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STUDENT NEWS

Gas Prices Reach $3.54 a Gallon; Controversy Surrounds Beitar Football Club in Jerusalem

Aired February 6, 2013 - 04:00:00   ET

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


CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I`m Carl Azuz. Have you seen gas prices lately? The average cost, $3.54 per gallon in the U.S., that`s 18 cents higher than it was last week. And if you take a car whose gas tank is around, say, 18 gallons that adds up to more than $60 for fillup. So imagine spending that every week. On Twitter, Kody told me that as a senior, the majority of any money I make goes straight to gas. Faith says that using the heat burns off gas faster! "Winter is lame!" We`ve got you covered, though.

You don`t need a hybrid to save money on gas, but you do need to slow down. So, tip one is, don`t do 80. Besides the fact that`s illegal in most places, your engine has to burn more fuel to handle high speeds. So, slow saves dough.

Tip two, get pumped. A lot of cars out there are driving on deflated tires, which increases friction and decreases fuel efficiency. So keep your car`s shoes where they say they should be -- at the recommended pounds per square inch or psi. Also, make sure your wheels are aligned properly. That will save you both on tires and gas, keeping your engine from working so hard.

Three, lighten up. You`re getting worse gas mileage with all that junk in your trunk. Now, I mean that literally. Gulf clubs, horse shoes, gardening equipment, dog food -- all that stuff weighs and slows your car down. So, when you`re not helping someone move, make sure the spare tire is one of the heaviest things you have in the back.

Four, smooth it out. Accelerating and breaking unnecessarily is a downer on your gas tank. Keep a steady speed as much as possible. Use cruise control when it makes sense. Got breaks? Use them only to slow down. Resting your foot on the pedal could ruin everything.

Five, shut it off. Don`t be idle about idling. Your car is burning gas whenever it`s running. So, if you`re sitting for more than 30 seconds, power down.

That can keep your cost down and your wallet and your gas tank filled up.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if you can I.D. me. I`m a type of space object that was first discovered in 1801. I orbit the sun, but I`m too small to be considered a planet. You`re most likely to find me between Mars and Jupiter.

I`m an asteroid. A junk of rock that can be anywhere from a few feet to several hundred miles in diameter.

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AZUZ: Asteroid 2012 DA14 is about half the size of the football field, and it`s headed right for us or right near us, but before you start worrying about this ...

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s a meteo shower ...

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AZUZ: Know that NASA says this:

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DON YEMANS, MANAGER, NASA`S NEAR EARTH OBJECTS OFFICE: The close approach of this object 2012 DA14 on February 15th in nothing to worry about. Its orbit is very well known, we know exactly where it`s going to go, and it cannot heat the earth.

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AZUZ: With concerns about the end of the world put to rest, lets check out some science on this bad boy. First of, the asteroid is cruising along its 17455 miles per hour. That`s fast. But not as fast as rockets have to go in order to escape earth gravity and get in the space. Speaking of gravity, it`s going to give the asteroid a little extra pull as it passes by. So, as this thing is closer to Earth, it`s actually going to get faster. Just how close is DA14 going to get when it passes by on February 15th more than 17,000 miles away from the planet. But keep this in mind, that`s closer to Earth than a lot of GPS or TV satellites. Don`t worry, NASA says, there isn`t much chance it`s going to hit those satellites either.

Let`s get hypothetical. What if an asteroid this size did hit the Earth? And again, NASA says it won`t, but if it did -- it might look like this -- Tunguska, Russia, 1908. An asteroid around the same size came into the atmosphere, exploded and leveled the trees over an area around 820 square miles. Some companies want to get their hands on an asteroid, but they`re not waiting for one to come here, they`re going out there planning to hitch rides in the space on larger missions. Why would anyone want to get up close and personal with an asteroid? Well, they think these rocks could be a gold mine. Or more specifically, a hydrogen, oxygen, iron or nickel mine. Their idea is to drill in asteroids for metals and other materials and use those to power space stations. NASA looked into this idea once and decided it would be too expensive, but the company say, it could pay off in the long run, even if the asteroid mining industry gets off to a rocky start.

