Entry 9 February 25th

Islamic militants attack Nigerian school, killing dozens of students

Adamu Adamu and Michelle Faul

Globe and Mail

In Northern Nigeria, Islamic militants set fire to a school dormitory. Then shot and slit the throats of students trying to escape through the windows during the before Tuesday morning attack. At least 58 students were killed many of which were burned alive.They “slaughtered them like sheep” said one teacher, Adamu Garba.

The soldiers that were guarding the coed government school were mysteriously taken away hours before the attack happened. Female students were spared during the attack. Although girls have been abducted in the past by militants of the Boko Haram movement. Which means western education is forbidden. The attackers went to the female dormitories and told the girls to go home,get married and abandon the western education. All of the people killed were teenage boys and young men. The age of the victims appeared to be between the ages of 15 to 20. 

The Islamic's, who struggle for an Islamic state have killed thousands which has made them the biggest threat in Nigeria. They have increasingly killed civilians both Muslim and Christian. In the last month around 300 people have died.

It is crazy how people can commit such horrific crime towards somebody else just because they are a part of the western culture or for this instance learning the ways of another part of the world. The innocent boys at the government school were sleeping in their beds to wake up to their home being burned down and no way to get out. The soldiers who left the post so the militants could gain access to the school are truly terrible people and this should no be allowed to happen. 

Entry 8th February 23th

Ukraine’s future hangs in the balance as Yanukovych is impeached, opposition icon freed

Tanya Talaga 

Toronto Star

The politics in Ukraine has changed again. One day after a compromise was signed to end a bloody week in the capital of Kyiv. After 24 hours after the compromise was signed between the Ukrainian President Viktor Yunakovych and the opposing leaders. The President left the country. He then was impeached and demonstrators provided security to the abandoned government building. The next election was scheduled for May 25th. He leading opponent Yulia Tymoshenko was released form jail and the head of the Army said he would not get involved. Yulia made her way from the eastern Ukraine to Independence Square to talk to the pro-democracy movement that freed her after two years behind bars.From her wheelchair she told the crowd "The people who died here are the heroes." He suffered severe back problems from the time she served in solitary confinement . 

Yanukovych left to Kharkiv a Russian-speaking part of Ukraine where he holds most of his political power. “They are trying to scare me. I have no intention to leave the country. I am not going to resign; I’m the legitimately elected president,” a shaken Yanukovych said in a televised statement.

Nearly 100 hundred people died and many more injured after the pro-European demonstrators stood up to Yanukovych failed to tie Ukraine closer to Europe. The demonstrators are known as the Euromaidan. The protesters began a peaceful tour on Nov 21st after Yanukovych stopped pursuing the European economics ties and get better support from Russia.  

The violence in Ukraine cause by Yanukovych when the government forces shot live ammunition at a demonstrators last week. Peaceful protests can often turn into riot if and extremist wants to turn it in to a riot like it happened last week. Things like this should not be allowed to happen because of the risk it bring to people there. Over all what is happening in Ukraine is likely to last for a while and wont be good for the country.

Entry 7 February 18th

U.S. Navy set to add lasers, rail guns to its arsenal

David Sharp
The Globe and Mail

The United States Navy has decided to add lasers and rail guns to their arsenal in the up coming two year. They are designing lasers to shoot down aerial drones and rail guns that can shoot a projectile at hyper-sonic speeds. They are trying to resort to using there weapons for the economic part. These weapons cost much less than the amount of missiles that they use that will eventually run out where as the lasers and rail guns will not. 

The Laser technology has evolved to a point where a single laser will be able to operate by only one sailor. The laser system is designed to target things that the Navy considers asymmetrical threats. These things include aerial drones, speed boats and swarm boats which are all potential threats to warships in the Persian Gulf. The lasers do have some short comings as they are often lose their effectiveness when it is raining, dusty or their is turbulence in the air. They have found ways to deal with bad weather but the range would be reduced a lot. 

The rail guns which have been tested on land in Virginia that travels six or seven the steed of sound which is enough velocity to create a lot of damage. The rail also requires a lot of energy to shoot the projectile. The Navy's new destroyer the Zumwalt is the only destroyer that has enough energy to power a rail gun. The Zumwalt's generators create 78 megawatts of power which is enough to power a medium sizes city and more than enough for a rail gun. Engineers are also working on creating a battery system that will allow rail guns to be installed on ships that are currently in the fleet.

Putting the lasers and rail guns onto new ships will be a good thing as apposes to the missile and machine guns before. The lasers and rail guns are much less expensive as missiles. Also you cannot run out of ammunition on them where as apposed to missiles they run out a lot and are very expensive. The U.S. Navy is doing a good job at inventing new and affordable weapons which I think is important to keeping North America safe.

Entry 6 January 10th

Anger Erupts After Danish Zoo Kills a 'Surplus' Giraffe

New York Times
Nelson D. Schwartz

Maruis the giraffe died at the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday. He was 2 years old. Maruis was killed by a shotgun and after a public autopsy he was feed to the zoos lions and other big cats. The administrators said that they had decided to kill Marius because his genes were well represented in the captive giraffes in the European zoos. This did not satisfy animal rights activists who made a large last minute campaign  in order to save him. 

The activists collected nearly 30,000  online signatures from people who did not want Marius killed. People from the Copenhagen zoo also received death threats after they turned down adoption offers from other zoos ad a bid of 500,000 euros from somebody to take Marius in.

Bengt Holst, the zoos scientific doctor said that he decided against send Marius to another zoo because in doing so would have opened the door to inbreeding and potentially removed a place for a giraffe whose genetic makeup was more valuable in terms of future off spring in captive breeding programs. For the people who offered the buy the giraffe the giraffe is a social animal and can't be kept in isolation.

