CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz. And this is CNN STUDENT NEWS where Fridays are awesome. Our last show with this school year starts with the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Wind and rain from Andrea started heating Florida yesterday. Storm was projected to move across the state an up the East coast. Andrea was a tropical storm yesterday, experts predicted it wouldn`t be over water long enough to strengthen into a hurricane before it made landfall.
Next up, there is some controversy concerning phone records. A British newspaper reports that the U.S. National Security Agency collects phone records from Verizon on the daily basis. The NSA didn`t comment on the report, neither did Verizon when U.S. senator said the program is legal, it`s been going on for seven years. A U.S. congressman says the program helps stop a terrorist attack in the U.S. But others say this violates and expectation of privacy. Another senator described it as government overreach, that he said most Americans would find shocking.
North Korea and South Korea would are talking about talking. The countries are planning to discuss the Kaesong industrial zone. It`s a manufacturing area in North Korea that`s right on the border. It`s also been a symbol of cooperation with North And South Koreans working there together. But North Korea shut it down in April as tensions increased on the Korean Peninsula. That`s just one the major stories we covered this school year. Here`s a look back.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At incredible 570 million, (inaudible) journey is coming to an end. NASA`s rover Curiosity is on final approach to Mars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Touchdown confirmed. We`re safe on Mars.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rover Curiosity continues to send back just spectacular images. Every day the picture is getting better and better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this time, we have began balloon inflation, capsule systems are green, instrumentation is green, payload is green and medical systems are green.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had tears in my eyes when I was coming back a couple of times, because you`re sitting there and you -- you thought about that moment so many times and know how it would feel and how it would look like, and this is way bigger than I anticipated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re riding around at 2:00 in the morning, and we`re (inaudible) people out of the water. And you see these people, these (inaudible) down the street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have National Guard now thank God, helping rescue people out of their home so there`s nowhere to go. There`s a very thick stench of gasoline in the water as well.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, R-N.J.: Right now, I`m much more concerned about preventing any other loss of life, getting people to safe places, and then we`ll worry about the election. The election will take care of itself.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between ages of five and ten years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them. Birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams. So our hearts are broken today.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We`re all united in the fact that North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power. The rhetoric that we are hearing from North Korea is simply unacceptable by any standard. The United States will, if needed, defend our allies and defend ourselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were banged out bad, severe lacerations, amputees, a lot of shrapnel. You know, there were pretty big explosions. They were banged -- a lot of blood everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today, the city of Boston, the city of Cambridge and the city of Watertown and many other communities can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that two perpetrators who caused so much pain and anguish are no longer a threat to our personal safety and to our communities.
AZUZ: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day above 15,000. That`s significant, but why? But for starters, it`s never happened before -- the Dow gives an idea of how the stock market is doing and the stock market is one indicator how the U.S. economy is doing.
There are buildings like this that have fallen down all over. As you come into this area here in Moore, Oklahoma, it comes in waves. First, you see debris on the road. Then you start to see that homes have been like sprayed, almost like power-washed with mud. Then you start to see big thing are missing: trees, powerlines are down, the street lights have stopped and then everything is gone. And you get to this point.
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AZUZ: We also covered elections throughout this school year from two of the world`s largest countries to its very smallest. In some cases, those votes signaled the change in leadership, in one the person in power stayed the same.
That`s where we start this look back. In the United States. President Barack Obama ran for reelection facing off against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Obama won the popular vote and the electoral college vote and in January he was sworn in for another four years in the Oval Office.
Jumping over to South Korea next, that country held its presidential election in December, the result was historic: Park Geun-hye, whose father had been president when she was a child, was elected a South Korea`s first female president. She was officially sworn into that role in February.
In China, the communist party controls the government, changes at the top of that party usually happen once every ten years. They are decided not by popular vote, but by a small elite number of party members. Xi Jinping became the leader of China`s Communist Party in November, and China`s new president in March.
Finally, Vatican City, headquarters to the Roman Catholic Church in March after Pope Benedict XVI retired, Jorge Bergoglio was elected as the new head of the church, which marked several famous firsts. The Argentinean is the first Latin American pope, the first pope from the Americas and the first to take Francis as his papal name.
(inaudible) can`t guarantee you`ll get a perfect score in our final news quiz of the year, but if you`ve been watching since August, you`ve got a pretty good shot. Ten questions to challenge your news knowledge. The quiz is at cnnstudentnews.com.
We cover a lot of serious stories, but you know we like to have some fun, some pun too. Sometimes we get to share that fun with you; other times it happens behind the scenes. But just because I`m not recording the show does not mean the camera is not rolling.
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AZUZ: All right take one, in three, two. Attention all networks, this is (inaudible).
The answer, 40 percent, and I`m not just talking about here in this cafeteria. That is across the entire United States. According to a new report, 40 - want me to give it a shot? In a minute?
Drop dead diva, they`re all shot around Georgia, all produced - darn it. In the blue corner, originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, checking in at 69 years old, Vice President Joseph Biden.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go for it, you`re good. Oh, OK.
AZUZ: What gym plays this? This is going to be like, (inaudible).
Wait, wait, and then the other part, the part that cracks me up is, now some interesting similarities between these two family men. Vice President Biden was first elected to Congress at the age 29. Let`s go, Biden.
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AZUZ: Jeez, I thought I was a little entertaining. Cardboard Carl was a little stuff. Ah, puns, some are better than others. Thanks to all of you for a wonderful school year. Thank you for sending in shoutout requests, teachers and I-reports, students for posting on our blog and our Facebook page. Keep up with us on social media over the break. The show is back on August 12, have an awesome summer, everyone.