CNN news 2012-02-27 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-27

TINKER: First up today, authorities are investigating an accident that led to the deaths of seven U.S. Marines. It happened Wednesday night when two military helicopters collided in midair.

TINKER (voice-over): The crash took place during a training operations near a Marine base in Arizona. Arizona`s governor said it`s a reminder that no military mission is ever routine, whether it`s in combat or in training.

The two helicopters that were involved in the crash were a Super Cobra attack helicopter and a Huey utility chopper. The Marines on board were getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan, and that`s why they were training in Arizona, because the terrain there is so similar to what they would experience overseas.

TINKER: The tension in parts of Afghanistan doesn`t look like it`ll ease up any time soon. This, of course, is related to the coalition forces admitting that they accidentally burned some copies of the Quran, Islam`s holy book.

President Obama apologized yesterday to Afghanistan`s president for the, quote, "error."

TINKER (voice-over): Meantime, hundreds of Afghans have been protesting for days, sometimes outside of military bases in the country. Afghan officials who are investigating the situation have urged the protesters to avoid resorting to violence.

Two U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan on Thursday, and an unnamed official said the gunman is thought to have been acting in conjunction with a protest taking place outside the base.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this legit? The word forensics means the study of formal debates.

This one`s true. You might have heard about forensic science, but the word also applies to debates.

TINKER: And it applies to an event held in Arizona Wednesday night. Another forensic foray, if you will, for the leading Republican presidential candidates. They got together for the 20th debate this campaign season. And the last one before a bunch of upcoming primaries and caucuses.

TINKER (voice-over): Health care, the economy and social issues were some of the big topics the candidates focused on, and this was their first time Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Senator Rick Santorum and Texas Representative Ron Paul shared a stage since the debate in Florida about a month ago.

And it was the last opportunity the candidates will have to face off against each other before next Tuesday`s primaries in Arizona and Michigan.

TINKER: The eventual Republican nominee will face off against President Obama, the all-but-certain Democratic nominee. Yesterday the president was focused on another issue that came up during Wednesday night`s debate: energy.

TINKER (voice-over): This is something a lot of people are worried about, especially as prices at the pump climb higher and higher. In fact, the average cost of a gallon of gas is up more than 10 percent over the last two months.

TINKER: And during a speech in Miami yesterday, President Obama talked about developing a policy that includes different sources of energy, like oil, nuclear, solar and wind. The president said he`ll work to help Americans who are dealing with the rising cost of gas.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We`re going to look at every single aspect of gas prices, because we know the burden that it`s putting on consumers. And we will keep taking as many steps as we can in the coming weeks.

TINKER: The housing industry is one of the big factors that experts look at when they`re figuring out how the U.S. economy is doing. Now this much we know: home sales are increasing.

Good news if you`re looking to buy, but part of the reason for that increase is that home prices are incredibly low, and that`s, of course, bad news if you already own a house. Christine Romans has a look at where things stand right now.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, cnn ANCHOR: Home prices in this country are now the lowest they`ve been in a decade. Since November 2001, that`s the verdict from the National Association of Realtors. This is what home prices looked like in January of 2012, last month, $154,700 is the median price of an existing home in this country.

Take a look at how that has come down dramatically from the peak of $219,000 in 2007. Let`s move it forward, shall we? Zillow says last year home prices were down nationwide almost 5 percent. And this year they could go down another 3.7 percent.

That means overall, home prices are still falling. But look, all real estate is local. It`s different where you live, and there are three categories here: places where home prices are still falling, where they`re bottoming out and also where they`re starting to rise.

Let`s look at the zones that are still falling: Atlanta. This year, Zillow says, Atlanta home prices could go down another 8 percent and change. Chicago as well, down more than 7 percent. Seattle, Cleveland, Sacramento, St. Louis -- you get the picture. These are some of the areas where home prices in this country are still falling.

Where are they bottoming out? Places like Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Diego, San Francisco, you could see small, very minor losses in home prices for the year. But for the most part, there`s a feeling that in those places the worst price losses are behind us.

And where are prices rising? Because there are some parts of the country where very low mortgage rates and a washout of all of these foreclosures is providing some opportunity. Those are places like Baltimore; Riverside, California; even Phoenix, which has had a real estate crisis for several years; Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.