Taliban Attack on Afghan Election Headquarters

Smoke coming from election headquarters after
attack by Taliban

Rosenberg, Matthew. "Taliban Attack Election Panel Headquarters Before Afghan Voting."The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

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On Saturday Taliban fighters opened fire on election panel headquarters, which is a week before voting for the new president of Afghanistan will happen.The Taliban had vowed prior to this that they would attack sometime before the election had started. Thankfully there had been no reports of casualties but not one hundred percent sure if there were or not. The Talibans goal is to derail his election so that they can show that they still have power, this is their third attack in Kabul this week and these attacks are adding lots of tension to the city. Noor Ahmad Noor the election commissions spokesman said that the attack started with two rocket propelled grenades hitting the compound. He then said that the compound “is in total lockdown and we have moved our staff to bankers and safe houses,” he added. “None of the insurgents have managed to breach our security and enter.” This period of elections will be very dangerous for Afghanistan and they will have to take many security measures so that they will have a secure election for next week.

After Sixty Years, Remains of Chinese Soldiers From Korean War Returned Home From South Korea

          Chines soldiers with flags over boxes containing the
 remains of the 437 Chinese dead soldiers

Sang-hun, Choe. "After Six Decades, Chinese Soldiers Killed in South Korea Head Home."The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

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After 60 years South Korea has returned the remains of 437 Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War back to China, showing a sign warming feelings between the two nations. That it took 60 years to return the remains showed that there was a ton of uneasiness and conflict between the two countries. A breakthrough came last June when South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye spent some time in China. As part of her effort to become comfortable and familiar with South Korea she offered to send the remains back to China where they belong. China being North Korea’s biggest and major ally, it looks like South Korea has made closer connections with South Korea than North Korea. The remains sent to China on Friday arrived just ahead of China’s annual “tomb sweeping day,” the day families would visit their loved ones who fought in the war. With these signs of gratitude from South Korea you can understand the lesson of with time old wounds can be healed with forgiveness.

Ebola One of the World's Most Deadliest Viruses Hits Guinea

Ignace Deen Hospital in Conakry

"Ebola Spread to Guinea Capital Raises Fears." The New York Times. The New York Times, 29 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.

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Ebola one of the most world’s most deadliest viruses has spread from a remote forested area in southern Guinea to Guinea’s seaside capital Conakry. Ebola causes severe bleeding and almost always is a certain death, and this could possibly spread far beyond the borders this tiny West African nation’s borders. Ebola has already killed 70 people and others who have been exposed are being isolated in hospitals in Conakry. With Guinea being one of the poorest countries in the world and having a population of two million this could turn into a serious disaster and tragedy. Some people who have shown symptoms of Ebola fear to even enter hospitals as hundreds of people with Ebola are going there to be treated, meaning that the virus is circulating throughout the hospital with so many germs spreading. The people of Guinea are in panic and believe that “Only God can save us now.” Doctors are doing as much as they can to help these people and at the same time making sure that the disease does not spread too far to where it could possibly be a world threatening epidemic.

Twitter Banned In Turkey With Support Of Nation's Own President

Jones, Bryony, Laura Smith-Spark, Ivan Watson, and Gul Tuysuz. "Turkey's Twitter Ban Condemned -- Even by Nation's Own President." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

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The Turkish Government banned Twitter in the country of Turkey and has caused an outrage with the people of Turkey. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan supports the ban of Twitter because Erdogan believes that social media is the cause for anti-government rhetoric. Turkish Twitter users finding a way across the ban immediately voiced themselves against the Turkish Government and President saying “He is afraid. Afraid of democracy, afraid of freedom, afraid of people.”

Turkish analyst Fadi Hakura says that Twitter has been targeted because it’s a way to block the public’s access to information amid the government’s corruption scandal and in the run-up to key local elections at the end of March. The Prime Minister’s top priority is to win these elections so that his authority remains in Turkish politics, but with him supporting the ban on Twitter you can only expect disapproval from voters for Erdogan. Keep a close eye on this because as seen before, when a government censors the people’s voice you can only expect protest from the people.

