CNN news 2012-02-11 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-11

CARL AZUZ, HOST, cnn STUDENT NEWS: That`s a great way to launch today`s show. From those students in Ohio to the cnn Newsroom here in Atlanta, Georgia, we are welcoming our viewers from around the world. This is cnn Student News.

First up, strong words from the Gulf Cooperation Council about a crisis taking place in Syria. The Gulf Cooperation Council is a group of Arab countries, and it describes the violence in Syria as a massacre against defenseless people.

AZUZ (voice-over): There are reports that dozens of people are dying in Syria every day. Activists and other groups blame the Syrian government for launching attacks against citizens. The government says the violence is being caused by armed terrorist groups.

AZUZ: You know, it`s hard for cnn to confirm reports from either side in this story, because the Syrian government has restricted how much access journalists have inside the country. But we did hear from an activist inside Syria, who talked about the conditions there and the world`s reaction to what`s going on.

Let me say one word, I think that the entire world should be ashamed of what`s happening here. Everybody is just silent and looking at us being slaughtered every moment for no reason, just for asking for our freedom. No power, no fuel, it`s too cold. This is too much, for God`s sake. This is too much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if you can ID me. I was formed in the 1850s. Some of my members who were elected president were William Taft, Calvin Coolidge and Teddy Roosevelt. I`m the U.S. political party whose symbol is the elephant.

I`m the Republican Party, and I`m also known as the Grand Old Party or the GOP.

AZUZ: There are four candidates hoping to be the Republican Party`s nominee in this year`s presidential election. To do that, to be the nominee, they need to win delegates in primaries and caucuses.

AZUZ (voice-over): Yesterday was the most recent opportunity to do that. We had caucuses in Minnesota, in Colorado, and there was a primary in Missouri. The results had not been announced when we produced this show last night.

AZUZ: Now we`ve had several primaries and caucuses already, but yesterday was the first time there had been more one of those in the same day. And according to some political analysts, besides the delegates, momentum was the big thing at stake here.

AZUZ (voice-over): And these are the people who are hoping to get some of that momentum. Starting from the left, we have former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, then U.S. Representative Ron Paul, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Senator Rick Santorum.

Now if you go to the "Spotlight" section on our home page, you will see a link for cnn`s Election Center. That is the place where you can get all the latest news on the race for the White House, including the full results from yesterday`s contests.

AZUZ: Out in California there`s a legal battle over Proposition 8. Proposition 8 was a referendum that voters passed in 2008. And what it did was ban same-sex marriage. Yesterday a federal appeals court ruled that Prop 8 is unconstitutional. It said the ban singles out gays and lesbians for discrimination by denying their right to civil marriage.

AZUZ (voice-over): The reaction, as you can probably imagine, was split. People who support same-sex marriage celebrated. People who are opposed to it said they were upset by the court`s decision. They also said they`re willing to take the issue up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There won`t be any same-sex marriages in California right now. They`ve been halted while this legal process plays out. The appeals court judges pointed out that their decision only refers to Prop 8 in California. They say other states would have to decide the issue of marriage themselves.

AZUZ: Having your house overrun by robots and rockets might not sound like the best thing. But that`s what President Obama asked for. He hosted the second White House science fair yesterday, honoring students who won competition in science, math, technology and engineering.

AZUZ (voice-over): More than 100 students had the chance to show off their research and inventions. Robots in the Blue Room, rockets in the Red Room and in the State Dining Room, the extreme marshmallow cannon.

The thing works with compressed air. Looks like the president had a bit of trouble pumping enough air into the machine, but after he was able to get it filled it up, he took a turn firing marshmallows at the drapes.