1. Ten years on, what have schools learned from Columbine?
2. Should only large industries have their carbon emissions regulated?
3. How can Saudi Arabia placate its Shiite minority?
4. Should the U.S. close the border with Mexico over swine flu?
5. Is Ma Ying-jeou compromising Taiwan’s sovereignty too much?
6. After his first 100 days in office, what term can best be applied to Barack Obama’s governing philosophy?
7. Who was the biggest loser in South Africa’s recent elections?
8. Do U.S.-led efforts to reconcile with Afghan insurgents need more transparency?
9. Will a tentative agreement to normalize ties between Turkey and Armenia have positive affects on the Central Asian region?
10. Should Cuba be allowed into the OAS?
The last several years have been fortunate for the world’s medical watchers. Fearing an avian flu pandemic across the globe several years ago, these experts have only had to watch the progression of the virus in isolated parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. Also, avian flu never became a human-to-human transmission problem, reducing the urgency required or the threat of avian flu becoming a global problem. However, the recent outbreak of swine flu, if it can be aptly called that since this strain of flu borrows from swine influenza, avian influenza (albeit not its most dangerous components), and human influenza components, which has infected nearly 1500 people globally at the time of this writing, can aroused fears that this is the next global flu pandemic. This is compounded by the fact that swine flu appears to be spreading from person to person, regardless of their contact with infected animals.
In a time of federal bailouts for corporations, aid to homeowners who are facing trouble paying their mortgages, and budget plans that call for trillion dollar deficits, a segment of the American population has had enough. Clinging to their signs and cries of showing Washington that power still rested with the people, 800 locations around the country were the site of “tea parties” last week, denouncing the policies of President Barack Obama and the Democratically-controlled Congress.
The global financial crisis is truly a global phenomenon. A crisis that centered around a lack of credit brought about by poor judgment by financial institutions has created an international recession and the World Bank estimates that global economic growth will decline by 1.7 percent this year, the first time such a decline has existed since World War II. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has also weighed in on the financial crisis and backed up the World Bank’s claims in reporting that its 30 members will experience a 4.3 percent decline in growth this year.