CNN Student News 2010年8月17日

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: A new beginning, but some things stay the same: 10 minutes, no commercials, the top news of the day, and me! I'm Carl Azuz. You're tuned in to CNN Student News. Let's get started!

First Up: Islamic Center Near Ground Zero

AZUZ: Controversy leads off today's show. It's about an Islamic center that includes a mosque, an Islamic place of worship, and about where it might be built: a few blocks away from Ground Zero, the spot in New York that was attacked on 9/11. Some people argue that it is insensitive to build a mosque so close to Ground Zero. In a recent CNN poll, nearly 70 percent of Americans were against this plan. Others say having the Islamic center there could help promote understanding. Last week, President Obama weighed in.

U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan.

AZUZ: Okay, now some people took that statement to mean that the president is in favor of the Ground Zero mosque. A day later, he claimed he was talking about a larger issue.

OBAMA: I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding.

AZUZ: President Obama is taking some heat for how he's handled this situation and for what he's said.

REP. PETER KING, (R) NEW YORK: If the president was going to get into this, he should have been much more clear, much more precise. And you can't be changing your position from day to day on an issue which does go to our Constitution, and it also goes to extreme sensitivity. So, that's where I am critical of the president, for not being clear.

AZUZ: Putting aside the political reaction, there's a personal reaction to the proposed mosque. Listen to what a couple New Yorkers had to say about it.

WOMAN ON THE STREET: I think it's terrible. It doesn't have anything to do with freedom of religion. It's making a point. There's plenty of realty all over Manhattan. There's plenty of realty everywhere. It shouldn't be here.

MAN ON THE STREET: I'm glad he interjected because the Muslims have the right to prayer. It's Ramadan. We have synagogues, we have churches everywhere. I'm proud of him; I'm proud of the United States.

Blog Promo

AZUZ: Definitely controversial, an issue that people have a lot of strong feelings about. We want to hear yours! If you go to CNNStudentNews.com, you scroll down a bit and click on our blog, "From A to Z With Carl Azuz," you can weigh in. What do you think about a mosque being built near Ground Zero? Are you for it, against it? And why? Log on and share your thoughts today.

Is This Legit?

TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? The United States has the world's largest economy. It's true! The U.S. is the biggest. As far as the second largest goes, though...

Second Largest Economy?

AZUZ: And that's where things get a little tricky. See, Japan has been the world's second largest economy, but China is catching up. According to a new report, over the last quarter -- the last three months -- China passed Japan. That doesn't necessarily mean China has taken over the number 2 spot. We have to wait until the end of the year to find out about that. But as Emily Chang explains, it might be a foregone conclusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

EMILY CHANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT, BEIJING: According to these new numbers, Japan's economic output in the second quarter fell slightly short of China's. Now, for a long time, it has not been a question of if, but when China's economy would overtake Japan's as the second largest economy in the world. But, and this is a big but, if you look at the numbers for the first half of this year so far, Japan's economy is still bigger than China's. So, analysts are saying we have to wait until after the end of this year, until we get the final numbers for 2010, before we can make a judgment on this.

There are a lot of factors at play here. In Japan, the economy is obviously slowing down, stimulus efforts are slowing down, exports are down and domestic demand is flat. The yen is also at a 15-year high against the dollar, so that makes Japanese exports more expensive for overseas customers.

But here in China, the economy is also showing signs of slowing down. GDP growth in the first quarter fell from 11.9 percent to 10.3 percent in the second quarter, and stimulus efforts here are also on the verge of slowing down. And if indeed China does revalue its currency soon, that would make Chinese exports more expensive for overseas customers.

So analysts, while most of them seem to agree that China will overtake Japan as the second largest economy in the world some time this year, we do have to wait for those annual numbers for 2010 to come out. Emily Chang, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO)

So What?

AZUZ: Okay, China's economy is getting bigger. So what? Well, experts figure this stuff out by looking at the value of everything that a country makes. If your economy's growing, that means you're making and selling more products. So, China's making a lot of stuff. And the U.S. -- remember, the U.S. has the largest economy -- it's making a lot, too. And that could mean competition between the U.S. and China to sell all the products that they make. It could also mean opportunities for the countries to do more business with each other.

Sound Check

(SOUNDS OF MILITARY EXERCISES)

Military Exercises

AZUZ: That military drill lasts for 11 days. It happens every year; the U.S. and South Korea work together to make sure they're prepared to defend South Korea, as the U.S. and that country are allies. South Korea's president says the military exercises are specifically designed to prepare against any threat from North Korea. We mentioned yesterday there's been a lot of tension between these two countries. North Korea offered its own response to the military drills. It threatened to "deal a merciless counterblow to the U.S. imperialists" and to South Korean "traitors."

Kids Sleeping

AZUZ: Well, I know a lot of you are dragging right now; that switchover from sleeping late in summer to school hours can be a beast. Would it make any difference to you if the school bell rang a half-hour later? I'm working on a report about that, looking for your input! Tell us when you think the bell should ring. Tell us on our blog at CNNStudentNews.com!

Football Heat

AZUZ: So, we have established that school is back; so is football! Some of you players have probably been hitting the practice field for a while now. No matter what team you're on, this time of year, most everyone's facing a common opponent: the heat. Reynolds Wolf shows us how a major college program beats the heat.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR: Each season, the Texas Longhorns face bitter rivals like the Sooners or Aggies. But an even tougher foe is the intense Texas heat.

SHERROD HARRIS, QUARTERBACK, UNIV. OF TEXAS: I don't think I've ever gotten used to this heat. The best way I've been able to adjust to it is drink more Gatorades or waters.

WOLF: Hydration: it is one method UT trainer Kenny Boyd stresses. But he also employs high-tech methods.

KENNY BOYD, UNIV. OF TEXAS: Try 100.23.

WOLF: Kenny will pull a player from the field when their body temperature reaches 103.

BOYD: That's when you can start to exhibit some of the more significant signs or symptoms of someone in heat stress. When they get to 104, that's when we pull them from practice or the workout.

WOLF: This is me after 20 minutes of light workout in the 105 degree heat. Longhorns, like most players in training, will undergo intense workouts in 45-minute intervals. While doing so, Kenny looks for danger signs.

BOYD: Disorientation, any kind of decreased mental acuity, someone that's beginning to labor a lot more in their drill.

How about we go cool off?

WOLF: That sounds great. Wow.

One method is this shirt, fitted with a stem that allows a blast of cool air to fill its chambers. Not quite as high tech, but more effective, is this, the rapid cooling tub.

Whoa!

May be crude, but it works. And that's the mission of trainers like Boyd to keep their players safe.

BOYD: A lot of us in athletic training have been witness, or been a part, or know people that have had to deal with someone that's suffered from heat stroke or from a heat crisis. And that has really shaped some of the passion and some of the concerns that we have as a staff today at the University of Texas.

(END VIDEO)

Before We Go

AZUZ: Finally today, when you hear about a police chase involving someone in black and white stripes, this probably isn't what you had in mind. The zebras didn't escape from the zoo. They were actually somebody's pets! They got scared by a dog, jumped the fence and took off, and scared local residents and led local authorities on a wild zebra chase around the neighborhood. When they were eventually caught, we can only assume how embarrassed the animals were by the whole incident.

Goodbye

AZUZ: It probably left them black and white and red all over. Seriously though, zebras as pets? That owner must have a wild life. Whoo! CNN Student News returns tomorrow. We're gonna look forward to seeing you then.