Speculations Arising For The Disappearance Of Flight 370

Watkins, Tom, Mick Krever, Wen-Chun Fan, Thom Patterson, and Catherine E. Shoichet. "Searching for the Plane Truth -- amid Speculation." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

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It  has been 12 days since Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has gone missing and there have been many speculations to what had happened to the plane. Many speculations have been proposed and here are just a few of the ones that could have possibly happened. One was that it was a “Pilot Hero” attempt, meaning that the plane was going down and the pilot steered the plane to the nearest airport and the plane didn’t make it. The next speculation was that the pilot took the plane down as a suicide attempt, believing that one of the pilots had a meltdown during the flight. Another speculation is “Commandeering,” Commandeering is not to be confused with hijacking as Commandeering is to be when the plane is hijacked but motives are not clear or made yet. The last speculation was that the plane was actually hijacked because of evidence that the transponder data was terminated before the disappearance of the plane . There are many speculations to what had has happened to the plane and almost everyone is eager to find out what has exactly happened to Flight 370.

Russia Takes Ukrainian Military Base By Force

David. "Russian Force Takes Over Ukrainian Base Next to Airport in Crimea." The New York Times. The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.

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On Saturday Russian forces pushed through the gates of a Ukrainian military base with armored vehicles, firing weapons into the air and demanding that Ukrainian soldiers surrender immediately. By that evening Russia was in full control as negotiations over the terms of withdrawal were still going on. The Kremelin has invited Ukrainian soldiers to join the Russian army with maintaining the same rank and higher pay, but many have declined. Russia has made ultimatums that if Ukraine does not relinquish control of the base to Russia, Russia will attack with force. Tension and anticipation was built throughout the afternoon for an agreement to made with Russia and Ukraine. The agreement made was the founding of the O.S.C.E. Special Monitoring Mission for six months, they will observe security situations and reports incidents that take place. It will be interesting to see in these few months whether the O.S.C.E will help maintain security in Ukraine.

India Heavily Expands It's Search For Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

Harris, Gardiner. "India Expands Its Efforts in Search for Missing Jet." The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

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Indian military forces searched hundreds of islands in the Andaman Sea for any signs of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 as efforts to finding the aircraft as turned to westward from aircraft’s origin Kuala Lumpur. India has now intensified it’s search by sending six ships, a handful of airplanes, and about one thousand people from India’s navy, coast guard and air force. Only 37 of the 572 islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are inhabited and the rest are covered by tropical jungles, which expands the search by having to search over five hundred islands. The coast guard has sent two Dornier aircrafts to fly over these islands slowly to observe carefully so that they don’t miss any possible of evidence of the plane. As Captain D.K. Sharma said, “This is like looking for a needle in that vast expanse of sea.” Even with many countries sending ships, aircrafts, and people this will still be a long process and take a lot coordination to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Oscar Pistorius Sickened By Gruesome Pictures Shown During Murder Trial

Greene, Richard Allen, Richard Allen Greene Reported, Wrote From Pretoria, and Ben Brumfield Wrote from Atlanta. Marie-Louise Gumuchian in London. "Gruesome Shooting Scene Photos Sicken Oscar Pistorius at Murder Trial." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

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Oscar Pistorius was in court again on Thursday for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp which took place on February 14 of 2013. Pistorius the handicapped Olympian had his trial interrupted twice by the accidental showing of pictures of Reeva Steenkamp’s dead body and fatal wounds prompting Pistorius to be violently ill. Pistorius disgusted with the showing of the pictures threw up after both defense and prosecution lawyers examined the photos to show which ones they wanted to discuss. Pistorius who admitted to killing Steenkamp says that it was a terrible accident and not a premeditated murder. As photos flashed by of bloody scenes Pistorius’ face sank into his hands to keep away from looking. The case is still going on because there has still not been clarity to whether Pistorius had intentionally killed his girlfriend or not. The trial will take about three weeks to arrive to a final verdict. There are many different opinions to whether he actually killed Steenkamp or not, I believe that Pistorius did not intentionally kill her mistakenly taking her for an intruder because he would be throwing away his life and not be able to complete his dreams of being the first handicapped man to medal in the Olympics.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Believed To Have Flown Hundreds of Miles West Off Course

