CNN news 2012-01-08 加文本

cnn news 2012-01-08

AZUZ (voice-over): Straits are narrow passageways that connect two bodies of water. The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. That land to the north? That`s Iran.

AZUZ: About 20 percent of the world`s oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Navy also uses it to move ships through the region. American officials have dismissed a threat from Iran to close the strait. It`s part of the recent tension between the countries that Chris Lawrence covers in this report.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, cnn REPORTER (voice-over): Iran test-fired a new radar-evading missile Monday and announced a step forward in its nuclear program. Some say it`s Iran`s way of firing back at President Obama`s new sanctions, which could make it virtually impossible for Iran to sell its crude oil.

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: Iran is trying to say that outside pressure isn`t going to soften its behavior. It`s going to --

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Analyst Karim Sadjadpour has interviewed dozens of senior Iranian officials and clerics. The missile test followed Iran`s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, where 20 percent of the world`s oil passes. It also announced it had produced its own uranium fuel rods, all as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepares to visit Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba.

Some Republican contenders see a direct threat in Iran and its surrogates forging ties in the United States` back yard.

SANTORUM: I`m very concerned about the militant socialists and their -- and the radical Islamists joining together, bonding together.

ROMNEY: Right now, Hezbollah, which is working throughout Latin America -- in Venezuela, in Mexico, throughout Latin America, which poses a very significant and an imminent threat to the United States of America.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: Thank you, Governor.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): But some analysts say there`s little appetite for Iranian ideology in South America.

SADJADPOUR: We unnecessarily exaggerate the extent of Iran`s global influence.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Sadjadpour says Iran doesn`t have the naval ships needed to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. And it needs those shipping lanes as much as anyone. He sees Iran as more bluster than battle-ready.

SADJADPOUR: But there is a concern that the hardliners in Tehran will try to provoke some type of military attack on themselves for domestic political expediency, and that`s a trap which the United States and Israel should be careful about walking into.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s Shoutout goes out to Ms. McClain`s students at St. Joseph Regional School in Summers Point, New Jersey.

Where would you find the International Date Line? You know what to do. Does it run through the Atlantic Ocean, China`s Gobi Desert, the Pacific Ocean or the Sea of Tranquility? You`ve got three seconds, go.

The International Date Line runs through the Pacific Ocean. That`s your answer, and that`s your Shoutout.

AZUZ: Some interesting facts about the International Date Line: one, it separates days on the calendar. Cross the line, it`s a different day. Two, it`s made up. Officials decided where it should go in order to sync up time with the movement of the sun. And, three, it moves, like it did this weekend. You know how we feel about Fridays here on cnn Student News.

AZUZ (voice-over): One Pacific Island nation was willing to sacrifice a Friday and hop over the International Date Line. All it took was a little time -- about 24 hours.

Samoa: a Pacific Island nation about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand just skipped an entire day. The tiny nation jumped right from Thursday to Saturday. Here`s why: it switched sides of the International Date Line at midnight last Thursday. So at 11:59 pm on Thursday, Samoa was east of the date line. And then at midnight, it switched sides. So at 12:01 am, it was west of the date line, and it was Saturday morning.

The Samoan prime minister says the move puts the nation on the same side of the line as its key trading partners in New Zealand and Australia.

TUILAEPA MALIELEGAOI, SAMOAN PRIME MINISTER: We can now have five working days a week to continue and sustain our economic and commercial contacts with our business partners in New Zealand and Australia, China and Japan, and vice versa. Very simply before the change, we`d only have four working days out of seven days a week.

AZUZ (voice-over): In 2009, Samoa switched from driving on the right side of the road to the left to further align itself with Australia. So as of Saturday, Samoa was just three hours ahead of Sydney instead of 21 hours behind.

AZUZ: Before we go, surfing on waves is cool.

AZUZ (voice-over): Surfing above waves is awesome. This guy calls this device a flyboard. The water comes from a jet ski and then goes through a hose to a platform he controls with his feet. He added the hand jets for better stability, kind of like Iron Man.

He`s hoping to start selling these things later this year, but this was just a one-man demonstration. So if anyone lined up to give it a try, well, they got "hosed."

AZUZ: We`re sure once the flyboard does go into production it`ll make a big splash, or least it`ll cause some waves in the extreme sports industry. Well, it`s time for us to jet. We`ll see you tomorrow on cnn Student News.