Isreali Missile Test

On Monday Israel successfully completed its first missile test flight, called the Arrow 3 it allows medium range missiles to be fired at countries like Iran if they need to be. It has instilled much confidence into the Israeli military, in case of any attacks from Iran, they will be prepared for a counter attack. This is such a huge success because Israel and the United States of America have been working on these Arrow missiles since 1986. So this is just another good step for Israel in their defense against Iran and maybe even Palestine, and with the constant conflict between the two, it may be a good thing that they have this missile. They may be need it sooner rather than later.

                Because of all of the conflict going on in the Middle East it is a good thing that Israel can protect themselves now, with all of the riots in Palestine, maybe they can protect themselves against Palestine or even make threats to countries that make threats back to them. Not only is it beneficial for Israel but beneficial to the United States of America as well, we are still advancing in our war technology, even though one of our wars is ending, the next one may be in Syria and it seems like we will be prepared. All in all we are still making great technological advances in both the United States and in Israel so if anyone decides they want to make an attack, they can counter attack. The US has been known for going in and out of war, but we are always ready to fight, and now so is Israel with the new Arrow 3 missile being successfully tested, this technological advance could make the biggest difference when it comes down to war and now they are prepared. (305

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/25/world/meast/israel-weapons-system/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Update on Adoptive Mother of Russian Child

Updating on the Texas woman that is accused of murdering her adopted Russian son at the age of 3, Russia is now focusing on the negligence of the woman, not accusing her of actually abusing and murdering the child. Laura Shatto, the adoptive mother claimed that both of her boys were outside playing while she left them unattended for some time and when she came back that she found her oldest son Max completely unresponsive. The Russian president says that if she is not brought up on charges for murder she will be brought up on charges for negligence. So they are not accusing the mother of murder now, they are just accusing her of neglecting her children.

                My question about this whole situation is why did Laura Shatto get the children and then abuse them and\ or neglect them and why wouldn’t adoption agencies be able to tell whether or not they would be abusive parents? Isn’t that in their job descriptions as social workers? I don’t understand how this entire thing could happen and I agree with the Russian president that if she is not brought up on charges of murder then she should at the very least be brought up on charges of neglect. When your children are under the age of 3 they should not be left alone outside for a long amount of time, or hardly any amount of time. They are too young to be alone, especially outside alone, what was this woman thinking? Do you really think that your three year old son could take care of himself and his younger brother while you run inside? They are too young for that! A mother should know when and where she can leave her child unattended but even then they shouldn’t be left unattended outside. Something has to be done, this woman needs to be charge with something so she knows not to leave her children unattended like that again. (326)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/world/europe/russia-backs-off-claim-of-murder-in-death-of-adopted-boy-in-texas.html?src=recg 

Update in Palestine

Update from yesterday about the Palestinian prisoner who was killed in jail, they will finally release the autopsy report later this week to find out whether the prisoner was killed by torture or by natural causes. But in the meantime while people are rioting and protesting about this prisoner two teenage boys were gravely injured while Palestinian soldiers  tried to break up the riots and protest by using open fire and unfortunately the two teenagers had got caught in the cross fire. The president spoke about the Palestinian inmate for the first time on Monday and he said that he believes Israel should take responsibility for the death of the inmate and that they are trying to cause more violence then trying to instill peace in their country.

                I agree with the Palestinian president, if two teenagers are injured because of a riot that started in one of their very own jails then they should really reconsider what they are doing to instill peace in their country because it doesn’t look like it is working. Does it really take two teens to be injured for them to realize that this has gone too far? They need to own up to what they have done wrong, they need to admit that the inmate most likely died because they tortured him, and there are many signs that point to the security guards. Not to mention how much we hear about security being involved in violent cases like these all around the world. What is going to happen when the autopsy report comes out later this week? Will more violence erupt from that? And if so how bad will it get if two kids have already been seriously hurt just from the accusations? I think we all know that no matter what this autopsy report says then ending is not going to be very pretty. (312)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/world/middleeast/2-palestinian-youths-hurt-in-clashes-with-israel.html?ref=world

