pandas and they`re officially one. Well, there are two, but they`re

officially 1-year-old.

Ya Lun and Xi Lun are giant pandas, just over 20 pounds, maybe not so giant yet, but they`re getting bigger every day. And to celebrate their special day, they each got their own ice cake and frozen fruits and biscuits. These are the only panda twins in America.

And luckily, they don`t mind sharing the same cubby holes, the same cubicles, they`re own birth cub cakes. Oh, they might have been a little bamboozle (ph) at first, but they got their just desserts and that`s about all the pandering, bad puns we can bear.

I`m Carl Azuz. This is cnn 10 and we`ll see you tomorrow.

END