Jolie visits Syrian refugees in Turkey

(CNN) -- Actress Angelina Jolie met with Syrian refugees in Turkey on Friday and drew attention to the anguish faced by families -- and families torn apart -- by the violence in Syria.

More than 9,600 refugees are living in four camps managed by Turkey and the Turkish Red Crescent, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Jolie, a longtime goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency, visited the Altinozu camp in Turkey's Hatay province, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Syrian border, the UNHCR said.

"The people in this camp have fled in fear for their lives, and many told me they were distraught about the safety of loved ones still in Syria," Jolie said, according to the refugee agency.

Jolie met with one woman whose husband was killed. The woman fled to Syria late in her pregnancy and gave birth at the camp, the UNHCR said. Another woman told Jolie about her husband who was too afraid to cross the border.

A wave of Syrians have fled their country for Turkey to escape violence, including a military offensive in the Jisr al-Shugur area.

Refugees at Altinozu are housed in warehouses at an old tobacco factory, and they staged a demonstration at the camp in solidarity with the many anti-government demonstrations occurring across the border in Syria.

They held up signs that said, "Our military is killing its own people, please make it stop" and "U.N., help us please." People chanted, "stop killing children" and other anti-regime slogans.

The people in this camp have fled in fear for their lives, and many told me they were distraught about the safety of loved ones still in Syria.
--Angelina Jolie

"I appreciate the opportunity to visit this camp and talk to these families," Jolie said, according to the UNHCR. "It is a really complex situation and everyone needs to be doing all they can for the innocent families caught in the crossfire. I will be following this situation very closely and doing everything I can."

She also praised the Turkish government and the Turkish Red Crescent for their "tremendous generosity" to the refugees.

"The Red Crescent has set up camps really quickly and provided medical and other care. And UNHCR stands ready to assist if the situation starts to escalate," Jolie said, according to the U.N. office.

Jolie was named a goodwill ambassador for the UNHCR in 2001 and has visited more than 20 countries "to highlight the plight of millions of uprooted people and to advocate for their protection."

The U.N. office said her interest in "humanitarian affairs was piqued in 2000 when she went to Cambodia to film the adventure film 'Tomb Raider.'"

Jolie has won numerous acting awards, including an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her performance in 1999's "Girl, Interrupted."

CNN's Arwa Damon and Yesim Comert contributed to this report

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President Obama visits Poland

Barack Obama walks on the tarmac while changing Air Force One Boeing 757 to 747 at Orly airport near Paris on Friday.NEW: Obama praises economic and political progress in eastern EuropeThe president is in Poland, the last stop in his six-day, four-nation trip to EuropeHe visits the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial Obama attended a two-day economic summit in France

(CNN) -- President Barack Obama was in Poland Friday after wrapping up two days of meetings in France with other leaders of the world's top economic powers.

The president's visit to Poland -- the conclusion of a six-day, four-nation trip to Europe -- included a stop at that country's World War II Warsaw Ghetto Memorial and a dinner with Central and Eastern European leaders hosted by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski.

"We have taken great inspiration from the blossoming of freedom and economic growth in this region, and we're confident that will continue," Obama said at the start of the dinner.

"We want to be a part of that process of strengthening your democracies (and) your economies ... because we think that will be beneficial to the United States as well."

Defense issues were expected to top the agenda during Obama's time in Warsaw.

During his visit to France, the president discussed a range of economic and security matters with the other heads of the Group of Eight nations. The G8 includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy and Russia.

At the conclusion of the G8 Summit, the leaders issued a statement expressing support for the democratic uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. They also unveiled an initiative called the Deauville Partnership, named for the French city where the summit was held.

The aim of the partnership, among other things, is to promote greater integration for Middle Eastern economies on both the regional and global level. The leaders asked senior foreign and finance ministries to meet in coming months to forge a framework for the effort.

They also announced plans to help Egypt and Tunisia recover stolen assets, and praised economic political development plans in both countries.

"The aspiration of people for freedom, human rights, democracy, job opportunities, empowerment and dignity has led them to take control of their own destinies in a growing number of countries in the region," the leaders declared.

While in France, Obama held one-on-one meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

Obama told Kan that Americans were "heartbroken" by the devastation created by Japan's recent tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster.

The president pledged that America "will stand by Japan for as long as it takes for Japan to recover."

Kan thanked Obama for American disaster recovery assistance, and the two men agreed Kan will visit Washington in September.

Earlier in the week, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II hosted a state dinner for the president. Obama also became the first U.S. president to address a joint session of the British Parliament at London's famed Westminster Hall.

Obama's trip began with a stop in Ireland on Monday, where he made a visit to his ancestral home in the village of Moneygall.

CNN's Alan Silverleib contributed to this report

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President visits Memphis H.S. graduation

NEW: "I gave Barack Obama a hug," one student proclaimsThe president flies to Memphis to address students at a high schoolHe surprises them with a visit prior to their graduation ceremonyBooker T. Washington High was the winner of the Race to the Top competition"Don't Fail Me: Education in America " examines the crisis in our public education system and why America's financial future is at risk if our students can't excel math and science. It airs at 8 p.m. ET May 21 on CNN.

Memphis, Tennessee (CNN) -- A hundred and fifty-five Warriors from Booker T. Washington High School received a diploma Monday -- and a handshake from the president of the United States.

"Just a couple of years ago, this was a school where only about half the students made it to graduation. For a long time, just a handful headed to college each year," President Barack Obama pointed out in his address to the students.

