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               Weekly Assignment 10


Article 1: "Blast in Syria kills 25 on eve of Arab League meeting"

Author: Alice Fordham

Source: WashingtonPost

        At least 25 people were killed and 46 wounded Friday morning when a bomb exploded in the Syrian capital, marking the second large-scale attack in the city in two weeks and adding pressure on the Arab League as it prepares to decide whether to extend a monitoring mission in the turbulent country. Some news media reported that a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at a busy intersection in the central Midan neighborhood of Damascus at a time when many people would have been heading to Friday prayers. The attacker was not immediately clear: As in the previous attack, officials blamed terrorists, while dissidents said the authorities themselves were responsible. Neither side presented any evidence to support its claims.

Article 2 + Focus: "Rumor of N. Korean nuclear explosion prompts brief stock panic in South"

Author: Chico Harlan

Source: WashingtonPost

       Friday morning, a rumor that an explosion occurred at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility set off a brief panic Friday in the South Korean stock market, illustrating one of the ways in which Seoul is vulnerable to its neighbor. South Korean government officials found zero evidence that an explosion had actually occurred, and a visiting U.S. diplomat in Tokyo said he’d heard nothing to suggest the rumor was true. Also, Radiation-monitoring devices in the region showed no unusual activity. Still, the rumor showed some concerns about the possibility that North Korean technicians would struggle to contain an accident if one occurred; and the widely held belief that the government in Pyongyang would neglect to warn the region about spreading radiation.  I chose this article as my focus this week because of the obvious reason that we have been talking about North Korea this past week, but also for the reason that this is a perfect example of Human Geography.  When South Koreans heard that their was an explosion their stock went crazy, which shows how interconnected all the countries are. And how one country can directly affect another country. 

Article 3:  "President Obama Unveils Smaller Military"

Author: Jason Margolis

Source: PRI the world

    President Obama made a rare appearance at the Pentagon on Thursday to show off a new military strategy, one designed by shrinking budgets.

The president spoke about “turning the page on a decade of war.” He said we’ve succeeded in defending our nation and taking the fight to our enemies, and said we are safer and stronger.Because the size and the structure of our military and defense budgets have to be driven by a strategy, not the other way around.”That strategy will likely include a smaller Army and Marine Corps, with a greater emphasis on Asia and the Middle East.The president gave few specifics. He said concrete details will come in the next few weeks with the release of the Pentagon budget. But he did give a preview of sorts.“We’ll be able to ensure our security with smaller conventional ground forces, and overall, these changes are driven, in large part, by nearly $500 billion in defense cuts set to take place over the next 10 years.

Article 4: "For Iranians Waylaid by Pirates, U.S. to the Rescue"

Author: C.J Chavez
Source: New York Times

    This article is about how  in the Gulf of Oman, American soldiers saved hostages from Somalian pirates.  On Friday, Fazel Ur Rehman, a 28-year-old Iranian fisherman, had a warmer greeting for the carrier task force.“It is like you were sent by God,” said Mr. Rehman, huddled under a blanket in this vessel’s stern. “Every night we prayed for God to rescue us. And now you are here.”The rapidly unfolding events began Thursday morning when the pirates attacked a Bahamian-flagged ship, the motor vessel Sunshine, unaware that the Stennis was steaming less than eight miles away. It ended Friday with the tables fully turned. The captured Somali pirates, 15 in all, were brought aboard the U.S.S. Kidd, an American destroyer traveling with the Stennis. They were then shuttled by helicopter to the aircraft carrier and locked up in its brig.


Article 5: "Chinese News Agency Warns Against U.S. Moves"
Author: David Barboza
Source: New York Times


               This article is about how Chinas state-run news media warned Washington on Friday not to “recklessly practice militarism” or engage in “war mongering,” a day after the Obama administration outlined a new military strategy with an increased focus on China. The greatly worded commentary, published by the official Xinhua News Agency, also urged the United States to play a constructive role in the region. China has rapidly expanded its military in the past year, and plans to spend aggressively in the hopes of creating a military that can match the country’s growing economic might. 

Learning Reflection:

          This past week in class we have been talking about 2 things, North Korea and micro-loans. We watched a documentary about a medical team who traveled to North Korea to provide medical work but also got some undercover footage of the actual country.  We learned from the documentary that North Korea used to be completely controlled by their dictator Kim-Jong-Il.  The people in North Korea have O% freedom at all, they have to bow at all pictures of Kim-Jong-Il and praise him at all times. The people in North Korea have no freedom of speech, internet, or publicly broad casted television without the government approving.  The people live in fear at all times, because with one word spoken bad about the leader, the will spend their lifetime in a work camp. 

           Then on Friday we talked about micro-loans. Micro-loans are when you give someone around the world some money to start up a business and they are supposed to pay you back within a certain time period.  Our class assignment was to pick two businesses from around the world and pick them to fund as if we were actually going to fund them.  So we picked two and wrote an assignment on them.