 The COVID-19, commonly known as the Coronavirus is a deadly disease. It started in Wuhan, China. It has reached almost all over the world. According to the CDC COVID-19 is a pandemic and is spreading fast. The coronavirus has spread to the NBA according to CNN 3 people have gotten the coronavirus in the NBA. The NBA has suspended the league until further notice. Alongside the NBA the women's soccer was played with no crowd. The World Health Organization says to always wash your hands after every meal, bathroom break, and after touching people. Just in case you should always wash your hands thoroughly for 20 seconds. According to the CDC the symptoms for coronavirus are fever, cough,shortness of breath and runny nose. There are more than 90,000 cases of the coronavirus and more than 3,000 deaths. Luckily there are more recoveries than deaths at 64,000 recoveries. There are more than 80,000 cases of the COVID-19 in mainland China. And the 2nd most infected is Europe, with over 4,000 cases. But here in the US there are 1,701 cases with 40 deaths and 12 recoveries. CNN says that scientists use a formula for figure out if the virus spreads quickly or not. The formula is called R0 or R not. R0 is the determination in which one person can give the virus or bacteria to someone else. The average R0 for the flu is 1.2, for the SARS virus is astonishing 12 R0. But the coronavirus is 2.5 which means that the coronavirus can spread decently fast. Story by Logan Gallas  Tasmanian tigers are very elusive and kill many Tasmanian wildlife. Many farmers are complaining because their animals are being killed mainly sheep. Farmers have been exploring the land surrounding their farm they believe it is the Tasmanian tiger
Killing their sheep It is very hard to find them. We know that they use to be alive we even had some in captivity scientists studied them because of their unique traits. They have stripes like a tiger but are the size of a wolf. Some people disregard the creature and call it a myth when this creature was very much alive. Personally I believe this creature is alive we just need to look harder. Recently farmers have found sheep bones but the remains were gruesomely torn up a tiger would not waste a bit of the animal it eats. These creatures are believed to be extinct 80 years ago but a farmer in Tasmania says he saw one of these creatures 2 months ago on more of a scientific note These creatures like to hide and their scientific name is thylacine. I think this animal is a truly magnificent animal. It could be wandering around without a care in the world that Humans are trying to find them all day. They might be experts at hunting, tracking, And covering their steps. A big disprover is that scientists never find feces. Scientists would like to someday find this animal. For its magnificence in tracking and hiding. We can compare this creature to bigfoot or other cryptozoological creatures. Thylacine are truly magical creatures. Story by Daniel Kneale Sources: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/02/the-obsessive-search-for-the-tasmanian-tiger https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/16/australia/tasmanian-tiger-intl-hnk-scli/index.html https://www.foxnews.com/science/tasmanian-tiger-seen-80-years-after-extinct  Mountain Taal has been erupting and causing earthquakes. It doesn't look good for the people that live close to the mountain. Ash is falling from the sky which is making it very hard for people to drive.Its causing a really big mess. Most of the people won't ́t leave because they have farms to attend to. Many people depend on the rivers and water that is close to the mountain. 459,000 people live in the danger zone.
A woman and her six children got trapped in the house by the falling ash from the volcano.Some parents don't sleep so they can make sure nothing will fall on their children. They are currently at a level 5 which means a hazardous eruption is underway. In 1754 Taal ́s eruption lasted 6 months. The military has sent 20 vehicles and 120 personnel. In many cities the power lies are down, there is no more fresh water to use and the cities have been ghosted. 8,000 people have already been evacuated. Taal is the Philippine´s second most active volcano.There has been 75 earthquakes so far. 32 of the earthquakes are ranking 2 and higher. Many residents are wearing masks because of the ash. Taal is also a complex volcano because it doesn't have a vent or cone. The people are scared but aren't going anywhere unless they are forced to. Story by Aniya Griffin Sources: CNN10 SkyNews BBC News  So as you may have heard about the concentration camps in china that are detaining Muslims and destroying their culture. They claim its part of a counter-terrorist effort. With is an obvious lie because these are everyday people living there lives and the government is detaining them just because they go to a mosque or contact people in places like Turkey and Afghanistan. This a violation of human rights but the Chinese government is not releasing anything about the camps. These places have been apart of a crackdown to prevent terrorism. The crackdown has been justified from the 9/11 attacks. Wang Yi the Chinese foreign minister said that the state-led ‘training system’ rescued those who have been eroded by extreme thoughts and eradicated terrorism from its source. Even though a lot of the people in the camps are completely innocent. The Chinese say its an internal issue.
