CNN News:美国最高法院将就同性婚姻问题举行听证会
A bailout worth billions, that the story that leads off today's show.
Hello, I'm Carl Azuz, last week, we reported on a problem, the financial crisis in the island nation of Cyprus.
Today we know the solution, EU, the European Union and Cyprus have worked out a deal, the country will get a bailout worth ten billion euros.
But Cyprus has to do something in order to get that help, for example, cutting the country's banking industry in half.
We're going to bring in Zain Asher now to talk about why the rest of the world has been paying so much attention on what's been happening on this small Mediterranean nation, Zain.
Hi, Carl, you've probably been hearing a lot about Cyprus lately,
in fact, that has been a big worry to people who participate in the stock market.
But why?
That might be your question, basically, Cyprus's banking system has gotten too big and is at risk of collapsing.
Cyprus is part of the Euro Zone, it's made up of 17 countries that all use the euro as their currency, much like we use the dollar.
Because these nations are all very interconnected through that common link, a problem in one can easily ripple to cause problems.
In another, that's the worry for the stock market, because much like the Euro Zone, the global economy is all interconnected too.
For example, when the United States fell into recession.
Back in 2007, many European countries quickly followed, that's because we're all rely on each other for so much, including things like trade, tourism and basic business relations.
The good news is though, the problems in Cyprus are not that big of a deal, a compared to if something like this happens, some place larger.
Like Germany or France, Cyprus is a tiny island in the Mediterranean, and accounts for just a small fraction of the Euro Zone's economy and lawmakers there were able to reach a deal on Monday to keep the banking system up and running, Carl.
Thanks, Zain.
Now, this week, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments about a couple of cases that deal with the same subjects, the same sex marriage.
It's a controversial issue, a lot of motion on both sides of it.
We're going to lay the groundwork so we know exactly where the court is starting from.
Right now, same sex marriage is legal in ninie states.
The ones you see highlighted on this map, it's also legal in Washington D.C.
Twelve other states have laws that recognized civil unions or domestic partnership.
In those states, same sex couples get some of the same benefits as other couples, but without full marriage right.
The remaining 29 states have changed their constitutions to include a ban on same sex marriage, so it's illegal in those states.
Those are the laws the Supreme Court will be looking at.
Today, the court is considering proposition eight, that was the name of the ban on same sex marriage California.
When it was on the ballot in 2008, voters approved the ban by a margin of 52% to 48%.
Now, keep in mind this is a court case, the Supreme Court is going to be looking at the legal definition of marriage.
On one side, the argument is that this is about civil rights.
"When we talked about the fundamental right as it relates to the consitution.
We're talking about those rights that we as a nation designated as being some of the most sacred of all the rights we can have and 14 times the United States Supreme Court has described marriage as a fundamental right."
The legal argument on the other side is that this issue should be decided at the state level.
"Americans on both sides of the decision are deeply invested in this debate on marriage.
We don't need a 50 states solution presented by the Supreme Court when our Democratic constitutions are perfectly capable of handling this issue, that's really what's the court is going to decide.
Whether is going to impose a redefinition of marriage about all Americans or whether we're going to be allowed to continue to work on this together state by state."
One example of how interesting some people are in this case.
The lines started forming last Friday in the snow to try to get a seat inside today's hearing, Courts ruling isn't expected until sometime this summer.
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