Child Labor Laws in India

                In India there have been laws passed about child labor laws since 2010 that children between the ages of 6 and 14 should be in school and are not allowed to be working but that has not been the case according to UNICEF. They have found that many of these children that are banned from working are actually working instead of going to school. Some of these jobs include dangerous tasks like mining as well. They found that the children that are going down into the mines are not wearing any of the proper gear either; they are going down with no helmets or boots, just pajama pants, shoes with no soles and flashlights. They are also working in little shops, farms and even kitchens all over India, it’s safe to say that they are not enforcing the child labor laws or even following them. Which in my opinion, is completely outrageous! Those rules are set to keep those kids safe they should be learning not working in mines where they could be killed! Do they honestly want their children going down into a dark hole never knowing if they are going to come back up? I wouldn’t! No matter how tight money may be you do not need to be sending your children to their death just to pick up a couple bucks, and why isn’t their education a more important subject? They should be learning so they can get better jobs not cooking in a kitchen or getting up at the crack of dawn to do work on a farm, why doesn’t it seem like a big deal? Why are they not following the rules of child labor laws? Do they really need that much help that they are willing to deprive a child of their education? If that is true what kind of world are we living in today where money comes before our children? (318)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/world/asia/in-india-missing-school-to-work-in-the-mine.html?ref=world&_r=0

New President for South Korea

                Today South Korean history was made when the first woman president was elected, who goes by the name of Park Geun-hye. She plans to protect South Korea against the recent horrible threats made against them from North Korea. She said that in the end the only victim when it comes to nuclear weapons will be North Korea themselves after they had posed nuclear threats to both South Korea and the United States. The new president also plans to make South Korea a harmonious place while she is in office and wants to make a prosperous community. She plans for South Korea to be a more united country while she is in office as well, so she is planning for many changes for Korea while she is president, and all for the better of the country.              

                My opinion on this article is that it is really amazing that they have their first woman president and I believe she will be very helpful to Korea and I think that she will be a very good president. Because there has not been very many women presidents in history throughout the world I think that this is a good change and I think that women could be really helpful in making a state and\or country more peaceful and may be better at uniting a country. Women are seen as more peaceful then men are and they are known to be more patient, so she probably won’t make rash decisions for revenge, which could possibly ruin the country. I think that it may be hard for traditional guys to see her as a leader but in the end I think she will bring the entire country closer together and I think she will do what she is stating what she’ll do while she is in office. All in all I think she is going to be very helpful to her country and her being in office will be beneficial. (324)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/24/world/asia/south-korea-female-president/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Protests in Spain

Right now in Spain all you will be able to hear is the chants and screams of angry people. in the past few weeks their economy has fallen and they are now in a crisis and all they have is each other. They have all come together to fight and get their economy back to the way it was. Many of Spain’s people are losing their jobs and most likely their houses, so they all came together to fight for it back, they are all protesting to get their lives back together, and united I bet my bottom dollar that these people can do it.

                I think that personally it is incredibly how horrible things can bring so many people together, I think that it is horrible that something bad has to happen to bring them all together but in the end something beautiful comes from something so tragic, they become united, they become one again, willing to fight for one another to become one strong whole to fight for what they all believe in, its kind of beautiful isn’t it? You may not see it now but later when you look back and see that they did this together, you will see that it was a great thing. As long as nothing violent happens, this could be a miracle and it could actually work. Violence will never solve problems, especially those with the government, because in the end they will also fight back with violence if they have to. This does not have to turn into that though, this could really work if all of these people work together and take nonviolent actions, it is just as effective and can show some level of maturity and poise. The more they stick together in a nonviolent way the better off they will be and maybe, just maybe they will be able to get their economy back to the way it used to be. (323)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/20/world/europe/madrid-city-of-protests/index.html?hpt=wo_t4 

