CNN 2012-03-29

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First up, the first arguments about President Obama’s health care reform law. The U.S. Supreme¹ Court started hearing the case yesterday. While the legal discussion was going on inside, protests were happening outside. Supporters and critics gathered right in front of the U.S. Supreme Court expressed their views for and against the health care law. Cameras aren’t allowed inside the Supreme Court. But CNN’s senior legal analyst², Jeffrey Toobin, was inside the courtroom. He talked yesterday about what was specifically argued in front of the justices. 

 

And the issue to be discussed today was actually very discrete³, very limited. It was is this whole case premature⁴ in this point? As many people know, the Affordable⁵ Care Act, Obamacare, if you prefer, doesn’t go fully⁶ into effect until 2014. And a couple of judges who’ve reviewed it and said, look, because the law doesn’t go into effect for a couple years, we don’t think we should deal with the issue. That’s the question that was before the court. And I think through the justices’ questions, we could see clearly that they were not buying that argument. They felt that now is the time to deal with the law, now is the time to weigh the constitutionality. So I think that much about the argument is clear. That just raised the stakes for tomorrow when they will hear arguments on whether the law is, in fact, constitutional. 

 

While the highest part of the judicial⁷ branch of government is hearing that case in Washington, the head of the executive branch is in South Korea. President Obama’s there for the Nuclear Safety Conference we told you about yesterday. But he’s also been talking about North Korea’s plan to test fire a rocket next month. That rocket moved on the launch pad Monday. President Obama has warned North Korea not to launch it. The issue came up during the president’s meeting with other world leaders, like Chinese President Hu Jintao, who’s sitting across from President Obama here. 

 

See if you can ID me. My title has been given to only 265 people. I’m a religious leader who is elected for life. I’m the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and the world’s smallest independent country, Vatican City. I’m the pope, and the current pope, Benedict XVI, was elected to the office in 2005. 

 

This week, Pope Benedict XVI is visiting a country that was officially atheist⁸ for a long time: Cuba. A majority of Cuba’s population is Roman Catholic, but the country’s Communist government restricted religious freedom there for decades. It’s something that Pope Benedict mentioned before his visit. Some analysts⁹ are wondering if it’ll be part of his message when he speaks directly to the Cuban people. Cuba is actually the second stop on the pope’s trip, though. First, he spent time in Mexico, another country with a large Catholic population. Rafael Romo was there for Pope Benedict’s visit and he filed this report. 

 

They came from the north and from the south, waving the Mexican colors along with Vatican flag. It’s not every day that you get to attend a mass celebrated¹⁰ by a pope and they didn’t want to miss the opportunity. 

 

Looking around all the people, it’s amazing how they come to visit the pope and to hear his message. I’m very, very happy. 

 

David Gutirrez came from Mexico City to greet Pope Benedict XVI. He and his girlfriend, Blanca Lopez, were among the thousands who spent the night waving at this park. 

 

And this is the moment millions of Mexican Catholics have been waiting for, Pope Benedict XVI, is finally here at Guanajuato’s Bicentennial Park. And as you can imagine, the level of excitement is very, very high. 

 

The pope, sometimes perceived as distant, wore a broad brimmed sombrero, a tradition in Mexico. In his sermon, he urged Mexicans to rely on their faith in the battle to get rid of poverty and the violence caused by drug trafficking, violence blamed for more than 47,000 deaths in the past five years. 

 

It helps us as well to look inside the human heart, especially at this moment of sorrow and also hope that Mexican people and other Latin American nations are going through. 

 

Church officials estimate as many as half a million people attended the pope’s mass. Rafael Romo, CNN, Silao, Mexico. 

 

Two hours and 36 minutes, that’s how long it took award winning movie director James Cameron to reach the deepest point on Earth. We’re talking about the Challenger Deep. It’s part of the Mariana Trench¹¹ out in the Pacific Ocean. And Cameron is the first person to go there alone. Now there were a couple problems he had with the machinery¹², he was unable to bring back samples from the bottom of the ocean, but what you see here is file footage of Cameron and the one-man sub he traveled in. He described Challenger Deep as quote: “a completely alien world, devoid¹³ of sunlight.” But Cameron also said he’s already making plans to go back.

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