Subtitles section Play video
-
The most wanted terrorism suspect in Europe is now in police custody
-
but the investigation that eventually caught him is far from over.
-
That’s what’s first up this Monday. I’m Carl Azuz.
-
Salah Abdeslam is the only person
-
suspected of participating in the Paris terrorist attacks
-
who’s still alive.
-
The assault last November killed 130 people
-
and wounded hundreds of others in the French capital.
-
The ISIS terrorist group said it was responsible.
-
Abdeslam, who was born and raised in Brussels, Belgium,
-
is suspected of supporting the attackers.
-
He’s accused running cars and apartments for them.
-
He allegedly drove some of the terrorists to one side of the attacks.
-
Until last week, the search for him had gone cold.
-
But a SWAT team’s raid in an apartment
-
in the Belgium capital found Abdeslam’s finger prints.
-
And the suspect himself was arrested
-
after a gun battle near his family home.
-
Police also found a large number of weapons
-
and they now say that more than 30 people
-
were somehow involved in the November 13th attacks.
-
For the first time since 1928,
-
a U.S. president is visiting the island nation of Cuba.
-
Air Force One touched down yesterday in the capital Havana.
-
For President Obama, this is another step toward
-
normalizing the relationship between his nation
-
and a country that has been a U.S. rival since the Cold War.
-
He’ll be delivering a speech on state television.
-
He’ll meet with Cuban President Raul Castro
-
and some of those who oppose him.
-
He hopes to influence the communist country
-
to give its people more freedoms and open more opportunities for U.S. businesses.
-
But critics say human rights in Cuba
-
have actually gotten worse since President Obama
-
started this effort three years ago
-
and it seems unlikely that either the U.S. Congress or the Cuban government
-
is ready to make major changes.
-
Raul Castro is the president of Cuba.
-
He’s probably best known for being a younger brother and loyal confidant,
-
loyal deputy of Fidel Castro.
-
Raul Castro came into power in 2006,
-
although he’s always been his brother of Fidel’s most trusted deputy.
-
It was a really kind of unexpected transition
-
because Fidel Castro felt sick really unexpectedly.
-
It’s a still mysterious intestinal ailment
-
and Raul Castro had to step in the spotlight very, very quickly.
-
You know, Raul Castro has been with Fidel basically all of his life.
-
He’s been his most trusted revolutionary sidekick really.
-
They fundamentally changed this country.
-
They upended all the political structures,
-
all the power structures and established the first communist government
-
in the western hemisphere.
-
Cuba is really fascinating because it’s so close to the United States
-
and yet it couldn’t have a more different form of government.
-
It is a single party form of government.
-
There are not open elections and there are not multiple parties.
-
And that someone like Raul Castro controls the political system,
-
he controls the economy and he controls the army.
-
He really is, his critics say, a tyrant.
-
Raul’s nickname was Raul the Reformer
-
because he has taken steps
-
and we’re talking about Cubans being able to travel,
-
Cubans will able to open up their own businesses.
-
Sports clubs being able to play overseas,
-
which Fidel would never have allowed.
-
The pope continues taking the leading role in Cuba-U.S. relations.
-
He Raul Castro would go back to church
-
and this is a man who’s a life-long atheist, a devout communist,
-
and Raul Castro is finally emerging as his own man.
-
He’s emerging from Fidel Castro’s shadow.
-
As with Fidel Castro, Raul Castro’s critics said
-
this is basically someone who’ll stay in power at any cost
-
and that his ultimately goal really is staying in power.
-
Of course, he’s in early 80s. Fidel Castro is now in his late 80s.
-
So, it’s really just a question of biology now more than anything else,
-
how much longer can these men stay in power.
-
Cuba is not a wealthy nation.
-
It’s average income per person is estimated to be around $10,000 per year.
-
Cuba sometimes blames the U.S. trade embargo for its economic problems.
-
That’s a limit on the business and travel
-
that citizens can conduct with Cuba.
-
It’s meant to pressure the country
-
to improve human rights and transition to democracy.
-
But Cuba’s economy had a major shock in 1990,
-
when economic health from its closest ally, the Soviet Union, stopped.
-
That took away $4 billion to $6 billion from Cuba’s economy every year.
