Happy Saint Patrick`s Day. Welcome to our
March, 17th edition of CNN STUDENT NEWS. I`m
Carl Azuz.
First up, voters in Crimea went to the polls
yesterday and overwhelmingly chose to become
part of Russia? The local government is sending
a delegation to Moscow to apply for that.
Russia welcomes the vote and will likely be
willing to redraw its borders. But Ukraine,
the European Union and the United States,
all say the vote doesn`t count. That a region
of Ukraine can`t just break away from the
rest of the country and become part of another
one. Ukraine`s been divided over whether to
forge closer ties with Europe or Russia.
Its former president favored Russia, but violent
protests in the capital led to his ouster
last month. Now, with the U.S. and European
Union supporting a unified Ukraine and Russia
supporting Crimea`s secession, the country`s
political future is unclear. There`s still
no sign of a Malaysian Airlines plane that
vanished in mid- flight more than a week ago.
But U.S. intelligence officials think the
captain and copilot might have had something
to do with the disappearance, that it was
not an accident. Part of the reason, the plane
stopped transmitting information at what one
official called the perfect place to disappear.
Investigators have taken a flight simulator
from the captain`s house. They are examining
that for clues. The search now includes 25
countries, the area is tremendous.
Take off from Kuala Lumpur 12:41 a.m. local
time last Saturday, Flight 370 headed north
along its planned route to Beijing. But then,
two communication systems stopped working
within minutes of each other. And investigators
now believe someone almost surely turned them
off.
At 1:07 a.m., near the East Coast of Malaysia,
the system known as ACARS stops transmitting
information about the plane`s operating condition,
and that was before the last radio transmission.
All right, good night indicating everything
was normal.
1:21 a.m., the transponder, which identifies
the aircraft on radar, stops transmitting.
Was someone trying to hide the plane? We also
now know blips then seen on Malaysian military
radar were in fact Flight 370 headed west,
and authorities say there`s every indication
someone was in control.
Up until the point, at which it left military
primary radar coverage, this movements are
consistent with deliberate action by someone
on the plane.
Still unclear, whether it was a pilot or a
hijacker. CNN has confirmed, the plane made
erratic changes in altitude. It was flying
what officials describe as a "strange path".
At one point, it appears to have climbed to
45,000 feet, well above its approved altitude,
then descending to 23,000. Now, a new analysis
of satellite information shows the plane kept
flying more than seven hours after takeoff,
much longer than previously thought. A satellite
searching for operational data from the plane,
detected the aircraft every hour in a so called
handshake, but no data was transmitted.
Its last contact, 8:11 a.m., somewhere along
this arc that stretches as far north as Kazakhstan
and as far south as the Indian Ocean west
of Australia.
Got some pretty tough sounding mascots in
our first "Roll Call" of the week. Who`d want
to mess with the (INAUDIBLE)? They are watching
from Monache High School, the (INAUDIBLE)
are in Portville, California. Then, what better
mascot for the desert than the desert shields?
They are keeping shy in high school. Awesome,
in north Las Vegas, Nevada. And you won`t
find these guys near a bird feeder: the War
Eagles. Waynesboro, Mississippi, glad to see
you watching in Wayne County High School.
Around this time, three years ago parts of
Japan were reeling from a catastrophic earthquake
tsunami and nuclear disaster. The tremor that
started it was the fourth largest earthquake
on record. And while the effects of all this
can still be seen in the coastal damage and
debris floating in the Pacific Ocean, a symbol
of hope is still standing.
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake strike the coast
of northern Japan, unleashing the largest
tsunami in the country`s history. Traveling
as fast as the jet plane, the wave reached
an astounding 132.5 feet high. That`s roughly
the height of Rio`s Christ the Redeemer`s
Stature. Over 18,000 people lost their lives.
Coastal communities were decimated, and the
most serious nuclear crisis since Chernobyl
ensued.
In one town on Japan`s northeast coast, only
a handful of buildings remained standing when
the water receded. A forest of 70,000 trees,
trees that have protected the town for hundreds
of years were lost. All that is but one - this
pine tree was the only one to survive the
massive wave. It became known as the miracle
pine, a symbol of hope for the devastated
community. When salt water threatened its
life in 2012, the 270-year old, 88 foot tree
was cut down, hollowed out and preserved.
It was then erected in the same spot, now
serving as a memorial to the tsunami victims.
Radioactive water from Fukushima is still
said to be periodically leaking into the Pacific.
100,000 people are still living in temporary
housing, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe said this week, he would not let the disaster
fade from memory. This tree won`t let it.
In the Southwest area of Lake Superior, part
of the natural border between the U.S. and
Canada, there`s a pristine chain of 21 islands.
They are called the Apostle Islands, the jewels
of Lake Superior. It`s a national park, rich
and everything from human history to natural
history. We recently showed you how a bitterly
cold winter crusted over the caves and ice.
Now, we are stepping inside.
Over the past few months, more than 100,000
people had journey to the northern tip of
Wisconsin, marching over ice covered Lake
Superior for more than a mile each way, in
a bitter cold. All because of what lies ahead.
This is crazy!
Dozens of ice caves, stretching for over a
mile along the coast or giving people an experience
of a lifetime.
That`s really cool.
It`s like walking into the Holy ..
While some of the caves are massive like this
one, which is called the garage, others .
It`s kind of claustrophobic.
Require some crawling.
Getting into the little one.
It`s well worth it.
Inside each cave houses, a unique icy masterpiece,
all courtesy of Mother Nature.
That`s a really weird pinkish hue.
The colors in there are really weird.
The caves which kayakers flocked to every
summer, are made of sandstone.
They are overlaying by a wet soil. There are
springs and sips. And so, these rocks actually
have little cracks in them. And so, there`s
a lot of water that is coming down through
and over the rocks and forming into ice formations.
The ice is starting to melt away in some spots.
This is the first winter in five years the
caves have been accessible and there`s no
way of knowing when we`ll be able to see them
again.
See, if you can I.D. me. I`m a nation that`s
about the size of West Virginia. I`m a Republic
located in Western Europe. My national holiday
is today. I`m Ireland, whose population is
just under 5 million people.
But around 34 million Americans say they have
Irish ancestry, and that`s part of the reason
why today Saint Patrick`s Day is celebrated
so extensively in the U.S. Here`s a by the
numbers look at the holiday.
Five, as in fifth century - that`s when St.
Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland.
16. According to the census, that`s the number
of places in the U.S. named Dublin, like Ireland`s
capital.
22.6, the percentage of people in Massachusetts
who claim they have Irish ancestor.
17.62 - the year of the first Saint Patrick`s
Day Parade in New York.
About 2900, the number of snake species in
the world, none of which are found in Ireland.
133 million, the number of people in the U.S.
who plan to celebrate St. Patrick`s Day and
finally, 83, the percentage of those celebrants
who say they plan wear green.
It`s like soccer, but it`s on a bigger field.
It`s like golf, but with a bigger ball. It`s
foot golf. And if you haven`t heard of it,
it might be because only a couple of thousands
folks in the U.S. are estimated to have played
it. The head of the American Foot Golf League
says it`s a lot like golf. The winner gets
the ball in the hole with the fewest kicks.
And since it`s got to be a FIFA number five
soccer ball, the hole is bigger than the golf
cup. That`s what a hole - looks like.
With less running than soccer and less frustration
than golf, it`s no wonder why folks want to
join that club. To give it a sporting chance
to put their feet to the four, to get a kick
out of going green and to say, they spent
an afternoon just kicking it. We`d love to
see you tomorrow with CNN STUDENT NEWS return.
