you're watching "teen kids news." here are this week's stories. >> i'll introduce you to a group of students who are helping people in need halfway across the globe. >> i'll report on how cliques can hurt and what you can do about it. >> meet the man who gave alfred e. neuman his name. >> an olympic competition so fierce you can even choke your opponent. >> that and more starting now on "teen kids news." ♪ i'm mwanzaa.

>> and i'm jessica. you may have already heard of darfur. it's a region of the african country sudan. and since 2003 a bloody war has been fought there. one connecticut high school is working to raise awareness about the terrible acts of genocide there. amanda's got the story. >> we're here to talk to you today a little bit about the situation in a place called darfur. >> reporter: the group on this stage may appear small, but the mission they've set out to accomplish is huge. >> since 2003 the government of sudan has sponsored a genocide, specifically against the people in the darfur region, ethnic africans, indigenous people. and since that time at the current point estimates are that over 500,000 people have been killed. millions more displaced from

their homes. and it's an absolute tragedy. >> reporter: in response to this crisis vice principal tim salem and these connecticut high school students have formed a coalition. they call it project darfur. >> project darfur is important because we're able to go into other school groups and raise awareness and build bridges with other school communities to hopefully raise funds to help those in need in the darfur area. >> thank you. first of all, let me say it's an honor to be here on behalf of the danbury high school and the students. i thank the treasurer's office for having me. >> reporter: since the project began, the students have care t organizations. these include schools, religious groups, even congress. >> it was just something that like it really touched me. because i knew just by speaking i could help someone across the world. you know? spreading awareness can do so much. >> child of hope, child of fear,

how do you manage to smile? >> reporter: the project darfur group has also produced two documentaries which they use as educational tools. actress mia farrow is featured in one of them. >> we are now defining ourselves by our response to darfur. our response as human beings. >> the good part of it is that we're able to engage other school communities into wanting to do something to help. and normally, that leads to some kind of fund-raising that will help children and people in need. >> there's certainly small efforts that can be made on very local levels that can make a huge difference in this conflict. >> any little thing can help. just caring about it really helps, because to have someone care about it, yeah you might not be a public speaker, but maybe you'll go home and tell your family about it, who will then spread the word to more people. >> i know it's a way for me to kind of indirectly be involved in what's happening around the world. and that's very important to me. >> reporter: that's the type of thinking that's helping project darfur succeed.

>> we have enough funding now to build a school. we've won a ton of awards. humanitarian awards, film awards. and those are nice accolades. but ultimately, our goal is to try to get what's going on in darfur to stop. innocent people being murdered is something that we feel strongly shouldn't be happening, and our goal is to have it end. >> to find out more about project darfur, you can contact us at teenkidsnews.com. the largest island in the world is truly huge. 840,000 square miles. even so, greenland is not big enough to be considered a continent. australia is also an island surrounded by water, but it's almost 3 million square miles. coming up, an issue that causes problems for a lot of kids. >> we'll tell you what it is and how to deal with it when "teen kids news" returns. and now our "facts in the

classroom" update. >> it's the ninth attempt by bp to close the deepwater well that's been gushing oil into the gulf since april 20th. a new containment cap is raising hopes that the environmental disaster will be contained soon. >> that will allow us at that point to try and close the valves and test the pressure and see whether the well can withstand the pressure. and if not, we can produce. but either way, we'll have the option potentially either to shut the well in or produce a considerable amount of oil, more than we have been able to to date. >> reporter: a relief well that would permanently stop the leaking oil is on track for completion by the end of the month. in the largest spy swap since the cold war, a plane carrying ten convicted russian spies arrived in vienna from the u.s. in exchange for four people accused of spying for the west, including the nuclear scientist igor sutyagin, the ten pleaded guilty to acting as unregistered agents in a manhattan federal courtroom. it's been six months since a

massive earthquake devastated haiti, killing nearly 300,000 people and laying waste to the capital, port-au-prince. the picture remains bleak for the island nation. only 2% of the rubble has been cleared. plagued by corruption and a weak government. relief camps have swelled. 1.6 million people are living under plastic tarps or in tents. and it's fiesta time in spain. from madrid to barcelona, spaniards took to the streets to celebrate spain's first world cup championship, defeating holland 1-0 to take the title. for well, for a lot us, the need to fit "in" with a group can often make you feel left out. but cliques don't have to complicate your life. felipe has the story. >> reporter: let's face it, we all look for friends who like the same things we're into.

it's when certain groups of friends become "cliques" that problems start. >> most cliques flaunt their exclusivity to others by not allowing others to participate in it. >> cliques can be bad because they're kind of exclusive. >> i'd say a cli of friends who can be sometimes exclusive. >> exclusive. >> exclusive. >> exclusive. >> some cliques don't just exclude, they ridicule. kids from the theater group faces help to see how cliques can hurt. faces acts out real life issues that affect teens. >> when did they let the bride of chucky walk in brooklyn? >> like sometimes they're mean people, i don't know, like that make fun of you. >> some people, they like talk behind your back. >> reporter: dr. hilfer says cliques are nothing new. teens have been trying to figure out how to deal with them for >> i would certainly tell a kid who was excluded from a clique to try to recognize that these groups aren't for everybody.

>> that's the same advice carol weston gives in her book, "for teens only." carol says she often hears teens say "no one likes me. >> i would say there's such a difference between "no one likes me" and "i want to be popular." i mean, "i want to be popular," a lot of people feel that and then it's almost like they grow out of it and then they realize that it's more valuable to have a couple of friends than to be one of the, you know, popular kids. >> reporter: here's more advice in dealing with cliques, and some of it come from teens like you. don't be one of the herd. >> find people who you are more compatible with instead of just trying to get into a specific group. >> reporter: choose your friends based on who they are, not the group they belong too. >> just ignore the actual cliques and try to get to know people as individuals. >> reporter: value your individuality. your own self-esteem is often the best protection against cliques. >> if the cliques that you don't hang out with like bother you, just ignore them.