North Korea and Nuclear War

The United States of America was scheduled to do a military test in these few coming weeks with South Korea but now North Korea has responded with a very dangerous threat, saying that if we do this frivolous military practice at this dangerous time that they will cause miserable destruction. It is not unnatural for North Korea to impose threats, they have just recently successfully tested nuclear weapons about two weeks ago which was followed by a test of a long range missile that could transport a warhead. This has been the third nuclear testing for Pyongyang and the first under North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

                In my honest opinion if we do not give North Korea the space that they want then it looks like we are about to have ourselves a nuclear war, which scares the living daylights out of me. We have been a super power country since WWII but that doesn’t mean that other countries couldn’t inflict some massive damage and although we would have absolutely no problems fighting back, we can’t really afford it right now, we don’t have the money, hell we didn’t have money for the last war we had and now that its starting to come to an end we should be focusing on getting over our 16 trillion dollar debt and start paying that back before we become some countries puppet. This is not the time to start a nuclear war, we need to be worrying about ourselves and not worry about other countries and military practices. Let’s focus on our country and trying to make it a better place and start making more jobs for us, so we can get our economy back on track instead of making another country made and starting a nuclear war that we cannot afford right now. (304)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/23/world/asia/koreas-tension/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Palestine Prisoner Hunger Strike

Today in Palestine 4500 inmates went on a hunger strike after the death of another inmate, at the age of 30. Sources say that he was tortured in jail and that he showed no signs of dying of cardiac arrest, they believe his cause of death was torture. It showed that specific areas of damage were the neck, spine and limbs; they saw damage in the nose as well. They also warned Obama for his visit as president next month that he should visit the land peacefully and not talk about the release of the prisoners, otherwise the ending will not be pretty, to put it into better terms, or to put it into the minister of prisoners words, he will visit the Palestine burning. I agree with the minister of prisoners because in general Palestine, Israel and Syria are kind of touchy subjects for America, we do not need to start any new beef between countries and we definitely don’t need to start conflict in a country and then leave, we have no idea where that lead to but most likely would lead to war. As for the subject of the prisoners, I think that they should be doing something about their prison, that doesn’t sound like a safe place to be held, obviously they are in there for a reason but does that mean that these people should be tortured for their crimes? Or to get something out of them? This should be done in a legal way and they should not be taking the law into their own hands, the guards, that is not in their job description. They should not be torturing the prisoners. If it is to get revenge then let them rot in there, don’t end their life, or kill them by torturing, which is just not right. (304)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/24/world/meast/israel-prison-death/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Cardinal Commitin Sexual Acts?

                Recently in Britain one of the Cardinals, Keith O’ Brien has been accused of having sexual relations with three other priests, starting back in the early 1980s. This was released the week before the pope resigned, did this help in his decision to resign? In the past eight years that Benedict has been pope there have been many accusations of sexual abuse, the pope’s brother was even accused of committing sexual assault on a young boys choir, and somehow that one just slid by with little to no investigation on the popes brother. These accusations have gotten so bad that it is truly starting to make me angry. It’s the fact that these accusations are almost never followed up on! These people are supposed to be the closest messengers we have to God, so why have there been so much talk of sexual assault on children and with each other? This makes the religion look bad and all of the people who believe in the faith look bad. They are supposed to be some of the best and most religious people on earth so why are they being accused of these horrible things? I don’t think during Pope John Paul II papacy they had this many or any accusations. Is the Vatican really getting that scandalous or is the pope not being able to handle his people and not knowing what kind of people he should be letting become priests and cardinals, especially the ones in the Vatican. Whoever the new Pope is should get the Vatican under control and actually investigate what is going one between other priests and what is going on between priests and the young children that attend, these kinds of accusations should never be made, especially against these people, these guys are the ones that everyone is supposed to trust with their deepest sins, so they better no be being accused of horrible sexual acts. (320)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/world/europe/cardinal-keith-obrien-accused-of-inappropriate-acts.html?ref=world&_r=0

