CNN news 2011-11-05
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: On this day in 1983, Martin Luther King Jr. Day became a federal holiday. Other significant events that happened on this day in history are coming right up. I`m Carl Azuz. You`re watching CNN Student News.
First up, the connections between a financial bailout, a vote in Greece and global swap markets: the bailout`s part of a deal that European leaders came up with last week. It`s designed to help Greece with its massive debt.
AZUZ (voice-over): But the bailout comes with rules. Greece would have to raise taxes and cut government spending. And that`s something that Greek citizens have been protecting against for months.
Yesterday, Greek prime minister George Papandreou called for a national referendum. He wants Greek citizens to vote on whether they want the bailout and the rules that come with it.
AZUZ: And this is where the global stock markets come in.
If Greece can`t turn its debt problem around, this could affect the entire world economy. So the news of this referendum made some investors worried. Many of them started selling off stocks, and that`s why a lot of international stock markets dropped yesterday.
AZUZ (voice-over): Well, from Greece we are moving to Japan and a long-range plan for the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. You`ve heard of this before.
AZUZ: It suffered a meltdown after a deadly earthquake and tsunami back in March. The temperatures in the plan have come down inside the reactors. But according to a new report, it could take decades for the plant to become fully decommissioned.
AZUZ (voice-over): That`s because this is a long and complicated process. First, officials have to do a cold shutdown. The plant`s owners say that should happen by the end of this year, but it`ll probably take 10 years to get all of the nuclear fuel out, and probably more than 30 years to completely finish the cleanup.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s Shoutout goes out to Mr. Shea`s social studies classes at Berkshire Junior and Senior High School in Canaan, New York.
In the U.S. political system, what is the function of primaries and caucuses? Is it to help determine Cabinet positions, Supreme Court justices, presidential nominees or electoral college members? You`ve got three seconds, go.
Primaries and caucuses help determine presidential nominees. That`s your answer, and that`s your Shoutout.