The Uighur activist has documented 500 camps in the Xinjiang area. About one million people ethnic minorities have been detained. As you can imagine this is a big problem. In the camps, some people have reported sexual assault/ abuse according to the council of foreign relationships. They make the people in the camps renounce Islam. They also make them sing praises to communism. Some detainees have contemplated suicide or seen others commit or attempt it. Some people have been tortured and subjected to sleep deprivation. It really is just a messed up situation. So overall the conditions there are really bad. The actions of the Chinese are very unethical. The US has waged sanctions against senior officials in Xinjiang. Sadly they still say the camps are the same as boarding schools, there not. Some people reports like Schriver say this event is like the actions of the Nazis. Schriver is the assistant secretary of defense. The US has taken some action and is pushing to take more action. Although in the meantime I pray that this issue is resolved. Story by Garrison Hunt  Have you ever been to West Virginia? West Virginia has an area of roughly 15 million acres. In Australia, 18 million acres of land have been burned. That means that an area bigger than the whole state of West Virginia has gone up in flames in Australia. Thousands of homes have burned, about 30 human lives have been lost, and close to a billion animals have died. Australia’s landscape is changed forever and the cost is in the billions. This year’s Australian Wildfires are one of the most devastating fires that Australia has ever encountered in its history.
According to AP News, 25,000 square miles have been burned mostly in Victoria and New South Wales, the most populated areas in the country. These areas are located in the Southern and Southeastern parts of Australia. However, there are plenty of other fires occurring all over the continent of Australia. The fires were caused mainly by the hot, dry and windy weather. Roughly 2,000 homes have been burned down. 1 billion animals have died due to the fires as well. On Kangaroo Island itself, an island just off the coast of Australia, about 25,000 koalas have died which is half of the whole koala population on Kangaroo Island. Since there have been various losses that Australia has experienced during this wildfire, Australia has a pretty expensive repair cost to fix all of their casualties. According to ACCU Weather, the cost of repair is now exceeding a price of $100 billion. This cost includes damage to homes and businesses, job and wage losses, school closures and the cost of power outages, destruction to wildlife, and countless other reasons. Many people are helping people that have been affected by the fires such as The Australian Red Cross sending 1,285 staff members to provide support to displaced people sheltering in about 70 evacuation and recovery centers. Also, the Salvation Army is donating a large amount of money towards the repair. Although this wildfire is one of the most deadly wildfires Australia has ever experienced, it is not the worst wildfire ever in Australia. The worst wildfire in Australia occurred in 2009. The fire caused 173 deaths and 2,000 homes lost. The time in between the wildfires in Australia has drastically decreased. According to The Conversation, the deadliest bushfires in the past 200 years took place in 1851, 1939, 1983, 2009, and 2019-2020. The time over the 2 most recent deadly bushfires in Australia has decreased by 16 years compared to wildfires before. To sum up Australia’s Wildfires in 2019, the repair cost will most likely take a long time to pay, but the ways that people are supporting the people affected by the wildfires are outstanding. Since the time between the occurrence of wildfires in Australia is decreasing, I wonder if and when there will be another wildfire in Australia and how bad would it be? Story by Tate Lloyd  The United States and Iran have been on the brink of war for a long time, accentuated by recent events such as the airstrike and killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani. While President Donald Trump insists that Soleimani carried out “evil crimes” and is a “son of a b----,” many Democrats believe that it was unjust to approve an airstrike against Soleimani without asking Congress first. Popular and reputable news sources such as BBC, CNN, and PBS (wow, lot’s of acronyms) have assembled timelines of the conflict between the two countries, and we’ll go through some of the most important moments that defined this dispute. 1950-1969 PBS’s timeline goes way back to the 1920s, so I highly suggest you go back and look at their timeline. The three agencies agree that the first major event of this disagreement was the overthrowing of the elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mossadegh. The CIA supported the coup d’etat because Mossadegh has moved to nationalize the country’s oil fields. The US has always relied heavily on the Middle Eastern oil fields and this would have been considered a great blow to our country. In 1957, an Iranian intelligence organization called SAVAK was formed, but it was later blamed for the torture and death of several thousand political prisoners. 1970-1989 In 1979, the US-backed Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, is forced to leave the country amid protests and demonstrations. Popular religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini returns from exile and encourages the “brewing revolution.” He renames the country to the Islamic Republic of Iran. From 1979 to 1981, the storming and siege of the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran is carried out by Islamic students. Dozens of Americans hostages are held inside for 444 days and are released the day of Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. The Iranians basically hated former President Jimmy Carter’s guts because Carter had allowed the exiled Shah (Pahlavi) to enter the United States for medical conditions. n September 1980, in the midst of the US Embassy hostage situation, the Iran-Iraq war begins. The Iran-Contra scandal in 1985 (through 1987) was the biggest crisis during the Reagan Administration. The US secretly shipped guns to Iran “allegedly in exchange for Tehran's help in freeing US hostages held by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon,” the BBC timeline reports. Unfortunately, some of the profits were used to fund militias in Nicaragua who were trying to overthrow