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Troy Rietsma

Nigeria fights oil bandits - UPI.com - 0 views

www.upi.com/...UPI-69641299590981

Libya Oil Illegal Refineries Nigeria

shared by Troy Rietsma on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Nigerian forces destroyed what they believed were illegal oil refineries in the Niger Delta area as part of an effort to curb vandalism, a spokesman said. The illegal refineries were shoddy facilities where operators were distilling crude oil to sell on the black market.
  • soldiers destroyed 500 illegal refineries in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
  • "The operators, we believe, were those that break into the vast network of pipelines in the Niger Delta to steal crude oil which they refine, and sometimes they damage wellheads in the process," he was quoted as saying.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • thieves have cost Nigeria an average of around 100,000 ba
  • rrels of crude oil per day.
  • Financial analysts, meanwhile, said that Nigeria is benefiting from the rising price of crude oil.
  • Oil prices are at two-year highs in part because of the civil war raging in Libya, Africa's top oil producer.
  • Officials at the Nigerian Financial Derivatives Co. told Nigerian newspaper Next that tensions in the Middle East were a "blessing" for Nigeria.
  • Troy Rietsma on 08 Mar 11
     
    Research Question: What effect does the Nigerian Blood Oil have on the people there? "Nigeria fights oil bandits." UPI.com. UPI, 8 Mar. 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. . 1. Summary The Nigerian government sent troops out to destroy illegal oil refineries. Nigerian security forces spokesman Timothy Antigha said that soldiers destroyed roughly 500 refineries. Authorities believe that those who were in charge of these illegal refineries were tapping in to and stealing from the pipelines of the Niger Delta. An estimated 100,000 barrels of crude oil was being stolen every day. 2. Reflection At first I wondered why Nigerian authorities would want to destroy oil refineries. With rising oil prices and the crisis in Libya, you would think that the Nigerians would want to get their hands on any oil they could. But I read on and saw that the oil was being stolen from the main lines and sold on the black market. I think Nigeria did the right thing, and hopefully this well help the whole oil conflict. 3. Questions:  Will destroying these illegal refineries help or hurt the Nigerian people? and who will it help or hurt? Will destroying these refineries help Nigeria's legal production, thus helping the Libya crisis? According to financial analysts, Nigeria is benefiting from rising oil prices. How is Nigeria benefiting from it?
Andrew Kuper

Wong Sees 'Tough Budget' for Australia on Floods, Currency - Businessweek - 0 views

www.businessweek.com/...tralia-on-floods-currency.html

Australia Flood Economy Financial

shared by Andrew Kuper on 15 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • We got some short term softness -- that’s as a result of a number of factors, the floods, the cyclone, but also a cautious consumer and a strong Aussie dollar
  • The Australian dollar has risen to a record versus its U.S. counterpart
  • The government expects a A$3 billion decline in company tax revenue and a drop of A$1 billion in income tax intake, Wong said today.
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  • Economists have estimated the damage from the floods may reach $20 billion, or about 1.5 percent of Australia’s $1.3 trillion economy, while the cost of rebuilding after Cyclone Yasi may be more than A$2 billion.
  • In addition, Japan’s strongest earthquake in history on March 11 is estimated to have dented demand for Australia’s bulk commodities by almost A$2 billion in this fiscal year, shaving less than one-fourth of a percentage point from GDP, according to the Treasury.
  • Andrew Kuper on 15 Apr 11
     
    What are the effects of the Australian Floods? Citation:"Wong Sees 'Tough Budget' for Australia on Floods, Currency" http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-09/wong-sees-tough-budget-for-australia-on-floods-currency.html Summary: This article talks about how Australia will be affected financially following the floods. It mentioned that the total cost of the damages are equal to roughly 1.5% of the country's A$1.3 trillion economy. It also talked about how Japan's earthquake affected Australia, because they receive many Japanese imports.Questions:1. What exactly does Japan have to do with this?2. How will the people rebuild and finance all this damage? 3. Are these figures in American dollars or Australian dollars? *Edit: Reposting because I forgot to share to WC group. Old post deleted.
Nick Mast

