Following a series of political assassinations of Afghanistan's political leaders, the United States' military officers have seen dramatic improvement in securing the country. Following the assassination of Osama bin Laden, President Obama announced the hasty drawdown of the extra "surge" troops he ordered to finish off the al-Qaeda regime. However, there have been several recent acts of violence that have some officials worried. Following the assassination of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's half-brother, a suicide car bomber attacked a police headquarters, killing twelve policemen and a ch...

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... Rahm Emanuel seemed extremely optimistic about the job outlook in his city during a CGI jobs summit on June 28th. Like the rest of the United States, Chicago's unemployment rate remains painstakingly high. He announced that companies, such as General Electric, United Airlines, and Walgreens, among others, agreed to hire more than 3,000 people since his administration began. He also said the city ... will focus on filling existing positions to really bring down the unemployment rate (Schneiderman). "There are 120,000 job openings in Chicago," said Emanuel, who served as the former White ...

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... . During his visit, Obama was inspired by mini-robots that explored water and sewer pipes (Kuhnhnen). Pittsburgh is an important city for Obama's plan to build up the middle class in America (Murphy). The robots are the invention of RedZone Robotics, who is involved with developing advanced manufacturing techniques. "The folks at RedZone aren't just solving problems; they're working ... with unions to create new jobs operating the robots, and they're saving cities millions of dollars in infrastructure costs," Obama touted (Lee). Although manufacturing has fallen behind in recent years du...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The second annual Distracted Driving Summit, hosted by the US Department of Transportation, in Washington, D.C. centered around the recently published federal statistics that found that nearly 5,500 people died in 2009 in cell-phone related car accidents and 450,000 others were injured (Hastings). However, Secretary Ray LaHood believes this to be just "the tip of the iceberg" because ... using the cell phone while driving has only recently been outlawed in some states, and previously law enforcement officials were ... who cause distracted driving fatalities are white, male, and younger than ...

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... $414,500, although this amount allegedly provoked the kidnappers to target Ramos (Matuszewski). Unfortunately, the set of events surrounding Ramos' kidnapping is not all that unlikely in Venezuela, particularly for major-leaguers and their families. Yorvit Torrealba's 11-year-old son was kidnapped in 2009 and returned only after the kidnappers received the ransom. Victor Zambrano's mother was also kidnapped that year ... remind travelers to use caution. Venezuela experiences one of the top five highest per capita murder rates in the world, and this number has increased. 2009 saw an incr...

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... originally chose what she referred to as "quiet diplomacy" concerning the Saudi Arabian women protesting the unwritten ban on their right to drive in the kingdom until the arrest of Manal al-Sharif, a Saudi technology consultant and mother on May 22nd. Supporters launched a campaign to free ... statement supporting our right to drive. In a more recent letter, the women wrote, "Three days ago, on June 17, more Saudi women drove a car than ever before. But as we launch the largest women's rights movement in Saudi history, where are you when we need you most? In the context of the Arab Spri...

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• Grade Level: High School

The trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, the personal physician of the late Michael Jackson, took a turn for the worse after the 911 call was played to jurors on September 29th. Murray chose not to call for an ambulance for nearly thirty minutes after he first realized that Jackson needed medical attention - a fact that prosecutors are calling an attempt at a cover-up (Los Angeles Times ... ). Jackson's security guard, Alberto Alvarez, took the stand against Murray, claiming that when he walked in the room, he saw Jackson's lifeless body on the ... reaction" and needed to be taken to the hospital. How...

