Monthly Archives: May 2013

The Immigration reform has had various important aspects in the news throughout the years. Lately however, there has been more speculations due to the new immigration reform in the congress. I wanted to see how different news  sites, from different countries      put their own perspective on it. For the United States I chose The York Times, CNN and The Guardian. In these news sites, what I  found a lot of information on the topic of immigration, there was a variety to choose from.  The News York Times maintained a formal like approach to the topic of the immigration reform and provided a lot of information on the topic. CNN adresses the immigration reform by providing different polls and how this affected the Obama administration to make a decision  also references are made that The Republican Party is loosing ground when it comes to Hispanic voters. Aljazeera, altough the article I found wasn’t as detailed as the ones found in CNN or The New York Times, it had a video that showed President Barack Obama addressing the public about the immigration reform. El Universal, a major newspaper from Mexico in contrast to the other newspapers didn’t have a lengthy article and only included one picture of John McCain and Chuck Schumer. In the end of the article however, they point out exactly which members of the Republican party rejected the reform and the reasons why the immigration reform was rejected.  In Univision news, which is not a newspaper, but more of a news  segment channel, there was only a video. However, I thought it would  be more opinion based since the news on immigration in the channel are always biased and seem to reflect what the public want’s to hear. The difference was that Univision did have a section only dedicated to immigration topics, unlike El Universal from Mexico.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/03/americans-divided-over-immigration-reform/?iref=allsearch

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/01/2013129203352313742.html

http://doblevia.eluniversal.com/internacional/130417/presentan-en-el-senado-de-eeuu-el-proyecto-de-ley-de-inmigracion

http://noticias.univision.com/noticiero-univision/videos/video/2013-03-27/el-presidente-barack-obama-hablo

The biggest story in the news right now is the ongoing scandals coming out of the Obama administration. Over the short course of a few days, many big details involving three different stories relating to the administration has come about.

One of the news stories was the recent resignation of IRS chief Steven T. Miller. Miller was forced to quit his position after information came out that proved the IRS was knowingly and willingly targeting Conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, purposely making it very ahrd for these groups to do so. Conservatives have reasons to believe that the target put on their back was due to differences in political agendas, and the liberal administration was attempting to hurt the conservative groups.

The second big scandal to come out of Obama’s administration recently is the hearings on the Benghazi attacks. It has now come to the attention of the American public, after emails being made public, that the CIA revised the reports on the incident up to 12 times before officially releasing their statement, showing that the actual attribution to the cause of the attacks was different from the one given by a CIA official. However, despite this scandal, the emails coming forth prove that President Obama was just as informed as the American public, and the White House knew nothing of this change.

The final news story to come out of the Obama administration in recent days is the scandal in which the phone records of Associated Press journalists were seized by the United States government.  The records, relating to a matter of journalists reporting on an incident of national security, is just one instance of the American government overreaching its boundaries into the free speech territory to harass the press about releasing details of ongoing government operations and national security.

-Paul Campbell

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-benghazi-20130516,0,4147249.story

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/politics/new-controversies-may-undermine-obama.html?hp&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/politics/e-mails-show-jostling-over-benghazi-talking-points.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/us/irs-says-counsel-didnt-tell-treasury-of-tea-party-scrutiny.html?hp

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/phone-records-of-journalists-of-the-associated-press-seized-by-us.html?pagewanted=all

 Mini Presentation Blog Post

Gold

Gold symbolizes wealth. The bright shiny yellow color makes people feel optimistic, rich, and happy. In China, most women have at least 5 items of gold jewelry and most men have at least 2. Collecting Gold can be a good investment and seems to have little risk. However, The Global gold market price goes up and down, influencing buyers differently, depending on their culture. According to publications in different geographic areas, such as Chinese Finance News, Taiwan News and the Wall Street Journal people in different parts of the world reacted to the recent sharp drop in gold prices differently. American investors reacted negatively and tended to sell off their holdings of gold. The reaction in China and Taiwan was just the opposite, when the gold price went down, the Chinese purchased 300 tons of gold in only 10 days.

The Wall Street Journal points that the drop in the gold price that “after ECB President Mario Draghi put pressure on Cyprus to sell its excess gold reserves to help fund the bailout and plug a 6 billion euro budget gap. He wrote to investors which the Wall Street Journal obtained, because of the recent collapse in gold prices investors buying into gold-related funds will go with the flow-that is, stay away for now.”

