Subtitles section Play video
-
Welcome to Friday. And thank you for spending ten minutes of it with CNN STUDENT NEWS.
-
It`s a little bit of a different look for us today.
-
We mentioned yesterday that opposing groups in Ukraine looked like they were headed toward a truce. Hopes for that crumbled yesterday.
-
And violence got worse, between protesters and police.
-
The protesters say police had snipers firing at them, and that 100 people had been killed.
-
The government isn`t saying how many were killed, but it says demonstrators were kidnapping police officers.
-
This all goes back to the Ukrainian president`s decision last year to sign a trade deal with Russia.
-
It would help Ukraine`s economy, but some Ukrainians wanted a deal with the European Union instead, and the divisions deepened.
-
Because you have to look at where Ukraine is located, because this really is the historic divider between Russia and the rest of Europe. Right, Max?
-
Yeah, historians think the country`s name actually means borderlands.
-
So the sense of being in between is really baked in to Ukraine`s identity.
-
And it`s only about 900 miles, if you were to drive down to Sochi, where the Olympics are going on right now.
-
Let`s talk about the makeup of this country, Max.
-
Yeah, it`s about the size of Texas, and its 45 million people. So, it`s big.
-
OK. Now, why did all of this launch? It really goes back to something that happened in November with the European Union.
-
Yeah. Ukraine was considering a deal for great economic integration with the European Union.
-
And a lot of Ukrainians like this because they thought it was a good deal, and they liked the idea of being a part of Europe, but they didn`t get that.
-
They got a very different deal, indeed. What happened?
-
So, what happened is Ukraine`s surprised everybody by taking a deal with Russia instead for about $15 billion in bailout in cheaper natural gas?
-
And so those who opposed it, who wanted the European Union deal, then turned their attention, even more so, on the president.
-
Yeah. President Viktor Yanukovych who`s seen by a lot of Ukrainians as corrupt, he`d been ousted in protests in 2004 previously.
-
He`s seen as very cozy with Russia. It`s actually - Russian is his native language.
-
So when he took this deal, people thought well, he`s sold out our country to Moscow.
-
So, in many ways, what this comes down to, is a historic division.
-
And this has always been like two countries in one space and now it`s coming to a hit.
-
Yeah, that`s right. So, if you look at this map, this purple western half, this actually mostly speaks Ukrainian.
-
That`s where Kiev is, that`s where most of the protests are.
-
The eastern half - people mostly speak Russian. That`s where Yanukovych is from.
-
People have a little more fondness for the old ties to Russia.
-
So, what you are seeing play out is this identity crisis Ukraine has had since its independence between are we a European country or are we facing more towards Russia.
-
And of course, there is a big poll from both sides from Europeans and from the United States and others saying you should be free to do what you want and from the Russian side,
-
because bear in mind: this was the region that went it was part of the Soviet Empire produced one quarter of all the agricultural products. It is a huge trading partner to Russia.
-
Parents, children, brothers, sisters divided for more than 60 years.
-
It`s like they`ve lived one state away from each other, but the line that separates them is between North and South Korea,
-
countries whose governments have been in odd since the Korean War.
-
And people aren`t able to travel freely between them.
-
Reunions between dozens of North and South Koreans are going ahead, even though North Korea had threatened to cancel them earlier this month.
-
Kim Sung Yung (ph) is 96 years old. The oldest person at this reunion.
-
Her father urged her to walk hundreds of miles from North to South Korea at the start of the Korean War.
-
Her sister was too young to join her. They are final reunited more than 60 years later.
-
This reunions are so rare, and those picked so elderly, even illness couldn`t keep them away.
-
90-year old Kim Sung Kian (ph) was transported in an ambulance and attended the reunion hooked up to an I.V. drip.
-
Determined a bout of the flue wouldn`t ruin his only chance to see his son and daughter.
-
CNN affiliate YTN quotes him as saying, even if I die now, if I have seen my family, I will die in peace.
-
Every single story is heartbreaking. And a stark reminder of the pain of the people divided.
-
The Korean War ended in a stalemate in 1953.
-
Without any regular forms of communications between the two Koreas, families have gone decades without contact.
-
Even this contact was monitored. North Korean officials stood by every table, listening to every conversation.
