CNN news 2012-02-22 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-22

NATISHA LANCE, HOST, cnn STUDENT NEWS: Hi, everyone, I`m Natisha Lance, sitting in for Carl Azuz today. We hope that you enjoyed the long weekend, and you are ready for a new week of headlines from cnn Student News.

First up, international inspectors are looking at Iran`s controversial nuclear program. Representatives from the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, are in Iran right now.

LANCE (voice-over): Now they`re responsible for making sure that countries aren`t secretly developing nuclear weapons, and that`s what some countries have accused Iran of doing. But the Middle Eastern nation says its nuclear program only has peaceful purposes.

The country of Israel says that if Iran does have nuclear weapons, then Israel will consider that as a direct threat against itself. Israel`s government has also indicated that it`s considering an attack against Iran nuclear facilities. U.S. officials say that they understand Israel`s concerns, but they advise against any kind of attacks, saying it could make the situation worse.

LANCE: In Washington, D.C., authorities say they`ve stopped a planned terror attack. They`ve been watching the suspect for a while as part of a long-term investigation.

LANCE (voice-over): He was arrested Friday at this parking garage, and he allegedly went there to get what he thought was a vest with explosives. The people he met with were actually law enforcement officers.

Now the suspect has been charged with attempting to bomb the U.S. Capitol building in a suicide attack. Here`s what we know about him. He`s 29 years old and from Morocco. Authorities say he was (ph) acting alone, and wasn`t connected to any terrorist organization. They also say the public was never in any danger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just the facts. An avalanche refers to a collection of material that moves quickly down a slope. Avalanches kill about 150 people in North America and Europe every year. There are different kinds of avalanches, including rock, ice, debris and snow.

Snow avalanches can be triggered by certain weather conditions, skiers or explosive blasts.

LANCE: Part of the reason why avalanches are so dangerous is that they can pick up speed pretty quickly. Sometimes that snow is rushing downhill at up to 80 miles per hour. Now, a dozen people were caught in avalanche in Washington State over the weekend. Three of them were killed. Elizabeth Dinh of affiliate KOMO has the details for us on what happened.

ELIZABETH DINH, STEVEN`S PASS, WASHINGTON: Here`s what I can tell you. We understand 12 very experienced skiers were in an area that is way back there when this avalanche happened. And unfortunately, we know that the three men who did not make it, we`re learning now, their ages are 30, 35 and 45.

Take a look at this video. We understand four of the 12 got caught up in the worst of it, and this avalanche took them down 1,500 feet. According to the King County Sheriff`s Office, that included the three men I just mentioned, as well as one woman. We understand she survived because she had a special jacket. It`s like an avalanche safety jacket.

If you think of what you would wear in water, like a life jacket, this jacket -- an avalanche can puff up with air, as it did for her, and it gave her a pocket of air, which officials say helped her survive.

Right after this happened, the other eight in this big group of 12 were able to dig themselves out pretty quickly, and they got their cell phones and called for help. But they realized the other four were still underneath all the snow.

SGT. KATY LARSON, KING COUNTY SHERIFF`S OFFICE: They`re skiing, the avalanche happens. At this point, almost all of them, probably up to 12 at some point, are buried in the snow. They managed to dig themselves out of the snow. At that point, then they look and they find that three of these skiers are suffering from medical issues. They begin CPR. And, unfortunately, they were not able to resuscitate the victims.

DINH: And officials tell me that these experienced skiers were in an area that was blocked off. And it`s not an area that is closed off, it`s just a lot of people consider this back country skiing. And so it`s an area that basically you would ski at your own risk. They tell me that these skiers had all the right gear, and this is, unfortunately, just Mother Nature and just, unfortunately, the conditions were that bad.