Japan's Child Population is at a Record Low, OH NO!

Summary: Japan's child population remains on a decline and the number has been dropping for 33 years straight. Japan's lost 160,000 children under the age of fifteen in the last year. Many are worried because predictions are that the child population will continue to decline as well as the number of births. Many factors are being blamed for this constant decline: strict immigration policy, gender inequality, and even a lack of interest in not only having children.

Analysis: In Japan, this could be a major conflict because who is going to be the future of Japan? The fact that Japan has more adults than children could mean that when these adults pass on, about half of the population will be gone because more than half of the population is adults.

Sources: http://rt.com/news/156872-japan-children-population-decline/
Kim Kyung-Hoon
Published on: May 5th, 2014

Monsoons are to blame

Definition of monsoon: In the Arabian Sea traveling between Africa, India and South-East Asia, Monsoon is a major weather phenomenon in India (and the subcontinent) for the influence it casts on the lives of its inhabitants for centuries. Monsoon in India can be categorized into two branches based on their spatial spread over the sub-continent:

   Summary: India should be expecting less monsoons this year if El Niño  gains strength during the four-month monsoon season. A strong El Nino, marked by a warming of the sea surface on the Pacific Ocean, can cause severe drought in Australia, Southeast Asia and India, while drenching other parts of the world such as the U.S. Midwest and Brazil in rains.

Analysis: This could be bad news for India because they rely on agriculture very much, so their crops could die if the amount of rain declines. 

Sources: 

Blog- http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/04/23/india-monsoon-idINKBN0D90IX20140423

Definition- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon_of_South_Asia

 Written by:  Ratnajyoti Dutta

Date: April 23rd 

Kurdish People Call Out for Independence from Iraq

Kurdish People Call Out for Independence from Iraq

Background: Kurdish people are an ethnic group in Western Asia, including parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

Summary: The main Kurdish parties have raised their concern about going independent, complaining about  Baghdad’s repeated breaches of the Iraqi constitution. In the meantime, some have said they would seek to change the nature of relations with Iraq from federalism into a confederation, as a way to end the historical troubled relations with successive government in Baghdad.



Analysis: In my opinion it is a smart idea that the Kurdish people are trying to create a better bond with Iraq, because they can now have more allies on their side to help them campaign for independence. Also, they deserve their independence because for a very long time, the Kurdish people have always showed the world that they are peaceful and can create a safe haven in the Middle East.

Sources:
Written By: RUDAW
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/13042014
Date Written: April 12th, 2014

South Asia Needs to Spend 2.5 million by 2020

South Asia Needs to Spend 2.5 million by 2020

Summary:
South Asia owes 2.5 million dollars for infrastructure according to World Bank by 2020 to bring its power, roads, and water supplies up to the standard need for their growing population.
They say the region, which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, could address its "enormous" infrastructure needs by tapping private and public sector funds. The main reason everyone in the community is so eager to pay the dues is because some haven't had sanitary water supply in years. They feel as though they aren't being taken care of or thought about.


Analysis:
I think that South Asia needs to really work hard on paying the debt because South Asia needs to really keep a look out on their sanitary problems or disease will end up coming through and wiping everyone out. Their population is so big that germs and disease spread super fast, so South Asia needs to pay attention on the number of deaths, and diseases so they can get a fast grasp on the community.'


source:
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1027524
author:
Pertubuhan Berita Nasional Malays
date of article:
April 3rd, 2014

A New Life, After Years in an Israel Prison

Burqua,  West Bank — Muqdad Salah is a man in a hurry. He had just gotten out of prison after killing a man, Israel Tenenbaum, a survivor of the holocaust.      Salah and Tenebaum's daughter have recently met up and had many questions ready for Salah. Things like, " Did my father suffer," or " Did he see you standing over him?" Salah, aside from feeling at ease that Tenebaum's daughter has found the courage to talk to him, wants to start a family but feels as though he doesn't have the freedom to do so. At his own wedding he had to check min with authority over certain periods of time. He wants to travel, to see the world, to have his own freedom but feels as though he can't have that with his record as a criminal. 

