CNN news 2015-02-24 加文本

cnn news 2015-02-24

CARL AZUZ, HOST: Fridays are awesome, even Friday the 13th of February.

I`m Carl Azuz for cnn STUDENT NEWS.

It`s great to see you.

There was a breakthrough yesterday at a conference in Minsk, Belarus. Representatives from France, Germany, Russia and Ukrainian gathered there

to discuss the situation in war-torn Ukraine.

The result of the talks, a cease-fire agreement. Fighting in Ukraine is scheduled to end on Sunday. The Ukrainian government and the separatist

rebels fighting it are set to pull back their heavy weapons, release all hostages and illegally held prisoners and start discussing elections in two

areas controlled by rebels who support Russia.

International officials are optimistic about the agreement, but parts of it are similar to a previous cease-fire made last September which fell

apart.

In another part of Europe, a verdict announced in the trial of the captain of the Costa Concordia. If that doesn`t sound familiar, this

should look familiar. It was a cruise ship sailed too closely to the rocks near a Tuscan island three years ago. Thirty-two people died in the

accident and on Wednesday night, a judge announced that Captain Francesco Schettino was guilty of causing a maritime disaster, multiple counts of

manslaughter and abandoning ship when people needed help.

His penalty?

Sixteen years in prison and court costs.

(ON SCREEN)

Shout Out

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time for the Shout Out.

In the U.S. Congress, what kind of vote is required to override a presidential veto?

If you think you know it, shout it out.

Is it a simple majority in Senate?

Simple majority in House and Senate?

Three quarters vote in House?

Or two thirds vote in House and Senate?

You`ve got three seconds.

Go.

(BELL RINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s not easy for lawmakers to override a presidential veto. That requires a two thirds vote in both the House and

the Senate.

That`s your answer and that`s your Shout Out.

AZUZ: A president can veto, refuse to sign any bill, preventing it from becoming law. And President Obama is expected to veto a piece of

legislation just passed by the Republican-controlled Congress.

The law would authorize construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The president has threatened to veto it. He believes the decision should be

made by the executive branch and the State Department is still reviewing the project.

Several polls have indicated most Americans support building the pipeline. A handful of Democrats in Congress joined Republicans in voting

for the law, but neither chamber is expected to have the two thirds majority required to override a likely presidential veto.

So what`s the pipeline all about?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, cnn CORRESPONDENT: The Keystone XL pipeline extension would stretch about 1,200 miles, most of it in the United States, from

Alberta,

Canada down to Nebraska.

There are lots of pipelines out there, some of which would connect with this.

So why all the fuss about this extension?

First of all, the environment. Opponents say that they fear that this will spoil the landscape. If there is a spill, that it could contaminate

ground water, hurt humans and animals. And they say this is dirty oil, a type of oil that when it`s burned, produced more greenhouse gases.

Supporters say the company that wants this, TransCanada, has already promised much more robust safety measures, that rail shipments are rising

already to bring this oil in and the rail shipments are riskier than the pipeline would be.

The second issue, jobs. Supporters like to cite a study that says somewhere around 42,000 jobs or more would benefit from this pipeline.

That includes not only the people who work on it, but people in restaurants and hotels and supply houses. But opponents say that`s all temporary.

That`s for one or two years while this thing is built. In the end, there may be only 50 permanent jobs coming out of this.

So that raises the real question, why would you want to build this thing at all?

It`s only 36 inches across.

Does it really make a difference?

Supporters say yes, it does. It means about 830,000 barrels of oil a day coming into the United States from a secure ally, reducing our

dependence on

Overseas oil from places like Venezuela or the Middle East.

Whereas opponents say, look, it is just not worth it. For all those various reasons they`ve already cited, even as supporters continue to say

look, it`s time, after all this debate, to dig the trenches and to get this pipe into the ground.