Welcome to another edition of Weekly Newsmakers – your source for news and events with an international focus.  We hope that you are preparing diligently for midterms (which are fast approaching).  For those fortunate enough to have some elusive downtime, the free events at the bottom of this post might help re-energize you for the coming weeks.

Cabinet Picks Could Take On Climate Policy – New York Times (Editor’s Pick)

Among the major factors in trying to refashion the American way of producing and consuming energy, President Obama’s nominees will have to tackle the Keystone XL pipeline decision, which entails transporting crude oil from Canada to refineries in Texas.  However, the Keystone pipeline poses a number of potential environment problems: risk of oil spills which could would devastate the surrounding landscape, and that petroleum extraction from tar sands creates significant amounts of greenhouse emissions.  Do you think the Keystone XL project is worth the environmental risks?  Tell us in the comments area below.

Researchers: Toddler cured of HIV – CNN (Editor’s Pick)

This Sunday, a baby had been cured of an H.I.V. infection for the first time in history.  Doctors treated the infant with an aggressive treatment procedure by administering antiretroviral drugs early, around 30 hours after birth, a methodology that was rarely practiced.  The findings are astonishing, and if trials on other babies conclude positive results, the procedure may hold the key to decreasing the large number of children living around the world with the H.I.V. virus (the UN estimates that 330,000 babies were newly infected in 2011).  Medical researchers are currently studying whether the ‘aggressive treatment’ can work for other babies.

As Hacking Against U.S. Rises, Experts Try to Pin Down Motive – New York Times

Many theories about China’s motives in hacking into American websites including Telvent, a company that monitors more than half the oil and gas pipelines in North America and the computers of the New York Times have arisen the past few months.  Perhaps China was planting bugs into American systems so they could cut off energy supplies and shut down the power grid if the United States and China ever confronted each other in the Pacific, rummaging for industrial secrets, or trying to steal American technologies and pass it along to China’s own energy companies. However, some researchers now believe that the Chinese attacks on American networks were cyber-espionage efforts to bolster the Chinese economy.

Thursdays at MoCA – Weissman Center Reports

Every Thursday, hop on the 6 down to Chinatown and enjoy free admission at The Museum of Chinese in America (MoCA), bringing Chinese history and culture to the public, with accessible and interactive exhibitions. Every Thursday, admission is free.  Experience MOCA’s newest show, With a Single Step: Stories in the Making of America, an exhibition spanning several generations of Chinese Americans, their contributions and hardships, and the highly contextualized politics between the Chinese and American governments. Location: 215 Centre Street. Thursday Hours: 11 AM – 9 PM.  Details: http://www.mocanyc.org/

Fisher Landau Center for Art Presents: Nancy Dwyer – Weissman Center Reports

Take a trip to Queens this weekend and check out an art exhibit celebrating 30 years of avant-garde art by Nancy Dwyer.  She and other “Pictures Generation” artists working in the 1970s – ’80s reproduced and appropriated images, graphics, and text from media and advertising. Dwyer’s work utilizes words and images in unexpected contexts, accentuating and subduing contextual meanings. Complimentary admission Thursdays through Mondays, from now to April 6^th. Details: http://www.flcart.org/