Analysis: Although I do understand that because Salah has been in prison for a long period of time and feels as though he has paid his dues, he still needs to be watched. We don't know specific reasons as of why Salah killed Tenebaum, but we do know it had something to do with Salah wanting peace in the world. Which is actually very contradictory because Salah killed someone, but besides that whether you killed someone for a "good" reason it doesn't matter, he still murdered someone and should be tree acted as though he has. He should get no special treatment or freedom because he wasn't meaning any harm but world peace. He may have payed his dues, but he is still a criminal and has a record.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/world/middleeast/remaking-a-life-after-years-in-an-israeli-prison.html

Russia Hints at Using Iran Talks as an Excuse

Summary: Concern is growing that the escalating anger between the United States and Russia over the Ukraine crisis has something to do with the nuclear talks in Iran. Russia's delegate,   Sergei A. Ryabkov, hinted in comments on Wednesday night that Russia might link the Ukraine and Iran issues as part of its own diplomatic leverage with the United States and European Union. He quotes," We wouldn’t like to use these talks as an element of the game of raising the stakes, taking into account the sentiments in some European capitals, Brussels and Washington, But if they force us into that, we will take retaliatory measures here as well. The historic importance of what happened in the last weeks and days regarding the restoration of historical justice and reunification of Crimea with Russia is incomparable to what we are dealing with in the Iranian issue.”


Analysis: My feelings on the concern that the anger between the U.S and Russia over the Ukraine crisis having something to do with nuclear talks is that Russia should not be using another situation as an excuse for their situation. They are covering up certain details by blaming it on something else which is also making them more involved in something that has nothing to do with them. I think that U.S and Russia should pay attention to their problem at hand and take care of one situation at a time.

Blog link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/world/middleeast/russia-hints-at-using-iran-talks-as-leverage.html?_r=0

 

The Clock is Ticking

summary: Ghana hospital is given 14 days to find the five missing babies gone missing recently in February. Seven people have been charged with the five missing newborns gone missing. One of the five mothers whose baby was taken, Suwaiba Mumuni, has threatened to press charges if her baby was not found within the two- week deadline. Staff at the hospital, said they often felt overwhelmed and there were inadequate resources to deal with demand. Eventually, seven people were charged with the crime of kidnapping. We aren't sure exactly why the seven criminals wanted the babies, but the mothers are determined to find out. 

analysis: I believe that there could have been more done to find the babies and investigate. In the article it also said that the mothers were told to give their babies to attendants. Why wouldn't the doctors/ staff actually realize that their patients babies were gone and they weren't the ones who took them. Or, did the hospital have something to do with the kidnappings, because, since the parents can not take their newborn babies home with them immediately, that would put the hospital as the responsible people for the children. So, I feel as though the parents should really investigate what the hospital is doing, because they also let the criminals into the hospital to take the babies. If the mothers really look into to this they could save future mothers and newborns. 

Warnings of ethnic Central African Republic cleansing

     In Dakar, Senegal tens of thousands of  Muslims have been forced by Christian militias to flee the Central African Republic. Human rights groups and the top United Nations officials characterized this as de facto ethnic cleansing.

        Entire neighborhoods in the capital, Bangui, have been emptied because of the attacks by the Christian militias. What's up also been chased in large numbers from town in the provinces. As little shops have been looted and burned, mosques have been demolished, and homes inhabited by Muslims destroyed. The anti- balaka Christian militias turned into a violent, undisciplined gang apparently focused on revenge attack against Muslim civilians over the little rule of Seleka. It's been going on since December and hundreds have been killed. Government officials are trying to keep the peace between the two sides by making peacekeeping operations but  human rights groups do not have a clear picture of who their leaders are, whether they have a chain of command, and whether they the often gruesome attacks against Muslims.

        The anti-the balaka group often you are a list and necklaces a supernatural protection against attacks. Often armed with AK-47s, daggers or machetes, and many other dangerous weapons. Dispersed in the population these vigilante fires have proved impossible for the French forces or their African peacekeeping counterparts, 5,500 strong, to move out.

