Sudden impact was recent, too

Anne Mcilory

Globe and Mail

November 26, 2008

University of Alberta researchers have discovered one of the youngest impact craters in the world. It was formed after a bit of asteroid fell to Earth 1,100 years ago and smashed into the west central part of what is now Alberta. This is “the youngest crater found on earth”. It was discovered in July 2007 when the residents of the area went looking for space rocks with metal detectors. They were able to find pieces of metallic rock close to the hole in the ground. These pieces were immediately sent for testing and it was “confirmed that they were meteorite fragments”. The crater is 36 meters wide and six meters deep. This crater is not nearly a large as the one in Mexico. Craters like this one are very rare because they can erode over time without ever being found. This area is now reserved as a provincial historical resource. Meteorites can be sold for very large prices and anyone trying to collect rocks from this area will be fined “up to $50 000 or one year in jail.” It seems interesting how there is still so much of our planet that is discovered. Because of this crater, scientists can try to discover more about our planet’s past and it creates a good historical site for the area. Sites like these can bring tourists and benefit the economy.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081126.wmeteor26/BNStory/International/

The Big Melt

Globe and Mail

December 16, 2008

The effects of global warming are most visible in the arctic. Since the year 2003, more than two trillion tons of land ice was melted in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska. This is more than half the ice that has occupied Greenland based on the measurements by NASA. Satellite. Scientists are hoping that this years ice loss will not be as great as in the year 2007. Since the year 2005 the situation in Alaska is better because of the cold winter and some snowfall. The problem with the melting land ice is that the surface of the oceans can rise dramatically. Between Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska, melting land ice has raised global sea levels about one-fifth of an inch in the past five years. Although some ice has recovered, the scientists say that “situation is not getting better” and global warming is only getting worse. Global warming seems to be a big issue these today because it could completely change everything on our planet. Just like the scientists say, we all need to contribute and help in as many ways as possible whether it may be driving less and having to walk more. There is definitely a lot of disadvantages to do with global warming and people need to be aware of it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081216.wbigmelt1216/BNStory/International/

Woman smuggles sedated monkey into U.S. under her shirt; pretends to be pregnant

Decembe 9, 2008

From CBC News

On a November flight in the year 2007 from Thailand to Los Angeles, two women were convicted of smuggling charges. Gypsy Lawson is twenty five years old and was accompanied by her fifty five year old mother Fran Orgen, while she was trying to smuggle a monkey over the United States border. Gypsy put the monkey under her blouse “pretending she was pregnant”. The monkey was very calm so it was possible for them to hide it under the woman’s blouse. They both got the hidden monkey across the United States Custom in Los Angeles successfully. Concerning this fact, there seems to be a need to improve the security on airports. No one found out of even suspected that the woman was not actually pregnant and so the daughter and the mother both got out of the airport successfully. This is very strange knowing that a monkey is not that small and it the airport security didn’t find out about it. After their safe return to Los Angeles, Gypsy told a clerk in a clothing store about her monkey. Whether it was the clerk himself or someone else that heard the story, Gypsy and her mother were arrested and convicted of smuggling charges. The monkey was taken away and is now “at a private rescue facility” in Oregon. As for the two women, their sentencing will be held on March 3 of 2009.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/081209/K120902AU.html

Three more soldiers killed on deadly Afghan highway

13, 2008 8:03 PM

From BBC News

Three Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on December 5^th by a bomb blast. The soldiers were traveling in a truck when they drove right into an explosion. They were driving past Kandahar city, in the area of Senjaray town, when they were hit by an explosion from a powerful improvised explosive device. The reports indicated two dead soldiers, finding the third one buried under the truck. On the same Saturday, a variety of bomb-making equipment hidden in compounds were discovered to the east of Senjaray. The soldiers killed were Robert McLaren, Pte. Demetrios Diplaros, and Warrant Officer Robert Wilson as they were searching with Afghan soldiers and police for IEDs. Also on December 5, a Canadian soldier on foot patrol in Zhari district lost his lower legs because of a buried IED. The war in Afghanistan has been going on for couple of years now and as a result of this ongoing conflict, many people lost their lives. Canada’s military death count in the Afghan war now stands at 103 which is not as high as the numbers of deaths of Afghan people including regular people and children. It is important to finally stop this conflict and many people hope for the support of the new United States president Obama. Ii is also important that the conflict is resolved in a beneficial way to both sides.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7779261.stm

Runaway bus smashes into Salvation Army store in New Westminster

December 10, 2008

CBC News

There was quite a large damage done to the Vancouver Salvation Army on Wednesday December 10, 2008. The whole accident was caused by a runaway bus going down a street and slamming into a thrift store. The Police says that the driver parked the close to the New Westminster sky train and out the brakes on. The driver is sure that he set the brakes properly but as he was walking down the street where he parked the bus he saw it rolling sown a hill, smashing into poles and signs. The driver started chasing it abut he was unfortunately unable to stop the rolling bus. The bus had some speed when it slammed into the thrift store building ending up three quarters of the way into the building, which is located at Columbia Street. The bus was empty during this accident happened and luckily there was no one hurt. The damage done will cost about $100 000 to repair. The main concern is that this is the second blow to the Salvation Army in Vancouver before Christmas. A Salvation Army in East Vancouver was robbed of $20 000 worth of gifts and food. The thieves broke into the store on December 3, 2008 and the police was able to get back a portion of the stolen goods. Since the Salvation Army is a very important source of goods and items for some families it is important to donate towards the Salvation Army fundraising and make sure that people in our community have a nice Christmas.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/12/10/bc-salvation-army-bus-crash-new-westminster.html

