CNN news 2012-02-29 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-29

CARL AZUZ, HOST, cnn STUDENT NEWS: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz, and I`m glad to be back hosting cnn Student News. I want to thank those Morehouse students for getting the week started. They were part of our report from last Friday on historically black colleges and universities. You can check out an extended version of that report on our website. Right now, this Monday, February 27th, we are starting off in Syria.

You know about the violence happening in the Middle Eastern nation. The International Red Cross has been trying to negotiate a temporary cease- fire. They`re urging everyone to stop fighting for two hours each day so that aid can be delivered into different cities.

A spokesperson says the negotiations haven`t gotten anywhere so far, but they are planning to keep trying.

AZUZ (voice-over): Voting, meanwhile, started Sunday on possible changes to Syria`s constitution. Syrian officials say it`s one way they`re working to reform their government. That`s something that have protesters have demanded. But those protesters and many analysts say the voting is purely superficial. They argue it`s only designed to quiet critics and that it really won`t change anything.

AZUZ (voice-over): On this day in history, back in 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It limited U.S. presidents to two terms in office.

In 1973, a group of 200 Native Americans took over the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. They were demanding better treatment from the U.S. government.

And in 1991, President George H.W. Bush ordered a cease-fire, officially ending the Persian Gulf War, and declaring that Iraq`s army had been defeated.

AZUZ: Vladimir Putin served two terms as Russia`s president from 2000-2008. He`s been the country`s prime minister since then, but he`s looking to return to the presidency when elections are held next week.

AZUZ (voice-over): He definitely has his supporters. You can see the size of this crowd at a rally for Prime Minister Putin. His reelection win in 2004 was a landslide, and he`s predicted to win big this year as well.

But not everybody in Russia is as happy with the idea of Putin regaining the presidency. Phil Black now reports on a peaceful protest in Moscow.

PHIL BLACK, cnn REPORTER: One week out from Russia`s presidential election, and this is the latest protest action by people who want that vote to be free and fair and don`t want the candidate, the current prime minister, Vladimir Putin, to ultimately win that election.

This protest action is a little bit different from what we`ve seen in Moscow in recent months, a sort of rally in one place with tens of thousands of people. Instead, the goal here is to form a human chain, all the way around one of Moscow`s ring roads, known as the Garden Ring.

You can see lots of people wearing white ribbons, the symbol of this protest movement. Cars are honking their horns in support as they drive by. There`s lots of smiling, lots of waving. It is a very happy event, despite the fact that these people know Vladimir Putin is very likely to return to the presidency for a third term.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know it`s for sure.

BLACK: And what happens then?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that he need to have a modernization of this year, because people is decide he don`t -- something is going on, to give us some rights, to make decisions, to know who is the decision maker between us. So I know that he knows it, and I think that it changed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s definitely clear that civil society is getting together, and is ready to say it clearly, to state as clearly, yes, that we are ready to fight for our freedom and for our right to vote for parties we like.

BLACK: The Garden Ring`s about 15 kilometers long, a little under 10 miles. Organizers estimated they needed about 34,000 people to complete the human chain. They didn`t get that. There are some pretty big gaps along the road. But either way, this is another example of a political demonstration that was unimaginable in this country just a few months ago - - Phil Black, cnn, Moscow.