CNN news 2014-03-07 加文本

cnn news 2014-03-07

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, cnn ANCHOR: cnn STUDENT NEWS starts right now. I`m Carl Azuz. Things are changing rapidly in Ukraine. Yesterday, more Russian troops reportedly entered Crimea, it`s a southern region of Ukraine where there is a lot of support for Russia. A Crimean official said things there were quiet last night, there were no signs of fighting. Ukraine`s ousted President Viktor Yanukovych said he asked Russia to send in its military to establish peace and to defend the people of Ukraine. The United States is considering sanctions, economic punishments against Russia. It says Russia broke international law by sending troops to Ukraine. It`s also offering money to support Ukraine`s new government.

Some of the ripple effects - Russia`s stock market was down, Europe`s were down, America`s was down. Corn, wheat and oil prices were up. Ukraine`s a top grain producer for Europe, so a conflict there could disrupt that. And Russia supplies about 25 percent of Europe`s natural gas, much of that flows through pipelines in Ukraine. It shows you how the global economy is connected and affected by events in the nation that`s about the size of Texas.

JIM SCIUTTO, cnn CORRESPONDENT: There`s been a lot of questions about Russia`s interests in Ukraine as well as the West`s interests. So, we could look at the map and we`re going to get a much better sense. First of all, a reminder here: Ukraine is in Europe, it`s not a million miles away, the capital just a few hundred miles from cities that Americans travel to all the time: Rome, Paris, London. And look here, on its western border, four key American allies: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania. All members of NATO and under NATO, the U.S. has an obligation, a treaty obligation to defend them, if they come under threat.

Now, Ukraine not a member of NATO, but in recent years there`s been a lot of talk about bringing them in to a closer relationship.

Let`s get a better sense now of Russia`s interests there. You look at Crimea, on the tip of that peninsula, the Sevastopol Military Naval Base, this is the headquarters of Russia`s Black Sea Fleet. It`s their only warm water port, all the ports up north, they are frozen in winter. Access to the Black Sea, to the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, essential for Russia, and that`s the first place that many of those 6,000 and even more Russian troops went when they crossed the border from Russia into Crimea. I remind you, sovereign Ukrainian territory. But let`s look inside the country as well, because there`s a real split between east and west there.

Western part of the country here leans towards Europe, only five percent of the population in this part speaks Russian, ethnic Russians. Eastern part of the country, 75 percent here, they speak Russian. They are ethnic, they feel the pull towards Russia. This part of the country feels the pull towards the West and Europe. Jim Sciutto, cnn, New York.

AZUZ: From Ukraine we are moving to Iran, the Middle Eastern nation of about 80 million people. Its Muslim leaders want that number to go up and fast. Iran`s Supreme Leader says if people have four or five children, and they able to find jobs, they`ll contribute to Iran`s development. That jobs part may be the tough part. More than 18 percent of Iran`s population is estimated to be living below the poverty line. And that`s made some folks hesitant to have kids.

REZA SAYAH, cnn CORRESPONDENT: Iran`s population is still young, roughly 45 percent under 25, including these munchkins. But under an effective government family planning campaign designed to counter a baby boom during the 1980s, family size dropped drastically, from seven children to two today.

SAEED LAYLAZ, POLITICAL ANALYST: They are worried about it.

SAYAH: Analyst Saeed Laylaz says 40 years from now, Iran may not have enough young workers to drive the economy. Doctors and nurses to care for the elderly, and soldiers to bolster the military. Authorities have already set plans this year to extend military duty from 21 month to 24.

LAYLAZ: There had been too young ten years ago, 15 years ago. We are too middle aged people, and we will be too old people 20, 30 years or later. This is very bad trends.

SAYAH: Many here say the campaign to get Iranians to have more babies won`t work, because in a failing economy they are choosing to stay single.

HOSSEIN MIRZANEJAD, BACHELOR: It is very difficult to get married, let alone having a lot of babies.

BEHROUZ MIRZAJANI, BACHELOR: You mean in addition to me and a five being poor, we should drag children into this, too? Asks bachelor Behrouz Mirzajani.

25 -year old Pejman Rowshan and his wife say they do plan to add to the family.

"An only job isn`t good," says Rowshan. I don`t want my society to be old. It keeps the economy from growing. For the Rowshan`s the biggest challenge is convincing their son, do you want brothers and sisters, asks dad. "No," - clocks Ali.