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... reservoir, 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle and located in Hammerfest, the northernmost city in the world, pipes gas from the sea bottom (Reiss). Despite being one of the world's leading exporters of both oil and natural gas, Norway is now being closely scrutinized for research purposes. As Washington prepares to revamp offshore drilling safety rules after the Deepwater ... Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico last year, the Norwegian system is being studied by regulators, oil companies, and communities living near offshore ... ). Last April, BP experienced the largest accidenta...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... our arms around" (Bumiller). The Pentagon is only prepared to sacrifice $350 billion of the $1 trillion the White House plans on cutting from the spending budget over the next ten years. Pentagon officials were wary of the bill because of the harsh cuts it will make to their program. "Like everybody else, we are waiting ... review all the figures and do a more thorough analysis," said Doug Wilson from the Pentagon. Other proposals have the Pentagon cutting as much as $800 billion over the next ten years (Bumiller). With no hard evidence as to what will come next, the Republican Party is...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

WikiLeaks has been under what it calls a massive cyber attack after posting around 250,000 classified diplomatic cables on November 28. Since that day, the website has gone offline several times in the US, as companies that provide server space for the website in the US and Europe have abandoned it. ... the repercussions of its actions, WikiLeaks is receiving support from free speech activists. The Swiss Pirate Party, a group that formed two years ago to campaign for freedom of information, provided the site with its new domain. WikiLeaks.ch is getting about 3,000 hits per second. Furthermore...

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... class. He saw an equitable tax system, and a health care system where no one would ever die for lack of medicine or treatment. No one expected him to do all this in four years. It was almost a given that we would give him eight. Then the mortgage industry crashed, and the ... raise the needed money. 1. Stick by his plan to end subsidies to the oil companies. Why we are subsidizing one of the most profitable industries in the country has always been a mystery. 2. Change the tax code so that the middle class will have more purchasing power. If they are ... for bigger profits. 4. Impose su...

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• Grade Level: High School

Although protestors in Egypt won their longstanding fight against the country's military rule and succeeded in overthrowing their oppressive leader, Hosni Mubarak, the demonstrations continue, and citizens still do not trust the democratic elections that began on November 27th. The first ever elections for Egypt will begin at 8 AM and will determine the members of the lower house. These elections consist of three stages spanning until January. Upper house elections will take place from January until March, and then the presidential election will begin (CNN). Egyptian citizens have waited for t...

• Word Count: 173
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the second draft include higher domestic cuts than the original version, as well as a decrease in the health care savings from overhauling the medical malpractice system. Unlike the original proposal, the revised version does not call for a cap on medical malpractice awards, but instead recommends a change in how awards are made (Andrew and Kuhnhenn). The proposals that did not change from the original ... draft include a gradual increase in the Social Security retirement age to 68 by 2050 and 69 by 2075. The cost-of ... decrease, and the cap on income subject to Social security taxes ...

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The Occupy movement that began months ago in New York and has since grasped hold of the rest of the country turned violent for the first time on November 2nd in Oakland when a small group of protestors smashed the windows of a Wells Fargo bank branch during a protest of wealth inequalities. The Occupy Oakland movement scheduled a noon rally in front of City Hall and then a free lunch afterward. The day's events were planned to wrap up with a "general strike mass convergence, rally, and labor cookout." Each of these were intended to be peaceful protests, but a small faction began passing out fl...

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... her mouth with duct tape to suffocate her, and then dumping her deceased body in the woods as prosecutors claimed. The two-year-old Caylee went missing on June 16, 2008. Casey then partied for the next month before being forced by her mother to report her child's disappearance. ... "right down to the cause of death" (Alvarez). Baez approached the jury with a different story. The defense argued that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool, and her panicked grandfather, George Anthony, helped Casey to conceal the death. Furthermore, they argued that Casey had been sexually...

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... intentional violation of Israeli law and is liable to lead to participant being denied entry into the State of Israel for ten years, to the impoundment of their equipment and to additional sanctions," the letter read. "I implore you to avoid taking part in this provocative and dangerous event, the purpose of which is to undermine Israel's right do defend itself and to ... them to use "established and efficient" measures to get aid to Gaza (Chick). The Foreign Press Association fought back in favor of the activists, saying journalists have a right to cover a legitimate news event and sho...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... from the shocks of unfettered markets, now use Obama's bailout to separate themselves from the Republican party (Nicholas). In the past three years, domestic car companies have risen out of their 2008-09 slump. Just last week, Chrysler repaid $7.6 billion in loans to the U.S. and Canada even though they did not come due until 2017. The company has returned $10 ... However, the auto companies are adding jobs and gaining market share against international competitors (Nicholas). Despite the gain in that industry, the state of the economy poses a major threat to Obama's campaign for the 20...