Missing People in Mexico Update

Lately Mexico’s National Security has been under investigation because of so many people that have gone missing that they have put no work into finding. Of 250 cases of missing people in the last 6 years, they have finally found that 149 cases have been implicated by the National Security. This all started because of the drug war and all of the drug cartels that have been going on in Mexico, meaning this is the way they have been handling the problem, by having the people going missing, killing the people involved in the drug cartels. This is not the way they should be handling this. They are killing the people that are making the country worse yes, but they are doing it in an illegal way. These people don’t deserve to be killed but they deserve to be incarcerated for life. The way they are handling the war within their country is not the proper way, morally and legally. These people may be causing problems but that doesn’t give their security the right to go above the law and take care of it themselves. They do not get the privilege of playing God. This should be handled in a better way than killing the people involved. The government needs to find better ways to handle their country, because to other countries this makes them look weak, they cannot take care of their own country and the problems within them and stay inside the lines of the laws. Not to mention how nervous that would make your community would feel, that the people who are supposed to be protecting your country are the ones that are actually diminishing your population, killing people that get in the way. This just makes the country unappealing because they aren’t handling it in a good way, legally or morally, making them look bad to everyone, including their own community. (315)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/world/americas/mexico-human-rights/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Young Girls Found Dead in India

In the past few days in India three girls were found dead at the bottom of a well after being sexually assaulted and missing for two days. The mother, outraged has now asked for the men that will be convicted of the crime to be publicly hanged for what they did to her young girls. Currently four men are being investigated but they have made no arrests yet. This is not the first act of sexual violence we have seen in the past few months in India, earlier this year there was a gang rape in New Delhi of a 23 year old man and there have been many stories lately of how women in India are not treated right, and how the life of an Indian woman is.

Lately in India there has been so much violence and most of it towards women, most of the violent crime stories I have been reading about lately have been about women being sexually assaulted and which has mostly been ending in death and I think the majority of the problem is that there is not enough respect for the women down there and what the women do. I just don’t think they think about what life would be like if the women didn’t do what they always do. The men down there are not considerate of what all they do and what all women do, their respect for women is just very low. I think that the women don’t there should stand up for themselves against all men that don’t appreciate all of the things they do. They need to respect them, these horrible sexual assault crimes should not be happening as much as they do, they need to know that what they are doing is not okay and hopefully these sexual assault crimes and violent crimes against women will not be as large and they will stop disrespecting women so much. (321)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/21/world/asia/india-girls-deaths/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Violence in Kenya

Recently in Pokomo and Orma, Kenya  there has been a vicious rivalry going on between ethnic groups , this rivalry has gotten so bad that even in the hospital they have to separate the ethnic groups to different sides, so no violence will break out. An example of this horrible violence is a nine month old girl who now has a scare on the back of her head, from a machete that almost decapitated her in this past December. They say that this war has broken out between ethnic groups because of land, tribe and politics. This is not the first time that serious violence has broken out. They say that this country goes through peaceful times and then something from the past gets brought up that leads them back to the violent ways. For example in 2007 when a vicious attacks were set out that killed over 1,000 people because of a bad vote, these people are letting the little things get to them and it is resulting in serious violence that is killing way too many people. I mean seriously they almost decapitated a nine month old child! There has got to be another way to resolve problems and killing a child less than a year old is not going to get you anywhere.

They need to bring their country together as one, they shouldn’t be fighting! They may have separate views on things but they are all from the same place, they should be united and worry about bigger problems than what ethnic group that person is from and there should be more important things than going around killing the people in the ethnic group that isn’t yours. Think about it for a second, you all come from the same place, why are you fighting with each other when there is so many other good things that you could be fighting for. (315)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/world/africa/neighbors-kill-neighbors-in-kenya-as-election-tensions-stir-age-old-grievances.html?ref=world

Terrorist Attack in Britain?