Fuller, Thomas. "Search for Missing Jet Shifts to Indian Ocean Amid Confusion Over Radar."The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Mar. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

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New information was recently released about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that the plane could have been airborne or functional for hours after losing communication with the plane. With this new information it is believed that the plane could have traveled hundreds of miles west, across the Malaysian Peninsula and then out into the Indian Ocean. The plane was bound for Beijing, China and had enough fuel on board to fly at least 2,500 miles. Contact was first lost in the first forty minutes of the flight when the plane was on course and heading from Kuala Lumpur over the Gulf of Thailand. The United States has now taken action to help and search for the plane by sending an American naval aircraft and American destroyer to help with search efforts. From what I have heard it was possible the plane could have gone over hundreds of miles in any direction, north, south, west, or east which would will make it extremely hard to find the aircraft. It will be very interesting to find out what happened to the plane and why it happened when it is found.

New Look For Syria as Presidential Campaign Starts

Hersh, Joshua. "It's Presidential Campaign Season In Syria. This Is What It Looks Like." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Mar. 2014. Web. 07 Mar. 2014.

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It is the beginning of the presidential campaign in Syria and Damascus’s commercial pathways are starting to be repainted again, the usual color of red, white, and black with two green stars and face of current president, Bashar al-Assad. By the end of the week almost every store front was painted the exact same, turning the dull colors of Syrian streets to colors of national pride. As one shopkeeper said “We did it because we are all with the government. We are all together as one. No one asked us to do this.” But as another reporter found out, people were being forced to repaint their store fronts or they would be fined or imprisoned. From what I’ve learned from World War II this has reoccurred many times from dictators such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as they have forced people to support them or they will face consequences, which usually ended up in death. The new elected president of Syria will be very important because whoever is elected has the big responsibility of bouncing Syria back from it’s downfall, so in the next couple months this presidential election will determine Syria’s fate for the next couple years.

U.S. Implementing New Sanctions in Ukraine

Gordon, Michael R. "U.S. Imposes Visa Ban in Ukraine Crisis." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Mar. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

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The State Department has now issued a visa ban in Ukraine to officials that are deemed to be involved in territorial sovereignty and integrity. In addition President Obama made an executive order that would provide legal basis for imposing sanctions on “individuals and entities” who have undermined Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The visa ban will only affect about a dozen people, the Ukrainians and Russians, political figures, policy advisers, security officials and military officers who are in anyway connected in the Crimea crisis. A ban on the visas is the easiest step for the Obama administration to take because it can easily be implemented and be aimed directly at the Ukrainian government. From what I’ve learned from history this is a very smart decision by the United States, you don’t want anybody important to leave and possibly go missing or leak out important information about what is going on secretly. The war between Russia and Ukraine is just beginning but important measures have already been taken so that the situation in Ukraine does not get out of hand.

Security in Syria Criticized by Rights Panel

Cumming-bruce, Nick. "U.N. Panel Report Describes Worsening Brutality in Syria’s War."The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.

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The civil war in Syria is still going on and there is no sign of it letting up yet, as violence and torture is still increasing. The violence has still not let up as suicide bombings, car bombs, improvised explosive devices and land mines that have caused many civilian casualties. Members of the United Nations Security Council received evidence in August 2013 that chemical weapons have been being used, but evidence given was deemed insufficient by investigators. Investigators also described extremely cruel torture that was being conducted as 6 pregnant women had been shot in the abdomen and some men who had been shot in the groin. From what I have learned through the actions of the Holocaust torture, I know that these people are extremely cold-hearted to conduct such torture, especially for them to shoot pregnant women. The war in Syria is being forgotten because of the rising war in Ukraine, but don’t forget about Syria as their war is still very devastating and has no sign of stopping any time soon.