( CNN Student News ) -- August 17 , 2010 . Download PDF maps related to today 's show : . • New York , New York • China • Korean Peninsula . Transcript . 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 ca n'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 does n'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 should n'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 does n'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 do n'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 is n't what you had in mind . The zebras did n'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 gon na look forward to seeing you then .
Consider a controversy surrounding a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero . Examine how China 's economy might soon become the second largest in the world . Take the field to learn how a college football program tries to beat the heat . Use the Daily Discussion to help students understand today 's featured news stories .