        The lynching of a suspected Seleka rebel by soldiers last week immediately after speech by the country's new interim president, which gathered everyone together to hear, created violence by anti-Balaka of forces the victim was life and stoned to death and cut up with daggers and machetes and what remained of his body was burned. Amnesty international to the killing of at least 100 Muslims on January 18 in Bossemptélé, western part of country, as one of the worst attacks by anti- balaka forces to date. Many women and old men were Among the victims, Amnesty said. About fifteen percent of the country population of about 4 million was Muslim.

        In the meantime the United States nations began one of the largest ever food airlifts on Wednesday sending 82 tons of rice into Benewah on the first of about 25 flights as food stocks in the capital dwindled
       

Stray dog danger

SOCHI, Russia:,Sochi's stray dogs keep popping up in unwanted places, this time on the cross-country skiing track.

In another incident that highlights the possibility of the uncontrolled animals interrupting an Olympic event, a dog was filmed by a Russian website barking at skiers at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon center during Thursday's training session. As skiers turned their heads in surprise, the dog walked alongside the track while three security guards watched a few meters away.

Pelle Johansson, a Swedish newspaper journalist who was by the finish area at the time, said the dog later walked down into the stadium, where a number of skiers were training, and marked his territory next to the main bleachers.

''He stayed out of the skiers' way,'' Johansson said Friday. ''He was very calm.''

Thousands of stray dogs live in and around Sochi, and have already been spotted in the Olympic Stadium, inside security zones and even in a hotel. Local organizers declined to give details on their measures for preventing a similar incident during a race, but said any dogs found on an Olympic venue are captured and given a full veterinary check, then released if healthy.

U.S. cross-country skier Kikkan Randall, one of the favorites in the women's individual sprint, said she hasn't seen any dogs during her training sessions - ''or any other wildlife'' - and wasn't worried they might interrupt the races.

''I grew up in Alaska where you have to be prepared for a moose running out of the forest,'' Randall said. ''So I feel like I'm ready for anything.''

Many people are complaining that they can smell " death" as in the deaths of the dogs but many have also indeed said that though the stray dogs are stray they aren't bothering any tourists because they are dead. While others feel there is another way to go about getting rid of the dogs rather than just killing them. One woman said that she saw two stray dogs laying in the sun outside of her hotel room and they weren't dead they were left there to die in the hot sun, she felt it was a inappropriate way to get rid of the dogs and was highly upset that they didn't take care of the fact that they were in front of the left to die. 

While many to send Russia saying that they are trying their best to clean up, many people feel as though there's more that can be done- not only for sanitary reasons but for safety.

Russians hope for a new turn out!

MOSCOW — After almost a decade without any top-level women’s figure skaters, Russia suddenly has more than it can use. Discovered in distant provinces and aging rinks, trained by the country’s leading coaches and eyeing one another’s every move, the skaters have a surprising leader in Julia Lipnitskaia, the newly crowned European champion. Only 15, Lipnitskaia is two years younger than her Olympic teammate, Adelina Sotnikova, and much younger than the top medal contenders.Over the past year, Lipnitskaia and Sotnikova emerged from an intense competition for the two places on Russia’s Olympic team from a talent pool that includes Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, 17, and two more 15-year-olds, Anna Pogorilaya and Elena Radionova. And while the pressure is intense on all Russian athletes to succeed in Sochi, the skaters’ rapid rise has some observers contemplating one prize the country has never won at the Olympics: a gold medal in women’s singles.

“There were two, then three, and now there’s already really a lot of competitors, and so Russian figure skating is blossoming,” said Tuktamysheva, rolling through Moscow on a bus after a training session. “In order to be selected, you need to be able to do the more complicated moves, and so that was a sort of stimulus from the very beginning”

Sotnikova, who won Russia’s national championship at age 12, said: “It’s competitive at every stage. All the girls watch each other.”

The exceptional competition for places has raised the level of all the skaters, giving Russia a good chance for an Olympic medal. Although not expected to beat the favorites, South Korea’s Kim Yu-na and Japan’s Mao Asada, who are both 24, the young Russians are strong contenders for at least a bronze. Russia has won only two medals in the event at the Games, and never the gold. They are hoping this year will be a completely different turnout.