突尼斯爆发茉莉花革命前景未卜

CARL AZUZ, cnn STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: It's all thanks to a new technology that a student in Texas is doing something he thought might be impossible: be in class with his friends. And how he's doing it is really gonna amaze you. That story's coming up. I'm Carl Azuz. A new week of cnn Student News starts right now! 

First Up: Ireland Politics

AZUZ: All right, up first today, we're looking at some international headlines, starting with political shifts in Ireland. The government of that country is under pressure because it asked for a financial bailout, after it insisted for a long time that it didn't need one. In the U.S., there are two main political parties. But in Ireland, there are a lot of political parties. And right now, the Irish parliament is controlled by a coalition, a merger of several of those parties.

That coalition seems to be falling apart. Yesterday, the Green Party announced that it's pulling out of the coalition government. That could lead to early elections in the country. The Green Party's announcement coming one day after the current prime minister, Brian Cowen, said that he's not planning to lead his party after upcoming elections. Cowen said part of the reason he's stepping down is because of criticism of his leadership from inside his own party.

Australia Floods

AZUZ: Well, from Ireland, we move to Australia, a country that's home to around 21 million people. More than 3 million of them -- that is more than 10 percent of Australia's population! -- have been affected by this: massive flooding in eastern Australia. Authorities calling this one of the most costly disasters in Australia's history. The floods have had a big impact on crops, on tourism, retail and manufacturing. Part of the reason this is worse than previous floods or fires is that Queensland -- the area where all this is happening -- has had a big jump in population. One official said the government has already made about $227 million in recovery payments.

Why Tunisia Matters

AZUZ: The last stop on our tour of international headlines is the North African country of Tunisia. Protests against the government there have left more than a hundred people dead. And the country's longtime leader was removed from power. Now, some Tunisians are protesting against the new government. Brian Todd looks at how what's happening in Tunisia could have an impact on that region and the rest of the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

BRIAN TODD, cnn CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON, D.C.: It's 4,000 miles away from U.S. shores, is only a little larger than the state of Georgia, and has a population about 30 times smaller than America's. The uprising that drove out Tunisia's longtime president may not be on many Americans' radar, but experts say it should be.

If I'm a textiles analyst in Chicago or I work at a Walmart in Galveston, why should I care about what's happening in Tunisia?

ROBERT MALLEY, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: You might not care about what's happening in Tunisia, Per se, but you should care about what lesson it sends to the rest of the region, where there are many countries with which the United States has very close ties and which are very important to the U.S. in terms of price of oil or the war against terrorism.

TODD: Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group is talking about countries very close to Tunisia that have had the same kinds of problems, but where the stakes are much higher for America. Tunisia's revolt started with younger citizens fed up with high unemployment, rising costs of living and a corrupt federal government. Similar problems are occurring in Egypt. There, like in Tunisia, a protester set himself on fire. And the same thing could happen in Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia. The common factors in all these countries? They've all been ruled for a long time by single autocratic rulers. They're all key U.S. allies in the war on terror. And they have all been struggling to fight off some very dangerous Islamist militant groups.

Here's something Americans can relate to, this tweet from Cairo: "Today, Ben Ali, tomorrow, Hosni Mubarak." Today, it's Tunisia's president. Tomorrow, could it be Egypt's? Egypt's regime isn't under as much pressure as Tunisia's was yet.

JOHN ENTELIS, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: The discontent is there. It's bubbling over continuously. It's not in our interests to try to keep this lid down artificially because, ultimately, the explosion will be even worse later on than it would be in the short term.

TODD: And revolutions in places like Egypt could lead to Islamic militants or other radicals taking power or at least having more room to operate than they do now.

MALLEY: We saw it on 9/11 and we will see it again. What happens in the Middle East, what happens in the Arab world can have a direct impact on our own security.

