**GREECE Update**
Europe and the International Monetary Fund has lent 130 billions Euros to Greece in bailout loans. The measures the country took against the public sector seem to be working. This will greatly cut back on Greece's massive debts and help to save the viability of the Euro. (posted 2/21/12)

     As the Greek government tries to dig their country up from the dirt, its citizens are still rioting. On Sunday February 12, lawmakers approved new austerity measures. The drastic cuts will be taken from civil service jobs, cutting 1 in 5 positions and slashing the minimum wage by more than a fifth. The vote passed by Parliament would also allow Greece international creditors to give 130 billion Euros in rescue loans to prevent the country from tanking financially. In order to convince creditors to pay, Greece must implement spending cuts and reform the public sector.
     "We are facing destruction. Our country, our home, has become ripe for burning, the center of Athens is in flames," conservative lawmaker Costis Hatzidakis told parliament. "We cannot allow populism to burn our country down." The people are not happy with these new measures, however. Rioters went to the street the following day and burned 45 buildings, along with smashing and looting several shops. More than 120 people were hurt in the riot, which took place outside the Parliament building in Athens. Sixty-seven were arrested, and apparently violence broke out in other cities as well.
     The cuts just keep getting deeper, as Greece has been struggling economically since 2008. Unemployment is keeping at a steady 20%. Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said, "When you have to choose between bad and worse, you will pick what is bad to avoid what is worse." The country is doing all it can to receive the funding they need so their economy can be healthy again.
Posted 2/20/12

      Navy SEAL Team Six has had quite a busy year.  Last May they were able to take down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.  Their latest mission was to rescue two hostage aid workers that had been held captive in Somalia.  The hostages, Jessica Buchanen and Poul Hagen Thisted, were kidnapped on October 25th 2011 by nine abductors in the Horn of Africa. 
     Obama authorized the mission on Monday and SEAL Team Six went forth on Tuesday after receiving the go-ahead from military commanders.  They parachuted into a nearby town and hiked to where the hostages were being held.  The raid needed to happen soon since there was word that one of the hostages, Jessica Buchanen, had a kidney infection and her health was deteriorating. 
     SEAL Team Six was planning on detaining the captors, but found that they were heavily armed and had explosives nearby.  Because of the conditions, they were forced to kill the nine.  Fortunately, none of the SEALS were hurt. “Buchanan and Thisted were flown to neighboring Djibouti, home to the only U.S. military base in Africa and France's largest base on the continent,” a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. “They were under the care of U.S. military doctors,” officials said. (MSNBC)
     Thanks to SEAL Team Six, two lives were saved that day and nine bad guys were killed.  As Obama said when the mission was wrapping up, “Good Job Tonight.”
Posted 1/27/12

     Many people love to tell ghost stories and make up scary characters, and this is exactly how the Slender Man was born- on an online forum that told readers to find a scary or spooky picture and explain it as in a chilling way. One of these participants created the Slender Man, who is extremely tall (8 feet at least), has no face, and has multiple arms that extend into smoky tendrils instead of fingers. 
     This tall guy is said to go after children where he either harms them psychologically and causes severe fear and damage, or he takes them away and consumes them. This urban legend was long forgotten until Kim-Jong-Un’s inauguration into being North Korea’s dictator. In a photo of his inauguration, there is a very tall man that stands behind him, and no one knew who it was. People starting guessing the Slender Man. Watch yourself or the Slender Man might get YOU!!!
Posted 1/27/12

says that they plan to act soon to repair any damages, but the Archbishop of the monastery says they are continually delaying reparations in an attempt to rid Cyprus of Christianity.  “Not much time is left”, says the Archbishop, “the monastery is vital to us.”
Posted 2/21/12

      Local journalists from a Somali radio station are being threatened by a local militant group Al-Shabab.  A main journalist from the radio received a message on his phone saying, “If God wills it, you will be the next apostate to be killed.”  A fellow journalist was recently killed by the terrorist group and the other reporters are living in fear for their lives, to such an extent that they are sleeping and living at the radio station in order to protect their families.  After a string of killings in this fashion throughout Somalia, the world is taking notice and is trying to counter this violence starting with the Somali president himself, promising to investigate and counter-act these terrorists. For more  on this story, click here. 
Posted 2/7/12

_ Gaza Strip- The Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip is breaking from traditional, ruling Islamic Fundamentalism by break dancing. The Camps Breakerz went to the streets for the first time this month and released a you tube video to demonstrate their skills. "When I danced in the street I felt free for the first time in my life. I challenged the conservative society and mainly I challenged the Israeli siege," said Mohammed al-Ghrize who created this dance crew. The laws are strict here, where American Idol is even banned because Muslims are only supposed to sing and dance to the sound of drums.
Damascus, Syria- President Ashir Bassad sent troops to fight rebellious suburbs near the capital. These neighborhoods have fallen under the control of army dissidents and the government can only control them with violence. Sixty-two were killed, and this new breakout shows that the rebellion is spreading. Damascus was generally quiet as other Syrian cities fell deteriorated to chaos. The struggle between the Syrian military and army defectors is only picking up steam.

_ Kingston, Ontario- An Afghan father, wife, and son were charged with the murder of three teenage sisters and a co-wife. The bodies were found in 2009 submerged in a canal. Apparently, the women were killed because “they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing, and going online” (Associated Press). Wire taps and cell phone records were presented as evidence to this theory. Mohammad Shafia, the 58 year old Afghan father and husband, said, “Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows… nothing is more dear to me than my honor.”
Posted 1/30/12