Recently in Britain three men were convicted of being guilty of planning to set off 8 homemade bombs in rushshacks and other crowded places in Britain and would have been said to be one of the most devastating terrorist attacks since the subway bombings in 2005. The judge told the three men convicted that they should be prepared for life in prison. Because of this Britain’s security has planned many counter attacks to terrorism and has them taking more precautions now then they have been taking previously.

My opinion on this story is that this is just tragic that this is what the world has come to, I mean do we seriously have that many issues getting along that we resolve them by blowing each other up? Like I know world peace is almost impossible and even though I have hope for it, why does everything have to result and end in violence? It never does anything improving, just makes people frightened and ends up in more death. This is why it may be a good thing that some countries are taking technological advances, making cyberattacks, because no one gets hurt. This is getting ridiculous that all we ever do to resolve problems is use violence, which invokes fear into the world, which is why there are countries that are super powers but I still just don’t understand, and maybe I never will, but I don’t understand why we all have to sacrifice all of our men in order to get ahead in the world, it just doesn’t sound like we have found the right way yet, even though I have no idea how else we could go about fighting between countries, maybe a heated debate? As much as I wish that was an option, I know it is not but I believe we should find another way to resolve the world’s problems. (313)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/world/europe/3-convicted-in-britain-over-terrorist-plot.html?ref=world&_r=0

Adopted Russian Boy Update

After the death of the Russian adopted child Max in late this past January, his mother has requested to have her second, younger child returned to her. She stated that she wished to have him back to prevent the death of her other son after she believed that the adoptive mother had murdered her first born child by abusing him. She begged the president of Russia to get her child back after they were taken away from her soon after her second child was born because of an alcohol problem but she states that she has gotten better and has found work and can now support her child. They have not made a decision on whether she will be getting her second son back or not.

                My opinion on this entire thing is that none of this should have ever happened, this is such a tragic story and it breaks my heart. I am not sure if the birth mother should have her child back but I don’t believe that the Texas woman should have custody of him either, especially if she is being accused of murdering the first child. if I was the birth mother, I would have asked for my kids back as well ,but then again I wouldn’t have had them taking away, she should have kept her drinking under control when she had her kids, if they took her children away then she obviously had a serious problem with alcohol. I am not sure that if she deserves her children back, but I do feel for her, I mean she lost her children in the first place which is hard enough but actually having one of her children taken out of the world? That would be heart wrenching and knowing that the woman that possibly murdered her first born still has custody of her second child? I would be pissed. They need to at least get the child into a safer, more protected environment. I believe that this story is a tragedy and I wish it would have never happened, but they need to look in the best interest for the second child at this moment. (360)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/world/europe/russian-mother-of-adopted-boy-who-died-in-us-wants-his-brother-back.html?ref=world

Too Many Missing People in Mexico.

In the past few months in Mexico there have been many people coming up missing during this drug war that they are currently in, they have almost 150 people missing and maybe even more that they have pretty much neglected and they have done hardly any investigating in these missing persons. This has become such a big issue that an organization by the name of Human Rights Watch has stepped in to investigate and put an end to Mexico’s neglect. Right now they are investigating over 100 missing persons cases. They are trying to figure why national security has not been investigating these cases as much but so far they have no evidence that National Security has anything to do with these missing people. In my opinion this is crazy. How could your country seriously not care whether you are missing or not? Why are they not taking these cases seriously and why aren’t they investigating? If they are paying taxes for their government then they should for damn sure be investigating its missing people. This makes me worry about their society down there, if their people don’t care enough to look for them. Not to mention this makes the country super unappealing to go visit if there are many people coming up missing and no one is trying to look for them. This just makes for a bad reputation for Mexico, they aren’t looking for their people which makes it an undesirable destination and makes every other country question their government, and that will just end up being worse for them. To me this is so scary and horrible to think about, who would want to live in a place where the people don’t even care whether you go missing or not, which also makes you wonder if they are in on it or not. Maybe Mexico should think about that the next person goes missing. (317)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/21/world/americas/human-rights-watch-faults-mexico-over-disappearances.html?ref=world&_r=0

