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STUDENT NEWS

Obama`s Trip Abroad; Scotland`s Possible Secession from Britain Can Change the British Flag; Major Landslide near Seattle, Washington; Search for Flight 370 Intensifies in Southern Indian Ocean; CPR-Certified High School Boy Saving Umpire During Baseball Game

Aired March 24, 2014 - 04:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: This is your commercial free news source for the classroom. Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m Carl Azuz.

First up this Monday, President Obama headed overseas last night on a week- long trip. His first stop in Amsterdam, the capital of Netherlands. He`ll attend the summit on nuclear security there and touch base with a group of leaders from Asia before he travels to that region next month. Then, he`s on his way to Brussels, the capital of Belgium. He has a speech scheduled there on Wednesday. A major focus of this trip will be the crisis in Ukraine. President Obama wants more sanctions against Russian for annexing Crimea, making that region part of Russia.

But European leaders depend on Russia for some of their energy resources. They might be hard to convince.

The president is also visiting Rome, Italy and touring the Coliseum. He`ll meet with Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church. The president has praised the pope for some of the topics he has addressed, but the Obama administration has clashed with the church on other issues.

Last stop is Friday in Rhyiad, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Possible topics of discussion include everything from Iran`s nuclear program to Syria`s civil war. A lot of ground and Syria`s subjects to cover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time for the "Shoutout." Whose flag is this? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it the flag of Scotland, Finland, Greece or Guam? You`ve got three seconds, go!

This is the flag of Scotland, which is part of the United Kingdom. That`s your answer and that`s your "Shoutout."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom since the U.K. was created in 1707. But that might change in September. That`s when Scottish voters will decide whether to remain part of the U.K. or to make Scotland independent once again.

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants Scotland to stay as it is. He says this will give Scotts security and strength as part of the U.K., but the Scottish National Party, which supports independence says the vote for it will mean a better and fairer life for Scotts. The British government agreed to the vote, but the U.K., doesn`t have a written constitution to guide this process.

One other questions, wouldn`t independent Scotland still recognize Queen Elizabeth II as its queen? The monarchy is mostly ceremonial, of course, but it`s popular. A second vote may be needed to determine that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In six months the people of Scotland will cast their votes on secession from the U.K. If they vote for independence, Scotts have been warned that they risk losing the pound as their currency. London could lose some control over oil and gas in the North Sea, but they might also have to say cheerio to something more symbolic, the beloved Union Jack. You see, the current flag which hasn`t changed in over 200 years is a mix between England`s cross of Saint George, Scotland`s Cross of St. Andrew and Ireland`s cross of St. Patrick. If Scotland leaves the union, would St. Andrew`s cross get the boot? People send ideas for alternatives to the U.K.`s national flag charity, and the guardian experts to choose from 12 options. Should Britain incorporate the Welsh flag of Saint David, slide the Welsh national flag into the corner, what about adding the royal coat of arms to a modified Union Jack? The winner, this one. Well, the Brits are nothing if not traditional. Scotland`s blue has simply been replaced with black, perhaps to mourn the loss of Scotland. Luckily, many say this won`t be necessary, after all what would happen to all the British overseas` territories and a few countries for that matter, that include the Union Jack in their national flags.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: In the small town north of Seattle, Washington, a landslide struck on Saturday night. The region has gotten a lot of rain over the past month. Officials say, the ground got so saturated that it just gave way. The governor of Washington State said he`d never seen devastation like it. About a square mile was affected. At least three people were killed and several others are still missing.

There are a couple of challenges for rescuers here. One, getting the people who might be trapped behind or underneath mud that`s like quicksand. Emergency officials say it`s 15 feet deep in some places.

Two, the ground is still highly unstable in some areas. There is still the threat of flooding, so rescuers can`t search everywhere they need to. At least six houses were destroyed in this, and many more were damaged.

China says its satellites might have located some debris from a missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Satellites images from Australia, from France, also indicate possible large objects. Search planes are continuously scouring parts of the Indian Ocean where floating objects were detected, but so far nothing has been recovered. No sign of the aircraft, no sign of the 239 people aboard more than two weeks after it vanished.

