CNN news 2014-03-18 加文本

cnn news 2014-03-18

CARL AZUZ, cnn ANCHOR: Pie days are awesome. They only bake up once a year. We`ll bring you a slice of info about that later today on cnn STUDENT NEWS. First up, a vote: will Crimea, a region of Ukraine, become part of Russia? 2 million people leave there, and their local government has scheduled a referendum for Sunday that could determine their political future. Many Crimeans want closer ties to Russia. There`s a good chance they`ll vote for it, but the new leaders of Ukraine as well as the U.S. and some other members of the international community say the vote goes against Ukraine`s constitution. That this part of the country can`t just break off from it and join another country.

Russia would likely welcome that decision. We`re bringing you two very different perspectives on this today. First, from the capital of Ukraine, where many people want closer ties with Europe than with Russia.

MICHAEL HOLMES, cnn CORRESPONDENT: This is Independence Square, the Maidan, they call it, where the protest movement began and so many people lost their lives. But the story, of course, has now moved hundreds of miles away to Crimea. So, we are going to ask young people here what they think about the possibility of losing part of their country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that this would be the disaster. This definitely would be the disaster because we consider Crimea as a part of Ukraine and those people who live there despite the fact that they speak Russian, they are Ukrainian.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This referendum is completely illegally. And all this is inspired by Russian agents and foolish people who thinks that in another country they will have a better life than in their own country.

HOLMES: Already some in Crimea are leaving, many heading to Kiev to be with family and friends, not wanting to wake up next week in another country. Michael Holmes, cnn, Kiev, Ukraine.

AZUZ: Very different take on this in the Russian capital of Moscow. We`ve talked about how Crimea gives Russia access to its only warm water port in the Black Sea. So, it`s important strategically to Russia, but as Phil Black found, it`s important in other senses as well.

PHIL BLACK, cnn CORRESPONDENT: At Moscow`s Danilovsky (ph) Market, you`ll find quality food, middle class shoppers and workers who aren`t quite so well off. This microcosm of the Russian capital is a long way from the Crimean Peninsula, but almost everyone here says they feel a connection to it.

"Crimea was always Russian, and it should stay Russian," and it`s all he says. Not surprisingly, Vladimir Putin`s handling of the crisis is popular, which explains approval ratings up around, 68 percent.

"Absolutely, I support it. That`s not even up for discussion," Irina says. "Well done, Putin, I`m extremely grateful we have such a leader."

Most of these people admit they are informed by Russian media, much of which is controlled by the state.

Inna knows Western reporting tells a different story. She wants Crimea to stay with Ukraine. It`s a minority view. Most believe Crimea is like the delicacies available here at the market, a vital part of Russia`s history and culture.

AZUZ: It`s been more than six days since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished over Southeast Asia. And when we produced this show, there was no word on what happened to it or the 239 people aboard. U.S. officials said on Thursday, they might expand their search area to look in parts of the Indian Ocean. That`s far west of the last known location of the flight between Malaysia and Vietnam. They said there`s new information that the plane could have flown for hours after its transponder stopped working, and quit sending signals of the plane`s location and altitude. Some experts are saying, it`s possible that the jet`s engines might have been sending info to satellites for four or five hours after the last transponder signal. But even that`s not certain. And Chinese satellites photos that appeared to show something floating off the Malaysian coast, turned out nothing.