... October 2011. Despite the wide range of guesses from a massively multi-player online role-playing game to a treasure hunt to a sequel, the Pottermore website will allow Potter-crazed fans to journey through the story lines of the books, starting with "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," according to a statement from Rowling's media team (Clark). "It's the same story with a few crucial additions, the most ... important of which is you," Rowling said in her announcement on YouTube that ran simultaneously with her news conference in London. "Just as the experiences of reading requires ...

• Word Count: 1084
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

An emergency session of the U.N. Security Council was held on Sunday, December 19th, to attempt to ease tensions between North and South Korea following the North's attack on the civilian island of Yeonpyeong, which killed two South Koreans, wounded at least 14 others, and set more than 60 buildings on fire (Lederer, Frayer). Russia initially called for the Security Council meeting, where Moscow proposed ... a draft statement that encouraged the U.N.'s most powerful body to request that North and South Korea "exercise maximum restraint" and urge immediate diplomatic efforts to lessen the tens...

• Word Count: 820
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

To add to the growing tension between Iran and the United States, members of the Iranian Parliament's human rights committee have taken a strong, public stand against the planned execution of a woman in Virginia. According to a British newspaper, "the parliamentary human rights committee said her case reflected ...

• Word Count: 522
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Partnership and includes six universities paired with manufacturing companies like Ford, Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble, and Northrop Grumman (Murphy). "It's to renew the promise of American manufacturing. To help make sure America remains in this century what we were in the last - a country that makes things. A country ... 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 develo...

• Word Count: 548
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Believing himself to be a victim of a smear campaign, presidential candidate Herman Cain suddenly recalled the financial settlement he was a part of years before. In the late 1990's, as the head of the National ... (Grinberg). Cain told Politico that he did not recall such an instance, but when pressed later by radio host, Laura Ingraham, Cain suddenly remembered the instance. "The word settlement suggested to me some sort of legal settlement," he explained about the mix-up, "and later as I thought about it and thought about it and I did recall an agreement with the lady ... that's when I s...

• Word Count: 530
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women recently awarded $10 million in grants to 13 initiatives in 18 countries. The UN Trust Fund, which is managed by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, or UNIFEM, was established in 1996 by the United Nations, and still remains the only multilateral grant-making mechanism solely devoted to supporting local and national efforts to end violence against women and girls. Its recent grant completed the UN Trust Fund's 14th grant-making cycle of 2009, which awarded a total of $20.5 million to 26 projects ...

• Word Count: 1050
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... colleague and friend, Agustin Carstens," she said (Rooney). The global financial institution desperately needed a new leader because of their involvement with the European Union and the European Central Bank to provide financial support to Greece and other troubled European economies who need immediate help (Rooney). Lagarde is already involved in these affairs. While in Paris, she advised the Greek government ... to come to terms with the political differences that exist and approve the austerity measures that are currently preventing the country from receiving their next installment l...

• Word Count: 519
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Google, the world's powerhouse search engine, is launching its newest initiative to attempt to break into the social media industry once again. Although the company has already failed several times with Google Buzz, Orkut, and Google Wave ... tweeks that will hopefully prove this new initiative to be successful (Miller). The Google+ project that launched on June 28th is only available to a select group of Google users who will test the product and then invite others to join. Like Facebook, the social networking site allows people to share and discuss status updates, photos and ... sharing with...

• Word Count: 1060
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Gaffeld, an epidemiologist at the organization's department of reproductive health and research. She described the contraceptive as "something that a woman can do privately herself and it doesn't need to be remembered to be taken every day. It's also a relatively inexpensive method" (Belluck). "Recommendations regarding contraceptive use, particularly emphasizing the importance of dual protection with condoms and the use of ... is not a factor. Instead, they found more genetic material of HIV in the cervical tissue of women currently using the hormonal contraceptives than those who were...