-
For some, the overwhelming emotion was simply too much. Tens of thousands of Koreans applied to be part of this reunion.
-
Those that were picked already had one disappointment last September when the meeting was canceled at the last minute.
-
These reunions are bitter sweet. The joy of being reunited is tainted by the fact they only spend a total of 11 hours together, before going back to their separate lives knowing that their good bye is permanent.
-
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
-
A lot of people have temporary loneliness, the kind that comes when you move to a new city or school.
-
But for those who live with it, day in and day out, it`s a serious condition.
-
One that doctors say can significantly affect your health. It can keep you from getting good sleep.
-
It can shorten your life. CNN`s Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently contributed to a PSA called Just Say Hello.
-
It encourages people to do that, say hello to strangers or folks they hadn`t heard from in a while. Here`s why.
-
What sort of struck me as - from a physical standpoint, if someone`s having a heart problem, for example, you may know to go over there and pump on their chest.
-
If someone is suffering from loneliness or something, we tend to avoid those people.
-
They are loners. They are people who are sort of, and we know these people in our buildings, in our workplace.
-
And this was part of this campaign, it was trying to address that particular issue.
-
Recognizing that loneliness by itself is a risk factor for so many different things.
-
For those who are lonely, ways of addressing it include becoming active.
-
Getting involved in activities, clubs or places of faith like church.
-
Actual pictures of Glenn in the capsule will give scientists the opportunity to study his reactions.
-
As he passes over the Canary Islands, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australia, back across the Pacific and over the United States.
-
He speeds at 17,500 miles an hour, reaching a high point of 160 miles and the low altitude of 99 miles.
-
Each of the three orbits takes about 90 minutes.
-
Three times the colonel sees the sunrise within the period of four hours and 56 minutes.
-
Three times around the globe.
-
Still impressive, all these decades later, but it took amazing courage back in 1962 when the U.S. manned space program was just getting off the ground.
-
Yesterday was the 52 anniversary of when astronaut John Glenn made those trips around the Earth.
-
He was the first American in orbit, and in 1998, he went back up on the Space Shuttle Discovery becoming the oldest person ever to travel in space.
-
That time, he was 77. Glenn is more than an astronaut.
-
Throughout his life, he`s served as a Marine fighter pilot, a test pilot, a U.S. senator.
-
He worked as an adjunct professor at Ohio State University.
-
And in 2012, he was awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom.
-
Isaac Lufkin is accomplished in his own right. He`s only 14, but as a freshman, he helped classical high school in Providence, Rhode Island to win the freshman football state title.
-
Lufkin was born without arms. But he takes a no excuses approach to everything he does.
-
His continuing success story, on and off the field, has gotten him national recognition.
-
Lufkin who is featured on our show earlier this month, was a VIP at this year Super Bowl.
-
He met former president Bill Clinton while he was there.
-
And he just received a letter of praise from President Obama.
-
It says, Lufkin`s achievements remind people of what can be accomplished when they work hard and stay focused on reaching their goals.
-
On yesterday`s CNN STUDENT NEWS "Roll Call" we started out west. Today, we are starting in the Midwest.
-
Check out the ellers (ph). That`s a cool mascot. They are watching from Elkhorn Middle School in Elkhorn, Nebraska.
-
We`ve got the Hart - it`s good to see you all in Hartley, Iowa where we find Hartley Melvin Sanborn High.
-
And we`ll zoom east, northeast, all the way to Lewiston, Maine.
-
The blue devils from Lewiston High School are on today`s roll.
-
Not all hamburgers are created equal.
-
The true king of them may not even be at Burger King.
-
At first glance, this may look like any old burger. But wait till you see the bun. Oh, yeah. That`s a mark of royalty right there, a New Orleans King Cake.
-
Just ahead to Mardi Gras season, to give a little extra flavor to an all-American favorite,
-
it`s becoming a bestseller aboard the food truck that introduced it.
-
Of course, it carries a truckload of calories, but the holiday isn`t called Fat Tuesday for nothing.
-
And if taste is truly king, this may take the cake, maybe, as it`s paraded around New Orleans,
-
it`s sure to attract the crew of fans. People who love carnival food would probably tell you - you just can`t beat it.
-
I`m Carl Azuz and we`ll be floating more news in pongee way next week.