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. 

Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Means Scorching US Summers

Thirty years of shrinking Arctic sea ice has boosted extreme summer weather, including heat waves and drought, in the United States and elsewhere, according to a study published on December 8thThe new study — based on satellite tracking of sea ice, snow cover and weather trends since 1979 links the Arctic's warming climate to shifting weather patterns in the Northern Hemisp"The results of our new study provide further support and evidence for rapid Arctic warming contributing to the observed increased frequency and intensity of heat waves," said study co-author Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University.


Scientific opinion is still divided on whether the rollicking jet stream is truly linked to climate change or may simply be the result of natural variability, according to a commentary also published today in Nature Climate Change by James Overland, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. Part of the problem comes from the paucity of data, because scientists have only 30 years of Arctic observations to use in their analysis.
"Skeptics remain unconvinced that Arctic/midlatitude linkages are proven, and this work will do little to change their viewpoint," Overland wrote. "There is insufficient data to formally resolve the debate on whether these events are purely random or if their occurrence is enhanced by Arctic changes."

However, "the potential for an Arctic influence remains high, given the outlook for further declines in summer sea ice and snow cover over the next few decades, and Arctic amplification of global temperatures," Overland added. "Expected responses from Arctic impacts may be emerging."

Honduras Votes for President

Hondurans choose a new president and congress today as the world's highest rate of violent crimes hurts the economic growth due to the former president, Manuel Zelaya. Polls show the race in a statistical tie between the ruling National Party’s Juan Orlando Hernandez, 45, and Zelaya’s wife, Xiomara Castro Both candidates vowed that they would improve the safety of their citizens after an increase in murders due to drug gangs linked to Mexican cartels.

Castro, 54, is seeking to break a century-long grip on the presidential palace by the country’s two traditional parties. She has tapped into frustration from the coup, during which she led protests to have her husband returned from bannishment. Hernandez led the national assembly when Zelaya was driven out for backing a vote to change the constitution.

“It’s going to be difficult for whoever wins to govern,” said Geoff Thale, director of the Washington Office on Latin America.

 Economic growth in the $19 billion economy has slowed to an average 3.2 percent per year since the 2009 coup, compared with a 5.7 percent average in the four years before, according to the International Monetary Fund. The final opinion poll showed a tie between Hernandez, with 28 percent support, and Castro with 27 percent.
Investors wary of Zelaya’s former alliance with late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have fueled a rally in Honduran bonds since September as polls showed Hernandez gaining on Castro, who led earlier this year.

Honduras dollar bonds have returned 2.5 percent this month, compared with a 2.9 percent decline in Latin American debt over the same period.

5 Jobs inching towards extinction, and who will their replacement be?

It is a fact of life, not everything will last, from food to jobs. Some figure this out the hard way by losing what they know best, their jobs. There are many jobs inching towards extinction, but these five are the most known ones. It is effecting people all over the world today, but mostly the United States. Starting with number 1, Desktop publishing. One of the places using it are brick-and-mortar bookstores who are almost as rare as aliens. Newspapers are closing down or laying off entire departments. And desktop publishers are the ones who design the layouts for these dying industries. Many of the employees of different bookstores are saying that it is no surprise, the need for desktop publishers is one in a million and software is now more powerful than ever making it easier for regular everyday people to utilize desktop publishing. The next best job to take its place is graphic designing. At first glance, the two are similar except for one is graphic designing and the other is desktop publishing.

The second job nearing towards extinction are reporter and correspondent. Getting the Sunday paper is now very uncommon and the reporters and correspondents who inform us of the daily news are beginning to lose their jobs. Many people of this profession say it is mostly because of the internet, many blogs and social cites are a source to the world now because technology is the next big thing. The latest and greatest job taking over this profession is public relationships specialist. Just as the reporters, the specialists deal with the public, yet mostly work with Organizations to maintain there public image.

The third job is Computer Repairing, computer repairers fix computer systems and hardware, but unfortunately, as technology advances, these professionals are getting left behind.
"When people owned their computers for 6 or 7 years, then the repairman was necessary," Galdwin, a computer programmer says. "Today, with the majority of computers sold costing less than $500, and most of them laptops that offer little or no upgradability, most people simply buy a new one every few years instead of repairing them." If people were to actually call someone, nowadays they would call a computer programmer.

The fourth job is floral designer. They are the creative master minds behind the making of flower arrangements. Though they do beautiful work these places are a lot more inconvenient than walking over to a grocery store where flower arrangements are also sold. Convenience is now the most important thing in Americans, we are lazy and cheap. The newest job pertaining to this type of profession would be an event planner. There job includes floral designing if the event calls for it, but they are detailed and focused enough to do it themselves without hiring a separate person.

The fifth and final job is a file clerk. Paper trails - every company has one. File clerks are used to managing companies' mountains of documents. Again, technology is beating them up, so many records are now held electronically and are easier to manage. Technology strikes again! Most of the jobs relating to file clerks are Medical Records and Health information technicians. They use a lot of technology to file in different medical files and organize them for specific patients with specific diseases.

These jobs may not be gone, but they are on the fence. They are working hard to stay a float but what they don't realize is that other business are beating them on the charts. Hopefully they update their jobs to better ours.