• Word Count: 794
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of taxing Internet sales (Lifsher). Although the governor signed the bill into law, very little taxes are collected. Amazon.com and Overstock.com severed their relationship with California affiliates to avoid having to collect the tax. Amazon used the same tactic after facing similar laws in Illinois, Arkansas, and Connecticut. Amazon is currently contesting a similar law in New York, so this ... the U.S. Supreme Court (Hull). However, Amazon's tactic of pulling out of states that enforce the law may not be enough. A second provision forces retailers with a subsidiary based in Californ...

• Word Count: 791
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... effective vaccine. Because of these drastic measures, the number of reported wild polio cases, the kind that most often results in paralysis, has decreased from hundreds in 2009 to just one case in 2011, none of which were in Uttar Pradesh. Furthermore, places such as the slumbs of New Delhi and Mumbai boast record-level numbers of immunizations and ... younger than five the oral polio vaccine two or three times a year, while high risk areas such as Uttar Pradesh distribute the vaccine ten times annually (Magnier). "It's a little premature to take out the champagne," said Lieven Desome...

• Word Count: 795
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... bills (Urbina). Furthermore, even if the plans go smoothly, the environment will mostly likely take a beating. Hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, is used to get the gas flowing. This process can take over a million gallons of water per well. During the process, some of the water is ... contaminated and must be disposed of. If shale gas wells fade faster than expected, hydrofracking will have to occur more often, which will contaminate even more water (Urbina). A study conducted by Duke University revealed that fracking polluted drinking water with ... moment," commented a retired ge...

• Word Count: 1851
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... liberal members of the House. However, many leaders fear that his measure would pass with backing from an unlikely coalition of liberals and conservatives. This would send the wrong message to allies engaged in other conflicts with the United States. The other option was proposed by Speaker John A. Boehner, which called for President Obama ... American support for the operations in Libya. "It sends an unhelpful message of disunity and uncertainty to our troops, our allies, and most importantly, the Qaddafi regime," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell (Steinhauer). He "believes t...

• Word Count: 1319
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... checkpoint and held for days while officials bound, beat, poured alcohol in her eyes, and gang raped her repeatedly. The accused men plan to sue her, according to government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim (The Huffington Post). Al-Obeidy fled from Libya into Tunisia aided by a defecting military officer and his family. ... Apparently, she left in a military car and was able to make it through several checkpoints disguised "in the local manner" and using a refugee document (The Huffington Post). Despite the original relief al-Obeidy's ... status, but they procured a court order and noted that ...

• Word Count: 512
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... incoming American President, Barack Obama. On a Web posting directed at the new president, the group's leader warns that "a heavy legacy of crime awaits" him. The message, reported to be from Ayman al-Zawahiri, Obama is criticized for his position on foreign policy and Israel, and is ridiculed for his view on the state of the world. For many ... election of Barack Obama marked the culmination of the efforts of leaders of the African-American rights movement, such as Malcolm X. But according to the speaker in this message, Obama is nothing like those men, who he refers to as "honourable...

• Word Count: 409
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... similarities between Microsoft's and Google's cases, they agree that the fast-paced nature of the evolution of technology makes it difficult to compare the two companies without other factors. For instance, in the 1990's it was virtually impossible for users to abandon Microsoft's Windowns operating system. Their rival, Apple, was near bankruptcy and switching from Microsoft was extremely costly, time consuming, and ... complicated. Companies would have to overhaul systems and retrain personnel with the new system. On the other hand, Google's users can easily stop using Google's search ...

• Word Count: 1322
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... States is only in the hundreds as of now but experts foresee that number growing quickly in the future (Timmons). Despite its small beginnings, the legal outsourcing companies are poised to make a big impact. Others are opening and hiring lawyers in lower-cost areas of the United States, including West Virginia and North Dakota. Approximately 16,000 people worldwide are ... employed by legal outsourcing companies, according to Edward Brooks, founder of the LPO program, which matches legal outsourcing companies with potential clients. Of the world's $200-billion-a-year legal market, this...