>> reporter: finally, be yourself. if they don't like you as you really are, they're not worth having as friends. >> don you know that girl hazel? >> yeah. the weirdest girl in school. >> she's so weird. >> reporter: and if you're in a clique that's hurting other people, or hurting you, find new friends. >> what do you mean, you're tired of it? >> i'm tired of it. i'm sick of treating people that way. >> because you don't want to be mean. you ice guy.nt to be exclusive. >> whatever then. >> okay. >> reporter: i think the best advice comes from eleanor roosevelt, a strong woman and former first lady. she said that "no one can make you feel inferior without your consent." climate change could be coming to yoterally. scientists are finding that weeds grow faster when the ground heats up. so expect to see more crabgrass on that nice green lawn. >> sports is up next. >> so stay tuned.

an olympian takes teens to the mat in a sport many americans know little about. tyler has the story. tyler? >> reporter: mwanzaa, we're talkinabout judo. it's bas on the rtial ar th mnsthe gentleay." dohepos yt but gentleitre rongndolng aggressiveness to youadnte.

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general puacor cicto the aldstein is one of the pioneers. he was involved in creating some published. i creat "tales om the crt,originally it was called "t cryf te introduced it into comic books. before it became a popular tv series --caed get a load of this, "tales from the crypt." >> reporter: -- "tales from the crubsh ith19's by ec comics. >> ec set the benchmark for great comics. nobody h er deoms

since then better ecnsred us all. al feldstein, i mean he was the editor, he was the writer, he s e y o det l happen. so we owe a lot to this man. >> reporter: back in the '50s, cicwe a t re. while many parents were horrified at the popularity of the horror comics, most missed important point. the gory stores actually taughti never wins. >> i know al feldstein because i veadn seiowi ec comics, of "tales from the crypt." >> recognize thomas dekker? he played young john connor on tv's "sarah connor chronicles." hereupeangl'cocs. >> it affected my life in a weird way. is othcrib my moral structure stores of goodness and evil, and the artwork he does is amazing >> reporter: in addition to

hoorals soamous for his science fiction work. al's table quickly becomes crowed with fans. many brought their treasured copies of old ec comics for him utra. some of them brought a lot of coes >> you want me to sign all of os >> he's a living treasur a i just wanted to get as many signatures as i could. lt one. wow. all gh >> thank you very much, sir. >> all right, there you go. >> reporter: al says he's always surprised at the high prices his old comics sell for nowadays. >> i used to get paid $35 to $40 a cover for art. da se those covers go for as much as $20,000. >> reporter:ight

all that time working on comics drove al "mad," literally. >> i became the editor of "mad" magazine, which i was for 29 years. rorr:has gh fm horror to humor. under his editorship, al made "mad" magazine a household name. an ts grinning kid became a national celebrity. al says theac hee kicking around on billboards and in ads since thear 1900s. so how did alfred e. neuman co t "mad" mascot? we're back at the saniego comic-con. al feldstein was the editor of "mad" magazine from the mid '50s to the mid '80s. he you are. >> i know. that's when i was young. >> reporter: he's also the man who helped introduce the world

to alfred e. neuman. >> his face appeared on the cover of the valentine colltion o "mad" comics in paperback form. the editor, bernie shircliff, of the paperback put this face on the cover, and when i saw it i felt that that wou ba wonderful logo for "mad" because we were in an era where every rporation had a visual logo like the barking dog at rca or the green giant or the smith brothers. >>epte b t fe needed a name. during the early comic book days, al often wrote under a pseudonym, a fake name. that name was alfred e. neuman. history was born. long before there was "the daily show," "mad" was poking fun at things many people took very seriously. al saw "mad's" role as telling

readers, especially teens, that it oy qstn e ul world. from big corporations to even ouelected officials. >> we were trying to teach everybody to be skeptical about what they read and what they saw and what they were told and what eyerto tbeevin that there were people with agendas that were lying to them and to read between the lines as far as articles are concerned, as far as editorials are concerned, as far as advertising was concerned, and not to take anything for granted without analyzing it for yourself and believing in what you wte t believe in, not always be fed to you. >> i've been hugely influenced afestn aarstas an actor, as a writer and as a publisher. al and "mad" magazine basically changed my life.

>> reporter: at comic al is ofd to talk about e d yst comics and "mad." al still amazes fans with his artistic abilities. foexpl hcata someone's initials and quickly turn them into a face. watch. >> oh, boyth ia ugon >> that's beautiful. look at that. >> there's a huge amount of people in my generation and even younger that still completely connect with these comics and what they say and how they say them that it's still really, really relevant for us and that they'rstl inregned r eir power and intelligence. >> can we get a photo of you with it, please?

>> i never expected it to be a collector's kind of work that we were doing that would be lauded and treasured, and the whole thing is one big surprise to me. >> what is no surprise is that fdsinasndtein the prestigious comic book industry's hall of fame. for "teen kids news" i'm nicole. that's it for this week's edition of "teen kids news." thanks for joining us. >> have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

here's a shoututo pr newswire for including "teen kids news" on their big screen in times sque, n yk city. write to us at info@teenkidsnews.com. here's what you'll see this week on "teen kids news." >> meet the man who gave alfred e. neuman his name. >> that and more. so tune us in for "teen kids news." ,zc$0ñ