the “socialist regime.” In July 1988, American naval ship USS Vincennes shoots down Iranian passenger plane en route to Dubai, killing all 290 passengers on board. Most passengers were Iranian pilgrims on their way to Mecca, says PBS. 1990-present Qasem Soleimani is appointed head of the Quds Force in 1997. Former US President George W. Bush refers to Iran as the “axis of evil” along with other countries Iraq and North Korea. His speech causes outrage in Iran; Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi calls Bush’s comments “arrogant” and an “interference in internal affairs.” The International Atomic Energy Agency says that Iran admitted to producing enriched plutonium and agrees to more United Nations inspections of their nuclear plants. A nuclear agreement is announced in 2015, signed by Iran, the United States, United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, and Germany (later, the US withdraws from the agreement). The nuclear agreement was made and signed during the Obama Administration. n 2017, President Trump signs an executive order for a travel ban for Islamic countries, including Iran. Iran called the ban “an obvious insult to the Islamic world” and began conducting ballistic tests. In May 2018, President Trump pulled out of the nuclear agreement with Iran and began a “maximum pressure campaign” to force Iran to make a new deal. According to PBS, international nuclear watchdogs later confirmed that Iran had exceeded its nuclear limits. April 8, 2019, President Trump declares Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a “foreign terrorist organization.” Iran responds by calling the United States a “state sponsor of terrorism.” CNN reports, “Tensions further escalate after attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, as well as the downing of a US drone, which Washington and its allies blame on Iran.” Iranian forces shoot down a US drone over the Strait of Hormuz, which is a joint Iran-Oman territory. On January 3, 2020 --the event that’s been in the news for so long-- Major General Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in the Baghdad airport. Thousands take to the streets to mourn Soleimani, calling him a martyr. A report says over 50 people were trampled in the protesting. Tehran launched missiles at two US bases in Iran: Al Asad air base and a camp in Erbil. The damage was light and President Trump said that no US personnel were killed. On the 8th of January, a Boeing 737 crashed shortly after takeoff. All 176 people were killed; 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, three Germans, and 3 British nationalists. Iran announced that it had accidentally shot down the aircraft with two Russian-made missiles after mounting evidence pointed that way. The admission “sparked protest in Tehran and elsewhere against Iranian leaders.” So what now? Most news sources believe that President Trump’s decision to deal with the situation diplomatically is a sign that tensions are cooling off. While beliefs are split on this issue, some think that Iran intentionally missed important structures to avoid loss of live. Army General Mark Milley, however, said that Iran “intended to cause structural damage, destroy vehicles and equipment and aircraft, and to kill personnel.” CNN journalist Jake Tapper wrote on Twitter, “Pentagon official tells me that many US military leaders think Iran deliberately chose targets that would not result in loss of life.” While some worry of a World War 3, news sources agree that another world war is not on the horizon. Story by Caroline Barton  According to Science News For Students, plants normally suffer long, blazing-hot days to produce the fruits and vegetables that growers desire. The incoming sun’s ultraviolet rays can be very intense sufficient to injury some crops. Such flora would possibly benefit from a built-in sunscreen. Now a group of scientists in Australia has stepped in to lend an assisting hand. A scientist named Liang Dong led the team that developed the new sensor. He works at Iowa State University in Ames. As an electrical engineer, he designs builds and analyzes electrical systems to meet particular needs.
According to https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/new-tattoo-could-lead-drought-tolerant-crops A family of nanoparticles known as metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs can absorb harmful UV radiation. .In theory, he could “feed” MOFs to the plants.The problem is, MOFs are too big for plant roots to take up. And cutting open the plants to load them with nanoparticles would damage their stems. Instead, According to he is leading a lookup group working to make plants take up the building blocks of MOFs. Their goal: to assist vegetation make their personal MOFs. If these MOFs can capture the tissue-damaging UV rays, they might assist vegetation to continue to exist in more difficult climates, both on Earth and in space. According to https://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/can-we-grow-crops-on-other-planets/ “Mars is revealing more and more evidence that it probably once had liquid water on its surface, and could one day become a home away from home for humans.”Before deciding how planetary soils could be used, the two scientists had to first explore whether the surfaces of the planetary bodies can be defined a true soil. On Earth, five factors work together in the formation of soil: the parent rock, climate, topography, time and biota(or the organisms in a region such as its flora and fauna). It is this last factor that is still a subject of debate among scientists. Story by Hazel Wiesner  Up to 60% of girls in Afghanistan are married by the age of 16. In poor, rural areas, 80% of those marriages are arranged, which often results in young females marrying men as old as 50 or 60. It's estimated 90% of women don't leave their home until they are married, their bodies must be guarded to protect virginity, ensure that their progeny are legitimately fathered, and even after they've been married off and move into a new home, they are still cooped up in the house. When Afghan women take action to escape victimization they are often victimized again. Women running away from home can be imprisoned, and rape victims can be convicted of adultery, or killed for compromising family honor. ¨At best, they may find refuge in a shelter, but that too is little better than a prison since it puts them in a limbo from which there is no easy exit¨ explains The Middle East Institute.
