CNN news 2012-02-20 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-20

Twelve months -- that`s how long this political revolt and violence have been going on in the Middle Eastern nation of Syria. Other countries have spoken out against Syria`s government for reportedly attacking civilians.

AZUZ (voice-over): Yesterday, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that calls for an immediate end to the violence. It`s the strongest statement that the U.N. has made on the crisis in Syria. But the resolution isn`t binding. It doesn`t force Syria to do anything.

AZUZ: A lot of the violence has been reported in cities like Homs and Dura (ph) those are in the southern part of the country. Ivan Watson`s team were in the northern part of Syria. He filed this report on the situation there.

IVAN WATSON, cnn REPORTER: What is striking is at one point we saw a skyline of the largest city in the area, Idlib. And there you could see a Syrian government flag prominently flying in the heart of the city, and less than a kilometer away, a Syrian opposition flag of green, black and white, also flying in the heart of the city.

WATSON (voice-over): It`s very clear that government and opposition control, sometimes what`s dividing these forces is sometimes just kilometers.

And there have been cases, we have been told, within the last 24 hours, of deadly artillery assaults hitting opposition-held villages and killing at least two residents of that village. The inhabitants here, they are enjoying what they say is self-rule. They are calling these pockets of liberated Syria.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today`s first Shoutout goes out to Ms. Dearinger`s photojournalism and broadcast journalism students at Legacy High School, in Mansfield, Texas.

Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac are all brands from what car company? You know what to do. Is it Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota? You`ve got three seconds, go.

Those brands are all made by General Motors. That`s your answer, and that`s your Shoutout.

AZUZ: General Motors is celebrating some good company news this week. It announced that in 2011, it made its biggest annual profit in GM`s history, $7.6 billion. It was two years ago that General Motors declared bankruptcy and needed a bailout from the U.S. government.

But that`s actually why this profit news is kind of mixed.

AZUZ (voice-over): When GM declared bankruptcy, it let the company make some significant changes. It closed plants. It closed dealerships and it got rid of some brands. That restructuring helped the company be more profitable. But it`s not because of how many vehicles GM is selling. Sales levels in 2011 were lower than they were before the recession.

AZUZ: Well, no matter what you drive, the federal government wants carmakers to limit what you can do using the car`s electronics. On some vehicles, drivers can tweet. They can use navigation or Facebook.

AZUZ (voice-over): Well, the Department of Transportation is recommending that a lot of that stuff be shut off to drivers while the car`s in motion, or at least limited in how much they can spend using it. The reason? Wrecks. In 2010, more than 3,000 people in America died in crashes blamed on distracted driving.

Down the road, the government may recommend electronic limits on any devices brought into the car, like smartphones or tablet computers. But for now, it`s only for devices already installed in cars. And these are voluntary recommendations for carmakers, not laws they`re required for follow.

AZUZ: We`re going to try to fold in one more automotive story, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We should be able to make it fit, since it`s about a car that can fold.

AZUZ (voice-over): It`s an electric car that was built at MIT. You`re about to see why it`s unique. Watch the wheels. They can turn all toward the center of the car, which lets it fold up on itself.

And you`re probably wondering what the point it. The idea is to save space when parking on city streets. When these cars fold up, you can fit three of them in a space that would normally fit one vehicle. Plus there are no side doors -- you get out from the front.

AZUZ: And our social media question of the week: we asked you which organization was founded 55 years ago this week during the Civil Rights Movement. One of the Thunderbirds at Harmony Middle School in Kansas was the first person to get the right answer: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or SCLC.

AZUZ (voice-over): The organization was officially founded on February 14th, 1957. Its headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia, and its first president was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The mission of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is to ensure equal rights and justice for all Americans. The group worked to achieve that goal by helping local organizations that were part of the Civil Rights Movement. The SCLC coordinated training programs, education projects and voter registration drives.

AZUZ (voice-over): The SCLC was founded 55 years ago this week. Did you know that the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was created more than 100 years ago. If so, you already know one of the answers on our Black History Month quiz. Check it out in the "Spotlight" section, cnnstudentnews.com. See if you can score a perfect 10.