Group items tagged

"Istanbul (CNN)One of the world's most volatile regions was roiled further Tuesday when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border. Turkey said it hit the plane after it repeatedly violated Turkey's airspace and ignored 10 warnings. "

If you're on break and don't have time to really read the article: - one of the two pilots was killed in the Russian jet that was shot down (they were military personnel) -Putin says this will result in "serious consequences" in reference to the relationship between Russia and Turkey -There are no ISIS members in this area so it makes the people who are allied with the USA in the fight against ISIS are enemies too, which takes the focus away from defeating ISIS -NATO called an emergency meeting which indicated the severity of the situation as far as international diplomacy goes and it seems like more officials (President Obama included) think that there is a high risk for this incident to lead to an escalation or a breaking point in the Middle East for the current tension between countries.... so essentially the takeaway is: this is really bad

"(CNN)The U.N. Security Council is set to implement "significant" punitive measures after North Korea's nuclear test and will begin working on a new resolution "immediately," a statement released by Security Council President Elbio Rosselli says. "

"Hong Kong (CNN)As world powers work to verify North Korea's claims that it has tested a hydrogen bomb, others are asking what the country's only real ally -- China -- will do. "

The US has decided to pull support for Syria. They are not able to come to agreements with Russia, and after both the US and Russia have dropped bombs that have killed civilians, the ceasefire is "at risk". It is possible that with this the war will be over sooner rather than later with the rebels losing, but it will not be a peaceful end.

I found it interesting how both sides believe the other is "the bad guy" in this situation: US thinks Russia is helping Syrians attack civilians, and Russia is upset that the US 'accidentally' dropped a bomb. I hope that the ceasefire will hold out and that the war will be over soon. I wonder if there is something that can be done for the end to have a chance of being peaceful.

Russia has been accused of abusing their veto power by vetoing a UN resolution that would halt Aleppo airstrikes. Russia has supported the Assad regime, which has led to disagreements with the US.

Stories from people who are religious minorities on the edge of extinction in Iraq.

"Austria says it can't keep this up much longer. Germany says it can't, either. After absorbing more than 12,000 refugees, Austria wants to see a gradual reduction in the numbers of refugees coming through, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said."

An article about a global summit on biodiversity. It would be interesting to see if countries that disagree politically can set aside their differences to work together on a global problem.

Similarly to what Harrison said, it's interesting to see countries that can't seem to agree on much politically starting to come together here. Good!

It's scary to think that we may need to protect 1/4 of the world's land. I hope that we can make that happen. But at the same time, there are daunting problems facing that possible goal, one of the largest being over population. I clicked on this link in the article (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/10/17/biodiversity.un.summit.briefing/index.html), and found this excerpt that I thought was great: "The demand for food, energy and clean water is projected to increase sharply, over the next 40 years. The world population is expected to grow from 6.8 to 9 billion people, and disposable incomes will also increase. Agriculture and urbanisation often compete with nature over the same land areas. Under unchanged policy, biodiversity will continue to suffer. If we keep meeting this growing demand, the amount of land used for human activity will expand enormously; not only in the supply of food but also in relation to biofuels. This would mean a further decrease in the space available for natural ecosystems. Biodiversity also reduces as a result of ecosystem overexploitation, disturbance and fragmentation, climate change, soil contamination, and water and air pollution. However, biodiversity is useful and of great importance to humanity, among other things because it stimulates soil fertility, manages water regulation and takes care of essential carbon uptake. In addition, many people feel that preservation of species richness and maintaining valuable nature areas are also our moral obligation." In light of that, I feel even more strongly that people should think hard about how many kids they have and their effect on overpopulation. Maybe each woman should have no more than one child (unless she happens to have twins, triplets, etc.), and strongly consider adopting at least one child. But then population decline means trying to support a proportionally larger elderly generation.... O.o

This article attempts to break down the Occupy Wall St. movement. Douglas Rushkoff hits on the important point that the 21st century media is not making it easy for the protestors to share unified thoughts because the media itself is not unified.

The article points out that "Occupy Wall Street is meant more as a way of life through contagion, creates as many questions as it answers, aims to force a reconsideration of the way the nation does business and offers hope to those of us who previously felt alone in our belief that the current economic system is broken." I think that this statement is true in that Occupy Wall Street offers hope to people and an outlet to voice their unhappiness with capitalism; however, I fail to see the solutions put forth by the protests. One of the appeals to the movement is that there is not a clear leader and it was mostly organized on Facebook and Twitter. And although technology started the movement it also may pose as a challenge, because it becomes more complicated for people to understand what "the end goal" is.

"As soon as such a claim is proved, the nobility of our nation requires [me] to do this," Erdogan told reporters at the climate change summit in Paris on Monday. But, he added, if the allegations are untrue, then Russian President Vladimir Putin should resign. "I am asking Mr. Putin, would you remain?"

Trump pronounces "Namibia" incorrectly and people find it hilariously disappointing.

China has been attempting to take over the South China Sea. In response, several countries including the Philippines have faught back. The international court has ruled that China has no right to take over this area, but China claims they will not accept this ruling.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic Japan has consistently had a low number of cases but as quarantine continues many citizens are getting restless at home and others feel the finical pressure to reopen their businesses despite the increase of cases.

I find it interesting how this article highlights the sentiment that the Japanese government is out of touch and lacks leadership when it comes to the containment of the coronavirus. The government's apparent prioritization of the economy over the well being of their citizens does not seem unique to Japan.

I agree with Amalie in that many government's, Japan and the United States included, are prioritizing the economy over the health of their citizens. I also find it interesting that the Japanese government is half-way committing to shut downs, which is also similar to the United States. Countries might need to start putting the well being of their citizens first, even if that will lead to economic struggles for the country.