CNN news 2011-11-29
CARL AZUZ, HOST, CNN STUDENT NEWS: CNN Student News is back. We want to say hello to the 8th graders at Pinckneyville Middle School in Norcross, Georgia. We hope you and all of our viewers out there had a great Thanksgiving holiday and that you`re ready to dig into some global headlines.
First up, the Arab League votes for sanctions, a form of punishment against the Middle Eastern nation of Syria. Citizens there have been protesting against their government for months now, and Syrian military forces have cracked down on the protesters.
There are estimates that thousands of people have died and one Arab League official said, quote, "We have responsibilities, not only as Arabs, but as human beings to stop the bloodshed in Syria."
AZUZ (voice-over): One way the Arab League is trying to do that is with these economic sanctions. Nineteen countries voted for them. Iraq and Lebanon did not. Those are two of Syria`s biggest economic partners.
So there`s some debate now about how effective these sanctions are going to be if those countries don`t participate. Arab League officials say they`re trying to resolve this situation before other countries get involved.
AZUZ (voice-over): Next up, Egypt: the country has a new prime minister, but he might just be a temporary one.
AZUZ: Parliamentary elections are scheduled to start today, and the new parliament will decide whether to keep the new prime minister or not.
AZUZ (voice-over): Egypt`s current military rulers are fighting with protesters who are angry about how the military has been running things. There has been violence. But on Sunday, Ivan Watson said the mood seemed to be shifting.
IVAN WATSON, CNN REPORTER: The crowds are back here in Tahrir Square, a sea of humanity, really. And instead of selling gas masks like they were just a few days ago, when the bloody street battles were underway, now trinkets in patriotic Egyptian colors for sale.
Many people are calling this an extension of the previous revolution that brought down Hosni Mubarak, those protests in January and February that helped force out the former president. But part of the anger here is directed against the ruling military council that replaced him.
AZUZ: Our final stop in this part of the world today is in Kuwait. That is where thousands of American troops are going as they head home from serving in Iraq, which is right next door to Kuwait.
The U.S. is scheduled to pull all of its troops out of Iraq by the end of this year.
AZUZ (voice-over): Martin Savidge is in Kuwait. He`s going to explain the process that those men and women will go through on their way home.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN REPORTER: This is the main staging area for the convoys that have been coming out of Iraq and are in the process of going home. Most of these soldiers should spend about five to eight days here as they wait for the flights to return to the States, time to decompress, time to do the paperwork and time to do a lot of packing.
Remember, the president said that he wants all U.S. troops out of Iraq by December 31st. Well, just three months ago there were 50,000 troops that were in Iraq. Right now we`re told that number is down to about 11,000. But what it really means is that over the next two weeks it`s really going to be crunch time, not only at this base, but at a number of other bases in Kuwait.