Egypt's attorney general forbids Mubarak from leaving country - CNN.com - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

egypt

shared by Nick Mast on 01 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Egypt's attorney general issued an order Monday freezing the assets of former President Hosni Mubarak and his family and prohibiting them from leaving the country.
  • Mahmoud ordered the freeze for property owned by Mubarak,
  • Mubarak, through his attorneys and in official filings, has describe
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • reports of immense wealth as "fabrications and baseless rumors."
  • Mubarak, who resigned February 11 after 18 days of protest against his rule
  • Nick Mast on 01 Mar 11
     
    Egypt's attorney general forbids Mubarak from leaving countryBy the CNN Wire Staff Summary: On Monday Egypt's general attorney froze all of old president assets and froze him and his family from leaving the country until they come up with a resolution. The general attorney issued this just days after a member from the Egypt's parliament lost his seat after filing corruption cases against other people in high authority in the government. Mubarak and his family are rumored to have a net worth of 150 million dollars. The freeze includes his house or his home away from homes, his stocks, bonds and many other financial assets that value in a lot of money. Mubarak said through his people that this is baseless rumors put upon him.   Reflection: To hear that Mubarak's family and assets are all froze is really not surprising. By freezing all of his assets and him and his family you buy your parliament some time to figure out what there next step is to complete. And by keeping them in the country you reassure yourself that he won't be leaving. But this move also marks just another crazy step in Egypt that is going on because of his past leadership, and a step i think the government needed to take so that they have some time to figure out there next move. Questions:Why did the general attorney have to decide this? What does this mean for government? What happened to the parliament guy who lost his seat? How long are him and his assets frozen?
Katie Feikema

COSTA RICA GETS $56 MILLION FOR CONSERVATION. - 0 views

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Costa Rica Conservation

shared by Katie Feikema on 09 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Katie Feikema on 09 Mar 11
     
    What are the effects of Costa Rica's ecological conservation, on the country? Summary: This article tells of the financial aid and support that Costa Rica is receiving from other countries and organizations, to aid their conservation efforts. It also tells that some countries, including the US, are buying back debts, so that Costa Rica can have more resources to increase their protected areas.  Reflection: I think it is very cool to see that other countries including the US is willing to chip in and help a country that is striving to protect it's environment and natural resources. It is amazing that so much of Costa Rica is protected and they are almost up to meeting the U.N.'s goal for protected areas. The economy is being helped by all the donations, because of all the protected areas they already have. There is still stuff to do though especially for their waters.  Questions: 1) When are they going to start concentrating on the water's protection? 2) How far will they go past the U.N.'s goals for protected areas? 3) Will other countries begin to follow Costa Rica's great example?
Luke Terpstra

Putin meets South Ossetia leader in Moscow - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review - 0 views

www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php

Putin South Ossetia Georgia assistance

shared by Luke Terpstra on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • ussian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that a Russian-funded “plan on rehabilitation” launched after the August war between Russia and Georgia that led to Moscow’s recognition of South Ossetia as an independent republic “is practically over,”
  • Putin, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Eduard Kokoity, the de facto leader of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, said problems might remain
  • After the meeting Kokoity said it was possible to say that “consequences of the Georgian aggression of August 2008 will be fully eradicated in a year or two.”
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  • “Despite the global economic crisis, Russia has completely met its commitments,” said Kokoity, regarding financial assistance to Tskhinvali, adding that a total of 792 of South Ossetia’s facilities were rehabilitated with Russian assistance.
  • Luke Terpstra on 17 Feb 11
     
    "Putin meets South Ossetia leader in Moscow." Hurriyet Daily News 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.   Summary:    Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, says that he and Eduard Kokoity,  the leader of the region in Georgia called South Ossetia, and stated that hostilities may still exist, but they have assisted South Ossetia in rehabilitating some of their facilities. Putin claims that with Russian aid, nearly 800 facilities were rehabilitated.  Reflection:      I find it hard to believe that Russia would help restore South Ossetia at all. They have constantly met all hostilities from Georgia with more offense, and not with the respectful defense they should have. I also find it strange that they find it strange that Georgia would attack them back.  Questions:  1. What do you think caused Russia to help South Ossetia out. Was it that they were obligated to do it, or did they just want to play the good guy role?  2. How much help do you think South Ossetia got, and what kind?  3. Why do you think Georgia is still hostile to Russia?
Kyleah Vander Klok

