CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: It is Friday, and it is awesome! Thank you for wrapping up your week with CNN Student News. I'm Carl Azuz. Your 10 minutes of commercial-free headlines start right now!

First Up: Nigeria Violence

AZUZ: First up today, trouble in Nigeria: The African nation is where some people are reacting to election results with violence. President Goodluck Jonathan says "enough is enough." He says the violence is bringing back memories of the 1960s, when Nigeria went through a civil war.

A little background for you here: Nigeria is located in western Africa. It has the continent's largest population: 150 million people. It's also Africa's largest producer of oil. The country is divided between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south.

President Jonathan -- Goodluck is his first name -- is a southerner and a Christian. He came out on top of this week's presidential poll, according to official results. International election monitors said the vote was reasonably fair, but politicians from the north say the election was rigged. That's when the violence started. People began rioting. Tens of thousands of Nigerians fled their homes. President Jonathan wants the violence to stop, but it's unclear exactly how he plans to make that happen.

Shoutout

MICHELLE WRIGHT, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Today's Shoutout goes out to Ms. Corrieri's social studies classes at Chenery Middle School in Belmont, Massachusetts! Which one of these terms describes the United Kingdom's form of government? Is it a: A) Constitutional monarchy, B) Federal republic, C) Parliamentary democracy or D) Military junta? You've got three seconds -- GO! In a constitutional monarchy, the monarch's duties are spelled out and limited by a constitution. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

Royal Wedding Anticipation

AZUZ: Catherine Middleton is probably learning about what her new duties are going to be. She'll join the British monarchy next Friday when she marries Prince William. You might have heard about princess-themed weddings. This is the real thing. Before Middleton takes on the title, though, or eventually becomes England's sixth Queen Catherine, Isha Sesay looks at the royal run-up to next week's nuptials.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: The flowers are blooming and the banners are out at Buckingham Palace. Following the changing of the guard, soldiers rehearse for ceremonial duties ahead of next Friday's royal wedding. Not far away, 200 British flags fly along London's Regent Street.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR, LONDON: What do you think about the flags, guys?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they're fantastic.

ANDERSON: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like the end of World War II. It makes me proud to be British.

SESAY: And wedding souvenirs are flying off the stands: flags, mugs, plates, you name it. Meantime, the Queen celebrated her 85th birthday Thursday by visiting Westminster Abbey. While she was there for an Easter-related service, the trip was also a useful rehearsal for her grandson's wedding. In a new video message, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the man who will marry the couple, describes them as "sensible and realistic young people."

ARCHBISHOP ROWAN WILLIAMS, CANTERBURY: They've thought through what they want for themselves, but also what they want to say. They've had a very simple, very direct picture of what really matters about this event.

SESAY: Prince William and his bride to be, Kate Middleton, have been keeping a low profile since a public appearance in Wales last week. But the future princess was spotted shopping on London's Kings Road this week, apparently picking up some new clothes for the royal honeymoon. Isha Sesay reporting.

(END VIDEO)

Stormy Weather

AZUZ: We're sure the Royal Family's hoping for clear skies for the big day. But this month has seen the exact opposite around parts of the United States. Many Americans have been dealing with this: thunderstorms, high winds, tornadoes, like the one you're watching now from Missouri. The South and Northeast just got hit by another round of storms that knocked out power, dropped trees, caused fires. Last week, more than 100 twisters were reported across 14 states. Sounds like a lot. But has this April been worse than other years? CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is here with the numbers. Jacqui, what can you tell us?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: It's sparked a lot of questions with all these numbers of tornadoes. Is this unusual to see severe weather every couple of days this time of the year? No. Is it unusual to see this many and this intense? Yes, a little bit.

Let's take a look at this map, and this will show you the number of tornadoes we see on average by the month. So, you can see very little action in January and February, March, and then we bump up quite a bit into April. So, the severe weather season is certainly underway. But most tornadoes occur in the month of May. That's when we see it, and then it tapers off as you head throughout the rest of the year.

