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CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: It's the last week of January, but the start of five days of commercial-free headlines from CNN Student News. Here to take you through them, I'm Carl Azuz.
First Up: Haiti Rescue vs. Recovery
AZUZ: First up, rescue versus recovery. That is the debate taking place in parts of Haiti right now. The country's government says the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit nearly two weeks ago claimed more than 111,000 lives. It's left more than half a million people homeless. Some officials say, now, resources need to be used for recovery: moving concrete and damaged homes; helping to fight the spread of disease. But thousands of people are pushing for rescue efforts to continue. Search teams have saved at least 130 people so far. On Saturday, a French rescue team found one man who'd survived for 11 days underneath the rubble of a hotel. There've been a lot of these incredible survival stories out of Haiti. Josh Levs joins us now with another one. Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carl, we love hearing any stories about people who have survived this earthquake, and this one really is pretty amazing. This is the story of a guy who managed to bandage up his own pretty severe wounds underneath the rubble because of an app on his cell phone.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
LEVS: You were in the Hotel Montana when the quake happened. Talk to me about what happened, what it felt like.
DAN WOOLLEY, COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL, HAITI EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: Sure. My colleague, David Haines, and I had just come back from a day of filming. We were just heading up to our rooms to relax, so we were in the lobby on our way to the elevator. And then all of a sudden, just all craziness broke loose. Convulsions of the ground around us, the walls started rippling and then falling on us. He yelled out, "I think it's an earthquake!" I looked for some place safe to jump to and there was no safe place.
LEVS: And as you talk, we're showing our viewers the transformation of the Hotel Montana before and after. So, you're underground, you're stuck there, and I understand that you used the light on one of your phones in order to try to find a place that you could breathe. What happened?
WOOLLEY: Well, actually, so there was complete darkness, couldn't see anything. And I had pain in my leg and my head. And I realized I had my camera around my neck, so I used the focus light on my camera to look around me. And I'm nearsighted and I didn't have my glasses, so I actually took some pictures and would look at the back of the lens of the camera, and saw in one of those pictures the elevator that I ended up hobbling over to, and that became my safe place.
LEVS: So, you got into this elevator shaft. And it's at that point that you figured out that you had serious wounds in your leg and your head; you were bleeding from the leg and head. You wanted to save your own life, and you used an iPhone application, I understand. Tell me about that.
WOOLLEY: Sure. Well, I just survived a major earthquake, and I really wanted to be rescued and get back to my family. And I was not going to let, you know, a mistake I might make trying to treat my wounds -- I have basic first aid knowledge, but not advanced -- and I didn't want to, in my disoriented state, just make a mistake. So, I knew I had my iPhone. I opened it up, and I had an app that had pre-downloaded all this information about treating wounds. So, I looked up excessive bleeding and I looked up compound fracture.
LEVS: You looked it up.
WOOLLEY: Later, I looked up treating for shock.
LEVS: I got it here, looking at it right here. I know it's going to be tiny on your screen, but I'm looking at it here. It's a basic first aid and CPR application that talks you through various things. And I understand what you did was you used this to make sure that you weren't going to hurt yourself, that you were going to do it right.
WOOLLEY: I knew I wasn't making mistakes, so that just gave me confidence to treat my wounds properly.
(END VIDEO)
The History of Haiti
AZUZ: We've been talking a lot about what's going on in Haiti right now. If you want to learn about the history of this Caribbean nation, though, we want you to head to the Spotlight section at CNNStudentNews.com. There, you'll find a report from Christiane Amanpour that explores Haiti's history and some of the political unrest that this country's gone through.
Word to the Wise
TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: A Word to the Wise...
arbitration (noun) a proceeding in which a judge or agency decides the result of a controversy
source: www.m-w.com
AZUZ: Arbitration is where hundreds of car dealerships are heading to see if they can stay open for business. This is connected to the struggles of the U.S. auto industry. When General Motors and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy, they announced that they were shutting down nearly 3,000 dealerships, and that was a move that left some dealers stunned.