HEART OF DARKNESS.(AIDS and HIV in Zambia). - 0 views

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Zambia AIDS orphans

shared by Kyleah Vander Klok on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • The country is 17 years into an HIV/AIDS pandemic.
  • One in four of the 9.5 million population is infected, according to experts in Zambia, and in some areas it's risen to one in three.
  • 1.5 million children in Zambia have lost one or both parents to AIDS
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  • Zambians are reluctant to accept that HJV is the cause of all the dying. The stigma of AIDS is so enormous here, survivors prefer to say that family members died from tuberculosis or meningitis, common AIDS-related conditions.
  • a baby who manages to avoid contracting HIV in utero or during delivery has about a one in three chance of getting the virus from breast-feeding
  • We have 45 orphans in our extended family already
  • This disease has become a wa
  • One generation has been wiped out due to AIDS, says Salvation Army social worker Thebisa Ghaava. "The next one will be lost due to a lack of schooling," she says.
  • Zambia has little in the way of a national HIV/AIDS education program
  • Life expectancy has dropped from 56 years to 37 in recent years, and observers believe it could reach as low as 30 within the next decade.
  • For 19-year-old Rachel Musonda, who lives in the Copperbelt mining region in the north of the country, the past four years have been a nightmare, as first her father, then her mother, and then her three older siblings died of AIDS. With each new casualty, Musonda, who was forced to drop out of high school to nurse her parents and who has no skills or financial means, has been left with more children to raise. At 15, she had no choice but to become mother and father to her six younger siblings, then aged from 13 down to one year. With the subsequent deaths of her two older sisters and brother, and their spouses, she had to take on three more children, bringing the total to nine, because there was nowhere else for them to go.
  • Anti-AIDS medications cost $10,000 to $15,000 a year, more than the vast majority of Africans earn in a lifetime.
  • Consequently, the country's budget for health care is a pitiful $6 to $8 per person per year, and that sum includes the cost of hospitals and treating other rampant health problems such as malaria.
  • And even the discounted price of $2000 a year per patient is still a fantastical sum for Zambians, representing as it does an average of nearly seven years' income for the 40 percent who are fortunate enough to be employed.
  • medications must be taken on a strictly observed schedule around meals. In Zambia, the reality is that many people can eat only when food is available. And that is increasingly becoming only once every several days.
  • 50 percent of children are chronically malnourished.
  • In spite of Christianity's wide reach, traditional beliefs still run deep, and AIDS is often attributed to witchcraft
  • Another growing factor in the spread of AIDS is the legion of street kids, often AIDS orphans, many of whom must turn to prostitution to survive, as the country has only a handful of orphanages. About 750,000 children, some as young as four, have already been forced onto the streets.
  • In 1991, they underestimated the number of infections in the year 2000 by 40 percent. Already, 17 million have died, and today there are more than 25 million infected.
  • n the capital, the HIV rate among pregnant 15-to 19-year olds is beginning to drop for the first time
  • Twenty-five percent of our population is positive," she says but that means 75 percent is negative. Three out of four of us have the means to turn the situation around. But to do that Zambians need to take control of their lives."
  • Kyleah Vander Klok on 17 Feb 11
     
    What are the effects of HIV/AIDS in Zambia? 1.Harper's Bazaar: GOODWIN, JAN. "HEART OF DARKNESS." Harper's Bazaar Mar. 2001: 450. Student Edition. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=STOM&docId=A72411528&source=gale&srcprod=STOM&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 2. This document is about how so many people are orphaned because of AIDS. People do not want to hear about AIDs and they pass it off for witchcraft or other Viruses.The lifespan of the people has dropped significantly over the years.People are trying to help by letting themselves be open to the youth and be models. 3. It is terrible the effects of the virus, so many have died because the don't know or they can't do anything about it. Those poor children having to raise other kids when they themselves are still to young and have no way to support any of them.  4. WHat can be done to help kids stay off the street and not to sell their bodies to feed their family? Where can the people turn to to know what is happening and what is better for them? 
Nicki Pifer