All right, our next story today, the old saying goes that we root, root for the home team. Some soccer fans in Jerusalem are rooting against two new members on their favorite team. This is related to the Arab- Israeli conflict, which is going on for decades. The new players aren`t Arabs, but their Muslims, just like many Arabs. And that`s what some fans are upset about. Sara Sidner has more.

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SARA SIDNER, CBS CORRESPONDENT: Go to hell! Not at the opposition, but their own team. Beitar, Jerusalem is not your ordinary run of the mill football club. No Arab has ever played for the team whose supporters are notorious for their anti-Islamic and racist chants.

YOAV BOROVITZ, KOL HA`IR NEWSPAPER: 20 percent of the people in Israel are Arabs, a big chunk of people in Jerusalem are Arabs. This is a public team, so how for seven years that this club is existing, there isn`t even one Arab player.

SIDNER: A reality that is about to be challenged, because Beitar`s management signed Gabriel Kadiev and Zaur Sadayev from the Chechnyan team, Terek, Grozny. At least one moderate supporter is OK with that.

YORAM, BEITAR SUPPORTER: They could be called two Chechnyan players, why do they have call them Muslim players? They are not Arab Muslims, they are Muslim light (ph), Russians. So we accept them. If they are good, they`ll play, and if not, they`ll go.

SIDNER: Others are less forgiving.

HEZI, BEITAR SUPPORTER: I`m not saying, if he is a Muslim or Arab, he is bad. It is possible he is a good person, but he is my enemy. And I don`t support my enemy.

SIDNER: The man charged with the dealing with the hard-core supporters is Beitar`s general manager, Izik Kornfein.

IZIK KORNFEIN, GENERAL MANAGER, BEITAR JERUSALEM: Beitar was always categorized as racist. And Beitar is -- it`s not racist. Not the players that are playing it, not most of the fans, not the managers, not the management.

SIDNER: The Chechens know a thing or two about conflict, but the two newcomers say they`re not interested in other politics or religion. They believe Beitar will provide them with the stage for showing off their football skills. Not if the hard core have it their way. Recently, a sign appeared in the stands, declaring "Beitar is pure forever." That shocked many Israelis.

BOROVITZ: I think it`s unbelievable that in this country, you know we all know the history, we all know what happened to us so many times as Jews, you know this thing that we can have those signs, it`s just something that is sickening.

SIDNER: The club was fined $12,000. And at the team next league game, police checked to make sure that 50 supporters banned from attending future matches, didn`t get into the stadium. In Israel, even football is part of a bigger struggle. Sarah Sidner, CNN, Jerusalem.

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AZUZ: Sports loyalty versus personal conviction: how would you react if your favorite team signed a player that said or did something you didn`t agree with or had different beliefs than you? Tell us on our blog or if you are on Facebook, or Facebook sight.

This next video is crazy. That cloud-looking thing isn`t some kind of special effect, it`s a flock of starlings. Each one of those black specs is a bird. What they are doing is called murmuration. Simple terms, it`s synchronized flying. The idea is for each bird to fly as close as it can to its neighbors and copy what they do. So, when one changes speed or direction, that shift ripples across the fly. The birds use it to tell each other where food is, to protect themselves against bigger birds of prey.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s "Shoutout" goes out to Ms. Munch and the staff & students at Blaine High School in Blaine, Minnesota.

What NFL team got its name from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe? Here we go now. Is it the 49ers, Buccaneers, Steelers or Ravens? You`ve got three seconds to ponder, go!

The Ravens were named after Poe`s famous poem, "The Raven." That`s your answer and that`s your "Shoutout".

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AZUZ: Once upon that team`s grand naming, it took the field and began claiming that it could win the biggest game of all. So, when the Super Bowl was ended and all their foes off they had fended, the Ravens said it`s time to have a ball. And thus did this parade commence and ever forth from this day hence, the Ravens could proclaim there were the champs for victory their fans did cheer them and line the streets just to be near them while other teams just wait for training camps. We`ve reached the end, but have no sorrow for we`ll be back upon the morrow, and you can be sure we`ll have puns galore. But as for now, we must take flight without a single pun in sight, but quoth "The Raven," nevermore.

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