Families take their honor very seriously, for example how a young female was raped by a neighbor who had been taken into police custody for her own protection. Her family intended to kill her because the shame of her violation had compromised their honor. For most, shame leads to the rejection or elimination of the harmed woman or girl and also helps save face in suggesting to the despoiler that what was despoiled was not worth much to the family anyway. ¨ for most women, little has meaningfully changed since the days of the Taliban. It remains taboo for an Afghan woman to be seen in public without a burqa, although it is not required by law. Women and girls are still largely uneducated and confined to their homes, with few prospects for gainful employment. Girls are often the most marginalized and vulnerable ̈ says The Ray of Hope Foundation. Women in Afghanistan have little to no rights, being treated as objects instead of human beings, people acting as though they are prizes to be won over then too throw away, like they are disposable, having no say in what happens to them. Today, there are over 300 female peace activists, trying to build a better community for their children and to make their voices heard. The fight for women's rights in Afghanistan is still going on, and it seems to be far from over. Story by Emma Simpson  A football (soccer) stadium in Austria is now being turned into a forest. The project was designed and created by artist Klaus Littmann to spread awareness about climate change and deforestation. It was based off of a dystopian drawing of the same image, implying that soon, humans will only be able to view nature and wildlife in an enclosed and controlled area, like animals in a zoo. Deforestation rates sky-rocketed this year, so much so that in the Amazon rainforest, nearly 3 football fields worth of trees are being chopped down every minute, higher than it’s been in a decade.
According to CNN, just under three hundred trees were transported in from nearby nurseries to create the project. The tree variety is diverse, with tree species such as alder, aspen, white willow, hornbeam, field maple and common oak. The people who worked on the project say that they would like to be able to attract wildlife into the exhibit to fully complete the forest feeling. After the exhibition closes in October, the trees will be moved and replanted again. It was made to “stir up a range of ideas and emotions,” says Littmann. “I have never worked with living beings before and I am absolutely aware that this cannot be compared to working with a sculpture, a photo or a painting.” Littmann’s main goal is to inspire and warn people about the effects of climate change. He wants the exhibit to stay in people’s minds. Hopefully, the exhibit will be able to show people a little bit more about the direction our world is going in, and spread awareness about the effects of climate change on the place that we call home. Story by Maddie Tate Other sources: BBC news and EcoWatch  Mount Everest is a 29,029 foot peak that hundreds of people climb each year. It is located on the border of Nepal and China. So many people plan on scaling the mountain that it overcrowds and is causing deaths.
It can take months and even years to prepare for climbing Everest. You have to train and climb other hard peaks like it first. Some of the companies that provide sherpas ask about your experience in climbing, but it’s not yet required to prove it. Once you’re ready to climb, you now have to decide which route to travel. There is a Southeast ridge from Nepal and a North Ridge from Tibet. Most people choose the supposedly easier Southeast route, which is where most of the crowding is happening. Now you can embark on your 2 month journey up Everest. How does Mount Everest kill people? Well, with hundreds of people lined up to get to the top of the peak, you could be waiting for over 12 hours. With this can come lots of difficulties, such as altitude sickness. While scaling Everest, you have to stop to get used to the altitude. If you stop for too long, your breathing habits change and can cause dizziness, nausea, and even death. Because there are so many people at the peak, there is less room to get back down the mountain safely. Due to this, many people have slipped and fallen down the slope to their death. Climbing Everest might sound like a quick goal to achieve, but as you learned it takes a lot of planning to even be able to go. There are lots of risks that come with climbing the mountain as well. If you plan on climbing to the peak of Everest, make sure you are choosing the right time of year, taking safety precautions, and you know the risks. Story by Sarah Comer https://beta.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/05/24/mount-everest-has-gotten-so-crowded-that-climbers-are-perishing-traffic-jams/?noredirect=on https://www.livescience.com/23359-mount-everest.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/28/asia/how-to-climb-mount-everest/index.html |
