CNN 2012-01-08

 Straits are narrow passageways that connect two bodies of water.Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf 1 with the gulf of Oman.That land,to the north?that's Iran.About 20 percent of the world's oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz.US 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 Lawrance covers in this report.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.Iran is trying to say that outside pressure isn't going to soften 2 its behavior.Analyst 3 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 that 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' backyard.I'm very concerned about the militan socialists 4 and radical 5 Islamists,joining together,bonding together.Right now_which is working throughout land of latin America,in Venezuela,in Mexico,throughout Latin America which poses a very significant and imminent 6 threat to the United States of America.Thank you governor.Some analysts 7 say there's little_for Iranian ideaology in South America.We unnecessarily exaggerate the extent of Iran's global influence.He says Iran doesn't have the naval 8 ships needed to blockade the strait of Hormuz and it needs those shipping 9 lanes as much as anyone.He sees Iran as more bluster 10 than battle-ready.But there is a concern that the hardliner in Tehran will try to provoke some kind 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.

Today's shout-out goes out to Mrs students at Regional School in Summers Point New Jersey 11.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.
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 decide 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.One Pacific island nation was willing to sacrifice a Friday and hop 12 over the international dateline.All it took was a little time,about 24 hours.Samoa,a Pacific island nation about half way 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 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.We can now have five working days to continue and sustain our economic and commercial contact with our business partners in New Zealand and Australia,China and Japan,and vice 13 versa.Very simply before the change we'd only have 4 working days out of 7 days a week.In 2009,Samoa switched from driving on the right side of the road to the left to further align 14 itself with Australia.So as of Saturday,Samoa was just 3 hours ahead of Sydney,instead of 21 hours behind.
Before we go,surfing on waves is cool,surfing above waves is awesome 15.This guy calls this devicefly board.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,kinda like ironman.He's hoping to start selling these things later this year.But this was just a one-man demonstration 16.So,if anyone lined up to give it a try,well,they got hosed.We're sure once the fly board does go into production,it'll make a big flash.At least it'll cause some waves in the extreme sports industry.It's time for us to jet,we'll see you tomorrow on CNN Student News.