Different cultures think differently. This is true in journalism as well as in people reactions. When the gold price goes down, those journalists deliver information in the way that influences how people react, good and bad.

In Eastern cultures, such as China, people are usually very conservative, but when people see the price of gold drop they immediately purchase more, thinking that is the best time to invest. But in Western cultures, such as America, people tend to panic and follow the trend. When the price of gold goes down, they act just the opposite, selling off and causing the price to drop even more.

In China, people tend not to trust banks or paper money, because of bad experiences in their history, so they have always trusted gold to hold its value in the long term. In America’s people treat gold as any other commodity, so when the price drops they are afraid that the demand for gold may be down for a longer term while the Chinese, because of their history, believe the drop is temporary.

I think, that why the gold price goes down and encourage Chinese people to buy more, that makes the Chinese economy run well. The American people chose to sell or not to buy that impacts market, causing the American economy to decrease. It’s funny, but it’s real when the situation deals with money.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=a1p6U1x-Kus&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Da1p6U1x-Kus

http://www.asianewsnet.net/Taiwan-immune-to-gold-buying-fever-46246.html

http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/a/SB10001424127887324030704578426613352725022?mg=reno64-wsj

http://finance.chinanews.com/fortune/2013/05-04/4786390_2.shtml

I am not quite sure what is going on with the IRS scandal. I have been reading a few different stories and still cant grasp what is going on, can anyone help?

I know that the elections in Pakistan are big deal. The President is promising changes in the taliban threats that Pakistan has been facing and the scare that there is a shortage on electricity

Benghazi is also a big story, because of the terrorist attacks that happened in september 2012 they are finding out more information about what really happened, and is Hilary Clinton to blame?

Syria and Israel’s ongoing war, Israel is tired of the US supplying weapons to Syrian’s

Events in Syria have been spinning out of control over the last few weeks, with coverage all over the world reflecting that and trying to keep up with the changes. Between the claims of chemical weapons being used by both the regime and the rebels, rising tensions between Iran and the West, the growing humanitarian crisis in and around Syria, and now a death toll of over 70,000 and climbing the situation is fast approaching a point where it may no longer be contained. A highlight of this fear that Syria will soon grow into a regional conflict, not just a civil war, were the reports of  Israeli airstrikes two weeks back.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/201354434558135.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/05/20135502043908700.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22419221

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/06/world/meast/qa-israel-syria/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/05/Syrian-capital-witnesses-heavy-explosions-.html

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2013/05/08/gh.html

Two Israeli airstrikes occurred on May 3, and May 5. The reported targets were ‘game changing’ surface to missile delivery systems being shipped to Hezbollah. What’s interesting in terms of coverage is that both Arab and Western news sites essentially focused on the same implication, though with very different tones and perspectives, perhaps reflecting their respective objectives. Most Western media coverage managed to tap intelligence sources that specified the weapons were Fateh-110’s surface-to-surface missiles. The overall tone of news coverage from both the BBC and CNN seems to be focusing on conveying the Obama administrations hesitancy about how to proceed with Syria, along with the concerns of this spreading into a much wider conflict. But if the Western media is displaying trepidation, then the more surprising tone of the reports from the Arab news sites is one of apathy. While there’s certainly not joyous over the news, Arab news media like Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have not taken the opportunity to demonstrate their typical outrage when it comes to most things involving Israel. Instead, they’ve used this as a basis to further attack and accuse the Assad regime itself, making sure to put in reminders about the atrocities Assad’s forces are currently committing, or inserting a few jabs at Hezbollah for getting involved in the Syrian conflict in the first place, almost inviting responses like the one Israel just unleashed in a way.  In many ways this seems to be reflective of each parties attitudes on the matter, with the West seeking any way to try and deescalate and resolve the conflict through political means, whereas the Arab world seems more focused on taking decisive action.

Since my last post, genetically modified foods have not made any major headlines in the U.S. However, since the news of Whole Foods announcing its change to require GM labeling, there has been another push for a proposed bill. Huffington Post, CBS, and NY Daily News reported bills proposed by Senator Barbra Boxer and Rep. Peter DeFazio to the Senate and House of Representatives to require companies to label GM products. The Huffington Post and CBS focused on the controversy surrounding health concerns with GMOs. They sourced studies and polls from various health organizations and the public. NY Daily News primarily reported on a celebrity campaign against GMOs that urges the public to protest on May 25th. All of these articles compared the U.S. to other countries that already mandate GM food labeling.