Now, we're still looking at numbers, they are still preliminary, from the outbreaks in the last week. We do know in North Carolina, now, there were 27 tornadoes that were confirmed there, and that makes it the largest single day outbreak for that state in history. This map will show you our numbers so far, and the black line is this year. And you can see that black line goes above all the rest, and so this really is likely going to be an historic number of tornadoes this early in the season.

What's the Word?

TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: What's the Word for using science to analyze a crime scene?

FORENSICS

That's the word!

Clues to a Crime

AZUZ: Forensics can help answer the five Ws -- who, what, when, where, why --when it comes to a crime. What happened? When did the crime take place? Who was the suspect, or the victim? It's also helped launch an entire genre of hit TV shows. The reality isn't that glamorous, but it can be just as effective. Jason Carroll shows us some tools of the trade for these scientific sleuths.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The analysis underway on remains of victims of a possible serial killer in Long Island. Four bodies still remain unidentified.

RICHARD DORMER, SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE COMMISSIONER: Please keep in mind that this is not an episode of "CSI."

CARROLL: Cases in shows like "CSI" or "Bones," far from reality.

DR. LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, JOHN JAY CRIMINAL JUSTICE COLLEGE: What you see on television is obviously entertainment.

CARROLL: Dr. Kobilinsky, professor of forensic science, and Dr. Richard Li, associate professor, both at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. They don't need much to do their job.

KOBILINSKY: I would say about the size of an inch, an inch and a half.

CARROLL: All that's needed for them to extract DNA, enough to possibly identify a victim.

KOBILINSKY: We certainly can extract DNA from a bone like this.

CARROLL: They took us through the process. Clean bones brought to their lab will be made into a powder.

So, we start with this device right here?

DR. RICHARD LI, JOHN JAY CRIMINAL JUSTICE COLLEGE: Right. You can use either the commercial blender.

CARROLL: So, this is just a commercial blender? Because honestly, this looks very similar to what I think a lot of people may have at home.

Another device here works even better.

LI: It's called a freezer mill.

CARROLL: The freezer mill. Liquid nitrogen is poured into the mill. A bone fragment encased in a tube dipped inside for deep freezing.

KOBILINSKY: I'm sure kids have seen different things put into liquid nitrogen, and it freezes instantly.

CARROLL: The sample, brittle enough to blend into a fine powder. The machine uses chemicals to break down the powder even more.

Usually this part of the process happens overnight, correct? For the sake of television, we'll move on.

Dr. Li extracts a small amount of the mixture. Then, on to another lab for the final process where the DNA is refined for the result.

Do you, in some ways, feel like you're detectives, too? Because in a way, you're trying to find out who a person is from just a small fragment.

KOBILINSKY: I feel very much like a detective. Loved ones are lost, and so the analysis of the skeletal remains are critical and very important to the families.

(END VIDEO)

Earth Day

AZUZ: Okay, think fast: What happened for the first time 41 years ago today? Think green. April 22, 1970 was the first national Earth Day celebration! Roughly 20 million people participated back then. Today, more than a billion people get involved with Earth Day. That includes President Obama. This video from 2009 shows the president helping plant a tree in honor of the event. There are a lot of ways for people to get involved, but it's all about the same goal: trying to help the environment. In fact, that's the whole point of Earth Day: raising awareness about environmental issues. And here's an interesting fact: The same year that Earth Day started, the U.S. Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air Act.

Before We Go

AZUZ: Before we go, they say that laughter is the best medicine. If that's the case, then with this little guy, he must be the healthiest bird on the planet. This penguin is freaking out! But not in a bad way. It's just his typical tickle treatment. The Little penguin -- that's the actual species name -- has become an online hit thanks to this YouTube video. And while it may not sound like he's having a lot of fun...

Goodbye

AZUZ: ...we assure you that there's no pain goin' on. Man, I don't know if that worked. We were going for p...e...n...g...u...i...n; I don't know about that. Sign-off line from CNNStudentNews comes from Josh: Never skip school to go bungee jumping; it will get you suspended. Have a great weekend!

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