Obama Opens Trade and Travel Relations With Communist Cuba - 0 views

www.thenewamerican.com/

embargo trade Cuba travel

shared by Nicki Pifer on 01 Mar 11 - Cached
  • Nicki Pifer on 01 Mar 11
     
    On Friday, January 14 President Obama announced that he plans on easing trade and travel relations with Communist Cuba, including making it easier for U.S. citizens to travel directly to the island from American airports. The President added that he had instructed the relevant government departments to allow religious groups and students to travel to the communist-run island. For almost half a century, the debate has been raging over the United States' policy towards Cuba, which has been communist since Fidel Castro's coupe de etat in 1959. Free travel from the U.S. to Cuba was halted in 1963 under President John F. Kennedy. The explanation at the time for why Americans could visit the Soviet Union but not Cuba was that the communist government in Moscow was permanent but that Fidel Castro was temporary. In 1977, with Cuba still unchanged, President Jimmy Carter relaxed the travel ban. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan restored it. n 1998, with the Soviet Union "gone," Clinton loosened it and in 2004, with Cuba still unchanged, President George W. Bush tightened it again. Now President Obama is going back to the Clinton policy, which will make it easier for churches and universities to sponsor trips to the communist state. Obama's announcement calls for changes in policy at the Departments of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security, as both travel and remittances are involved in the changes, and the new regulations will be promulgated as modifications of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and the Customs and Border Protection Regulations. The new policies call for the following reforms to Cuba-United States relations. According to the BBC, Obama's new proposals: * Allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba under a general license; * Allow accredited institutions of higher education to sponsor travel to Cuba; * Allow any U.S. person to send remittances (up to $500 per quarter) to non-family members in Cuba to support private e
Katie Feikema

Costa Rica's citizens of conservation: in their newly adopted homes, enclaves of foreig... - 0 views

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costa Rica environment

shared by Katie Feikema on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Historically, Costa Rica has been ecofriendly. It has set aside a higher percentage of land as national parks than any other nation in the Americas. Government programs assist landowners with reforestation, helping to bring land back to its natural state.
  • a number of examples exist where foreigners have become agents of change who add to the richness of Costa Rican fife. The Costa Rican government hopes to encourage such balanced exchanges.
  • Out of the Kyoto Protocols and through the World Bank, Costa Rica was selected to sell carbon credits. "They are paying people to produce oxygen,"
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  • Several times a year, they bring groups of university student volunteers to work in this small Costa Rican community. Last year, the volunteers renovated the school by painting it, sanding and varnishing the desks and chairs, and repairing windows. They also helped build an organic garden and learned about the value of growing their own foods.
  • The group also had a dream to create a library to serve the schools in the four communities of the Valle de Diamante. This past February the library opened right next to the freshly renovated school in La Florida.
  • The library, which serves the four community schools, will enhance the quality of education and create long-lasting opportunities for the areas children.
  • Villages are looking for a new ways to sustain themselves and their culture. This library, along with new skills related to farming organically, composting, using bio-fuels and alternative energy, and rehabilitating and reforesting land will bring greater financial abundance to the communities.
  • Their dream is to create a sustainable environment and a balanced ecology benefiting their region and the entire planet.
  • Hacienda Barti National Wildlife Refuge. The densely forested 830 acres belie its previous incarnation as a cattle ranch and rice farm.
  • Over time, Ewing's interest in cattle was replaced with an enthusiasm for the natural world of the Costa Rican forest. Little by little, he began thinking of the hacienda as a nature preserve.
  • Ewing allowed other parts of the hacienda to regenerate naturally. The rich, fertile, volcanic soil of the region, along with the vast seed bank of the primary forest and the average 150 inches of yearly rainfall, brought rapid reforestation.
  • In August of 1995, President José María Figueres signed a decree designating Hacienda Barú as a National Wildlife Refuge. The forest continues to regenerate.
  • Hacienda Barú's story is one of enormous success, and it is not just an ecological success, as spectacular as that is. Perhaps more importantly, the experience of Hacienda Barú has pioneered a way for others to follow.
  • I see my role as making them aware of what's available through national programs and then facilitating the implementation." When he leaves after two years, the community will be more aware of the resources available to them and more able to fight for their own development.
  • Source Citation"Costa Rica's citizens of conservation: in their newly adopted homes, enclaves of foreigners support their local communities by using sustainable methods to preserve the land and the environment." Americas [English Edition] July-Aug. 2010: 22+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.
    • Katie Feikema
      Katie Feikema on 17 Feb 11
       
