Egypt's army-backed government resigns: By Paige Kutschall

"(CNN) -- Egypt's army-backed government resigned Monday, state-run Nile TV said, adding uncertainty to the nation's three years of upheaval.

The government headed by Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi turned in its resignation to President Adly Mansour, the station said.

Beblawi said the government would continue to serve until the resignation was accepted, Nile TV reported. When that would happen wasn't immediately clear.

The resignations by Beblawi and his Cabinet come as disorganized strikes ripple through the work force. In recent weeks, doctors, low-ranking police officers, postal workers, transport workers and textile workers have all gone on strike for short periods of time.

 Russia negotiating arms deal with Egypt

Analysts expect army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who served as defense minister, to run for president. The military has denied such speculation.

If he does run, El-Sisi would need to give up his post.

But with no clear contender, his chances of winning the presidency are high.

If elected, he will become the sixth military leader to rule Egypt since its independence.

Elections are expected to be announced in April.

Army denies military chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said he will run for president

Egypt's government has been unsettled since a popular revolt toppled the 29-year rule of former strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Mohamed Morsy, the former head of the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, was elected president in 2012. Shortly after he winning, he resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party in an effort to show that he would represent all Egyptians.

But he was ousted in a coup about a year later amid widespread protests against his rule, with opponents accusing him of pursuing an Islamist agenda and excluding other factions from the government.

Morsy and other Brotherhood leaders were rounded up after the coup and now face a variety of counts, including organizing attacks on Egyptian troops in the Sinai Peninsula and fueling "sectarian sedition with the aim of igniting civil war in Egypt."

Supporters say the military-backed government that replaced Morsy has returned to the authoritarian practices of Mubarak."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/24/world/africa/egypt-politics/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

aid resolution by: Shadden Hashem

               The UN Security Council passed a resolution to boost access for humanitarian aid hoping to ease the suffering of their people. All of the 15 Security Council member states approved the resolution. "But these steps are only first steps. The test is whether the words of the Security Council are matched with the life-saving actions the Syrian people so desperately and urgently need," said Kerry.

               This is awesome. I'm glad they have come to a resolution for this problem.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/22/world/meast/syria-un-aid-resolution/index.html

daredevils climb skyscraper...JULIA WOLTJEN

SUMMARY: Recently 2 daredevils climbed a Shanghai skyscraper with GoPro cameras so the whole thing was caught on tape.

ANALYSIS: First of all, they are crazy. I mean they had no supports and were doing it all while it was foggy so they couldn't even see very well. Probably just trying to get attention. Maybe a security guard might do some good,  just a thought.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/02/17/vo-daredevils-climb-shanghai-skyscraper.cnn.html

bad chocolate....JULIA WOLTJEN

SUMMARY: On the ivory coast there are many cocoa plantations (cocoa is the main ingredient to chocolate) but the people who own these plantations are some of the poorest people on Earth and are using children to farm the crop. This is also called child labor. What we don't know is that harvesting cocoa is a very dangerous and difficult task and some of the children that are working are 6 years old or younger.

ANALYSIS: This is a terrible and harmful business. And must be stopped, the effort to stop it has been getting stronger and stronger, but the employers of the children are sneaky so it is a tough business. Always look for the fair trade symbol on chocolate, this means that no children were involved or harmed in harvesting that crop.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/13/world/africa/cocoa-nomics-does-chocolate-grow-on-trees/index.html?hpt=wo_mid

Smash! vase destroyed...JULIA WOLTJEN

SUMMARY: A local Miami artist is under arrest for destroying $1 million vase in a museum. The artist says that he didn't know it's worth when he destroyed but, that doesn't justify anything. He says the act was one of protest against the museum for only housing international art. He probably got the idea from one of the artist's photographs that show him destroying a 7,000 year old vase.

ANALYSIS: This guy is crazy and should be arrested, I would think that since he's an artist he would respect others work, but I guess not. Have fun in jail.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/18/world/ai-weiwei-vase-destroyed/index.html?hpt=wo_mid

code orange smog!...JULIA WOLTJEN

SUMMARY: On Monday Beijing issued a orange smog alert (very bad). This is the first time since last year that the smog has reached orange standard. And it isn't looking good. All across China the smog has been getting worse and has even caused citizens to remain onside on bad days.

ANALYSIS: China just needs to come up with better regulations on their factories and industrial places. I mean no one else is having this issue, come on. If they regulated the amount of hours a factory can run that would really help with the smog issue. Get it together China...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/24/world/asia/beijing-smog-solutions/index.html?hpt=wo_t2

Turkey Calls on the UN to Help Syria - by Frances Garnett

Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey's Foreign Minister, has exhorted the UN to provide humanitarian aid to the regions of Syria that are under siege. He says that hundreds of people have died and there isn't a single resolution from the UN Security Council. He also said, in response to Turkish troops opening fire on a groups of vehicles from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (an armed group in Iraq and Syria, compared to the al-Qaeda, which it pledged allegiance to), that they didn't want to intervene, but a threat came to them. He is especially concerned about preventing the regime of Bashar Assad, President of Syria, of escaping the formation of a transition government, and that it wasn't truthful about how many chemical weapons they still have, even after agreeing to eliminate their supply last year. He stated that the use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity, the people who committed the crime should be prosecuted, and that world leaders carry this responsibility. Currently, there are two million people in Turkey, Lebanon and Iraq who have fled from the fighting in Syria. Recently, UN peacekeepers have been criticized for being ineffective, having declared safe areas in Bosnia for Muslims and yet doing nothing to secure them, so tons of them were massacred by the Serbs. Also, they were accused of not doing anything while Hutu killed thousands of Tutsi people.

This article made me reflect on something I read in class about the UN's failure to achieve it's original goal, when it was set up in 1945, to save future generations from war, also questioning if it should be reformed or not. This other article also said while it was created to be unbiased, the UN has had so much trouble with decision making between all those countries. Ever since reading these articles, I've always thought that the United Nations was very successful, probably like many others, but now I'm rethinking that. I think that maybe what's needed to solve this problem of decision making is to replace it's current Security Council with a new one (because it is very unlikely that leaders will be able to come up with solutions soon). I sympathize with Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries who have to host refugees, because it's probably a big strain on their infrastructure and costs a lot of money. That's also probably an issue in the UN: there's only a limited amount of money to spend, and there's a surplus of projects and conflicts to use it for. I think that, unless it's reformed and becomes more efficient, the UN should be replaced with another organization, with a different and more "together" structure, so that countries like Turkey don't have to be subjected to difficult situations anymore (for the time being, that is).


Source: http://www.haberturk.com/general/haber/918196-turkey-fm-called-for-humanitarian-aid-to-syria