COLLEEN MCDONALD, FORMER PRESIDENT, HOLIDAY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP: I can't believe what's happened. You know, we're sitting here in my showroom that's freezing cold, as you can see, no heat on and no one's around, no cars. And we're just here, left to try to pick up the pieces and see what we can do in the future.
AZUZ: What they can do is file for arbitration. The deadline is today. As of Friday, about 900 dealerships had filed, but that doesn't guarantee they're going to stay open. The arbitrator, the one who makes the decision, has to evaluate the individual businesses. Plus, this process costs money, and dealerships will have to pay some of those arbitration costs before they find out their fate.
Dealing With Debt
AZUZ: President Obama wants to create a group that would recommend ways to reduce the government's debt. Currently, the government owes over $12 trillion and counting. The commission that tackles that would include a handful of both Democrats and Republicans. But first, it has to be approved by Congress. No guarantees there. And some people think the commission would have too much power to deal with the problem because its recommendations would require only a yes-or-no vote from the House and Senate.
There are two main ways to deal with debt: reduce government spending and raise taxes. Recommending a cut in what the government spends on Social Security, for example, won't fly with some Democrats, while recommending a tax increase won't fly with some Republicans. So, you can see the challenges in getting this off the ground.
State Of The Union Promo
AZUZ: "Madame Speaker, the President of the United States!" That's what you'll hear this Wednesday in reference to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. President Obama is heading to Capitol Hill to deliver the State of the Union address, and CNN's coverage starts at 8 p.m. ET that night. The speech is scheduled to begin at 9, so tune in, check that out.
Blog Report
AZUZ: One subject we are sure the president will talk about: the economy. And you're talking about it too. We asked what you thought about the health care debate after Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate, and the economy came up many times in your answers.
Ivanka says, "Health care definitely isn't as important as getting our economy up and going again." Vipul says, "Health care is second for me because the status of Americans depends on the economy." Kristina feels that, "[Lawmakers] need to fix the economy first, then work on getting a national health care system." Gabriel writes "we need our economy back on track so people can get money to pay for health care." And Skyler thinks "that health care reform is important," but agrees that "we should fix the economy first."
Stock Market Dip
AZUZ: Investors may be hoping for a turn-around on Wall Street this week, because last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average -- it gives an idea of how the whole stock market is doing -- it dropped around 4 percent. That is the worst week for the Dow since March of last year. Experts say the dropoff might've been caused by three things. One: uncertainty about whether the Senate will approve a second term for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Two: questions about President Obama's bank plan and what it might mean for bank loans.
AZUZ: And three: concerns about China and reports that that country has asked banks to lend less money out this year. Now, you might wonder how China's economy can impact the rest of the world. Jim Boulden uses a visual aid to help explain the answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's all very simple: Of all the G-20 countries, China is once again the fastest expanding economy in the world. Money is being pumped into the economy across all the major sectors, especially construction. International investors now see the best returns in China, so are pouring in funds, hoping to ride this rising tide of growth.
When there is such demand, the worry about the classic bubble begins, fueled by excess leverage and easy debts. The Chinese authorities have tried to take some air out of this bubble by raising bank liquidity requirements and short-term rates. These small actions have already had the market squealing in protest. At the moment, China remains the best game in town, of course, and hot air keeps this balloon expanding. But if the doomsayers are right and this rapid growth isn't tempered, well, we all know how that scenario will end. (Balloon Pops)
(END VIDEO)
Before We Go
AZUZ: Okay, before we go, there's just no introduction to this; just watch it: a water skiing squirrel who apparently wants to show off a little by clapping for herself! The crowd looks like it doesn't know whether to be amazed or whether they're getting punk'd. But Twiggy -- the squirrel's name is Twiggy -- is totally real. And she's very safety conscious in her little life vest. In fact, Twiggy travels the world to promote water safety. She makes sure to enjoy her time in the spotlight.
Goodbye
AZUZ: 'Cause you just never know when her career will be all washed up. Just like today's show. We'll be back with a new one tomorrow! See you then.