The school's dramatically improved graduation rate was one reason the president came to Memphis on a cool spring day.

Booker T. Washington High is credited with a jump in graduation rate from 55% to 82 % in just four years through the use of gender-based classrooms and increased teacher effectiveness. Teachers who seemed to get more than a year's growth out of their students were moved to the core classes of English and mathematics as part of the school's educational innovation.

"Because you created this culture of caring and learning, today we are standing in a very different Booker T. Washington High School. Today, this is a place where more than four out of five students are earning a diploma -- a place where 70% of the graduates will continue their education," Obama said.

The president has set a goal of having the largest percentage of college graduates in the world by the year 2020.

Booker T. Washington is an inner-city school in a low-income neighborhood with high incidents of teenage pregnancy and violence.

"I gave Barack Obama a hug," happy graduate Markeshia McKinney said after the ceremony. For her success, she credited her hard work and not falling behind in her schoolwork. McKinney said she plans to take care of her baby that is due in a few weeks for the short term, and go to college in the long term.

Graduate Catron Roland attributed his success in school to his teachers, who he said pushed him to succeed.

"When I tried to quit, they told me not to, and to come to school every day," he said.

The students knew Obama would speak to them from the stage during their graduation ceremony, but the president surprised them by visiting them in their holding room prior to the ceremony.

The students, bedecked in green-and-yellow caps and gowns, erupted in applause and tears of joy when the president appeared to tell them how inspired he was with their accomplishment of graduating high school.

"A lot of you had to struggle to get here. Most of you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth," he told them. "What you have shown is determination, what you have shown is character, what you have shown is a willingness to work hard, and the ability to steer clear of folks that were trying to send you down the wrong path."

The students earned the visit from Obama by winning the Race to the Top Commencement Challenge, a high school competition in its second year in which high school students write essays and create videos to show how their school is innovative in education.

"In the face of all odds against them succeeding, they are succeeding. That represents the American spirit at it's best," said Kriner Cash, Memphis superintendent of schools.

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Obama visits WTC site, honors victims

New York (CNN) -- Six picture frames hang inside a firehouse in Manhattan, each displaying a photograph of a man who died in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.

"We always say never forget," said one firefighter from New York's Engine 23.

He said President Barack Obama's visit to New York was an acknowledgement of "what we're going through."

"This is what New York is going through," said the man, who didn't want to share his name.

After nearly a decade of war prompted by the horrific events of September 11, 2001, Obama traveled to Manhattan Thursday to meet with 9/11 survivors and lay a wreath at ground zero, four days after the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"I wanted to just come up here to thank you," Obama said in prepared remarks, after eating lunch with firefighters and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day almost 10 years ago."

The president visited with members of Fire Engine 54, Battalion Nine, which lost 15 men after al Qaeda hijackers flew two commercial airliners into the World Trade Center's twin towers.

"Obviously we can't bring back your friends that were lost," he said. "I know that each and every one of you not only grieve for them, but have also over the last 10 years dealt with their family."

The men of Engine 54 left behind 28 children, collectively.

The meetings with firefighters were private exchanges during which the president sought to mark an end to the near decade-long hunt for the Qaeda leader, officials say.

"It was a wonderful gesture, based on the news that we got of Osama bin Laden's death," New York Fire Chief Edward Kilduff told reporters.

"For him to come here to see the faces of those killed in 9/11," Kilduff said, referring to photographs that hung inside the firehouse of the men who died, "I think it really meant something to him."

In a pre-dawn raid in Pakistan Monday, a U.S. Navy SEAL team killed bin Laden, the shadowy figurehead atop the group behind attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, which left nearly 3,000 people dead.

"So it's some comfort, I hope, to all of you to know that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into Pakistan, that they were doing it in part because of the sacrifices that were made in the States," said the president.

"They were doing it in the name of your brothers that were lost."

Obama's visit to ground zero -- the former site of the World Trade Center -- sought to "help New Yorkers and Americans everywhere achieve a sense of closure with the death of Osama bin Laden," according to White House press secretary Jay Carney.

The president's visit included a moment of silence and a wreath-laying ceremony at the foot of the Survivor Tree, singed during the September 11 attacks and replanted after it was discovered beneath piles of smoldering rubble.

He was accompanied by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Port Authority Chairman David Samson.

In a seperate moment, Obama then hugged Payton Wall, a 14-year-old girl who wrote the president a letter explaining how she was handling the loss of her father, Glen James, who was killed in the attacks.

Meanwhile, camera-wielding tourists and news crews snapped images of the president's motorcade as it rumbled through Manhattan and later of Obama's meeting with the friends and family members of those killed during the attacks.

Onlookers posed for photographs with firefighters in what appeared to be a day of mixed emotions -- satisfaction at bin Laden's death, but renewed grief for what was lost that day.

Across the city, New Yorkers and visitors hearkened back to where they were on that fateful Tuesday. Others more quietly remembered friends and family who died.

"My husband's here in spirit," said Monica Iken, whose husband, Michael Patrick, was a bond trader who worked in the World Trade Center. "We'll never forget what happened here."

"I'm proud today," she said.

Former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time of the 9/11 attacks, did not appear alongside his successor during Thursday's visit to New York.

A spokesman for Bush said he turned down an invitation to attend, citing his desire to remain out of the public spotlight. The image of the former president beside firefighters at ground zero once became an emblem of America's resolve in the war on terror.

Meanwhile, Obama's visit to the hallowed site nearly 10 years later left many New Yorkers eager to witness the closing chapter for a man once considered the world's most wanted terrorist.

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