Student News: Monday June 8, 2009

It's our final show of the school year, and as always, we thank you for joining us here on CNN Student News. I'm Carl Azuz.

First Up: Cairo Speech

AZUZ: We begin with President Obama's highly anticipated speech on American and Muslim relations. During yesterday morning's address in Cairo, Egypt, the president discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the importance of confronting extremism, and the war in Iraq. But his main point, and the goal of his Middle East trip, was to push for the Muslim world and the U.S. to come together.

U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap and share common principles: principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

AZUZ: So, the big question: how was his message received? Dan Lothian checks in from Egypt with some of the local response.

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DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: At a trendy Cairo coffee shop and in an old neighborhood grocery store, Egyptians put their afternoon on pause to watch President Obama's televised speech. I watched with them. Then came their reviews. Translator and tour guide Ahmed Seddik called it a good speech, but only if the intended audience is willing to listen and change.

AHMED SEDDIK, EGYPTIAN RESIDENT: It takes every Egyptian, every Muslim, every citizen of the world to capture that kernel of truth that Obama had.

LOTHIAN: Wearing an Obama hat that he picked up in the U.S., Ph.D. student Ahmed Abrahim says some Egyptians and others in the Arab world needed to hear more.

AHMED ABRAHIM, EGYPTIAN RESIDENT: It's a speech that a lot of mainstream people will probably like, but he's alienated people on the right and on the left.

LOTHIAN: Human rights groups, he said, wanted tougher language on democracy, while for the far right, tougher language on Israel.

ABRAHIM: He did mention that the U.S. does not accept settlements, but he didn't say, he didn't talk about any strategy for dealing with those issues.

LOTHIAN: In other words, what if Israel doesn't budge? A concern of store owner Ahmed Desouky, who's been in business here for 14 years.

AHMED DESOUKY, EGYPTIAN RESIDENT [TRANSLATED]: I was expecting from him more that he said, especially in the Palestinian case.

LOTHIAN: All agreed that Mr. Obama's speech is the beginning of a long dialogue to repair a broken relationship.

OBAMA: Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Shoutout

GEORGE RAMSAY, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Mr. McDonough's social studies classes as Philomath Middle School in Philomath, Oregon! June 6, 1944 is also known as what? Is it: A) Armistice Day, B) Pearl Harbor Day, C) Flag Day or D) D-Day? You've got three seconds -- GO! The famous date is known as D-Day. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

D-Day Remembered

AZUZ: That makes tomorrow the 65th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces from the U.S., UK, Canada and France invaded Normandy, France during World War II. It was, and still is, the largest seaborne invasion in history, and it marked a turning point in the war. Don Riddell sat down with a veteran who was there to discuss his memories of that fateful day.

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DON RIDDELL, CNN ANCHOR, LONDON: Jim Tuckwell was among tens of thousand of Allied troops involved in the Normandy invasion. He was injured several times during the war and was lucky to survive D-Day.

Were you scared?

JIM TUCKWELL, 1ST BATTALION, DORSET REGIMENT: Not really, no. What else could you do? You're in the landing craft, open and landing. No, at the moment, I wasn't scared, just thinking, "Will I get through it or not?"

RIDDELL: Do you think you're lucky to still be here?

TUCKWELL: I do. I got shot through the arm. And I'm stuck on the beach with a [???] mortar while my Jimmy, my mate, he'd gone up with the two cases of bombs. And I never saw him alive again. So, who's to know that if I'd have carried on I may have been in the same position as he was when he got killed.

RIDDELL: They talk a lot now about post-traumatic stress for people that serve and see all these horrible things. You guys must have had the same thing?

TUCKWELL: We didn't seem to have much stress. Alright, we were frightened occassionally. But if anyone had even mentioned stress we wouldn't even know what it was.

RIDDELL: There are still wars now, all over the world. Do you think world leaders have learned anything since your day?