-
The country of Cuba is about the size of Tennessee. Location: 90 miles south of Key West.
-
Population: 11.3 million. Currencies: Cuban Peso. Cuban convertible peso.
-
Havana was declared capital of colonial Cuba in 1607.
-
Much of the city has been frozen in time since revolutionaries took control in 1959.
-
A visa is required when traveling to Cuba.
-
U.S. citizens need a license to spend money.
-
U.S. citizens are only permitted to travel for specific reasons, such as:
-
professional research, journalistic activity, family visit, education.
-
Over the weekend, North Korea launched a pair of ballistic missiles.
-
South Korean officials said one of them
-
flew about 500 miles east toward the ocean.
-
Another projectile disappeared in flight.
-
It’s an example of saber-rattling,
-
or show of military power from the communist nation.
-
It’s been a rival of the U.S. and South Korea
-
since the Korean War in the early 1950s.
-
Somewhere in the sea east of Korea,
-
F-18 fighter jets catapult into the sky,
-
launching off a deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier the John C. Stennis.
-
This carrier strike group is here as part of annual joint military exercises with South Korea.
-
This takes place every year and it makes the North Korean government furious.
-
They argue that this could be a precursor to a military invasion of the North.
-
Nonsense, says the admiral in charge here.
-
But he says the presence of the largest war machine in the U.S. military arsenal
-
is designed to send a message to North Korea.
-
The provocations and things that you see from North Korea,
-
we hope that our actions here as routine operations help to deter any escalatory actions.
-
North Korea routinely shows off its own military muscle.
-
Some experts argue you have to show strength when dealing with this regime.
-
If you show weakness in the domestic political system
-
in the North Korean authoritarian like North Korea, you’re eliminated.
-
And that’s how it works in the international system.
-
If you are weak, they will bully you and take advantage of you.
-
They only respect power.
-
The problem is, this annual show of force,
-
which includes simulated amphibious assaults
-
carried out by U.S. and South Korean marines hasn’t stopped North Korea
-
from testing nuclear bombs.
-
In fact, Pyongyang recently fired salvos of ballistic missiles twice in just eight days,
-
in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
-
Just days ago, Kim Jong-un gave orders for scientists
-
to develop the technology to launch a nuclear warhead
-
on the tip of a ballistic missile.
-
Even those who preached power concede Pyongyang
-
is committed to expanding its nuclear arsenal.
-
They put so much effort and they’re very dedicated to having those capabilities.
-
So, if they’re not reliable today, they’re going to keep working
-
so they’ll be reliable and that they can use them
-
if they needed to use them tomorrow, or next month or next year.
-
And so, the saber-rattling continues.
-
In addition to this strategy of containment and deterrence,
-
experts say the U.S. and its allies are very likely training for other possible scenarios,
-
such as how to take out North Korea’s growing arsenal of nuclear weapons.
-
If it looks like Pyongyang is about to use them.
-
Ivan Watson, CNN, aboard the U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis.
-
The site: CNNStudentNews.com. The page: Friday’s transcript page.
-
The schools on today’s "Roll Call": McCracken County High School,
-
it’s in Paducah, Kentucky, and it’s where the Mustangs roam free.
-
Next to the U.S. Pacific coast, we’re making a stop in Issaquah, Washington.
-
It’s there that the Panthers are prowling around Issaquah Middle School.
-
And crossing the Pacific, we come to the island nation of Indonesia.
-
And it’s great to see North Jakarta International School watching in Jakarta.
-
Before we go, monkeying around with magic.
-
Who doesn’t love a really good card trick?
-
At first baboon doesn’t. Baboon sees card. Baboon is unimpressed.
-
But then, wait, what? How? Baboon is shocked and amazed.
-
Where did your card go?
-
He’s just as impressed the second time around.
-
It’s an illusion the animal had probably never seen before
-
and it’s easy to see why this is one of America’s funniest home videos.
-
Hopefully, the next time that happens, the animal won’t be ape-rehensive.
-
He should have no illusions or be nearly as ba-baboon-zled.
-
After all, the clear takeaway here is that things aren’t always as they see-mian.
-
Whoo! I’m Carl Azuz. We hope you’ll reappear again tomorrow.