On this ninth day of February, 2015, welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS.
I`m Carl Azuz at the CNN Center.
A big meeting scheduled this week for the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.
They`ll be discussing the conflict in Ukraine. It`s been going on for almost a year now between
Ukrainian government forces who want closer ties with Europe and separatists who want
closer ties with Russia.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Western countries are united in support of Ukraine`s
government.
But while the U.S. considers giving weapons to Ukraine`s military to fight the rebels,
Germany says that`s not the solution, it carries the possibility of starting a conflict with
Russia, who`s been accused of supporting the rebels.
Months of fighting has killed more than 5,000 people and obliterated landscapes, cities
and a once renowned airport.
Nowhere has the fighting been fiercer in the worst war to hit Europe since the Balkans,
than here. Donetsk, once proud Sergey Prokofiev International Airport.
Ukraine`s army is still shelling here despite being pushed out of this former stronghold
two weeks ago by these Russian-backed separatists, themselves heavily armed.
This is their form of airport shuttle.
We`re moving now in an armored car toward the new terminal of the airport, territory
which the separatists have taken, but is still regularly under fire from the Ukrainian military.
We pull into the airport long-term underground parking.
He`s saying there are occasionally shells that are still landing here.
The fight for here killed hundreds, as Ukrainians used service tunnels to hold part of the complex.
The last call for passengers on this walkway passed months ago. These pictures from three
years ago showing how it used to sparkle.
Hard to imagine how, just six months ago, we were here flying out of Donetsk at this,
that was then a state-of-the-art international terminal. Just look at the destruction and
how this symbolizes how far Eastern Ukraine has fallen.
Mortars often fall here, so we move fast. They used to call this the new terminal, open
two years ago for football fans coming to see the European championship.
But that newfound European optimism has evaporated. The war here is entering a new phase of the
heaviest of weapons and the random shelling of civilians, in which victory has become
more important than its spoils.
Did you know that one of the nicknames for the state of Connecticut is The Land of Steady
Habits?
We`re sure glad Canton Middle School has a steady habit of watching CNN STUDENT NEWS.
It`s in Canton. Its mascot is The Warriors.
In Coconut Creek, Florida, between Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, it`s good to be part of your
day of the South Florida Jewish Academy.
And on the West Coast, in San Bernardino, California, hello to the Spartans. San Gorgonio
High School is rounding out today`s Roll.
Our next story today takes us to the United Kingdom.
From 1901 to the 1950s, its national and royal anthem was "God Save the King." But that title
changes depending on who`s on the throne. And Queen Elizabeth II took the throne in
1953.
Her power is mostly ceremonial. Britain`s governing and lawmaking authority lie with
parliament.
But the queen is a highly respected figure in her country. She`s had a front seat to
so much world history since the Second World War. She`s one of the world`s wealthiest women.
And later this year, she`ll officially become the longest serving monarch in British history.
With that kind of accomplishment added to her many others, why wouldn`t she want to
celebrate in public?
When Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne, Winston Churchill was still prime minister.
And in September, she overtakes Queen Victoria as Britain`s longest serving monarch.
Crowned in Westminster Abbey on the 2nd of June 1953. Since then, she`s received 12 different
British prime ministers, met every serving U.S. president, apart from Lyndon Johnson,
and had encounters with seven popes, going back to Pius XII.
She`s sat for over 130 patriots, launched more than 20 ships and conferred more than
400,000 honors.
The queen, now 88, has four great grandchildren, including her future heir, Prince George.
Accession Day for the queen brings mixed emotions. It`s the day she acceded to the throne, but
it`s also the day she lost her father. So she always spends it privately at her country
home at Sandringham, which is where he died.
Just The Facts.
The Crusades were a series of military expeditions that started in 1095 and continued for centuries.
They were organized by Christians and their goal was to stop the spread of Islam, after
Muslims had conquered most of the ancient Christian territory in the Holy Land.
Though the early Crusaders were successful, they killed tens of thousands of civilians
when they conquered Jerusalem. Ultimately, the surrounding Muslim countries recaptured
the land the Crusaders had taken.
Last week, President Obama mentioned the Crusades at the National Prayer Breakfast. And that
caused some controversy. First, the event, the
National Prayer Breakfast. It`s held every year on the first Thursday of February. It
dates back to 1953, when President Eisenhower established its goal of seeking God`s guidance
for the country.
Since then, every U.S. president has attended it. In fact, it`s usually highlighted by a
presidential speech.
That`s what brings us to the event from last week.
At one point, in front of a mostly religious audience, President Obama referred to history
in a discussion of the present.
Conservative Christians are up in arms about remarks President Obama made at the National
Prayer Breakfast Thursday about the Islamic extremists the U.S. is fighting in Iraq and
Syria and the atrocities that these terrorists are committing in the name of Islam.
Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that
during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.
In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of
Christ.
Those comparisons did not sit well with many in the audience, especially with Republicans.
Probably strategically and historically, the worst thing that a president could have said
at this moment, because of the existing crisis that is going on this day.
Former Virginia governor, James Gilmore, says he does not understand why the president felt
the need to equate ISIS militants with Christians from decades, if not centuries, ago.
The moment calls for presidential leadership. And instead, we got this -- this moral equivalency
that tried to equate Christian faith and Christian activities in the United States with the same
kind of brutality that we`re seeing overseas.
The president`s remarks came one day after a private roundtable at the White House with
Muslim leaders to hear their concerns about civil liberties and racial profiling.
I think he`s really trying to lift up this idea that Muslims add value to our nation.
Obama supporters like Christopher Hale, who helped lead Catholic outreach for the 2012
campaign say the criticism is just gotcha politics.
I think it`s important that Christians do reflect honestly on our history and see both
the good and the bad. I think the president was calling on us to do that.
But some religious leaders also took issue with what they say is an unbalanced argument
of moral equivalency.
I don`t know why the president wants to stand up and to -- to speak as though he`s in a
religious studies doctoral seminar at the University of Chicago rather than standing
up as the commander-in-chief and saying we have an issue that threatens our national
security.
Russell Moore heads the Southern Baptist Convention`s public policy arm.
It`s almost as though Franklin Roosevelt were to stand up and say it`s a date that shall
live in infamy, but let`s remember that we surprised the British at Yorktown, too.
Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.
Ignacio Perez is a photographer with the U.S. Navy. He says he is used to documenting aircraft
take-offs like those from aboard the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier. This was the
shot of a lifetime.
Perez was covering a 5K run on the ship`s deck when he noticed a change in the atmosphere.
So he moved to a better spot on the 115,000 ton warship and documented its bow as it steamed
through a rainbow.
It`s almost hard to picture until you see the picture and the picture comes into focus.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one is worth a pot of gold. We`re glad the
camera and the photographer were in ship shape, because it`s a colorful conclusion to CNN
STUDENT NEWS.
I`m Carl Azuz.
Hope you have smooth sailing the rest of your day.