Mideast 'most challenging peace-building project,' says Nobel winner

December 10, 2008

From CBC News

Martti Ahtisaari, who led a United Nations mission to Iraq after the Gulf was in 1991 called for increased action to solve the conflict in the Middle East where Muslims seem to be unable to accept the existence of Israel. The conflict between the Muslims and the Jews in Israel has been going on for a long time now. Ahtisaari says that this crisis has been going on for too long and it is time to get some results. He hopes that the new president of the United States will give a lot of attention towards solving this problem in the Middle East during his first year in office. Ahtisaari said that this is “the most challenging peace building project ahead of us.” He has helped with the increased humanitarian aid to Iraq by pressing Washington after the Gulf War and he finally wants to see this crises resolved. Ahtisaari is afraid of the economic crises because it will dramatically decrease the development efforts for poor countries but he is trying to call on all governments to keep the foreign assistance and investments to developing countries. There seems to be many articles in the news concerning our environment. It is a big issue in our world and our communities and with so many warnings, we need to start making some significant changes. This crises does affect the whole world and it is important to do something about it, however, the situation will not change unless more people outside the government pay attention to the problem and get involved. Even the government is not paying enough attention to environmental problems and politicians all over the world are concerned more about the economical problems rather than our environment. People need to realize the importance of this crises and be willing to help

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/12/10/nobel-prizes.html

Rome's Tiber river on flood alert

December 12, 2008

Deepa Babington

The Tiber river in Rome has flooded its banks on Friday December 5^th, 2008 after days of rain and thunderstorms. The flood has caused flooded underpasses, disturbed train and flight services and it also killed one person. The flood blocked the major road leading to Rome. The bad weather has affected all of Italy but Rome was hit more severely. The mayor of the city said that Rome was hit with” more rain in one night than normally comes in all of December.” Hundreds of people living near the river had to be evacuated and further flooding is expected. Not much can be done to prevent the damage from floods because rivers are very powerful. Many people blame the origins of this violent weather on climate change and the global warming. This is a country with a small landmass and a few rivers that carry the water to the sea. The rainwater always has to go somewhere. The problem is that when the water heads downstream towards the sea, it can come as a wave. If the wave makes it to the sea it doesn’t create problems. If it hits the banks the wrong way, the banks can break and floods occur. The floods can destroy very much and people can’t prevent it. The government could probably try building a better system so that the floodwater has a place to and doesn’t flood miles.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wrome1212/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20081212.wrome1212

EU leaders reach new climate deal

December 12, 2008

From BBC News

European Union leaders have set a new “climate deal” to help reduce global warming. Scientists say that if nothing is done to reduce the pollution, the worlds climate will change dramatically, affecting everything all life on our planet. The EU has decided to create a way of helping the global warming affects on our climate. The “new climate deal” is a plan to cut carbon emissions by 20% by the year 2020. 27 countries in the UN became members of this plan to help our environment. Scientists say that the cutting the carbon emissions by 20% is not going to change anything very much. They say that the emissions need to be cut by 25 to 40% by the year 2020 to try avoiding the serious climate change. The EU leaders also agreed to donate £180bn to help reduce the economic downturn that might happen as a result of the “new climate deal”. The new deal should also include also raise renewable sources to 20% of total energy use and achieve a 20% cut in energy use at the same time by the year 2020. This project can be quite expensive and cause economic problems for some countries, therefore, it is important that the UN provides some economic support. The UN is willing to go even further by cutting the emissions by 30% if the rest of the world agrees to become members of the “new climate deal” . This is a good way of trying to save the planet from a dramatic climate change but as the scientists say much more will have to be done by everyone to reduce the changing climate. People need no become aware of this issue as well and help reduce the use of gas and other things. The government needs to commit too in order to reduce the impact of the changing climate. Other countries that are not a part of this new climate deal will influence the whole outcome.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7778787.stm

Man charged in Christmas party shooting

December 13, 2008 6:00 PM

The Vancouver Sun

A sixty one year old Eric Allen Kirkpatrick has been charged with first degree murder on Friday December 11^th. He shot a 40 year old David Banky at a Christmas staff party in Vancouver. The dead man was a president and CEO of TallGrass Distribution Ltd., Which is a company for importing natural health products. Allen walked into the staff party carrying a gun and apparently had been fired from the company the previous day. No one else was injured but it has caused some problems in the company. The police was called to the staff party as soon as someone reported a man with a gun coming in, but they didn’t stop him from shooting. The police should be definitely more careful in situations such as this one. The man didn’t seem to have bad intentions according to the police but he certainly came to the party with the idea of killing in his mind. Even though this murder has happened, we don’t have nearly as much crime as the United States where people can get an access to a dangerous weapon very easily. Canada seems to have a good police system of preventing crime and even if the perfect system was established, some people would still find a way to commit a crime. Canadian police should keep up the good work.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/charged+Christmas+party+shooting/1072993/story.html

The not-so-Big Three

Friday, December 12, 2008

CBC news

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler also known as the “Big Three” automakers have been the largest and healthiest companies for a long time. With the “death of a financial assistance bill in the US Senate on December 11” they are not considered so big any more. The “Big Three” have been experiencing some difficulties in the past but nothing as influential as today’s decrease in economy. The automakers are only getting about $14 billion US in “new cash”, which is only half of what they were expecting. These automakers lost about 45 percent of their sales this year. As a result of cutting back in production it affected many workers by loosing their jobs. Workers are not only loosing jobs in auto making companies but all over the world in general. The crises in the US seems to be spreading and affecting the whole world. Companies need less workers as a result of not having enough sales. With the loss of even more jobs the sales of companies will decrease even more leading into a large economic crises. The government needs to make sure that it doesn’t happen or at least should try to prevent the worst effects of the crises.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/12/10/f-big-three-bailout.html