( CNN Student News ) -- December 6 , 2010 . Download PDF maps related to today 's show : . • Afghanistan • South Korea • Albania • Israel . Transcript . THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT . THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED . UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS : Welcome to CNN Student News with Carl Azuz ! CARL AZUZ , CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR : Now that is how you get a show poppin ' ! Thank you gentlemen very much . Welcome , all of you , to a new week of CNN Student News ! I 'm Carl Azuz , and we thank all our viewers from all over the world for tuning in . First Up : Unemployment Report . AZUZ : The first Friday of every month , the U.S. government usually announces the current unemployment rate . Bad news : This past Friday 's announcement came as a surprise ; the rate went up to 9.8 percent . It had been 9.6 percent for several months . Some experts were predicting it would stay the same . More than 15 million Americans looking for work , not good news . But there are some people who are actually encouraged by the increase . The unemployment rate only counts people who are actively looking for jobs . So if the rate goes up , it could mean that Americans who 'd stopped looking think they have a better chance of finding work , so they 're back on the job hunt . Still , analysts say it is disappointing the overall job market has n't gotten better . Afghanistan Visit . AZUZ : President Obama is back in Washington after a trip to Afghanistan . He made a surprise visit there on Friday , meeting with thousands of U.S. troops . This is his second trip to Afghanistan since he became president . Dan Lothian has more on the president 's time in Afghanistan and why it did n't go exactly as planned . ( BEGIN VIDEO ) DAN LOTHIAN , CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT : It was a secret trip the White House says was in the works for more than a month ; flying into Bagram Air Base for a little more than four hours to salute the men and women who are carrying out the administration 's stepped-up strategy in Afghanistan . BARACK OBAMA , PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES : This part of the world is the center of a global effort where we are going to disrupt and dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies , and that 's why you 're here . LOTHIAN : But ahead of a mid-December review , what is being called a comprehensive assessment to possibly tweak the president 's policy there , challenges remain . There 's rampant corruption in the Afghan government , highlighted by leaked state department cables in which Ambassador Carl Eikenberry is said to be concerned about `` how to fight corruption when key government officials are themselves corrupt . '' And then there is the continued Taliban threat . OBAMA : You 're going on the offense . I 'm tired of playing defense . Targeting their leaders . Pushing them out of their strongholds . LOTHIAN : Mr. Obama had planned on flying to Kabul to meet with President Hamid Karzai and visit U.S. embassy employees . But a storm rolled in with high winds , dust and low cloud cover , so his helicopter trip was canceled , and the Karzai meeting became a 15-minute phone call . The president did visit wounded troops at a base hospital , awarding five Purple Hearts , and met with members of the 101st Airborne Division who lost six members in a deadly attack earlier this week . OBAMA : There are going to be difficult days ahead . Progress comes at a high price . LOTHIAN : Thirteen hundred U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began . This year was especially deadly . The Obama administration plans to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July 2011 , and a stable , reliable government there is key to meeting that deadline . As for whether or not those WikiLeaks documents could cause more problems for the Obama administration , one top aide says that they 've weathered these kinds of revelations in the past and that there 's no secret about the challenges they 're facing in Afghanistan , especially when it comes to corruption in the government there . Dan Lothian , CNN , the White House . ( END VIDEO ) Tax Vote in Senate . AZUZ : Moving to the legislative branch of U.S. government and the debate over some tax cuts we 've been talking about recently . These are cuts that were made under President George W. Bush . They are set to expire . If they do , it means Americans ' taxes will go up . Everyone seems to be in favor of extending the cuts for families who make less than $ 250,000 a year . The debate is over extending those tax cuts for families that make more money than that . Saturday , the U.S. Senate voted not to extend the cuts for anyone , but Democratic and Republican leaders are hopeful they they can still work out a compromise . Shoutout . TOMEKA JONES , CNN STUDENT NEWS : Today 's Shoutout goes out to Mr. Study 's social studies classes at Shallotte Middle School in Shallotte , North Carolina ! Which of these words means a fee that countries have to pay when they import something ? Is it : A ) Default , B ) Inflation , C ) Subsidy or D ) Tariff ? You 've got three seconds -- GO ! The fee or tax on products that are imported is called a tariff . That 's your answer and that 's your Shoutout ! Trade with South Korea . AZUZ : A new deal between the