TODD: But analysts say there's a positive flip side if this is a successful transition to democracy in Tunisia. And it's another reason Americans should pay attention. If it leads to more social and economic freedoms, they say, more people in the Middle East will see how that works, will see the alternative to militant Islam. Brian Todd, cnn, Washington.

(END VIDEO)

Shoutout

SHELBY ERDMAN, cnn STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to the students and teachers at Wordsworth Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania! What part of the U.S. Constitution establishes the State of the Union address? Is it: A) Article I, Section 1, B) Article II, Section 3, C) 25th Amendment or D) the Preamble? You've got three seconds -- GO! The State of the Union is referenced in Article II, Section 3. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

State of the Union Preview

AZUZ: Well, this State of the Union speech is usually one of the most important speeches of the year for the president. President Obama is scheduled to give this year's State of the Union address tomorrow. And in a preview that was posted over the weekend on YouTube, he talked about some of the main themes of his speech.

U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We're going to have to out-innovate, we're going to have to out-build, we're going to have to out-compete, we're going to have to out-educate other countries. That's our challenge. We're also going to have to deal with our deficits and our debt in a responsible way. And we've got to reform government so that it's leaner and smarter for the 21st century. It's going to take a lot of work, these are big challenges that are in front of us. But we're up to it, as long as we come together as a people.

AZUZ: The economy expected to be a big focus of Congress this year. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who's the Senate Minority Leader, says too much government spending is a big part of what's hurting the economy. Senator McConnell says his party will look for ways to cut spending as much as they can.

Is This Legit?

STAN CASE, cnn STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? The word "robot" first appeared in a play. This is true! A play in the former country of Czechoslovakia included the first known use of the word.

Robot in School

AZUZ: In the play, robots do the same work as people. In one school in Texas, a robot is doing something that one student can't: go to school. And the result of this has been life changing.

LYNDON BATY, USES ROBOT TO ATTEND SCHOOL: Hello, class!

CLASS: HELLO!

BATY: Absolutely amazing. You know, I never thought that with this that when I was sick, that I would ever have any interaction, much less this kind.

AZUZ: Lyndon Baty has a disease that affects his immune system, so doing normal things, like going to school, are almost impossible for him. He says last year, he was either in the hospital or at home. He had almost no social interaction with anyone his age. But then school officials came across a robot that would let Lyndon attend class. Now, he says he feels like he's right there, even if it requires some automated assistance.

Blog Promo

AZUZ: Our blog lit up over the weekend. You're sounding off about Texas schools that tickets students instead of sending them to the office. Octavius says he goes to school in Texas, he's never gotten a ticket, and that you have to do something more than interrupting class to get one; examples, he says, would be throwing something; we also found that starting a fight or leaving school early could get you a ticket. Billy says he likes the idea, that it'll get students ready for the real world and make for a better learning environment for the well-behaved students. Haley calls it a nice effort, but says it's parents who'd have to pay the ticket, and it's not fair to punish parents for what students do. And Mary thinks instead of getting tickets, offending students should have to clean bathrooms or lunch tables. Another good punishment: Take them on a tour of a jail to show what bad decisions can lead to. Heavy traffic also at Facebook.com/cnnstudentnews. This comment from Parker: "It's a bad way to institute discipline. A ticket for one student may mean nothing. For another, it may affect his life greatly."

Before We Go

AZUZ: Well, before we go, if you don't want to get off the couch to go skiing, you don't have to. Don't even have to get off the couch. You just strap some skis on the bottom of that sucker and lounge your way down the mountain. Unless you're the guy in the back who's stuck steering. If these folks aren't careful, they could start a whole new trend of combining furniture and sports. Group skiing in a couch might not seem like a bad thing...

Goodbye

AZUZ: ...but it could start you down a very slippery slope. And if you wipe out on a couch, well, at least your fall will be cushioned. All right! On a positive note, ski resorts are already set up for this kind of thing. They all have chair lifts. Da dum dum! Hope you all have a great rest of your Monday. For cnn Student News, I'm Carl Azuz.