There are two major search areas over 23,000 square miles of ocean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARRY SCHIFF, FORMER TRANS WORLD AIRLINES CAPT.": The ocean is huge. I don`t know that all the ocean has been looked at yet, I kind of doubt it. They will find pieces of this airplane somewhere soon.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a vast area to search, but they believe now that they have some information, at least this plane may have flown up to four or five hours out into the Indian Ocean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 9,000 miles searched, but nothing to show for it. For five planes scouring the vast waters of the Indian Ocean.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Overtime, those pieces of aircraft can continue to sink, especially on - rough sea as it is out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It takes the search planes roughly four hour to fly to the search zone. Each plane will have only two critical hours to comb the area before making the full (INAUDIBLE) our journey back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We really don`t know where the aircraft might be, so the area of uncertainty is much bigger than what it was (INAUDIBLE).

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIA PRIME MINISTER: It`s about the most inaccessible spot that you could imagine on the face of the earth, but if there`s anything down there, we will find it. We owe it to the families of those people to do no less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: East Coast, West Coast, (INAUDIBLE) cross country roll call starting in Warminster, Pennsylvania - we call roll and heard from the Panthers.

They are on the prowl at William Tennent High School. The Long horns are a foot in Meeteetse, Wyoming. Hello to the students of Meeteetse High School. And in the Pacific Northwest, Edna, Washington, that`s where the Pirates are at Edna High School.

CPR stands for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. It`s a lifesaving technique that can be used after everything from near drownings to heart attacks. Thanks in part to a high school baseball player who knew CPR, the young umpire calling his game survived it after a collapse. The story from a school east of Atlanta, Georgia, is the subject of today`s character study.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 16-year old Alex Norwood and his baseball coach looked on as Newton County`s varsity team played Saturday afternoon. Vivid memories of what happened just hours earlier on Friday night.

ALEX NORWOOD, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR: It was in between innings and between the second (INAUDIBLE). Newton was on the field, throwing the warm up pitches. And the umpire just collapsed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Norwood said his instincts kicked in, and he ran over to help the umpire who was suffering from some sort of medical emergency. This is video of the umpire from an iPad just moments before the incident.

NORWOOD: He`d gotten someone to call 911 and he said, doesn`t anybody know CPR and I got certified a little while ago, so I went out there and I started doing - I checked for a pulse and started doing compressions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Norwood had just become CPR-certified two weeks ago.

NORWOOD: I didn`t think I`d ever really need to use it, but I`m really glad that I know how to do it now, and this is - this is why it`s important to know how to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jarrid Harris coaches Norwood`s team at Rockdale High School.

JARRID HARRIS, ROCKDALE HIGH SCHOOL COACH: I thought I was going to turn around and see a professional. I mean I thought I was going to see any MT worker. That`s how confident the voice behind me was, and when I turned around I saw Alex.

NORWOOD: I feel like I really didn`t do that much, I feel like I only got it started, but I really didn`t` do that much before the MT got there, and I feel like it was more the coaches and the MT that really did it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not only that, Harris says this incident is an important reminder.

HARRIS: Really speaks on the importance of not only being CPR-certified, but that anybody can do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: Before we go, it`s said that American crocodiles are pretty shy, unless something is edible. Unfortunately for the new owner of this go-pro camera, the crock thought it was edible. Big Boy, that`s the name of the crock, he lives in a wild life preserve in Florida. A worker there built a special case for his new camera to get some underwater footage of Big Boy. But the moment the camera hit the water, the crock attacked and destroyed. What`s funny is, the store allowed the camera to be returned, which is excellent crockstomer service, especially, after it went snap crock-o-pop. There must have been crocks in its armor, or it just couldn`t compete with the chumpion. Anyway, it`s a good thing few people try this. Return wraps would just tear up. They`d be so swamped. I`m Carl Azuz. And we`ll see you later, alligator.

END