Adopted Russian Boy's Death

Recently Russian officials have accused an American woman of beating her 3 year old Russian adopted child when he tragically passed away on January 21. The woman and her husband were both accused of physical abuse and neglect of their 3 year old son Max. This caused so much attention that the Russian President signed a law to ban on all adoptions by Americans. The Russians have said that we do not believe this death is a tragedy saying that our congressmen and Politian’s have not showed any interest in this young child’s death. I personally believe that this is a tragedy and that any child’s death is a tragedy, considering they have barely lived! It just breaks my heart to hear that this young child suffered and died. I am so glad that they are investigating this case and that they find the person who inflicted the pain on the child and I do not blame Russia for signing a law to ban us from adopting Russian children, although the US is taking its normal precautions and investigations is it enough? And why isn’t the death of a child more important than other things? Personally I think that this should be thoroughly investigated and it breaks my heart that there is absolutely no way for anyone to adopt a child from Russia now, because the adoption agency didn’t think that these people would end up being abusive. I think that this should bring to our attention how “thorough” the adoption agencies are being when they allow certain parents to adopt, because I guarantee that they could find so many great people who would love to adopt one of those kids and it is a tragedy that someone’s horrible actions and selfish ways has ruined someone’s dreams of being a parent one day. (303)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/world/europe/adopted-boys-death-in-us-stirs-outrage-in-russia.html?ref=world&_r=0 

Chinese Gov. Cyber Bullying?

Recently American cyber security has found links to hackers to the Chinese government. They found a 60 page report that had described the groups’ actions and tactics over the last 6 years that include over 141 different organizations and 20 different industries. When the story came out about China being involved they responded by saying that they had victims of cyber-attacks and that they had never supported any hacker activities. I think this shows how much technology can be a good thing and a bad thing, because it can be manipulated in war, and could possibly assist in starting another cold war if they are starting cyber attacks. This could grow to an online world war, and think about how much worse it will or could get when we advance even more in technology. This could affect the way we think of war and could start an entire new era of war. Maybe we could have just an entire online war, instead of sending people over to fight and possibly lose their life but this could also affect our society, if they could tap into our systems here, then they could cause mass destruction over here in the United States or vice versa. I am not sure if that is a power that we can actually handle. I think that technology can help us in many ways in war but what if it gets manipulated or hacked into? Today our society is run by the internet and everything is online, so if someone were to be able to access it then they could do some serious damage and destroys our society, then we would have to completely rebuild, they could set us back technologically for about 30 years, which would cause us to be weaker and vulnerable. In the end I think with these technological advances we need to make sure we are on top and that our cyber world is protected.  (322)

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/19/technology/china-military-cybercrime/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Horse Meat Scandal in the UK

Recently in the UK they have been testing over 5,000 meat products that were labeled as beef but may have contained more horse meat than actually beef product inside. So far they have found only 29 meat products that have contained more horse meat which have come from 5 different distributers, 15 of these 29 positive tested products came from Findus, a popular frozen food distributor, most of the horse meat products found in their lasagna products. Personally I find this topic completely disgusting,  I personally would like to know what I am eating when I am eating and this just makes you question what you are eating and there really isn’t anyway for you to know if companies are telling you the truth about what is in their products. This can cause so many issues including health and with their business as well. If someone were to buy their product and were allergic to what was in your food and the company didn’t put that on the box, they could sue them and it would ruin their company because in all honesty who in their right mind would want to buy that product? I personally wouldn’t, I would like to know what is going in to my mouth and if it is not listed on the back, then I don’t want to buy from your company and I am sure that many others feel the same. I am sure that with this accusation that business for them has gone down, which makes me wonder why they would do it in the first place? If you know that it is a possibility to get caught and you know that it would ruin your companies name then why would you do it? In general I think this has brought to attention what people are actually eating when they buy frozen foods, it is just like when people found out that they were using dolphin in tuna in the past few years. This should be a warning to people to read the labels on the products they buy to make sure they know what they are eating. (356)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/15/world/europe/uk-horse-meat-probe/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