      Reflection: I think that what these people did in Costa Rica seems to have been very beneficial to them and the native Costa Ricans. Through the experience they are able to serve and get close to nature which can be a very relaxing and rewarding experience. They are also able to improve the education, environment, and quality of life for the Costa Ricans. They are teaching them a bit about how to farm better as well wich will be a great asset to the natives as they build up their economy through better agriculture.Questions:1) I wonder how the natives feel about what American's are doing there. Do they give their full support? Or are they skeptical?    2) Is the impact they have made becoming more noticeable in the economy as well as the environment?3) Do they plan to slowly back out of the leadership positions and teach the natives how to carry on for themselves? 
  • Katie Feikema on 17 Feb 11
     
    Research Question: What effect does Costa Rica's ecological conservation have on it's environment and economy? Source: "Costa Rica's citizens of conservation: in their newly adopted homes, enclaves of foreigners support their local communities by using sustainable methods to preserve the land and the environment." Americas [English Edition] July-Aug. 2010: 22+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. Summary: This article is about the success and help that people, not native to Costa Rica, have been able to bring to their "adopted land" in Costa Rica. They tell about what got them interested, what they did and how it has helped the country of Costa Rica. 
Kyleah Vander Klok

The drugs, the drugs - 0 views

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effects of HIV_AIDS in Zambia

shared by Kyleah Vander Klok on 13 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • the blanket assumption that everyone dying in the country has Aids, and the lack of education to give people an informed choice of whether to rake the drugs or not, many Zambians will do anything (even go hungry) just to buy what they believe are "life-giving" drugs, without thinking about their side effects.
  • he was given the drugs because he had had a cough for a month.
  • "there are many people in Africa with latent TB just waiting for HIV to come and acrivate it", TB has become the most HIV related disease on the continent today.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • It is, therefore, very common that people testing HIV positive, or even assumed to be, are immediately prescribed TB drugs as a first option.
  • families in Lusaka who have lost loved ones to what they believe were the side effects of the "anti-Aids" drugs. All of them said their relatives were not tested for HIV -- they were assumed to be infected by the virus because of the symptoms their illnesses showed
  • There is growing pressure on the Zambian government to acquire anti-Aids drugs than finding preventative measures.
  • There is, therefore, an urgent need for people to be given an informed choice before being put on the anti-Aids drugs.
  • People should also be told that being on the drugs is not a short-term measure because half courses (which are what most Zambians can now afford) are a death sentence. People need to know that as soon as circumstances (usually financial) force them to stop taking the drugs, the death clock starts to tick even faster because their immune systems have been compromised by the drugs.
  • some Zambians are clearly nor dying of Aids. Their illnesses are wrongly diagnosed, which leads to wrongly prescribed drugs and untimely deaths.
  • silent killer stalking the land is the fear psychosis that grips many every time they have a headache, a cough or diarrhoea. The "boosters" are not really helping much.
  • Kyleah Vander Klok on 13 Apr 11
     
    1.Nyendwa, Fred. "The drugs, the drugs." New African Dec. 2000: 31. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Apr. 2011  http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do&contentSet=IACDocuments&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=AONE&docId=A68767983&source=gale&srcprod=AONE&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0  2. Fear and hastily diagnosed AIDS has caused many deaths. The people do not know the effects of what certain drugs can do to a person. The doctors at hospitals give a diagnoses that a sickness is AIDS without testing and are putting them on dangerous drugs that can be deadly. 3. It is good that they are concerned for the people and are trying to keep them from getting TB but they do need to do testing because the people are scared of getting the disease and are uneducated so much that they don't know the difference from a normal sickness and AIDS and if the doctors are not telling helping then people are dying needlessly. 4. How much fear has been put into HIV/AIDS and is it right to do that? How can we lessen the fear of getting the disease and increasing the education in what it is? Is it bad that we are educating these people about the disease? Are we over exaggerating the possibility of getting HIV/AIDS and the whole epidemic?
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