Friday, June 27, 2008

What GOes on in ThiS woRld?

Over Here:

In a 92 to 6 vote, the Senate yesterday approved unrestricted funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that allows continuation of the current military course of action through the end of President Bush's term and beyond.

On the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) bill, the Senate delays vote on immunity until after the July 4th recess.

More than half of American teens say they've consumed alcohol, and more than 40 percent of those children say they sometimes get their alcohol free from an adult, a new federal survey found. (Washington Post)

The chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates, is stepping down from his day-to-day job at the company.

U.S. eases N. Korea out of isolation by lifting some sanctions (mainly symbolic) in return for nuclear cooperation.

Over There:

Zimbabwe holds the second round of a presidential election in which incumbent Robert Mugabe is the only candidate. Figures.

Colombia's President Uribe calls for an early presidential vote after allegations that his 2006 re-election was illegal. (If he hadn't, there would have been a coup)

Hamas acting as reluctant moderator trying to keep other militant groups from breaking the Palestien-Israel 6 month cease fire.

India at impasse over civillian nuclear deal with U.S. which would give India access to nuclear fuel and technology, this impasse threatens to bring down the government.

Women who are depressed during pregnancy can have babies who develop more slowly than their peers, a UK study suggests. (just something I found and thought was interesting :D)

Ok so that is the run down of the top stories in the news at 1:52 am actually 1:53 now but whatever. Hope you learnt something,

Salamz (peace out!)


3 comments:

Artistic Logic said...

a few questions:

"India at impasse over civillian nuclear deal with U.S. which would give India access to nuclear fuel and technology, this impasse threatens to bring down the government."

can u elaborate on how it effects the government? (sorry maybe a stupid question)

and its kinda interesting that the US is making that deal with India while North Korea just destroyed their nuclear facility finally after pressure from the US...why the double standards?

also, if Bill Gates is stepping down, where is he gonna go...and who will replace him... ??

lol

oh and i thought the diff colors for each paragraph was a good idea! =)

Snake Charmer said...

Ok so with India, the nuclear deal with them is very controversial in part because of the fact that they never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NTP) which all Nuclear nations have to sign so that we don't end up with Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) like it was back during the Cold War with Russia.
Ok so back to India, in return for them opening up their nuclear reactors to international inspections by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) They were to be granted access to civilian nuclear technology to help power their booming population (basically for the reasons Iran had stated). Now you hit on a very important point, us allowing India access to these technologies is not only a double standard but an unprecedented move since it would be the first time in history that a country was given access to such destructive power without signing the NTP agreement ensuring, at least holding accountable, that India won't turn psycho and use the technology for their weapons program...which ironically enough, our government hasn't even researched that aspect.
Alright now within the Indian government, the hard left (communists) and the hard right oppose this deal because they see it as an American stranghold on India's foreign policy. And if you know anything about India's foreign policy, you would know that they believe strictly in "non-alignment", basically being held accountable to no-one but themselves.

Bill Gates is stepping down from the company to work on more philanthropic pursuits, mainly his and his wife's foundation: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. So in July the Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie, will assume Bill Gates's role in the company as Chief Software Architect- my own thoughts on this is that Apple is kicking their butts so the company has decided to revamp Microsoft, starting at the top!

ok sorry for the incredibly long answer, but I hope that helped! And seriously if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask!

Artistic Logic said...

hmm thank u... still trying to process all the info in my teensy weensy brain lol but that was a good explanation, thanks