Maggie: Hey everyone. It is Monday, January 26th. I am Maggie Rulli and Channel One News starts right now!
Let's take a look at headlines.
President Obama is in India today. It is a landmark trip that’s making big news on talks about nuclear weapons. And it is giving the Secret Service a massive headache as they try to protect the president on foreign soil.
The president and first lady landed in New Delhi, India yesterday on their three day visit to a country that hasn't always had the greatest relationship with America. But the U.S. and India are attempting to change that.
India's 1.2 billion people make up the world’s largest democracy. That's four times the population of the U.S. And India is seen as a balance of power to China.
President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced progress on nuclear trade, climate change, and military talks where the two nations can work together.
The trip is also a huge undertaking for the U.S. Secret Service, who protect the president. Thousands of agents have been sent over to India, and snipers have been stationed along the roofs of where the president is expected to walk today during a three-hour parade.
Next up, there’s going to be a close call with a humongous asteroid as it fly’s by Earth today. It is about the size of five football fields. And with really strong binoculars, you may even be able to see it.
Asteroid 2004 BL86 will zoom past Earth tonight, coming within 1.2 million kilometers of our planet. That's about three times the distance from the Earth to the moon.
It is about 1,800 feet wide, and for now NASA says don't worry, it poses no threat.
But asteroids that big, which come that close to Earth, are labeled "potentially dangerous."
An asteroid hitting the Earth is believed to be the cause of the dinosaurs going extinct.
Even much smaller space rocks can do a lot of damage.
In 2013, a meteor, about the size of a house, exploded over Russia with a force of 20 atomic bombs.
And last up, a volcano in Iceland has been erupting for months. And now, scientists say it is the largest eruption in more than two centuries.
The Holuhraun Lava field has been erupting since August and has caused several new land formations.
According to NASA, the field is now larger than the island of Manhattan. Some experts predict lava could continue to flow for years.
Iceland is located in a geological hot spot with over 100 volcanos. Scientists say on average, a volcano erupts every 5 years.
In 2010, an eruption in Iceland caused major travel delays. A cloud of ash from the volcano moved over Europe grounding planes and stranding thousands of passengers for days.
Coming up, the nation of Saudi Arabia has a new king. So, where does that leave the path of women demanding more freedoms and change? That's just ahead.
Top leaders from around the world are in Saudi Arabia's capital today, paying their respects to the late King Abdullah. And President Obama is cutting short his trip in India so that he can be there tomorrow.
This visit shows the importance of Saudi Arabia in the world today. And it also provides a look at this deeply conservative Islamic country and how it treats women, who have been demanding change for years.
In Saudi Arabia, this could get you arrested.
Madeha Al-Ajroush: The car for the Saudi women have become the symbol of wanting our voices to be heard and our needs to be heard.
Maggie: Saudi Arabia follows strict Islamic law. It is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving because the government refuses to give them licenses.
In protest, dozens of Saudi women have taken to the wheel and posted the evidence of their illegal road trips on the internet.
Activists say two Saudi women caught driving have been detained for two months and will be tried in a terrorism court.
But the right to drive is part of a larger fight.
Minura says the bigger problem is what's known as the male guardianship system, which means every Saudi woman must have a close male relative's approval to study, work and travel outside the country.
Minura: It’s like you’re in a box. You can’t live life in a box.
Maggie: Saudi Arabia is a deeply religious place where many people hold tightly to their traditions. Women are often separated from men, including at restaurants banks and at school.
Many hardliners even believe women's sports are a sin. It is still banned in public schools.
Lina Al-Maeena disagrees, and founded a women's basketball club.
Maeena: I don't think it has anything to do with religion. I really think it's just out of chauvinism, out of male domination.
Maggie: But Saudi Arabia has been slowing changing.
During the last Summer Olympics, Saudi women competed for the first time. Women now outnumber men in Saudi universities, and their government is encouraging them to join the workforce.
At Effat University, female students are planning careers in everything from engineering to film making.
Dean Malak Talal Al-Nory says her students have futures their mothers could only dream of.
Nory: It has been a huge change, huge transformation, in almost every way. It has been a change in the mentality, in the acceptance of women in the workplace
Maggie: The former Saudi ruler, King Abdullah, is a reformer who promoted women's rights even though he had to appeal to a very strict religious council.
Before his death, he ruled that women should be allowed to vote in local elections. And he decided that 20 percent of the Shura council, the body that gives him advice, should be female.
One of those women, Dr. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, is quietly working on a proposal to change the male guardianship rule.
Obaid: Men and women over 18 will be independent citizens of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They will make decisions about their lives.
Maggie: But many Saudis, like Um Seif, a high school principal, believe in the restrictions on women.
“Foreign women outside Saudi Arabia have more freedom than we do,” she said. “I don't want to be like them. From a young age, we’re taught that these are our customs, and we follow them.”
Ahmad Ibn Saifuddin: Women would like to go out more outside. It is going to affect the harmony, tranquility of the Saudi nation.
Maggie: The new leader of Saudi Arabia, King Salman, has a reputation that is less progressive than Abdullah. So it is unclear what the change in leadership will mean for the women of Saudi Arabia.
But what they all agree on, any change has to come from within.
Hoda Abdulrahman Al-Helaissi: I think it is our right to live the way we want to live without having somebody come from anywhere in the world and saying, you're doing this wrong. It's nobody's right to say that.
Maggie: And there are many other countries that also restrict the rights of women like with Saudi Arabia. You can check them out over at Channelone.com.
Alright up next, we are going to fly high with some students whose careers are really taking off.
Now, do you dream of soaring high above the clouds? Well, that dream could actually be a pretty smart career choice, right Scott?
Scott: Yeah. Right now, there are pilots needed in not just commercial flights, but also the military, for corporations, and even the forest service. So, what next if you want to be a pilot? Well check out a school that’s helping some students take off.
Just four miles from the roar of Hobby Airport, classes at Sterling High School in Houston, Texas are in session. Desks are empty, but inside Marvin Smith's classroom, students like Tachiona Smith are strapped in and ready to go.
Out her window she can see a digital downtown Houston. And she is in control.
Tachiona: When I get in the airplane, I just get this drive. I can’t believe it’s really happening. I can’t believe I’m really flying an airplane.
Scott: She is flying in a brand new, top-of-the-line flight simulator, found only in a handful of school districts across the country.
Tachiona: I know if I mess up, I can start it over. But in a real airplane you don’t have that choice.
Scott: Now students don't have to wait to step into an actual cockpit. On days when they don't get the chance to fly a real airplane, they can practice in the simulators at Sterling, logging real flight hours toward their pilot certification.
And at 17, senior Ronald Mejia has already earned his private pilot's license.
Tachiona hopes to be next on this day flying into Ellington Field, another Texas airport, while their teacher watches nearby.
Marvin Smith: They see it as big video game. But even though it is a big video game, they actually do get to hone their skills. So, they love it.
Scott: But it is no joke.
Tachiona: It’s really life or death. You have everything that you determines whether you gonna make or you're not gonna make it.
Scott: They are learning real lessons about what it takes to be at the controls. Looking forward to the day they are the one's being cleared to land at your local airport.
That's a new generation of pilots getting their wings Maggie.
Maggie: Pretty cool. Thanks a lot Scott. Alright now we are flying off and saying goodbye. But go have an awesome day! And we cannot wait to see you right back here tomorrow.
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