SeaWorld trainer dies in killer whale attack in Orlando

A trainer at SeaWorld had died after being attacked by a killer whale. Witnesses say that the orca had jumped and grabbed Dawn Brancheau by the waist from a poolside platform before dragging her underwater. Guests were evacuated while fire crews tried to save the trainer from the whale. Chuck Tompkins, the head of SeaWorld Park, said that she was rubbing the orca's head before it attacked her. Jim Solomons, the spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office said that it was too early to tell if she was being attacked by the orca. However, the witnesses told a different story. One witnessed that the orca took off really fast, then came back and jumped up to grab the trainer by the waist. Then, the orca came up to the glass and "shook her violently". The killer whale had been the problem for accidental deaths in SeaWorld for years.

A killer whale, like its name, is a very dangerous animal to control. It would be good to do great performances with the animal that is intelligent, but I believe that safety comes first. I admit that this animal has an appealing outer look, and that it is very intelligent to follow the trainer's orders. However, it is a killer whale which can still kill anyone at anytime. Although the killer whales are trained to follow its trainer, it had been proven that they might kill people at anytime. There had been many times when a killer whale had killed its trainer during the performance. I think people at SeaWorld, or any aquarium that does a performance with the animals should not have one with a killer whale. Why does it have to be the killer whale? I believe they could still show great performances without a killer whale involved in them.

Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8535618.stm

Obama unveils newest health-care plan

U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled a new compromise health care plan. The proposal would not include a publicly owned health insurance, but it would allow the governments to cap the health insurance premiums if the rate increase is unreasonable. This new proposal will require most Americans to have health insurance by not allowing health insurance companies to deny people for their medical problems or charging them more. The proposal would insure 31million Americans that have been living without a health insurance coverage. Obama says that the federal government will provide additional financing to all states for the medical insurance reform.

This proposal will give a huge impact to the United States. I have been curious about the health insurance system of the U.S., and I learned how unorganized it was. Since there is no publicly owned health insurance company, private companies had the choice of insuring people or not. If they found out that a person had a medical problem in the past, the companies would just deny insuring them, because they might not make profit off the person. Therefore, many Americans that had medical problems, or were too poor to afford an insurance suffured whenever they went to the hospital. Franklin Roosevelt tried a health care, but she had failed because of strong opposition force. People say that Obama would be the only president that would be capable of having a health care reform. So, I strongly agree to Obama's plan. The part that he compromised and also satisfied health insurance companies is what I like.

Article: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/02/22/obama-healthcare.html

Russian ex-police boss gets life for supermarket murder

A Russian former police officer who shot dead 2 people in a Moscow supermarket is sentenced to jail for his life. He murdered 2 people and attempted 22 murders last April. The CCTV in the store recorded the shooting, which seven people were wounded. Yevsyukov, a former local police chief, was in his full uniform when he entered the supermarket, and he shot people with his pistol at random. Prosecutors say that Yevsyukov was drunk and was not in his right state of mind at the time. However, psychiatrists said there was nothing wrong with his mind. Disregarding the fact that he might not have been in his mind, he is still sentenced in jail for the rest of his life.

I strongly agree with the judge's decision that he should be put to jail for the rest of his life. I don't think the fact that Yevsyukov was a former local police chief should keep him out of jail because him being the former local police chief does not affect the consequences of his actions. Moreover, I believe that because he was a former local police chief, he should have received a harsher punishment than an average man would get. A police officer should be responsible for the citizens' safety; and Yevsyukov was the head of all local police officers. In addition to being a murderer, he was not responsible for his duties. Therefore, I think this harsh punishment was the right consequence for his actions.

Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8523592.stm

Harper demands Iran halt uranium enrichment

Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper called on Iran to halt uranium enrichment on Wednesday. Harper said the move brings Iran closer to possessing weapon's grade material. On February 7, Iran said it would begin uranium enrichment to a higher level, in presence of United Nations nuclear watchdog inspectors. This move is now causing friction with Western European countries since Iran could obtain nuclear weapons with highly enriched uranium. Harper said Canada will support its allies on this issue: "Canada will continue to work with our allies to find strong and viable solutions, including sanctions, to hold Iran to account. Canada will use its G-8 presidency to continue to focus international attention and action on the Iranian regime."

This statement from Stephen Harper showed Canada's independent action and active participation of Canada in the World Issue. I think this action taken by Stephen Harper is the right thing to do at this time when the future could depend on Iran's nuclear ambitions. Canada is now one of the wealthiest countries. Although Canada does not have much military power, I think Canada has a huge power because its allies and because of the economic power Canada has. I believe Harper's involvement could highly affect Iran's decision on enriching uranium to a higher degree. In this situation, I believe that Harper took the best possible action on the issue, and I support Harper and his idea.

Article: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/02/10/iran-stephen-harper-uranium-nuclear.html

Making a difference for girls in Kandahar - Afghan-Canadian Community Centre helping women upgrade their skills, find employment

Kandahar is a province of Afghanistan that is controlled by the Taliban. On of the rules Taliban created was that women have to stay at home and cover up from head to toe. Also, girls are discouraged to go to school in Afghanistan, Afghan-Canadian Community Centre is helping girls to upgrade their skills, and find employment in the future. Most students in the school have family problems, and they go there to solve their problems. This school has 50 teachers and 10 staff members, who take care of 1300 students with half of them female. What they fear is the risk girls take to go to the school. Taliban frequently attacks girls schools to impose their strict version of Islam. Despite the dangerous conditions, Afghan girls still attend the school for the education.

