CNN STUDENT NEWS JANUARY 30, 2014 Why did President Obama visit Saudi Arabia? Why was this a challenge for the President? Who are the Friendship Nine? Why are they in the news?

1. Pres. Obama was paying respects to King Abdullah who passed away last week. Saudi Arabia is an ally of the U.S. and is fighting terrorism, but has bad record on human rights, women are not allowed to drive – this makes it politically challenging for the U.S. The Pres. did not criticize their human rights record, but the president said it is important to take into account our common interests, existing alignments within the Middle East – fighting ISIS, Iran, The Houthis rebels in Yemen 2. Friendship Nine-group of African American Student protestors who sat at a lunch counter designated for whites. They were arrested & choose their sentence - $100.00, or hard labor – they took hard labor in a prison camp. The convictions were vacated on 1/28/2014.