TUCKWELL: No, they haven't learned anything. If there's not some control, it could be the end of the world with the weapons they've got nowadays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CNN Student News Anniversary

AZUZ: We have our own anniversary coming up in the fall. CNN Student News is turning 20. We want you teachers to take part in the celebration. So, over the summer, we'd love for you to put together some iReports with your thoughts on Student News: how you use the show, how long you've been using it. We'll look forward to your videos.

Your Top Stories

AZUZ: Meanwhile, you students can spend the summer posting on our blog, if you like. We'll be updating it while we are on break. You've weighed in on a lot of the big stories we've covered this year: the H1N1 virus, North Korea, pirate attacks. When we asked for your picks of the biggest headlines of the school year, you didn't let us down. Here are your top five.

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AZUZ: The dangers of texting while driving...

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 49 people were injured when the driver of this trolley rear-ended a stopped trolley. The driver was texting his girlfriend. This San Antonio bus driver is texting as he drives into the rear of an SUV. There were no deaths, but the driver, two passengers and the driver of the SUV were injured. All of these accidents were easily preventable.

AZUZ: Michael Phelps is back in the pool...

The Olympic champion was suspended after pictures surfaced that appeared to show him smoking out of a marijuana pipe.

MICHAEL PHELPS: Bad judgment and very stupid mistake that I made.

AZUZ: The unemployment rate is higher than it has ever been during your lifetime.

Chrysler, one of America's biggest automakers, files for bankruptcy in the face of serious economic struggles.

General Motors filed for bankruptcy after years of losses.

OBAMA: The challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easiliy or in a short span of time. But know this America, they will be met.

AZUZ: The country marked the end of one era and the beginning of another.

OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear.

ELIZABETH MANRESA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, WASHINGTON: An historical transfer of power in the nation's capital.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT, LONDON: Wanted: one island caretaker of Austrialia's Great Barrier Reef.

AZUZ: What could be the best job in the world.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR, LONDON: These were some of the other hopefuls.

APPLICANT #1, "THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD": I always wanted to swim with dolphins.

APPLICANT #2, "THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD": I'm trying to think.

BEN SOUTHALL, WINNER, "THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD": I hope I can fill the boots as much as everyone is expecting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Before We Go

AZUZ: I hope he can too because I wanted that job. It seems a lot of you get a kick out of the kicker video in our Before We Go segment. And, we can only assume, the glorious puns that follow. So, before we go, we're running through some of this year's favorites.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: The lighter news of 2009 started off with a story about a hedgehog and a boy who got his Christmas wish to have one. It was all downhill from there. Some Britons fought gravity and lost, all in the name of cheese, at England's annual cheese roll. A would-be robber fought this grandmother and lost, when she pulled out a frying pan and started swinging! Some Iowans lost a lot of time cooking up this giant pile of popcorn, though we hear they had a ball.

And some of you lost your appetites when we showed you scenes from a restaurant called "Modern Toilet," where everyone eats out of the can. They say the food actually tastes pretty good, though some consumers flush with embarrassment. This fourth-grade teacher seemed more committed than embarrassed when she went to eat worms! It was making good on a promise to ingest insects if her students got good grades. Even some of them might've wished they'd opted for pizza and hot dogs.

But if you can't eat hot dogs, you can still watch 'em run! Not all of the canine competitors at this event in Hawaii knew where to go, but everyone was a weiner! Some dogs would rather ride than run, and that's all right as long as they're big enough to reach the pedals! Riding from a Japanese TV show to YouTube glory, this guy clearly had no problem; just like these guys had no problem flaunting farcical facial finery! Everything appeared to go smoothly, except for shaves, of course, at this beard and moustache matchup. And it helps us end this report on a pun, whisker you like it or not!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Goodbye

AZUZ: Yeah! Beard puns. Hair today, gone tomorrow. On a serious note, we want to thank you guys for helping make this an excellent school year. Please remember to keep up with us on our blog and our Facebook page over the summer. Our regular shows start back on August 17th. Have an awesome break, and we'll see you in the fall. For CNN Student News, I'm Carl Azuz.