This year, I have learned about Afghanistan, as I studied English on the book called, "The Kite Runer". Today, Taliban is in control of Afghanistan, so what they say is what's right. However, most of the things they say is not reasonable, and the regulations they make are useless. Making women to cover them up from head to toe and keeping them at home is a sexual discrimination. Since Canada has much greater power than the Taliban, I think we can establish a school for women. This is a great idea because the Afghan-Canadian school can give women knew knowledge and help them get employed in the future. I strongly believe that women should be treated the same way as men, therefore I think more of these types of schools should be established in Afghanistan, supported by other strong countries the Taliban can't touch. I strongly agree with their idea of the school that also lets girls to get education.

Americans charged with child kidnapping in Haiti - was it the right thing to do?

Ten American Baptists were arrested in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country, to get the children away from the earthquake that took place. They were caught crossing the border, heading to Dominican Republic. Most of the U.S. citizens that were involved in this were members of an Idaho-based church group. However, nine of ten Americans did not understand the situations they were in. One leader, Laura Silsby, knew everything about the plan. She knew that crossing the border was needed some paperwork, yet she still attempted to take children to Dominican Republic. Edwin Coq, the lawyer of those Americans, says, "I'm going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on..." Kidnapping children carries 5 to 15 years in prison. It depends on the judge's decision, and the verdict might take 3 months.

The goal of this action by 10 American baptists was to help the children and provide them better life out of the country. Some parents even handed their children to them, so that their children would have better life and education out of Haiti. Therefore, I believe that they should not be charged for their actions. For sure, they did this to save the children that suffered from the earthquake in Haiti. Even though the action they did was against the law, this was done by Christians in churches to do the right thing. If Laura Silsby, the leader of the ten Americans, has to be punished by the law, I think the punishment should be minimized. In my opinion, the law isn't everything. Some people can get by the law and committ cruel actions, while some can try to help others but can be caught by the law. Regarding the goal of their actions, I think they are justified for taking 33 children out of Haiti.

Article: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/02/04/haiti-baptists-orphans.html

Europe skeptical about Iranian plan to ship uranium overseas

European powers reacted skeptically to Iran's offer o send uranium abroad for enrichment. Iran is sending its uranium to foreign countries in Europe and trade it back with enriched uranium. The president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the United Nations already envisaged Iran sending low-enriched uranium and receiving high-enriched uranium for research reactor fuel in Tehran. Iran's plan is to lower the tensions between Iran and other countries that deal with nuclear problems. However, this action is earning suspicion, since there were several military movements by Iran in the past 2 months. They want to retain at least 1,200 kilograms (2,650 pounds), which is at least a weapon’s worth. Therefore, Europe, as a whole, is currently skeptical about Iran shipping uranium for enrichment, including countries that allow Iran to have highly enriched uranium.

The significance of this news is that we do not know what they are going to do with that uranium in the future. Iran says they are using the enriched uranium for fuel that will be used in research reactors, but who knows what they are going to do with it? Iran could be testing out new weapons, or bombs that they can use as a threat to the world. Enriched uranium is a critical component for both nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons. That is what its mostly used for; nuclear energy and weapons. In my opinion, countries should avoid uranium enrichment for Iran because Iran is a dangerous country; no offense. There are proofs; military movement was detected, and most of all, they are obtaining critical component that can be a big threat to the world. I believe there would definitely be a plan behind this action. My opinioin is that the world should stop Iran from obtaining highly enriched uranium, since that substance can be very harmful. I hope Iran's action today does not affect our lives in the future.

Article: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/759867--europe-skeptical-about-iranian-plan-to-ship-uranium-overseas

Foot power to light up London for 2012 Olympics

In London, a company named Pavegen systems developed a new technology that uses electricity produced from stepping slabs to power street lights and subway stations. In London, with almost 8 million people, about 11 trillion steps are taken per day. Their idea was to use the steps citizens take in London to light up the city in 2012 Olympics. These green stepping slabs produces electricity every time you step on it. These are planned to cover an entire set of stairs. Kemball-Cook, managing director of Pavegen, says his goal is to provide at least 25% of the stations' power from green slabs. The way how this thing works is that there is a disk that compresses 5mm when the slab is stepped on. The kinetic energy is then converted to electricity that gets stored in an internal battery, or it could be sent through wires to a light source. One of their ideas was to draw people's attention to the slabs by having it glow every time one steps on it. It will also be installed in pedestrian crossings, so that the drivers can see the glow of green slabs clearly.

I think this is a great idea to obtain electricity in a dense city like London. Even though this was planned out for 2012 Olympics, this technology could go on and power up a huge portion of the city. There are many ways of achieving energy: hydroelectric power generation, nuclear power, wind power, solar energy, and fossil fuels. However, this invention generates electricity from such a simple thing; steps. Energy is generated from our steps, but can generate so much electricity, since about 11 trillion steps are taken in dense cities such as London. I hope this idea develops more, worldwidely, so that every country can obtain pollution-free energy from the steps people take every day.

Article: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/758510--foot-power-to-light-up-london-by-2012