The Pope Resigning

Earlier this week the Pope, Benedict XVI made the difficult decision to resign from his papacy. This is the first time a pope has resigned in over 600 years and has come as a huge shock to many people in the Catholic community and even to people who are not a part of the Catholic Community. Part of the reason this was such a huge shock was because it was the first time in 600 years, so many years ago, no generations alive have seen it, so it is new to them, many of the people upset about this are of the elderly community because they have never seen it before and because most people are not a fan of change. Being raised as a Catholic myself; I can remember when this new pope began his papacy and when he was chosen to be the Pope and seeing the footage of the white smoke coming out of the church, back when I was in third grade. Personally this is also very strange to me but in all honesty I am okay with the change. One of the reasons the pope decided to resign was because he did not believe that with this more advance age then most of the previous popes that he could not do his job properly and that he does not have the energy to do his job anymore. He stated that to do the job you have to have the spirit of mind and body and lately his strength and spirit have been deteriorating. He does not have the energy to keep up with his job anymore, which is why he has decided to resign. Some people believe that he was not up for the job anymore, that he just did not want to be the pope, and he couldn’t spiritually handle being the pope. What are your opinions? (314)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/world/irpt-storify-pope-global-reaction/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

Santa Cruz Earthquake

This past Wednesday there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 in that hit the Santa Cruz Islands, causing a small tsunami as well, and killing 5 people. The earthquake killed four older people and one child on the beach with a 3ft wave. The director of the nearby hospital expressed that there were damages done to local villages and the airport. At this time the hospital was also evacuated and the patients were moved, while the hospital experienced some flooding. Although the death of these 5 people is very tragic, it is a very good thing that no one else got hurt with this earthquake, so unexpected and with such great magnitude.

                I believe that this shows how we should all prepare for sudden natural disasters, in case of emergency. Even though there is no way to detect such a destructive thing, we should be prepared for whenever it might hit. The good thing is that with the awfully high magnitude of the earthquake there was not that much damage. Everyone living in earthquake areas should constantly be practicing what to do in case of an earthquake and the architecture in the areas should be designed in some way to be able to stay stable during an earthquake, designing the structures to somewhat withstand the natural disasters when they strike.  I think that everywhere natural disasters hit, they should practice safety precautions to prepare them in case one were to strike unexpectedly. They should also design their cities to move the more important buildings in the least likely area the disaster would hit, away from water, so they are more protected from tsunamis and water damages. Overall we should all be prepared and practice safety regulations when it comes to natural disasters, so we are more prepared when they hit. (302)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/world/asia/solomon-islands-quake/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

Human Trafficking Scandal

Recently in Europe they uncovered one of the biggest or possibly the biggest human trafficking scandal. So many people were involved, 103 people to be exact. All across 10 countries including: Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic, Turkey and Kosovo. When searched, they found 240,000 dollars, laptops, cell phones and bank statements from previous times. Most of the people that were being smuggled were from Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan some of the most violent countries in the world. And recently Syria is getting a lot of publicity with so many protests and movements that have turned violent.

I think that this just helps put in perspective how much violence is going on in the world today, and how much money that people who do these huge crimes can accumulate before actually getting caught. If it took this long to uncover one of the major trafficking operations how long will it take for them all to disappear? And how many more are out there in the world right now, it’s a scary thought when you think about it because for all we know, it could be near you, which is why things like trafficking need to be investigated more, so we can uncover any more that might be close and so more people don’t get involved in operations like these. Operations that exploit people and take away so many human rights that they deserve, all for the sake of money. Do these people involved even know what they are doing, and how much they are affecting someone’s life all for the sake of money? Now that they have uncovered a large trafficking operation they need to keep investigating to make sure that things like these don’t happen again and that trafficking does not spread and become even larger.(303)

 http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/31/world/europe/human-trafficking-arrests/index.html?hpt=wo_c2