• Word Count: 1048
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... investment in infrastructure and education and a focus on removing "barriers that make it harder for you to compete - from the tax code to the regulatory system" (Dennis). In an attempt to reconcile the differences between his administration and the US Chamber of Commerce, Obama walked the block to the Chamber headquarters. Once there, he joked "I'm in the interest of being more neighborly. Maybe we ... would have gotten off on a better foot if I had brought over a fruitcake when I first moved in. But I'm going to make up for it." The two groups got off on a bad start after the Chamber ...

• Word Count: 1052
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... and it becomes clear that this was a profound moment in his life, when he became aware of the power of story-telling. He goes as far to say that "stories humanize us. They break through our prejudices. When we know someone's story, we've encountered what's real and discarded the flimsy caricature. ... of his or her captive audience. Boyett proposes that people take an inventory the next time one is at a barbeque or some such function to see what person is surrounded by the most people. He believes that it will not be the person, who is sharing their arsenal of collected ... about history...

• Word Count: 995
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... which believes, among other things, that homosexuals can be "converted" into heterosexuals through religious ministry. Both issues sit well with evangelical conservative Christians; a base John McCain desperately needs to remain viable in this election. Other analysts cite the acrimonious rift between the hard-core Clinton backers and the rest of the Democratic Party who would vote for Palin merely ... received a choice speaking spot at the Republican National Convention. The problem with those choices, of course, was their pro-choice stance which annoyed conservative Christians - many o...

• Word Count: 1094
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... sources of energy and fuel have been at the forefront of the media and minds of Americans more than ever before. Going green seemed to be a globally inevitable trend. But even with funding for green energy increasing and one of the most persistent promoters of information on global ... whose vested interest in big oil has been ubiquitously and extensively lobbied for. In the meantime, oil companies continue to receive government subsidies, and their profits continue to grow to record highs as does the price of gas for the average consumer. Perhaps having faith in the politicians who ra...

• Word Count: 708
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... than a resistance movement, eventually diminishing the credibility of the organization in the eyes of its Palestinian supporters. It is for this reason that other Palestinian groups emerged and sought to replace the PLO as the voice and leader of the Palestinian nation. One such organization was Harakat al-Maqawama al-Islamiyya, or literally the Islamic Resistance Movement. More popularly known ... in Gaza and other Israel-occupied territory. Edward Said (1989) described the situation as, "The occupation, for all its deliberate and programmatic humiliation of Palestinians, its bare-knuck...

• Word Count: 3194
• Approx Pages: 13
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... as the time period, place, weather and surroundings can make a significant difference in the success of a story. Specifically, Jack London does an exceptional job of depicting the setting throughout the particular story "To Build a Fire" as if the setting is a character itself. Moreover, in "To Build a Fire," without setting there would be no story initially taking place. Setting is the place and conditions in ... the story. Generally, whether a protagonist, antagonist or catalyst, the setting has the ability to mold the characters and their destiny. Immediately in "To Build a Fire", a r...

• Word Count: 1086
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... " went into the murders. This is also not the first article written about the murders as it begins with "have so startled London." This implies the newspaper has already written an article on it before; the newspaper refers (rather subjectively) to the Ripper as a demented being, but provides no real information about the circumstances of the murder, a profile of the killer or ... the police didn't take into account the small things and because they had no proper witnesses. Question 4 By studying sources F and G I can gain some knowledge about how the police tried to capture jack the rip...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
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... expansion of the police force, the reinforcement of the legal system, the rehabitaton of criminals and other numerous factors, all contributed to this major change. Although there was a variation of crimes committed in London at this time, 75% of recorded crime throughout London in the 19th century was petty theft. Alternatively, only 10% of recorded crimes were actually violent. During this time, middle ... 's approval of the new police force. By the late 19th century, there was a greater amount of police present in London. The police became more organised and efficient as time went by....

• Word Count: 952
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate