CNN news 2010-11-12 加文本

cnn news 2010-11-12

10 minutes. No commercials. The top news of the day delivered right to your classrooms. This is cnn Student News! I'm Carl Azuz. Let's go ahead and get started.

We start things off today with a presidential visit that's actually a kind of homecoming. When he was a young boy, President Obama spent four years living in Indonesia. This week, he's back there. That country is the second stop on the president's trip to Asia. He's had two trips to Indonesia scheduled since he became president, but both of those were canceled. Looks like this one is getting cut a little short. Mount Merapi: You've heard us mention that before. It's a volcano in Indonesia that's been erupting for weeks, sending ash like you see right here, high up into the sky. Experts say volcanic ash can cause problems for jet engines. Officials don't want the president's plane, Air Force One, to get stuck on the ground, so they're cutting this visit by a few hours. And Dan Lothian reports on what the president did do during his stop in Indonesia.

It took three attempts before President Obama was finally able to visit Indonesia.

It's wonderful to be here.

But barely. Mount Merapi, and its ominous volcanic ash cloud, has forced officials to cut his brief trip by nearly two hours, so Air Force One can take off before air traffic is disrupted. A wreath laying ceremony was canceled, and the president's speech that will build on his address to the Muslim world in Cairo will start a little earlier than planned. Even with just a few hours on the ground, Mr. Obama took a trip down memory lane. And from where he now sits, it's a much different view.

When you visit a place that you spent time in as a child, as president, it's a little disorienting. I can't even see any traffic because they've blocked off all the streets.

In a joint press conference with Indonesian President Yudhoyono, Mr. Obama touched on security concerns, trade, democracy and education. But it was his personal reflections on standing in the back of a little crowded taxi, or about his half-Indonesian sister, that seemed likely to resonate with a country that's been waiting for his arrival since last year.

I feel great affection for the people here. The sights and the sounds and the memories all feel very familiar.

President Obama will also visit the largest mosque in Southeast Asia before heading over to the University of Indonesia to deliver his speech. Dan Lothian, cnn, Jakarta.