Cruelty towards animals is an unthinkable thing to do and killing an animal with a good reason to do so. It is even worse the people at the Copenhagen Zoo had many other options for places they could bring Marius but instead they decided to kill the helpless animal. This was a truly vicious act towards animals and there should be laws against this from happening.  

Entry #5 January 9th

Online drinking game 'NekNomination' raises concerns

The Globe and Mail

Gayle Macdonald 

The new online drinking game NekNomination which involves students posting them selves chugging beer and hard liquor. This trend has started up in Canada, universities and high school officials are going on to social media to warn people about the risks. NekNomination is the blame of two deaths last week in Ireland.

NekNomination originated in the Australia where "Neck" is slang for drink. It started where people filmed them self online drinking heavily and then dare or "nominate" to follow up in the next 24 hours. This swiftly went through Europe and the rest of the world. It takes hold of a region for a couple of weeks until everybody has done it then it will move to another area. Magida El Timani, 21 a student and the University of Guelph says " The drinking is something that happens daily in any college around the world, so that aspect doesn't really shock or bother me. It’s that people are doing it half-naked in the freezing cold. They can get sick and die.”

At Western, director of campus police John Carson calls it a “challenging situation” Both Western and Queens are staring campaigns to encourage students to make NekNominations in NiceNominations. Which are pooping up across Canada and as far as South Africa that shows people giving sandwiches, coffee, chocolate bars, and red Olympic gloves to homeless people.  

NekNominations is kids just trying to impress each other. They is not need for people to be punished and turning it into some for people to be nice to each other. The fact that two people is Ireland died just last week needs to stop. People are doing a lot of harm to their bodies and this can also lead to alcohol poisoning. I am glad that university's are doing some thing to stop it.  

Entry 4 February 9th

Wielding Whip and a Hard New Law, Nigeria Tries to ‘Sanitize’ Itself of Gays

New York Times

Adam Nossiter

In Bauchi, Nigeria a young man cried out after being whipped 20 times on a court room bench. When it was over the mans side and back were very bruised. Still the crowd outside was upset because the penalty for gay sex in the Islamic law is death by stoning. "He is supposed to be killed" said judge Nuhu Idris Mohammed.

Outside of the courtroom the crowd is unforgiving in the North Nigeria metropolis. Where nine others are accused of being game by Islamic police are behind the central prisons high walls. Stones and bottles are being thrown at them and some of the officials said some of the mob wanted to set the courthouse on fire.

Since Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, sign a new harsh law against homosexuality. Arrests have of gays have multiplied. Gay sex in Nigeria has been illegal since British rule but convictions were rare. The new law bans same sex marriage and goes as far to 10 years in prison for people who directly or indirectly make a public show of a same sex relationship. As well is also punishes anyone who participates in gay clubs and gay organizations. Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights says "Rarely have a seen a piece of legislation that is so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic human rights.   

It is unacceptable to for people to be punished for who they are. It does not matter what your culture is human rights apply to everybody. There is nothing wrong with with being gay and something should be done about it.

Entry 3- February 5

An Olympics in the Shadow of a War Zone

New York Times
Steven Lee Myers
February 5th

In Baksan, Russia on Friday a week way from the start of the Olympic Winter Games. 180 miles away. Russian forces appeared on Makhov Street at 8:30 am. They condoned and area around a brick and stone building . Inside of the house one of the men told his father that they were surrounded. They said farewell because they knew they were going to die. The men in the house exchanged gunfire only stopping to let the children leave. The shooting lasted until the afternoon where four men were dead. The men in the house blew it up leaving angry neighbors. This is the first time an Olympic Games are being played outside of a war zone.This war is one of the longest running in the world. It is being fought between two groups; increasing radicalized militants who operate in the shadows of society and a security force that can be brutal but useful. The Olympic being held in Russia has such a importance for Russia and President Vladimir V. Putin which has cause many Islamic terrorist groups to vow a wave of attacks. They are trying to establish an independent caliphate across the North Caucasus. The Russian Government has put into place what experts describe as the most extensive security operations in sports history. They are sealing off the city and have been doing months of operations to crush the terrorists. This has left 529 people dead.

I think that is very important to make sure to keep everybody safe at all times during the Olympic Games. What the Russian Government is doing to keep them safe is important. This is a very important time for Russia therefore they should do whatever they can to keep them safe for everybody watching. There might have been better choices location of the 2014 Olympic Games but in 2007 they did not know that they was going to be such a threat.

Entry #2 January 28th

Toronto Mayor Admits Crack Use, as Wild Ride in Office Continues

Jan 30th, 2014

New York Times

Ian Austen

The mayor of Toronto Rob Ford was shown in a video that showed him smoking crack cocaine. This sends us back to May where Ford told a group and reporters and camera men that he has smokes crack before but he was not an addict. Ford said "“I wasn't lying; you didn't ask the correct questions. No, I’m not an addict and no, I do not do drugs. I made mistakes in the past and all I can do is apologize, but it is what it is.” During a news conference at City Hall, Rob Fords denial turns quickly into a confession and apologizes for how often he gets drunk avoiding the cocaine issue. Ford confession only forced more of his allies, city council members and opponents to step down from office. Nobody in Ontario Municipal Law has the power to make Rob Ford step down from office unless he doesn't show up to work for and extended period of time.  Although Rob Ford confessed to using drugs he has given back to the City of Toronto Ford has saved Toronto around a billion dollars. 

Rob Ford has done a lot of things in the last year bad and good. He has saved this city a lot of money but has also committed a lot of crimes. He is planning to stay in office until his term is over. Which I am not sure is a good thing.