English Blogs on the World Today- Random

http://news.yahoo.com/california-cities-seek-water-independence-144619784.html

This article is about the shortage of water in California, and the effects of this drought. The continued drought has left many counties in California reliant on outside sources to get enough water to water crops and water to drink. Some of the ways that the counties are trying to change this trend is by trying to get more groundwater through wells, and also by using water conservation techniques. Some of these techniques, like storing rainwater that runs through your gutters, are very simple and effective ways to save water without hurting the environment in any way.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/29/296229298/ncaa-s-elite-8-is-set-a-listing-of-weekend-games

This is a very small article on the March madness tournament that is currently going on in college basketball. In this years march madness, there were over 20 million brackets put in but after the first round there were no perfect. This year there have been a large number of upset teams, with the biggest being the Dayton Fliers. They were a 11 seed, which means they were considered around the 44th best team, but now they are one of the last 8 teams left in the tournament, an incredible run. The article lists all of the games that are going to occur this weekend.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/03/28/295715854/made-in-china-but-was-it-made-in-a-prison

This article is about the Chinese prison camps and how they are basically just free labor for the Chinese. This is one of the ways that China can make so many mass produced for basically no cost. However, in the past few years foreign nations have been restricting the export of such goods from china to help domestic businesses. Unfortunately, these efforts have been severely restricted by the Chinese government, who usually takes 5-10 years to respond to requests when they are supposed to respond within 60 days. This is a major barrier for trying to fix these

http://news.yahoo.com/aftershock-rattles-los-angeles-221048480.html

This article is about the earthquakes that have hit Los Angeles in the past 2 days. These earthquakes have not had a huge impact since they have not been huge, but have caused a little damage with water main breaks, gas leaks and other minor problems. However, this area is in constant fear of the "big one" that they know will eventually hit there. According to trends in earthquakes, an earthquake that can cause "widespread destruction" has a 99% chance of occurring in the next 30 years. This is a pretty scary thought for people, because it means that in the next 30 years they could lose their house and possessions to an earthquake.

The World Today- The Malaysian flight

Bradsher, Keith, and Chris Buckley. "Malaysia Officials, Saying Missing Jet Was Diverted, Open Criminal Inquiry." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Mar 2014. Web. 15 Mar 2014.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?_r=0

This article is about the Malaysian flight and how new evidence points to it being purposely put off course. The communications aboard the flight were turned off right when the plane was in between 2 different communication networks, like a no mans land, thus making it more difficult to track. This, and the fact that the Boeing 777 is hard to fly, seems to lend itself to the argument that one of the pilots was either in on the conspiracy or was being forced to cooperate. New data from satellites has shown that the flight flew for anywhere up to 8 hours after the last commercial communications, when the plane would most likely be running out of fuel. However, with the evidence pointing to a pilot being involved, there is a possibility that the plane could have landed somewhere, even though this would seem highly unlikely.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/16/290627472/flight-370-investigators-seek-motive-for-jet-s-disappearance

This article is about the Malaysian flight and the most recent rumors surrounding its disappearance. The article says that it has been confirmed that the plane flew for at least another 6.5 hours after its last radio check in. This completely changes the search efforts for the countries involved not only because it makes the search area much bigger, but also because the ocean in the new region is much, much deeper, and therefore harder to find stuff at the bottom. This changes the scenario greatly because it is becoming less and less likely that they will find the plane within 30 days, and after 30 days the locator devices in the plane completely turn off, making it much more difficult to find.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/22/292778260/chinese-satellite-images-show-new-floating-objects

This article is about the disappearance of the Malaysian Flight. In recent days satellites have found debris in the search areas that could be parts of the plane. There are 2 pieces of debris, one of which is around 80ft long, so you would think that the search planes would be able to find it. However, search groups have not been able to find any of the debris in 3 days. Even though there is debris, there is a good likelihood that it is not debris from the plane because there is often a lot of debris in those regions. It seems like all things that could go wrong in this search could go wrong.

English Blogs on the World Today- Crimea

Memmott, Mark. "Putin Says Those Aren't Russian Forces In Crimea." The Two-Way. NPR, 4 Mar 2014. Web. 6 Mar 2014.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/04/285653335/putin-says-those-arent-russian-forces-in-crimea

This article is about the claim of Russian President Vladimir Putin that he did not send troops into Russia. This claim came the day after troops invaded Ukraine and took over military buildings in Crimea. Besides for this fact, Russian helicopters have been seen flying over Ukraine, and Russian trucks have been moving soldiers to key locations. Russia has also been practicing military exercises right on the Ukrainian border. All of these things point to military involvement by the Russians, but Putin continues to deny that Russia has any part in Ukraine at this point. This, and Putin's previous involvement in world affairs make for quite an interesting article.


Chappell, Bill. "Ukraine: Crimea Rejects Talks With Kiev; Violence Reported." The Two-Way. NPR, 9 Mar 2014. Web. 9 Mar 2014.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/09/288131972/ukraine-crimea-rejects-talks-with-kiev-violence-reported

This article is about the region of Crimea and the Russian attempts to try to regain this territory. Russia has tried to take over this territory by sending in troops and trying to force Crimea into rejoining Russia. However, their attempts have been met with resistance, as the Ukrainian prime minister has sworn to not give up "an inch of land" to Russia. Even without this statement, it is illegal for Russia to get any land from Ukraine without a vote by the people. Even though this is illegal, the Russian gov't might try to force them to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. The article also said that the Ukrainian leader will be making a trip to the US to talk with president Obama about the crisis.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/16/290525623/crimeans-vote-on-splitting-from-ukraine-to-join-russia

This article is about the poll taken in the region of Crimea, currently a part of Ukraine, that suggests that Crimea wants to exit Ukraine and join Russia. However, since Crimea is currently being occupied by Russian soldiers, this may well be just a fixed vote. The US has declared the vote illegitimate and says that Russia's actions are dangerous and destabilizing. The UN is unable to do anything about it, because Russia holds a veto vote. When the UN was discussing this, every country voted against Russia's actions except Russia, which used their veto vote, and China, who abstained from the vote because they are a serious ally of Russia. This clearly seems to point to Russia's actions to try to take over Crimea as being very illegitimate.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/21/292338092/split-decisions-ukraine-signs-up-with-eu-russia-wraps-up-crimea

This article is about Crimea, and the now "official" Russian takeover of this region. This has created high tensions between the US and Russia, possibly the most since the Cold War. Each country has levied sanctions against the other in an attempt to get the other to back down. In recent days, Russia has taken over all of the Ukrainian military bases left in Crimea. This action has strengthened Russia's position and basically said to the world that they have taken Crimea and aren't going to give it up.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/29/296247981/russia-says-it-doesn-t-plan-to-invade-ukraine


This article is about the conflict between the West and Russia over the area of Crimea, and the US's attempt to find a diplomatic solution to this crisis. Russia is now saying that they don't plan on invading the Ukraine, but will take any measure to protect the rights of Russians and Russian speaking Ukraine. President Obama and Putin are apparently trying to figure out an agreement. However, Ukraine's military supplies that are in Crimea are not being given back to Ukraine, which is slightly suspicious and could indicate a future invasion of Ukraine by Russia in an attempt for Russia to gain back territory that they once had in times past.