In international news, The Telegraph (UK) reported on scientists designing cows to grow without horns. They mention the benefits for both farmers and the cows themselves, by stating, “Preventing horn growth would eliminate the need for many farmers to burn off the horn buds of calves in what is a difficult and intensely painful procedure for the animals.” However, unlike the U.S. articles, the story seems one-sided because they did not report on opposing factor or idea.

In the China Daily, a story was reported about the Hebei provence and a partnership with an Iowa corn company. It states that corn is in high demand in China. They quote governor of Iowa saying that he believes China should invest more in imports. However, the article presents an opposing side by mentioning that many Chinese companies and people “…doubt the safety of GM food.” Although, they do not report which companies gave their opinion.

Another article from the UK on The Guardian, published a story on how supermarkets are at fault for “misleading” consumers. They claim that, even with studies resulting in GM foods as non-harmful, supermarkets are confusing consumers with labels such as, “no MSG.” They also reported that journalist are helping to stop the fear in consumers by stating, “While scientists are working hard to get sound science and evidence into public discussion about food risks, and science journalists now stop much of the worst media reporting of unfounded scare and miracle stories, the supermarkets are busy promoting these unfounded fears to thousands of customers every day, undoing all that good work.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/genetically-engineered-food_n_3149418.html

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/05/02/sen-boxer-seeks-nationwide-labeling-of-genetically-modified-foods/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stars-align-protest-monsanto-new-video-article-1.1338766

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/geneticmodification/10023561/Scientists-design-health-and-safety-cow-with-no-horns.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/may/09/supermarkets-unfounded-fears-food-health?INTCMP=SRCH

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-04/19/content_16421327.htm

In today’s paper there is the ongoing story of Syria and Isreal. Obama is trying hard to get involved but did supply weapons to the rebels, because they were using chemical weapons on citizens. It also went on to talk about Kerry, Secretary of state, going to talk to the Russian President in an attempt to convince them to withdraw support to Syria.

China’s Cyberhacking,

The Building collapsing in  Bangladesh is current because didnt something like this happen in New York in the past and it was also a textile factory, it was what sparked people to take an interest and better care of the buildings and factories.

Boston and the Bombings, there has been increased attention to the wife because they cannot determine if she was involved voluntary or involuntary to the construction of the bomb.

J.P Morgan wants a new board due to the big trading loss that occurred last year.

I have also heard constant news about the Boston bombings as well as the latest news on 3D printed functioning guns. These guns were printed by students and can easily surpass security at airports and other check points making it difficult to determine who is carrying a gun and causing for an unsafe environment. 

http://www.fastcompany.com/3009343/fast-feed/worlds-first-3-d-printed-gun-fired-in-texas

Apple stock also fell after it announced its earnings but is now back to “normal,”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/05/05/heres-the-real-reason-why-apples-stock-rebounded/?utm_campaign=techtwittersf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

A viral subject that is going around is that of the Syrian Civil War. 62% of the American public feel that we do not have to support the Syrian rebels using any armed intervention to stop a conflict between government and anti-government organizations in Syria.

a second widespread situation that is going on is of the military induced massacre in the country of Nigeria. Reports have said more than 180 villagers have become casualties in the conflict between the Nigerian military and the rebel force called Boko Haram.

President Obama had promised to shut down the Guantanamo bay prison facility. however, his attempt at closing it down failed even with the help of congress. the detainees that remain in the facility have gone on hunger strikes for being in their without standing trial as well as not standing trial, which has resulted in a hunger strike from most of the detainees.

On May 6th, an article written by Alex Hern on guardian.co.uk states that a gun made from a 3D printer has been fired. There is much speculation on whether or not the gun should be made illegal. due to the fact that the person who owns the program for creating this gun on a 3D print is selling it to people who can potentially be or become criminals is bad enough.

as stated on the article “The gun – called the “Liberator” and produced by Defense Distributed, a group that describes itself as aiming to “defend the civil liberty of popular access to arms” through “information and knowledge related to the 3D printing of arms” – is the second to have made the headlines in the past year.”

With the recent bombing at Boston, shooting at Sandy Hook, politicians are considering making 3D printing of guns illegal. The possibility of printing all types of guns for free and without a gun license can lead to an increase of gun-related crimes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/06/3d-printer-gun-has-been-fired