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... , mostly by shrinking it drastically (Barstow). One thing most of the Tea Partiers do have in common though is the fact that most had previously been uninvolved in politics. Not until the recession hit did many of them feel the need to contribute their input. After seeing the jobs lost, the homes foreclosed, and the retirement funds depleted, they felt an increasing need ... to know the root cause and who to blame for it. Many believe that their constitutional rights are ... care bill at a time when the country's deficit was rising too fast. On the other hand, they have also criticized ...

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... fear him, race isn't even the major issue. It isn't that he's black, it's that he's not, in their eyes, one of "us"...people born and raised right here in the good old U.S. of A. Ask any one of them if they would have voted for Colin Powell for President, and they would say they would have. They don't actually hate Obama, they simply don't trust him ... afraid now anyway. It's in an economic crisis the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Great Depression. The rich are getting richer off of the destruction of the middle class. The powerful are getting more powerful, as the common p...

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Barack Obama, the 47 year-old senator-who-will-be-president will soon take his place in the coveted Oval office. And there will be no time to waste when he gets there. The new president will be facing the challenges of having to deal with two wars in which his country is embroiled, ... is because of these realities that a new law was passed that will allow security clearances to be "fast-tracked" for the incoming government. When Obama receives his first security briefings after being sworn in, the talk will be centered on terrorist threats and potential triggers, as well as how the FBI is wo...

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... the incident stating, "I should have killed you." Huguely faces first-degree murder and five other charges if he is found guilty of killing Love (FOX News). Huguely entered Love's apartment in May of 2010, where he alleged bashed Love's head against the wall until she passed out and eventually died. The defense claims that Love's death resulted from cardiopulmonary failure after ... to Huguely's attorneys, the blood found at the base of Love's brain came from forcefully administering CPR (FOX News). Huguely and Love dated for two years before the relationship went sour, as displayed by ...

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A landlord of a Philadelphian apartment discovered four mentally handicapped people chained in the basement when he went to investigate a short circuit on October 15th. Turgut Gozleveli discovered dogs locked inside of the boiler room and four adults hiding underneath a blanket. They were hunched together in a space not tall enough for an adult to stand, surrounded in human waste with only a jug of orange juice (Hoye). He unchained them while asking questions about their identity, but he didn't receive any answers. Believing them to be illegal immigrants, Gosleveli called in the police who qui...

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... the surge as "one of the most difficult decisions that I've made as president" but said the military campaign was "meeting our goals" in Afghanistan and the troops will be withdrawn "from a position of strength" (CNN). "Al Qaeda is under more pressure than at any time since 9/11," Obama said. "Together with the Pakistanis, we have taken out more than half of ... bin Laden, the only leader that al Qaeda had ever known. This was a victory for all who have served since 9/11" (CNN). He added, "Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war, at a time of rising debt and hard e...

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... of the cost of hiring American lawyers. "It is much better than going to court in India and dealing with all kinds of rough people. Working in legal outsourcing is a happy career move for me, although my father does not fully understand what I am doing here after my education in Indian law. I am getting valuable exposure to the American judicial system, corporate law and their ... figure incomes of big law firms, the pay is comparable to lawyers' salaries in smaller cities and other benefits, such as equity stakes in the company and management opportunities that might not be widely avail...

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... since Mubarak took office nearly thirty years ago. Frustration has been building for several years about Mubarak's reign, which most Egyptians see as corrupt, heavy-handed, and neglectful of increasing poverty. Protestors were enraged at their president's move, which they see as an attempt to set up a successor (Hadid). Since the announcement, Cairo has been engulfed in chaos. Looting and lawlessness ran rampant ... use force against demonstrators (Hendawi). Speaking from the White House, Obama criticized the violence used against protestors and reiterated what he described as the right...

• Word Count: 1083
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