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News Item 1
Many people in Japan have been forced to leave their homes. Japanese media report that 450,000
people—half a million—are living in shelters like this evacuation center that was set up inside a junior high
school’s gym. Many others are trying to get out of Japan entirely. Kyung Lah shows us the packed scene at
Tokyo’s airports and the deserted streets of downtown.
News Item 2
Investigators in Winnipeg have compiled evidence that two Canadian citizens conspired to travel to
Pakistan for terrorist training. There is also evidence that they planned subsequently to join the insurgency
against NATO forces in Afghanistan. Arrest warrants have been issued for Ferid Ahmed Imam, aged 30,
and Maiwand Yar, aged 27. As the current whereabouts of Yar and Ahmed are unknown, these charges have
been laid in absentia.
News Item 3
Rescue crews are spread out all over northern Japan trying to reach survivors of the quake and
tsunami. But rescuers are facing obstacles as well. Obviously, they have to work around all the rubble and
the fooding you see here. But they’re also dealing with aftershocks. And the weather is supposed to get
worse, which could in itself cause problems. There are scenes of incredible rescues taking place. A sixty-
year-old man was swept out to sea, along with his house. He managed to hold on to part of his roof, and a
Japanese naval ship found him foating nine miles off the coast.
News Item 4
The nation of Japan is reeling today, trying to recover from a devastating natural disaster. The
earthquake hit the island nation on Friday. It registered a magnitude of 8.9. That makes it the most powerful
quake to hit Japan in at least 100 years. There were reports over the weekend that the quake moved the
main island of Japan—the entire island—by 8 feet!
News Item 5
And this is what it left behind: scenes of destruction. On Sunday, offcials estimated that more than
1,500 people had been killed; more than 1,900 injured; more than 1,500 more missing. Those estimates
all expected to go up. And the worst may not be over. Witnesses have reported feeling aftershocks. And
scientists in Japan say that there’s a strong chance of another quake, one with a magnitude of 7.0 or higher,
hitting in the next few days.
News Item 6
One of the people who testified during yesterday’s hearings was Representative Keith Ellison, the 2
frst Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress. He acknowledged that some Muslims are responsible for violent
actions. But he said you can’t blame an entire community for the evil of some individuals. He got especially
emotional talking about a Muslim paramedic and police cadet who died trying to help others during the
9/11 terrorist attacks.
News Item 7
Water is the key ingredient in efforts to avoid a nuclear meltdown at a power plant in Japan. The
workers at
the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are trying to cool down the fuel rods inside the nuclear
reactors. The normal cooling systems aren’t working. So, engineers are using fre trucks and police water
cannons to try to attack the problem from the ground. Using military helicopters to drop water from the
sky. Thursday, authorities said these efforts had been “somewhat effective”. That was based on the steam
coming out of the reactors and on the lower levels of radioactivity around the plant.
News Item 8
President Obama using this first-ever White House anti-bullying summit as a forum to try to bring
attention to this very, very diffcult issue and say, look, for too long there have been students all around the
country who have just accepted it, that they were going to get picked on, that they were going to be bullied,
be the subject of assaults and violence and that it was sort of a rite of passage for kids. The president says
that given all these tragic incidents where some kids have committed suicide over bullying, he says it’s time
for all of this to end, for schools to have higher standards.
News Item 9
In central Florida an eleven year old girl woke up in her own bed this morning and that’s reason to
celebrate, that’s because she had actually vanished into an alligator infested swamp area on Friday only to
be found yesterday alive and well, it’s an incredible story. She’s lucky.
News Item 10
President Obama has a new strategy that answers the astronavigational questions. He talked about it in
a speech at the Kennedy Space Center yesterday. The president says he is 100 percent committed to NASA
and its mission. He’s proposing that the agency get an additional $6 billion over the next 5 years, with a
goal of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s.
News Item 11
President Obama is asking Wall Street to be part of his efforts to reform Wall Street. The president
and members of Congress are looking at the ways to protect the U.S. economy from another fnancial
crisis. Yesterday, President Obama took his message to New York, to Wall Street. He’s pushing a bill
that is being debated in the Senate right now and he explained why he wants the fnancial industry to get
behind it.3
News Item 12
More than 10,000 fights have been canceled since last weekend’s blizzard dumped 20 inches of snow
on New York, bringing air traffc to a standstill from coast to coast. And with airline phone lines, Web sites
and reservation agents overloaded, re-booking those fights has been a nightmare. Imagine calling desperate
for help, only to get this message.
News Item 13
Experts believe, in some cases, airlines didn’t want to gamble that the weather would put them at risk
of being fned under the passenger bill of rights for keeping domestic fights waiting on the tarmac more
than three hours. The fnes are extremely high, $27,500 per passenger delayed more
than three hours. It
means for a fight with 200 passengers, it may be over $5 million per airplane, per occurrence.
News Item 14
Emergency workers were trying to get food and supplies to the people there. But it is foods that have
closed down every highway leading into the city. And get this: The regional airport was shut down on
Sunday, and offcials say it could be closed for weeks. Rock Hampton is home to around 75,000 people,
but thousands of them don’t have homes any more. Flood waters destroyed the houses. The fooding is also
being blamed for several deaths.
News Item 15
Egypt, where that country’s president is urging his people to stand together “in the face of terrorism”.
What he’s talking about is an attack on a Christian church that happened on New Year’s Eve. At least 21
people were killed. Nearly 100 others were injured. Christians make up less than 10 percent of Egypt’s
population. And as Ben Wedeman explains, this attack is making what was already a tense situation even
worse.
News Item 16
Two million spot fish, most of them are young, have been piling up on the shores. Early testing
suggests natural causes are playing, namely cold waters stress, a conditional cause by water temperatures
rapidly dropping below the species’ tolerant level. Large winter kills of spot have happened in the area at
least twice before. The last one was in January of 1980.
News Item 17
The state of Queensland was preparing to move from crisis to recovery when the situation deteriorated
sharply. The death toll is expected to rise from fash fooding in the town of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane,
with dozens of people still missing. Locals describe a wall of water that rushed through the town with pretty
much no warning. Cars were tossed about, buildings and structures moved. People swept away. The state
capital, Brisbane, is now under threat. The Brisbane River has broken its banks. More than 30 suburbs have
been warned that they will be fooded a total of more than 6,000 homes.4
News Item 18
On February the 3rd, Verizon Wireless existing customers are going to have an exclusive opportunity
to pre-order the iPhone 4 online ahead of general availability. One week later, on February 10th, the iPhone
4 will launch to everyone at Verizon Wireless online, Verizon Wireless stores as well as at Apple stores and
Apple online. The price is going to be 199.99 for the 16 gig device, and 299.99 for the 32 gig device, with a
two-year contract.
News Item 19
The parents of the accused Tucson shooter are breaking their silence. Jared Loughery’s mom and dad
have been in seclusion since the weekend shooting, but now they have penned a statement saying they’re
just as perplexed as everyone else, saying this, “We don’t understand why this happened. It may not make
any difference but we wish that we could change the heinous events of Saturday. We care very deeply a
bout
the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss.” Six people died in the weekend shooting,
14 others are hurt including Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford. Now friends of the Loughery family are
speaking up saying Jared was a good kid but something changed.
News Item 20
This morning, Haitians gathered at what remains of Notre Damn Cathedral to celebrate mash on this
somber occasion. One year has now passed since the earth shook Port-au Prince. The earthquake killed