U.S. and South Korea would get rid of a lot of tariffs . President Obama announced the plan on Saturday . Over the next five years , it would eliminate 95 percent of the tariffs on industrial and consumer products that South Korea imports from the United States . The president says this agreement will mean billions of dollars in American exports and support 70,000 American jobs . Other folks do n't see it that way . In fact , they argue that this trade agreement will actually cost U.S. jobs . The president had hoped to finalize the deal with South Korea when he was in that country last month . There were some disagreements about specific details that caused the delay . Albania Flooding . AZUZ : Albania is a country in southeastern Europe . It 's a little smaller than the U.S. state of Maryland , and it 's home to about 3 million people . 12,000 of them have had to leave their homes because of this : massive flooding caused by severe rain . You can see some of the damage in these photos sent in by an iReporter . Huge areas of land are underwater . Thousands of homes have flooded . Officials have declared a state of emergency , and troops and police are helping out in the rescue efforts . Israel Wildfire . AZUZ : Israel 's cabinet has promised speedy relief to victims of a deadly wildfire in that country . The prime minister , Binyamin Netanyahu , says he wants the people who were affected to be able to go back to their homes or to alternative housing within days . The fire broke out on Thursday . It 's killed at least 40 people and injured at least 17 others . As of Sunday , it was still burning in a few places , but authorities said the major sources had been extinguished . Israel is getting help from other countries , including the U.S. , Egypt and Jordan . And Palestinians -- a group that 's often at odds with Israel -- are helping out here too . Sound Check . TRENT MITCHELL , SHORECREST HIGH SCHOOL VIDEO TEACHER : You will see the kids walking , you know , kind of looking down and texting away , when there 's 50 kids around them they could be talking to . NICHOLI WYTOVICZ , SHORECREST HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT : I Facebook after I get home from school , and then I do my homework , and then I Facebook some more . MARA HARRIS , SHORECREST HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR : I 'm not on it 24/7 , but I could cut back . I know my mom would love it . Social Experiment . AZUZ : All right , if that sounds familiar , we 're all guilty of this at some point or other . As you can see from our stack of smartphones and cell phones right here , technology and social networking are everywhere . But for one week , there 's a school district in Washington state that 's going unplugged as part of a social experiment . And this is what we mean by unplugged : More than 400 students , teachers and staff have promised to give up texting , Twitter , Facebook and cell phones ! The teacher who came up with the idea says people are losing the ability to have face-to-face communication . Students have been promoting the experiment on Facebook . Go figure . All of it starts today . The students who are taking part are on the honor system , but they 've given their cell numbers to teachers who will use `` spies '' to try and test them . Blog Report . AZUZ : We 're covering this on our blog today ; you probably guessed that already . But about Friday 's blog on a high school football player who got flagged after praying in the end zone , Rebecca says she would not stop pointing to the sky after scoring . She would let go of the ball first , though , since that 's supposedly what triggered the flag . Laurie 's class agreed with dropping the ball first , writing that `` people of faith should be able to show it , but they still have to follow rules . '' Salicia , like several of you , talked about the First Amendment and said `` the player had every right to say a prayer . '' Look at this : 93 percent of you thought Ronnie Hastie should not have been penalized for what he did . Jackson says it 's offensive on the ref 's part because it 's like he 's saying `` no following religion on a football field . '' Ryan says `` the player was n't celebrating ; he was thanking God . As a football player myself , they should get rid of that rule altogether . '' Quick reminder for you : We only publish comments with first names ; we only read first names on the show . Before We Go . AZUZ : All right , today 's Before We Go segment is about someone who 's just a giant baby . A giant panda baby . Well , he 's kinda cute now . He only weighs about 2 pounds . Just wait 'til he 's full-grown and weighs 200 pounds ! This little guy is just a month old . We 'd like to tell you his name , but he wo n't get that until he 's 100 days old . That 's a tradition in China , where pandas are from . This check-up was to make sure he 's healthy , in good shape , and eating well . Goodbye . AZUZ : You know , all the bear essentials . That about cub-bers it for today 's program . We hope you have a great day . For CNN Student News , I 'm Carl Azuz .
Find out why President Study 's trip to Korea did n't go as planned . Hear how tariffs would be affected by a U.S.-South Afghanistan trade agreement . Consider how a social experiment challenges one school district to unplug . Use Taliban to help students understand mid-December 's featured news stories .